Commissioners consider options for county IT, cybersecurity

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades discussed several contracts and projects, including ideas to address county cybersecurity policies, during their Wednesday, May 20 meeting. 

Early in the meeting, Daniels called attention to the small United States Army flag and American flag in front of him on the commissioners’ desk, placed in honor of Highland County Auditor Alex Butler’s military service.

“Alex Butler has been called to active duty, and he's being deployed,” Daniels said. “This is something that kind of taken hold in different legislatures and different government bodies throughout the United States. When somebody within their family, or within their employees gets called off, the idea of putting up a flag to remember them by, during their deployment, while they're in harm's way, is on our mind.

“While we have many residents of Highland County that serve and are in the armed forces, one of our own is being deployed, and we just want to make sure that we keep him in our thoughts and prayers while he's actively serving our country. We'll keep those flags there until he returns.”

After conducting their regular business, commissioners and several other county officials held a work session to discuss a potential county IT (information technology) and cybersecurity policy and/or employee. Britton said they specifically invited Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner to join the discussion because he is “a lot more tech savvy than what we are,” as Warner also assisted with a survey for county department heads to gauge their thoughts on IT.

Britton said the county survey showed that county agencies wanted to maintain their current IT providers and procedures “instead of going with one central group,” so commissioners are considering “hiring somebody with a real high IT background” to ensure everyone is compliant with cybersecurity measures.  

“I think the biggest question, as an agency, that I would want to have answered is what's the structure of this look like, what's the governance look like, where does this position live, who's in charge, and what kind of actual authority do they have versus what do I have at my department?” Warner said. “Another question is, corresponding, is this something that the county is going to cover the cost of? Is it a free support for the health department, a free support for other agencies, or is there an expectation some of our budget goes to support it? Some of those things I think need to be worked out, so you could figure out what sort of what sort of problems you're able to solve.”

Britton said that response time for IT issues is a concern and wondered if “one person would be able to do all of this,” but he also said they have to “make sure” cybersecurity requirements are being met.

“The skill set for the person who's doing ‘it's broke, come fix it’ work is going to be a little different than the skill set of the person who's going to be pulling together cybersecurity requirements and some of those kind of big-picture IT policy things,” Warner said.

Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins asked if commissioners are “more concerned with complying with cybersecurity” regulations, and they indicated they were.

“Why don't you have every department do their own cybersecurity policy, and then you guys adopt one adopting all of theirs?” Collins asked. “You guys adopt a blanket policy that adopts all of theirs, That way everybody can comply with their own laws.”

Collins pointed out that departments such as the prosecutor’s office and the sheriff’s office “have to comply with LEADS (Law Enforcement Automated Data System) and OHLEG (Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway)” and other programs, so they “can't adopt the policy” that may work for other departments.

Instead of each office writing their own policy to be adopted by commissioners, Daniels asked if Collins could “look at our policy and say ‘incorporate these things that meet our needs,’ so that we've just got one blanket document, but makes the kind of allowances for where you need to have protection.”

Collins said they could do that option as well. Warner pointed out that some agencies, like the prosecutor’s office, “have a really good handle on what you need for cybersecurity, but there's a lot of departments that don’t,” and suggested they could “have a master cybersecurity policy and an appendix for each division.”

Human resources director Amy Bradley said she felt the county needed someone with “subject matter knowledge and expertise” to assist with drafting policies. Daniels pointed out the county doesn’t “have to reinvent the wheel” and can use the help of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and other state groups, including the Prosecuting Attorneys Association and Sheriffs’ Association, for “examples.”

Commission clerk Mary Remsing said she was under the impression they will need to address data and AI in addition to cybersecurity in separate policies. 

“It's going to be changing daily,” Remsing said. “A lot of it is staff training and literacy, and it's teaching what to look for, and what not to do, and what to do, and what's allowable, what's not allowable.

“I do think we have a lot of people throughout the county and agencies who are willing to help and get us through the process.”

Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders and Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff said their agencies’ employees are required to do periodic cybersecurity training, with state IT locking JFS employees out of their logins if they do not participate, an idea Daniels liked. Collins added that the Ohio Attorney General’s office “comes and audits” her office’s computers, as her staff also has to be trained.

