CDBG applications, election poll books, liability insurance among topics at Highland County commissioners meeting

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton selected two projects for Community Development Block Grant consideration, met with insurance and Board of Elections representatives and agreed to vacate an alley during meetings and hearings Wednesday, May 8. 

The meeting began 15 minutes earlier than usual, at 8:45 a.m., with a proclamation for Treatment Court Month. For more, see the story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/treatment-court-month-recognized-h…. 

Also on Wednesday morning, commission clerk and Community Development Block Grant coordinator Mary Remsing conducted a CDBG hearing, after which commissioners selected two applications to submit out of four proposals.

“The county has been awarded $240,000 minus administration fees, so we'll have $192,000 to put toward projects,” Remsing told commissioners. “The Ohio Department of Development did limit the number of projects that we can have this year — that's across the whole state of Ohio — due to the cost of materials and supplies.

“We’re limited to two projects that we can award, and I have four applications.”

According to Remsing, “applications to the state open on May 14,” with a deadline of June 14. 

The four proposals received by the county were an application by the City of Hillsboro for 6,500 linear feet of fencing at Shaffer Park, with the city seeking $150,000 and committing a $120,000 match, for a total of $270,000; a request from Highco for the first phase of a project for an outdoor space for $102,900, with Highco adding $3,500 for a total of $106,400; a request from Jackson Township for street improvements to Davis Road in the amount of $91,300, with a $15,000 commitment for $106,300; and a request from the Because He Lives food pantry for a new roof, totaling $89,100, with a $3,500 match for $92,600 altogether.

After Remsing shared details on all the projects, commissioners said they wanted to move forward with the applications from Highco and the Because He Lives food pantry.

For Highco, Remsing said “they have a big project in mind, but they’re going to do it in phases,” as this application was described as “phase one” of the “autism project.

“The request from the county is for an autism center courtyard,” Remsing said. “They've wanting to do swings, a gazebo, a chest press, etc. equipment for people with autism, and probably anybody who would use the facility, and then an access door to get to that courtyard. 

“Their capacity currently is 99, and they serve 90. I think there's some local residents who have children who are going to benefit from the facility, and I think their capacity is limited, so this is the start to a bigger project for them.”

Remsing added that this initial phase involves creating this outside space on a “concrete pad” at their existing location, while Highco’s next goal is add 1,200 square feet of “additional building space” to create an autism center.

The Because He Lives Food Pantry, which is located on Main Street in Lynchburg, serves “low to moderate income” families in “the entire Lynchburg-Clay School District,” Remsing said.

“Last year, it looks like from January to December of 2023, they served 3,537 people,” she said. “So far, from January to April of this year, they have served 967.”

Since counties can only submit two projects, Daniels said they should pick two that “marry up pretty well together” in order to “fund the entire projects.” Roades said that he knew Highco was limited on space, and Daniels said that food pantries often have grant opportunities for “buying food, but there's not a whole lot of money available to do facilities.

“I would suggest that we consider the food pantry and Highco, for a lot of different reasons,” Daniels said. “It looks like we're serving a population with those two that rarely have an opportunity to find grant funding for capital improvements and the improvements that they want to make, although I see value in every project.”

“I think that’s the hard part,” Remsing said.

Britton said he agreed, adding that the two proposals were the “only two that fit” together funding-wise for the complete amount. He made the motion, which passed, 3-0.

In unrelated meetings and appointments:

• Highland County Board of Elections Director Michelle Swallen, newly appointed Deputy Director Ryan Moehlman and Board Chair Karen Faust attended a session with commissioners Wednesday at 11 a.m. to discuss a financial issue with their recent poll book purchase.

As previously reported, on Feb. 14, Elections Administrator Hunter Ellis told commissioners that the Board was seeking $47,000 to make the purchase “upfront,” but added that under House Bill 45, the state legislature made arrangements for 85-percent reimbursement, so the actual cost to the county will be $7,050. The deadline to “secure funding” and place the order was May 1, he said.

Commissioners voted Feb. 21 to enter a memorandum of understanding with the Ohio Secretary of State and Highland County Board of Elections related to the electronic poll books and authorized an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue to Other Expense (5250) in the amount of $47,000 for the purchase.

“The good news is we got our check for the poll books,” Faust told commissioners Wednesday. “The bad news is it's not for as much as we thought it was going to be.” 

Swallen said the state advised they sent a letter in February 2023 — which Swallen said is “nowhere to be found” — that gave the BOE their allocation total, which is actually $25,453 instead of $47,000. Faust pointed out that they were unaware there was “an allocated amount” and that the letter from the state was sent prior to Swallen’s tenure as director. 

“That gave a difference of county costs of $21,547,” Swallen said, adding that minus the $7,050 already paid by the county, “what we're needing to do is get an additional $14,497 to cover the full cost that would be back into the general fund.”

