Highland County RISE coordinator introduced; JFS director discusses 'disappointing' levy rejection

Almost one year to the day after approving a new recovery coordinator position, Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton met with Highland County RISE coordinator Taylor Avedisian and Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders during their Wednesday, Nov. 6 meeting.

As previously reported, commissioners approved a proposal for what is now called RISE (Recovery and Intervention Support Enforcement) at their Nov. 15, 2023 meeting, following an appointment with Sanders, who at that time was Highland County Task Force Chief Investigator, along with Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins and Highland County Probation Director of Programming & Clinical Services and Drug Court Coordinator Tonya Sturgill. The resolution was “agreeing to utilize OneOhio funding to employ a full-time substance abuse recovery coordinator, who will play a crucial role in supporting individuals struggling with substance abuse and addiction on their path to recovery.”

According to Britton, he and Collins, Sturgill and Highland County American Rescue Plan Act funding coordinator Nicole Oberrecht worked together to come up with this plan to use funding from the OneOhio settlement. Collins also credited Sanders, whom she said did the background research in reviewing other counties’ “programs and how they're set up, their paperwork and all that, and the ideas for what they're going to do.”

A year later, Avedisian — a graduate of the Basic Peace Officer Training Academy at Southern State Community College — has been selected to lead the program, working in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Office, Prosecutor’s Office and Highland County Task Force. She added that she is also working “side by side” with Sturgill as well as Creed Culbreath, collaboration director of REACH For Tomorrow, which facilitates the Highland County Quick Response Team (QRT).

According to Avedisian, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel can call her to respond to the scene of a drug overdose or to speak with individuals they encounter who are under the influence of drugs.

“What I do is I try to push them toward if they need rehab facilities or they need help in any aspect, I try to put them in the right mindset to find these resources,” Avedisian said. “I’ve even helped people so far find housing and clothing items. I've got quite a few people that have checked themselves into rehab.”

To help keep track of these individuals, Avedisian said that she is utilizing a software program also used in Ross County called Cordata. She told commissioners it is “HIPAA-approved” and has only basic information, no medical records, for individuals. There she is able to keep accurate contact information to either visit or check in with people via phone call or text.

When she meets with individuals, Avedisian said her goal is to provide them with information on all of the resources available to them, which she includes in a clear, discreet bag.

“RISE has a brochure, and I have a card that was made up in here,” Avedisian said. “I put Narcan, and I have other brochures.”

That includes information on Victim Witness and Alternatives to Violence as well as educational brochures regarding various drugs, according to Avedisian.
 
“I try to give as much resources and as much information as I can to help people out with my followups,” she said. “I do tell them, ‘You don't have to talk to me. You don't have to tell me any information. Here's my number if you’d like to get in contact.’ But I try to at least show up or send them a text message or email or call people.”

Since the program is new, Avedisian is still working to spread the word in the community, including through events such as a recent Overdose Awareness Day observance and Public Safety Day, as well as meeting with law enforcement and emergency partners.

“Our end goal is try to branch everybody together,” she said. “I’ve actually went to the fire chief meeting and informed them of why I'm here and what I'm doing, and I introduced them to Cordata. I've been to law enforcement agencies.

“They all call me if they have overdoses or if they have someone  who needs reached out to because they are in need or need rehab. I am here to bridge the gap in all that and try to keep everybody together and point them in the right direction to resources.”

“It’s a long process getting all this going and started, because everybody has to be sort of working together to get the whole thing to work,” Sanders added.

Sanders — who was officially elected sheriff the night before Wednesday’s meeting, after winning the primary and being appointed by commissioners earlier in the year — has long advocated for this program. He told commissioners Wednesday that the goal of the RISE program is “to reach people before they get into the system.

“We’ve got all these organizations that's doing good things, helping people,” Sanders said. “We just want to have something that we could get the people that needed help before they admitted they needed help, instead of waiting until they get arrested, or waiting until their kids get taken, or anything like that.

“Our law enforcement officers and the life squads are usually the first people that run into these people before they get into any trouble. They might just be somebody that's just there in the house when we do something. They could be people that might already be on their way to a big problem.”

Britton thanked Avedisian for the “great job” she has done thus far in getting the program up and running.

“I know your job is going to be getting larger as time goes on, because there is a lot of people out there need help,” Britton said. “That's why we wanted to try to get someone to help guide them, hopefully, because our drug problem is not going to go away.”

In other discussion:

• Commissioners spoke with Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff, roughly eight and a half hours after unofficial election result totals showed a proposed five-year, 0.9-mill renewal levy for Children Services failing for a third consecutive time.

A proposed five-year, one-mill replacement levy for the agency failed in the Nov. 7, 2023 general election. A subsequent attempt to return to the previous 0.9 millage, through a levy issue on the March 19 primary ballot, was also voted down. Unofficial results Tuesday showed the renewal levy again failing with 9,566 votes against the levy (51.7 percent) and 8,956 votes in favor of it.

“I’m obviously disappointed in the results from last night,” Ratcliff told commissioners. “We had a lot of people that were really passionate and supported us over the last few months. They were very encouraging to us. It’s a disappointing result.

“The voters have spoken, three times consecutively.”

As previously reported, according to Ratcliff, the agency is “on pace for $4.1 million” in placement costs this calendar year. Of that $4 million, the levy would help offset “about 17 percent of what we need,” Ratcliff said July 17.