Collins also told commissioners that IT contractors “don’t come into your office anymore and fix the computer,” as that work can be done remotely.

“The thing that I'm really concerned about is we've got to have policies and procedures and training, all the things that need to be done to make sure that we qualify for insurance,” Britton said. “If we don't have all these systems in place, and we get hit, our insurance is not going to cover us. It’s going to be a bad deal.”

Moving forward, Collins said she would look into other counties’ policies, while Ratcliff suggested the county look into state policy templates. Warner advised that if commissioners want to pursue some type of IT/cybersecurity program for the county, they should brainstorm ideas with the department heads who “are really interested in the service.” 

In other discussion:

• A bid opening was conducted for the Highland County Engineer’s Office for an Ohio Public Works Commission project on Dawson Road. The project will involve the reconstruction and resurfacing of over two miles of road.

The county received five bids ranging from the apparent low bidder of Miller-Mason Paving, at $880,477.89, up to the highest bid of $1,116,922.70.

Deputy engineer Christian Dunlap said “it'll be a little bit before we award” the project, as he said the work is not targeted to start until the fall.

“We're still waiting for the true funding letter from OPWC, and then once we get that federal authorization, then we can award,” Dunlap said.
 
• Commissioners approved four separate FOP contracts with the Highland County Sheriff, Fraternal Order of Police and Ohio Labor Council, Inc. for Jan. 1, 2026-Dec. 31, 2029. The contracts are for deputy sheriffs, corrections officers, sergeants and dispatchers.

In unrelated HCSO contract discussion, Sanders told commissioners that they are still searching for a solution on providing medical care for inmates, as their longtime provider, Dr. Anthony Wetherington, will no longer be continuing in that role after July. The sheriff said that their new options have significantly higher costs.

“It’s going to be about $40,000 a year more than what Dr. Wetherington’s current contract is,” Sanders said.

To hire another doctor to replace Dr. Wetherington at a similar rate is “not possible,” Sanders said, because of the cost of malpractice insurance and lack of interest from area providers. 

“It looks like our best bet's going to be with a company that does it,” Sanders said. “There's a few companies that, that's what they do, go around smaller agencies and jails. 

“We’ve got a meeting to keep the same nurses that we have now, because they're contracted to Dr. Wetherington, and they're trying to work out something where they can contract them.”

• Highland County EMA Director David Bushelman discussed the recently announced statewide expansion of Ohio 211. According to the Ohio Governor’s Office, “Ohio 211 is a free, 24/7 service that connects callers to support for nutritional assistance, housing and shelter, medical services, government programs, transportation, legal assistance, counseling, disaster recovery and other everyday needs.”

“211, which is an information number, has been around through most of the state for a long time,” Bushelman said. “Governor DeWine and the Ohio Department of Children and Youth have expanded the program to cover all 88 counties now. 

“With this coming about, that will bring all 13 of the 211 regional providers together into one statewide system, and then it brings the last 30 counties into it. Just some numbers, in 2025 Ohio 211 centers handled 797,169 contacts and identified 809,120 needs, so by making this a statewide program, it'll bridge a lot of the agencies together and will be a great resource for citizens. It'll should be fully implemented by the end of June.”

For more information about Ohio 211, visit https://ohio211.org. 

• No action was taken on the long-discussed price quotes for acquiring AEDs for county buildings, as Daniels said he was still looking at the price differences brought by Bushelman the previous week. Commission clerk Ashleigh Willey advised that ARPA funding coordinator Nicole Oberrecht is also “looking into another funding source.” However, Daniels said he was leaning toward an outright purchase and internal maintenance instead of a lease agreement with an additional maintenance contract. 

• Commissioners accepted the resignation of land bank administrator Jason Johansen. A special meeting of the land bank board was being held Friday to consider a professional services agreement. 

• Commissioners said that they received a letter of notification from AEP Ohio regarding the “Rammel 138 kV Station and Rammel 138 kV Extension” project in Dodson Township, which has been filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board.

“The purpose of the Project is to provide interconnection service to Palomino Solar, LLC, an Independent Power Producer (IPP),” according to the application. “The 138 kV Rammel Station will be approximately 1.1 acres and receive looped service from the Hillsboro-Clinton 138 kV transmission line located immediately north and east of the station site via Rammel 138 kV Extension No. 1 and No. 2 transmission lines. Two structures will be added and one structure replaced to cut into the Hillsboro-Clinton 138 kV transmission line. No new right-of-way will be required for the cut-in structures. 

