Highland County commissioners approve real estate purchase in Hillsboro

Highland County commissioners Brad Roades, Terry Britton and David Daniels voted to approve a $275,000 real estate purchase in Hillsboro during their Wednesday, Aug. 13 meeting.

Commissioners met in executive session Aug. 6 “to consider the purchase or sale of property for public purposes,” and after a motion by Daniels, they added the purchase of real estate to their Aug. 13 agenda at the start of the meeting. The tentative agreement is to purchase 212 Hobart Drive, the site of the former Schwan’s facility in Hillsboro, at a cost of $275,000.

“The board became aware of a property that's for sale here in Hillsboro,” Daniels said. “It meets a need that we've identified, that we were going to look into constructing some maintenance sheds.

“I think we have been given a reasonable price. I would move that we enter into an agreement to purchase that property.”

As previously reported, Cierra Moore of the county’s maintenance department met with commissioners in January 2023 to propose a storage facility for the department. She spoke in favor of a constructing a large but “simple” building where she could store tools and other equipment, including plows and spreading equipment, as well as the maintenance truck that is currently stored outside. Moore suggested building a “maintenance barn” that could also include an area to repair the equipment.

During that meeting, Moore said she does not have a central space to keep her equipment, which is stored primarily in the Highland County Sheriff’s Office/Justice Center, as well as the Hi-TEC building and dog pound. 

Daniels told The Highland County Press Wednesday that instead of constructing a new building, the hope is that the existing building on the property can serve as a “maintenance shed and office space.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, Roades added that the property could “satisfy two purposes” for the county. According to Daniels, the county is looking into the possibility of adding a “recycling area” to that space, although no official plans are in place yet. 

Since Fayette County began operating a central, fenced-in recycling area that requires membership, Highland County commissioners have been discussing a desire to replicate that program. As Daniels said in March, the Fayette County program has helped cut back on “illegal dumping” and abuse of the bins.

Daniels told The Highland County Press that the county still has “due diligence on our end” before the real estate deal is official, but the hope is that by using the existing building on its paved site, it “saves the county money in the long run.”

In other discussion:

• Commission clerk and America 250 Committee member Ashleigh Willey announced plans for an upcoming heritage tree-planting ceremony, with commissioners encouraging the community, and particularly the townships, to participate.

According to a press release from Visitors Bureau of Highland County Executive Director Jamie Wheeler, “On Friday, Sept. 26, Highland County will mark the start of its participation in the America 250-Ohio commemoration with a community event at Liberty Park in Hillsboro. The event, beginning at 3 p.m., will feature the planting of 18 white oak trees – one for Highland County and one for each of its 17 townships – as part of the statewide Heritage Tree Program.  The event will take place east of the Highland County Family YMCA’s gravel parking lot which is located at 201 Diamond Drive in Hillsboro.

“The tree planting will serve as the official kickoff of Highland County’s America 250 planning, building momentum toward a multi-day celebration in July 2026 honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary.”    

“This event is going to be open to the community,” Willey said. “We encourage everyone to come out to it. 

“We’ve had a few townships that have committed and are excited to be a part of this not only local event, but state and nationwide celebration of America-250. If any community members are interested in participating, we encourage them to reach out to their local township trustees and encourage them, and then they can be present that day as well to help them plant the tree, cover it up and kick off our celebration that will be coming in 2026.”

Roades, who is also a committee member, said that in reaching out to township trustees, the committee is seeking a “donation of $250” for each township’s trustee. That “covers the cost of the tree, which is $150, plus $100 for a granite 10x10 plaque that will have their township engraved in it” with the America 250 logo, according to Roades. Willey said they have received “commitment from about five” of the 17 townships thus far.

“It's really a big push to get the community to make sure that your township trustees want to be part of this,” Roades said. “It’s a community event, and the kickoff will be great.

“Please make sure you contact your township trustees and let them know that you're excited about being part of this.”

Highland County Alex Butler also said he wanted to “encourage everybody to come.

“Oftentimes people say, ‘well, there's not a lot to do around here. We don't have the sense of community like we used to have,’” Butler said. “I hear that a lot. This is a great opportunity to participate in just that, a countywide event. 

“It’s a very exciting event to come to. I’m not aware of anything like it we've ever had.”

• County ARPA funding coordinator Nicole Oberrecht announced that a bid opening for the engineer’s truck barn project is being pushed back from Aug. 13 to Sept. 10.

“We had to put out an addendum to reschedule that,” Oberrecht said. “[Engineer Chris Fauber] has been working with an engineering consulting group for the pad prep and all that kind of stuff, and that gentleman just up and passed away suddenly. That company had been trying to get their head wrapped around our project and assign somebody new, and so we finally have that new contact, but we lost a little bit of momentum.

“Essentially, these folks don't have all the information to put a solid bid in, so we just needed to push that [deadline] out.”

• Greenfield finance director Gary Lewis was in attendance and spoke about the recent groundbreaking ceremony for the village’s $5.3 million Felson Park project, which is funded through the state’s Appalachian Community Grant program. 

The project includes “a reimagined space on a regional bikeway along Paint Creek and housing a venue for Greenfield’s cultural events and festivals, arts and civic gatherings. The park will also serve as a trailhead for bikeway activity, serving riders using the Tri-County Triangle Trail. Felson Park’s livery access to Paint Creek will create a canoe and kayak blue-way trail extending to Paint Creek Lake, where camping and outdoor recreation can be accessed and create the opportunity for multi-activity trips,” according to a press release.

“It’s going to include not only Felson Park, it's going across the creek into Ross County, and include the quarry portion that the village owns,” Lewis said. “We’ve been talking with Ross County because they have the expertise with their parks district to be able to take reservations for campers and that type of thing. This is going to start off with primitive camping, and then it will eventually develop where you'll have standard hookups for other campers and everything. 

“Ultimately, it will be a pretty nice development. It'll take some years to get it to where we want it. We know Ross County's excited about being a part of that as well. It’ll be interesting to see how it looks five, 10 years from now.”

• Commissioners agreed to release a lien on a property which underwent a project through Highland County Community Action in 2017, as the owners are in the process of selling the home.

“They would still have to pay $6,016,” HCCAO housing director Jeanette Mottie said. “They're going to pay when they close on their house, but they need to get the lien off their house in order to do that, so the first step is to get the release started.

“I am not going to go to the recorder's office until we have the checks in hand.”

• Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders announced that a third K-9 officer has been donated to the department and will be joining the office in the near future.
    
• Highland County EMA Director David Bushelman noted that Aug. 15 is Emergency Management Recognition Day, while September is Ohio Preparedness Month.

Commissioners also made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A timeline extension of a Residential Public Infrastructure Grant project in Greenfield.

• An  Ohio Department of Medicaid grant agreement among commissioners, Ohio Department of Medicaid and the county Family and Children First Council.

• A request from the Engineer to create the following line item within the 2065 Repair MVL Fund: Transfers Out.

• A resolution for the Auditor’s Office to declare two red cloth office chairs as no longer needed by the County and obsolete, ORC 307.12 (I); therefore, the board declared the listed items to be surplus property and no longer needed by the county.

• A request from EMA for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the (2785) Right to Know Fund in the amount of $1,312.82.

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