Commissioners OK maintenance requests, hear investment update
Pictured (l-r) are Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton. (HCP Photos/Caitlin Forsha)
Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton made several maintenance-related approvals and heard an update on the county’s investments during a brief meeting Wednesday, Jan. 17.
The agenda included approvals for the county’s new records storage building, which is under construction; a fence at the Highland County Dog Pound; and several different repairs for the Highland County Justice Center.
For the records building, Daniels said that their contractor, Alpha Construction, has suggested a change order due to “additional fire alarm work that needs to be done.” Commissioners voted 3-0 to authorize Daniels to sign said order “if and when that gets accomplished,” as Daniels said they are still waiting for more information.
Also approved was a $2,956 estimate from Ellis Fence Company for a change to the fence at the Highland County Dog Pound.
“From what I understand, there was a bottom wire put across the bottom of the fence, which wasn't rigid enough to keep the dogs from going underneath,” Roades said. “They're wanting to now add a 1-5/8 tubing on the bottom side to stiffen it and make it more rigid.”
The Highland County Justice Center approvals began with authorizing the execution of a Prox-Keypad Access Control Reader from Securitas Technology in the amount of $520.82.
“They have been working on upgrading their technology systems out there, and this is for the removal of the old system and putting into new,” Daniels said.
Next, commissioners approved two separate estimates from Weller’s Plumbing and Heating: a booster pump for water pressure, in the amount of $1,180; and a $1,612 quote for an exhaust fan.
Finally, commissioners accepted two different estimates from Gordon Plumbing, in response to recent emergency repairs. Daniels said the initial fix was “less than $10,000.
“They ended up with a plug out there, and I signed an emergency order sometime around the second or third of January to go ahead and proceed work to get that unplugged,” Daniels said. “Since then, they've come back and have noticed, after they got into it, that there were some additional repairs and some additional work that needed to get done that they hadn't counted on. That's what this new quote is for.”
Approved Wednesday were pipe inspection and cleaning, costing $1,200, and liner and epoxy, in the amount of $10,500.
“These are all operational issues that have come up that are just part of normal wear and tear out there,” Daniels said of the Justice Center quotes.
Also discussed, but not acted on, were four quotes for shutoff valves for the Rocky Fork Lake sewer system.
“When we come up with someone who hasn't paid their bill and does not have a shutoff, that would be for us to go in and install a shutoff on their line,” Daniels said.
Commissioners received an estimate from AK Excavation for $1,200 per unit; an estimate from Bob Evans Construction for $800 per unit; an estimate from Brandon Vance for $1,050 per unit; and an estimate from Unger Construction for $680 per unit.
Other approvals, each passed by a 3-0 vote, included:
• Commissioners appointing Roades as the designee to the Solid Waste Management District Policy Committee for the year 2024.
• Commissioners authorizing a budget modification from Transfers Out to Auditor (1000) Fund in the amount of $5,500.
• Commissioners approving a standard annual agreement with the Village of Greenfield for indigent defense services in County Court.
In other discussion, Highland County Treasurer Vickie Warnock conducted an investment advisory committee meeting, where she reported that the county received over $2.3 million in interest from their various investment accounts last year.
The 2023 totals, as presented by Warnock, included:
• STAR Ohio: $333,586.87 interest, currently at a 5.58-percent interest rate;
• STAR Plus: $121,527.05 interest, 4.05-percent interest rate;
• Fifth Third (CDs): $178,517.85 interest, 2.46-percent average interest rate;
• Checking account: $471,152.37 interest, 5.2-percent interest rate; and
• ICS account: $1,215,987.84 interest, 5.58-percent interest rate.
“The total overall interest that we earn for 2023 was $2,320,772 off of our investments,” Warnock said. “Interest rates are still doing really well. Hopefully they’ll continue that way.”
In response to Daniels’ question of whether they needed to make any changes, Warnock said “the only money we would have” that they could move would be what’s in their ICS account, but since “they’re paying us 5.58 percent on that, I don’t see where we’d want to move that anywhere else.
“We'll be starting first half [property tax collection] here soon, and that dollar amount is going to go up with that money coming in,” Warnock said. “Getting paid at 5.58 percent, that’s going to be the best place to leave it for right now.”
Following their regular meetings, commissioners were scheduled to hold the following additional meetings:
• A Zoom meeting with Highland Health Providers;
• An executive session to consider the purchase of property; and
• An executive session to consider employee compensation and policy.