“The child welfare system is not just Children Services, just like the substance abuse issue is not just a law enforcement issue, and so we as a county are going to think about how we deliver child welfare services in our county,” Ratcliff said. “We’re going to have to find another way to pay for it. We just lost our only funding source that was solely dedicated to paying foster care bills. That’s our only avenue.

“We will regroup and have those conversations about what does that look like from a child welfare system perspective, which is much bigger than Children Services. We will also continue to talk with you guys about what is that other funding source, because in January, the revenue will not be there from the levy.”

Commissioners voted in October to send a letter to the County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO) regarding rising placement costs. In it, commissioners wrote that “if the current levy initiative fails for a third consecutive time, the anticipated cost to the general fund will exceed $1.3 million, nearly 10 percent of the total general fund budget.

“In 2018, Highland County spent approximately $1.8 million in placement costs for the year,” the letter said. “In 2023, this number more than doubled to $3.8 million, more than a 100-percent increase in five years. During the same five-year period, the total number of children in care increased by 67 percent, from 297 to 497, but costs increased by over 100 percent.

“A day in time snapshot in September 2024 includes 18 children in private residential programs/group homes at a monthly cost of $157,257 for 18 children. Highland County JFS diverts millions of dollars per year away from staffing resources and other social service programs, including service to senior citizens, to pay the costs of foster care, and still the Commissioners have been forced to supplement the costs from the general fund by hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

In addition to the Children Services levy failing, voters also rejected a proposed replacement and decrease for the Health Department. According to Health Commissioner Jared Warner, revenues from the current tax levy, now voted down, account for “between 40 and 50 percent” of the Health Department’s budget each year, including 43.9 percent in 2023.

Daniels spoke about the results of the election, with both levies being voted down. He praised the over 71-percent voter turnout, saying that “community engagement in our political process is important regardless of who or what's on the ballot each and every year.

“With Election Day comes changes each and every year,” Daniels said. “I’m proud that Highland County turned out the way they did and voted and showed up to let their opinions be known. We had a couple of very important county government issues on the ballot that the voters rejected, and we will have to move forward from that.

“Jeremy spoke about how we deliver Children Services here in Highland County. I don't know how much room we've really got to talk about that. Our job, your job, is to protect those children that come in, and that's something that we have to do. So again, while there's changes here, I think that we're going to review those and move forward. … We'll be willing to sit and talk about about what the needs are.”

• Highland County mobility manager Carl Rayburn reported that FRS Transportation is working on “the grant process for the next fiscal year” the next two months, while they also added an additional “city bus route” for Hillsboro.

“We’re probably just going to run it for a week or so, because toward the beginning of the month, we tend to have a lot more rides requested within the city limits here in Hillsboro,” Rayburn said. “We’ve added a second one and started that to help pick up that extra workload. We’re going to monitor it, and then as it starts to slow down later in the month, we'll just turn it off and then start turning it back on at the beginning of the month and expand it as much as needed.”

Rayburn also encouraged the community to attend the Highland County Family and Children First Council’s community resource fair Nov. 12 from 1-2:30 p.m. at the Highland County YMCA, where individuals can learn more about the transportation program as well as many other agencies in the community.   

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to enter a contract with Highland County Department of Job and Family Services for their Ohio purchase of social services for chore services.

“We provide, essentially, activities for daily living to elderly citizens in our community that are unable to to perform those for themselves,” Ratcliff said. “It could be something as simple as picking up meds, assisting with laundry, assisting with household chores, whatever it may be, to assist those individuals to stay in their home.

“This is a contract that we needed to renew, and we're making it retro to July. I'm a little remiss in getting that contract to you.”

• Commissioners authorized the commission president to execute a letter of intent with BlueScope Construction for renovation work at the Highland County Administration Building.

In other action, commissioners made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 5000 Rolling Acres Fund in the amount of $1,500.

• A request from the Land Bank for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2505 County Land Bank Fund in the amount of $500.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 5020 Mowrystown Sewer Fund in the amount of $2,700.

• A request from Victim Witness for a budget modification within the 2540 Victim Witness Assistance Fund in the amount of $959.38.

• A request from Victim Witness for a budget modification within the 2540 Victim Witness Assistance Fund in the amount of $1,067.83.

• A request from Juvenile Court to create two new line items within the 2075 Youth Services Grant – DCC fund. Also requested is an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue into 2075 Youth Services Grant –
DCC Fund in the amount of $47,322.49.

• A request from Juvenile Court for a budget modification within the 2075 Youth Service Grant Funds in the amount of $12,677.51.

• A request from Job and Family Services for a transfer from Child Support Enforcement Fund (2015) to Public Assistance Fund (2050) in the amount of $24,317.77.

• A request from Job and Family Services for a budget modification within the 2115 Children Services Special Fund in the amount of $29,000.

• A budget modification within the 5030 Rocky Fork Sewer District Fund in the amount of $3,000.

• A request from the Auditor for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2055 Real Estate Assessment Fund in the amount of $100,000. According to Highland County Auditor Alex Butler, this includes the auditor’s office portion of some invoices they are “splitting with the engineer” for “a new aerial imagery project this year,” as well as “some additional work we did in regard to the reappraisal” and potential “changes to the website” before the end of the year.

• A request from Job and Family Services for a transfer from Children Services Fund (2115) to Public Assistance Fund (2050) in the amount of $34,646.76.

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