County sets date for Madison Township property annexation; EMA submits proposal for local military training exercise

Highland County Commission President Shane Wilkin and Commission Vice President Jeremy Shaffer met with Greenfield City Manager Ron Coffey, Betty Bishop, and Ross Greer from the Highland County Prosecutor's Office to discuss proposed property annexations in Madison Township.

Commissioner Tom Horst was excused from the Wednesday, Jan. 22 board meeting for a medical appointment, Wilkin said.

Originally, four properties were proposed for annexation:

• Nine acres on South Seventh Street (state Route 753);

• 702 South Seventh Street;

• 814 South Seventh Street; and,

• 604 Carford Pike.

However, Bishop advised commissioners that the 604 Carford Pike address was filed incorrectly, and it should have been 704 Carford Pike.

"We found that one of the properties had been submitted with the wrong address," Bishop said. "Our law director suggested we withdraw it (and proceed with the other three property annexations)."

"The law director felt it was a material error and needs to be withdrawn," Coffey said.

Bishop said she has advised the Carford Pike property of the error.

Wilkin questioned the issue of street maintenance should the village of Greenfield – which has a population of 4,639 – return to city status.

In that case, Coffey said, the street maintenance would be the city's responsibility.

"The understanding now is that it will be the state's responsibility since it's a state highway in a village, not a city," Wilkin said.

Commissioners said a final decision on the proposed annexation would be made at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19 at the commissioners' meeting.

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• Commissioners also met with Steve Dillon, Jim Lyle, Dr. Jim Vanzant and Mark Harp regarding a possible training exercise in Highland County with a group from the U.S. Army's 91st Civil Affairs Division.

Currently, the division conducts exercises in Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont and Montgomery counties, Lyle said.

Training exercises are designed for local benefit in the communities plus pre-deployment experience for military personnel.

Typically, soldiers would coordinate a weeklong exercise with local officials. Missions vary from infrastructure inspection, communications, disaster relief and emergency response.

"These are active-duty personnel and professional people," said Lyle, representing the Highland County Emergency Management Agency.

"We have had an initial meeting with Army staff," Dillon said. "We would decide as a county what we want to do. We would select a task and they will be working here as if they were in a foreign country."

County officials receive the benefit of the soldiers' findings and recommendations.

The intelligence gathered could be worth $40,000 to $50,000, Dillon said. Dillon is a volunteer with the county EMA.

"One thing that popped into my mind were the bridges and culverts in the county and the conditions of each one," Harp said. "This might be useful to Dean (Highland County Engineer Dean Otworth)."

Dr. Vanzant, the Highland County Health Commissioner, said he thought the military training exercises were a good idea. "Everything I've heard is that they do an excellent job."

"Basically, we're asking your blessing for EMA to have an initial meeting with them," Lyle said.

Wilkin and Shaffer said they have no objections to meeting with the Army's Civil Affairs personnel.

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• Commissioners signed a proclamation for Catholic Schools and School Choice Week, Jan. 26-Feb. 1, for St. Mary Catholic School in Hillsboro.

School Administrator Mary Stanforth and pupils Cohen Meyers, Peyton Bayless, Sidney Bayless, Rayanne Sprinkle and Walker Pence accepted the proclamation.

St. Mary Catholic School in Hillsboro will hold a special event on Wednesday, Jan. 29 to celebrate National School Choice Week.

Stanforth welcomed parents of all faiths to attend the open house. Parents will have the opportunity to register for Patch of Heaven Preschool and grades K-5 for the 2014-2015 school year.

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• In other action, Commissioner Wilkin submitted a recommendation to the FRS Counseling Review Committee for local grant funds for behavioral health treatment services.

The letter reads as follows:

Highland County Board of Commissioners is pleased to recommend that Highland County Court of Common Pleas receive grant money to provide behavioral health treatment services, in conjunction with FRS Counseling, to identified persons with a felony record. FRS Counseling provides treatment for both Substance Abuse/Addiction and Mental Health.

Many of the identified persons involved in the Court of Common Pleas could significantly benefit from expanded services in one or both of these arenas. FRS provides treatment services in our community with positive results. Unfortunately, due to limited resources, those services have ben limited as well. With an increase in funding, treatment services in our community could be expanded to better meet the need.

The primary focus for treatment would be those persons struggling with addiction to opiates and/or methamphetamine. These are the predominant substances of significant use/abuse in Highland County.

Accompanying these struggles with substance abuse, clients frequently also face dealing with mental health issues as well. Treatment services would be expanded to include some form of treatment every day, Monday through Friday. Additional funding could result in more intensive treatment services for more people.

Since FRS Counseling also operates a transportation program, the barrier of transportation issues for many of the clients could be addressed as well with additional funding. Being able to offer these expanded services has the potential to significantly reduce recidivism in our community.

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Resolutions

Commissioners passed the following resolutions, each by 2-0 votes:

• Commissioners authorized additional appropriation for the Block Grant FY12 for $7,737.05.

• Commissioners authorized authorized additional appropriation for the Block Grant FY13 for $8,467.58.