Commissioners approve Hi-TEC renovation, rental agreement for courthouse relocation

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades took action on several matters regarding planned renovations to county buildings and heard proposals from the county Human Resources director during their Wednesday, Sept. 16 meeting. 

In a work session held after their regular session, commissioners conferred with representatives from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Highland County Veterans Service offices, both of which are housed in the Hi-TEC building. According to commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, the parties came to an agreement on one of the five proposed renovation designs, which will be “giving both the BMV and VSC more room,” she said.

Daniels had reported Aug. 19 that after meeting with Ohio Department of Public Safety officials the previous week, they felt that the renovations “would open up office space” for both offices. Commissioners then engaged in a heated discussion with Highland County Veterans Service Director/Officer Tim Hazelwood over the proposed changes to the Hi-TEC building during their Sept. 2 meeting. 

According to Willey, the next step for commissioners is a request for proposals for an engineering firm to take on the project. 

In another renovation matter, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a month-to-month rental agreement with Dale Martin at a cost of $10 per square foot for office space on Governor Trimble Place. The building will house staff of the Highland County Common Pleas Court (both General/Domestic Relations and Juvenile/Probate) during courthouse renovations.

As previously reported, commissioners voted Aug. 26 to award the project, including the $1,850,000 base bid with an alternate bid for column lighting. At that meeting, Britton said exterior renovations to the courthouse, particularly the front/main entrance, would be “starting fairly soon.”

Commissioners met with department heads from the courthouse Thursday to discuss plans for the relocation of offices. 

In other discussion:

• Commissioners heard, but did not take action on, two separate proposals from human resources manager Amy Bradley. 

Bradley first recommended the county enter into an agreement for an ancillary benefits package with American Fidelity, as she was accompanied by Wendy Curran and John Campbell of the firm. Curran and another company representative, Kathleen Weisenbach, had given a presentation about American Fidelity at a May commission meeting. 

“American Fidelity can help us with our Section 125 compliance, and for our employees, I am hoping to bring on three different types of FSAs [Flexible Spending Accounts],” Bradley said. “I think this is going to be fantastic to help employees divert pre-tax money into bank accounts to be used for those purposes, and it's just, again, going to help them all the way around.”

According to Bradley, this agreement would be at “no expense to the county,” and the insurance representatives would meet with all county employees during their open enrollment period. 

“I just think it's going to be great for the employees,” Bradley said. “This is just going to be an enhancement that's really going to be a benefit to them in the end and their families, and of course their bottom line.”

If this new plan is approved, Bradley said there would not be any new contracts with their existing supplementary benefit provider. For county employees enrolled in one of their existing provider’s plans, Bradley said the county will “continue to service it through payroll deduction until it just through attrition doesn't make sense to administer that anymore, and at that time, I'll help transition those to a pay-at-home type thing.”
 
Bradley added that they will also continue to work with Allstate.

In an unrelated matter, Bradley also recommended that the county move their payroll/accounting software system from a server-based system to one in the cloud. 

“With the rise in ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks, one of the things with moving it to the cloud is should our server be hacked and we're locked out of that server, then they're able to spin it up in the cloud, and we could take it anywhere and be able to continue to do business,” Bradley said.

Commissioners said they would review both proposals and make a decision for possible action at a future meeting.

• At the recommendation of Cierra Moore of the county’s maintenance department, commissioners accepted the low bid for sealcoating and striping of the parking lots for the Highland County Justice Center, Hi-TEC building, Ohio State University Extension office and dog pound. The lowest quote was submitted by Howland Asphalt at $36,382.

Roades asked if Moore could ensure the “in and out arrow” at the Hi-TEC lot are painted larger and more noticeable. 

• Dwight Reynolds of VFW Post 9094 asked commissioners for an update on the electric for a new kiosk at the veterans memorial outside the courthouse. Roades said that he had spoken to their contractor, Barry Stratton, “about putting a disconnect outside of the courthouse building so that when your installer gets there, he can disconnect the electric, turn the electric off more or less, and then work at his convenience when he needs to be there. 

“Hopefully within the next week, we'll have that ready to go,” Roades said, adding that there had been delays due to scheduling and the Highland County Fair.  

Reynolds said the kiosk is ready to be installed whenever the county has the site prepared. 

• Commissioners held a work session with sewer billing clerk Alex Stratton to discuss a repayment plan for a property that is “behind by $17,667.90.” Stratton also pointed out that although the county has allowed delinquent customers to enter repayment plans, there is “no set policy” in place.

“I've also drafted a repayment policy to add on to our sewer use rules going forward,” Stratton said. “In the future, the policy would allow them to appeal to you if they did not agree with it, so it'd be something that essentially they're going to go into contract with me and the sewer district and keep you guys out of it, but for this one, because there's no set policy, I am bringing it to you guys to be aware.”

Stratton said she would have the new policy draft ready for commissioners to review next week for a possible vote.

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

• A pay application from Mechanical Construction Co., Inc. for ongoing Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant phase II improvements.

“Things are going well out there,” Daniels said. “The last progress report I had was they’re waiting on some parts where there had been a delay, and also they're waiting on cooler weather when they actually shut down the part of the disinfection system to replace those items.”

• A contract among Highland County Commissioners, Job and Family Services and FRS Transportation for FFY 2027 (Oct. 1, 2026 to Sept. 30, 2027). This is a continuation of an existing agreement for Medicaid Non-Emergency Transportation (NET).

• A request for a budget modification within the Auditor’s General Fund from Travel and Contracts & Services to Other Expense in the amount of $3,839.90.

• A transfer within Job and Family Services from the Public Assistance Fund (2050) to the Child Support Enforcement Fund (2015) in the amount of $19,851.

• A budget modification within the Engineer’s budget in the amount of $30,000.

• A resolution to rename fund 2455 from Smart Ohio – Pilot Grant FY16, FY17 to CDBG PY26. Also requested is the creation of five new line items within the fund.

• A request from the Sheriff’s Office to declare an ice machine no longer needed by the county and obsolete, ORC 307.12(B)(1). Therefore, the board declared the item to be surplus property and no longer needed by the county.