“The transmission line extensions are both less than 0.2 miles long. An approximately 0.1- mile 138 kV generation tie line between the Rammel Station and the IPP’s station will also be required and is included in this application. Rammel Station and portions of the transmission lines will be built on land owned by the IPP that will be transferred to the Company.”

For additional information and updates on the project, you can search the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s docketing system with the case number 26-0557-EL-BLN. 

• Commissioners approved several employment changes at the Highland County Dog Pound at the recommendation of Remsing and Amy Bradley.

In separate motions, the commission voted 3-0 to accept the resignation of dog warden Erin Dunham; the promotion of Elizabeth Hudson to deputy dog warden; and the hiring of Jackie Marietta as kennel attendant.

• Commissioners thanked volunteers across Highland County, particularly in Hillsboro and Greenfield, for their efforts to beautify uptown areas.

Roades recognized Jen Howland and Alice Wilson for their work planting and maintaining flowers around Hillsboro’s uptown district.

“The past couple years, Jen Howland took over her dad’s responsibility,” Roades said, referring to the late John “Buck” Wilkin, who was a longtime sponsor of the uptown flowers and volunteer. which was due to automated and watering everything. “She and Alice Wilson, their group has been more than nice about coordinating, and I believe paying for, the flowers along the street. 

“There are 70 pots that are across the town, and I just wanted to make sure that we let those people know that we appreciate it. It really makes our community look really nice, really pretty.”

Daniels added that the flowers and flags decorating downtown Greenfield also “look great,” as Britton also commented on the flags decorating uptown Hillsboro.

“All our downtowns look very nice with the tributes to veterans that are out, the flags that are out, the plantings that are downtown,” Daniels said. “I appreciate everybody doing that work.”

• Collins asked commissioners to look into the air conditioning units at the courthouse, as she said there was “no air conditioning in the building.” Britton said they would have to consider their options with their engineers and with their contractor for heating/air, Weller’s, since they have multimillion-dollar renovations to the courthouse eventually planned.

• After their regular session, commissioners attended a webinar with representatives of Right Stuff Software to discuss timekeeping software, according to Willey.

• Commissioners also held a meeting and executive session with insurance broker Dave Brown later on Wednesday. According to Willey, the county is looking at a 39.9% increase through Medical Mutual or a 32.5% increase if they chose not to shop around. Commissioners voted to shop around and will schedule another meeting with Brown at a later time, Willey said.

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

• A fund payment request in the amount of $90,506.47 from Mechanical Construction for ongoing work at the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant.

• A motion to forward a request from the Hillsboro Event Center LLC for a liquor permit back to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control with no hearing requested.

• A quote from Coyote Trailers in the amount of $3,300 for work on the cannons in front of the Highland County Courthouse.

• A resolution to grant authorization for the listed “then and now” purchase orders and to authorize the County Auditor to issue warrants for their payment.

• A resolution declaring items listed by the Sheriff to be surplus property and no longer needed by the County and obsolete, pursuant to ORC 307-12(A)(1).

• A request from Highland County Community Action to rename the following three funds: 2575 Fair Housing FY26-27, 2580 CHIP CDBG Repair FY 26-27 and 2585 CHIP Home Rehab FY26-27.

• A request from Highland County Community Action to create a new line item within the 2575 Fair Housing FY26-27 fund: Other Expense. Also requested is an additional appropriation in the amount of $500.

• A request from Highland County Community Action to create the following new line items within the 2580 CHIP CDBG Repair FY26-27 fund: Repair Expense and Admin Expense. Also requested is an additional appropriation in the amount of $125,000.

• A request from the Highland County Community Action to create the following new line items within the 2585 CHIP Home Rehab FY26-27 fund: Rehab Expenses and Admin Expenses. Also requested is an additional appropriation in the amount of $125,000.

• A budget modification within the 2280 Records Preservation Fund in the amount of $500.

• A resolution to create the following line item within the 2280 Records Preservation fund: Contracts and Services.

• A budget modification within the 2280 Records Preservation Fund in the amount of $12,000. Also requested is an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $3,000.

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