In response to questions from Daniels, Swallen confirmed that the purchase of new 50 poll books (iPads) has been made and that they have received their reimbursement check to be paid back to the general fund. Faust said it is a matter of “moving funds around” at this point.

“We do have four months of not having a deputy director, so we've got some extra money in our account,” Faust said. “We did give you $97,000 back last year, too.

“I think we just need to transfer that $14,000, probably from our payroll into that category.”

Daniels said the commissioners’ office could prepare resolutions for the fund transfer(s), as well as to create a new line item for an as-yet-unscheduled special election for voters in the Village of Greenfield. 

• Commissioners met with Ali Redmond and Todd Heskett to discuss their County Risk Sharing Authority renewal. 

Redmond, CORSA Membership Services Manager and Heskett, whose local insurance company provides administrative services for the county policy, shared figures for the new liability insurance policy, which took effect May 1.

Redmond reported that “this year was a little tough as far as pricing,” with most increases coming “on the reinsurance side” at “almost 18 percent.”

Redmond said that the county’s total insured value is now close to $115 million, with CORSA conducting their reappraisal for Highland County last year. Last year, she said the county’s “net premium contribution was $191,000,” with an “actual net” of $204,928 due to having to “true up” at the end of the year for changes.

“If you compare that to this year's renewal net, of the $221,415, you actually had an 8.04-percent increase, and program-wide was 9.87,” Redmond said. “The Board of Directors went through a lot this year, because as you know, we had almost a 10-percent last year, almost a 10-percent this year.

“In the commercial world. I've heard anywhere between 15- to 25-30-percent increases with with no losses, no changes whatsoever. If we can maintain that 10 percent — and again, Highland County, eight percent, which is awesome; I'm hoping I'm making your day here — these are the times it's really good to be in a pool.”

Redmond also told commissioners that through the loss control incentive program, the county received a $23,977 credit.

Daniels asked what the county’s “claims paid to loss ratio” is.

“I have your three-year loss ratio is 54.30, which is really good,” Redmond said. “Your five-year is 107.87, so that's a little bit high, but obviously it's trending down really well.”

Daniels said the county’s “current deductible is $2,500” and asked about “options” if they chose to raise that.

“Let's say you went up to the $5,000 deductible. On your premium, that's going to save you that $14,603 today, but keep in mind, if you had four or five losses, you're going to eat that up real quick,” Redmond said. “We could do a deeper dive into your losses, do a three-year loss run and see what you would have paid out if you were at the $5,000.”

Daniels said that “it doesn’t hurt us to know,” and Redmond and Heskett said they would get the information together for commissioners. 

Redmond added that a proposal she has heard from other members is maintaining the $2,500 deductible for auto and “raise everything” else because auto are “where they’re seeing the most of their losses.” Heskett agreed for Highland County, saying “The property losses you'll see are very minimal” compared to auto losses.

Another issue is that raising deductibles at this point in the calendar year can cause budget issues for departments, Redmond said. She said her suggestion to counties has been to “make that decision in September, so then when the commissioners and everybody's doing their budgets, then they're aware that that will transpire into next year, so they can budget for that too.”

Daniels asked if the county could “change our deductible mid-policy year if we would so choose.” Both Heskett and Redmond said that they “have that option.”

• At 10 a.m., commissioners held an alley viewing in Danville, after Hamer Township Trustees filed a petition to vacate said alley. The alley is approximately 661 feet long, located east of Danville Road, starting south of PN 20-19-100-023.00 from PN 20-19-100-025.00 to PN 20-19-100-033.00.

“It's an unimproved alley,” Daniels said. “There appear to be no utilities or right-of-ways in there.

“We have closed alleys down in that particular area a couple times — at least once this year — and I know that there are more to come.”

After hearing no opposition at the viewing or at a subsequent hearing conducted at 11 a.m., commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the vacation of the alley.

• The board reviewed, but did not take action on, a proposal for security camera upgrades at the Highland County Airport, with an estimated cost of $6,775. 

“They have said that they would ask us to participate, to pay for about half of it, if we've got the ability to do so,” Daniels said.

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

• Commissioners approved requests from Weller’s for offsite storage authorization for HVAC equipment for the county records storage building.

• Commissioners authorized the execution of an application for payment in the amount of $473,214.64 to Doll Layman, Ltd., the contractor working on the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant improvement project. “All seems to be going well out there,” Daniels said.

• Commissioners authorized a sale for $1 to officer Nick Thompson, for his retirement weapon, as he is scheduled to retire on May 15, and to which the property is valued at less than $2,500 each, for the Highland County Sheriff’s Office.

• Commissioners approved adding the Highland County Family and Children First Council as authorized users to the Highland County credit card policy, in the amount of $5,000.

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 25 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.