Commissioners OK contracts for airport grant, economic development department

A federal grant contract for the Highland County Airport was one of several approvals made by Highland County commissioners Brad Roades, Terry Britton and David Daniels during a brief meeting Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Commissioners voted 3-0 to authorize the contract with the Highland County Airport Authority and the Ohio Department of Transportation Office of Aviation for “Fiscal Year 2025 Ohio Airport Improvement Program Matching Grant Application for General Aviation Airports.”

“It’s a project for reconstructing airport drainage, erosion control, and for its design,” Roades said. “It's a $47,300 project. The federal government's going to pay $42,570. We have to pay $2,365, which sounds like a pretty decent deal.”

“Unless it gets pulled back,” Britton added, referencing an executive order by President Donald Trump freezing federal grant and loans.

As previously reported, commissioners voted in June 2024 to approve a grant application reduction contract with the Highland County Airport Authority, U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration for the county airport’s drainage improvement project. That contract was for planning for the drainage improvements, and Highland County Airport Authority president Bob Prosek said that the total cost was expected to be the aforementioned $47,300.

Commissioners also approved two FAA contracts in September, including the one to reconstruct airport drainage/erosion design as well as “a T-hangar planning grant application” with a local match of $7,558 (for a $75,575 project).

In unrelated action:

• Commissioners signed off on five different contracts related to the county’s economic development department.

The first was a lease agreement with Highland County Community Action for the Workforce Development Center in Greenfield. The new agreement is for Feb. 1, 2025-Jan. 31, 2028 and “is $13,670.75 annually,” Roades said.

Also approved were four general partnership agreements for the economic development department, as three were from area municipalities — the city of Hillsboro and villages of Lynchburg and Leesburg — and one is with the Chamber of Commerce.

“All four entities participate in the economic development department for the county,” Highland County Economic Development Director Julie Bolender told commissioners. “We just need — should you wish to continue with this department — you all to sign on those, and then I will return to them fully executed copies of the agreement.”

When Bolender was hired in 2021 to lead the then-newly announced economic development department, Daniels said it was “a group decision” from the county and local municipalities. The city and villages (also including Greenfield) of Highland County, along with the Chamber of Commerce, have continued to serve as partners throughout Bolender’s tenure.

• Commissioners approved two separate resolutions regarding Job & Family Services funding. Those included: a transfer from Child Support Enforcement Administration Fund (2015) to Public Assistance Fund (2050) in the amount of $26,195.15; and a transfer from Children Services Special Fund (2115) to Public Assistance Fund (2050) in the amount of $39,640.66.

“We have various cost pools out there,” Highland County JFS Director Jeremy Ratcliff told commissioners. “There are three of them mentioned there, and then we have our shared costs for the entire agency.

“Every quarter, the Child Support cost pool and the Children Services cost pool have to repay the Public Assistance cost pool, because that cost pool essentially fronts the money for all the shared costs for the agency. That’s what those two resolutions are.”

• A continuation of a housing agreement among Highland and Adams County commissioners and the Highland and Adams County sheriff’s offices for 2025, for inmates at the Highland County Justice Center, was approved by a 3-0 vote.

As was the case with an agreement approved this month with Jackson County, Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders said that the HCSO “did raise the price if we have to take one of their prisoners to the hospital.

“They're giving us $45 an hour until they get here [to sit with the inmate],” Sanders said.

• Also approved was a resolution for the Treasurer’s Office declaring item(s) as no longer needed by the County and obsolete, ORC 307.12 (A)(1). Therefore, the board declares the listed item(s) to be surplus property and no longer needed by the County.

In other discussion:

• Highland County Auditor Alex Butler reported that the first-half property “tax bills will be going out later this week or early next week.

“Those are due February 28,” Butler said.

• Roades said that Lauren Shreve of the Ross, Pickaway, Highland, Fayette Solid Waste District notified commissioners of “a few site changes” for area recycling bins.

“One is the Sunoco on East Main Street, Hillsboro, will be permanently closed,” Roades said. “There's one at 520 South Second Street in Greenfield, which had a fire. They don't know really what caused it. Two bins are still available at this site, and the replacement bin is scheduled for January 29.”

• Roades also noted that applications are currently being accepted for the 2025 Ohio Counties Scholarship, which is sponsored by the County Commissioners Association of Ohio Research and Educational Foundation. For more, see: https://highlandcountypress.com/education/2025-ohio-counties-scholarshi….

• Commissioners were scheduled to conduct a work session with Highland County Engineer Chris Fauber at noon.

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