Commissioners proclaim March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
Lead Summary
By
Caitlin Forsha-crforsha@gmail.com
Highland County commissioners Shane Wilkin, Jeff Duncan and Terry Britton presented a proclamation declaring March 2017 as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month during their Wednesday, March 15 meeting.
“We encourage all citizens to realize that individuals with developmental disabilities should be afforded opportunities in the community, including full access to housing, employment and recreational activities,” the commissioners said in the proclamation. “Opportunities for citizens with developmental disabilities to function as independently and productively as possible must be fostered in our community.”
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Accepting the proclamation were representatives from three local school districts, including: Community First director and People First of Ohio coordinator Kraig Walker, Community First Coordinator and Special Olympics Coordinator Nathan Boatman and Randy Heaton, on behalf of the Highland County Board of DD; Hillsboro Middle School intervention specialist Marci Snively, Hillsboro High School special education secretary Penny Carter and Hillsboro students Savannah Corrigan, Brandon Evans and Brylee Thornburg; and Lynchburg-Clay special education secretary Chris Hawk and LC student Reagan Leininger.
Representatives of the Highland County Board of DD also traveled to the Ohio Statehouse last week to meet with public officials, including Sen. Bob Peterson and representatives of Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s office, for DD Advocacy and Awareness Day.
Snively told commissioners that the Highland County Special Olympics Bowling Tournament will be held at Highland Lanes this Saturday, March 18 at 11 a.m. The event will also include a silent auction.
“This is our major fundraiser for the Highland County Special Olympics,” Hawk said. “It’s the only fundraiser we have.”
This year’s Special Olympics will be held this September at Lynchburg-Clay High School, but Boatman said that local track and field athletes will be competing in Rio Grande on April 28 for a chance to qualify for the State Summer Games in June.
Many of the students in attendance Wednesday morning are local athletes themselves, including basketball players and cheerleaders. Wilkin congratulated the Special Olympics Wildcats basketball team on their “come-from-behind classic victory” in a game last week against officers from the Highland County Sheriff’s Office.
• • •
Wilkin reported that a meeting this week in Columbus with Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction director Gary Mohr has been rescheduled for next Tuesday. Wilkin and Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss plan to attend the meeting next week, which will discuss a proposed amendment in Ohio House Bill 49 that would mean felony five offenders would be exempt from prison sentences for non-violent, non-sexual offenses.
Wilkin also spoke about meetings of the Rocky Fork Lake Area Safety and Advancement Plan (ASAP) steering group as well as the land bank committee held on Monday.
“The steering group met for Rocky Fork Lake and heard presentations regarding the groups to help us develop the plan and implement it,” Wilkin said. “We’re hoping to be able to select that sometime soon. My guess would be next Wednesday we’ll have the recommendation from the steering committee to the commissioners, and then the final decision lies with this office.”
The Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation held their first meeting after the Rocky Fork Lake ASAP meeting, Wilkin said. As previously reported in The Highland County Press, the corporation will “act on behalf of and in cooperation with the Highland County commissioners in exercising the powers and performing the duties of the commissioners under Chapter 5722 of the Ohio Revised Code; directing the preparation of an agreement and plan in furtherance of these matters; and authorizing related matters.”
The board includes Kathryn Allen of the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office; Paint Township trustee Randy Mustard; city of Hillsboro representative Charlie Guarino; and commissioners Britton and Wilkin.
“Mark [Current, of Highland County Community Action] had a lot of things printed off that dealt with other land banks, so they were pretty straightforward policies and procedures,” Wilkin said. “We are going to ask Anneka [Collins, Highland County prosecutor] to help us come up with a little more of a simple contract in the event somebody is wanting to purchase property from us.”
Wilkin said that he is glad the board members understand the goals of the land bank program.
“This is in no way an attempt of the government or the county or whomever to go out and grab land,” Wilkin said. “It’s land that’s not paying for itself. It’s not on a tax-paying basis. Typically, the taxes are going to be delinquent, and there doesn’t appear to be any public interest in it.
“I think everybody else also had the mindset that this has kind of got to be a business and you’ve got to justify the cleanup and have that end user before we go in and buy a piece of property. We’re not designed to acquire and hold. This is more of acquire and then get it to someone else that is going to take over the property and pay the taxes and better the community by owning it.”
At their next meeting on April 3, Wilkin said he anticipates Mustard will present the board with a list of properties to consider.
• • •
Duncan said that he attended a meeting of the Hope Over Heroin organizers this week. The event has been scheduled for June 16-17 at the Highland County Fairgrounds, Duncan said, and committees are being formed.
“They are still looking for volunteers,” Duncan said. “If anybody’s interested in helping with that program, Kim Davis is coordinating that, and she works at FRS. If anyone needs information and wants to help with that program, feel free to contact her.”
• • •
Highland County auditor Bill Fawley presented commissioners with a report of the permissive sales tax receipts thus far for 2017. March’s total was $657,253.18, bringing the year-to-date totals to $1,807,886.28.
“It’s going well so far,” Fawley said, as the numbers each month this year are higher than the 2016 totals for the same months.
Fawley also said that the county’s regular audit is being conducted this week by Millhuff-Stang.
• • •
In other action, commissioners approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:
• A resolution appointing the 2017 board members to the Highland County Local Corrections Planning Board & Reentry Coalition.
• A resolution authorizing a replacement structure on Lewis Lane in the amount of $173,800.
• A resolution entering a joint partnership with the city of Hillsboro for the Community Housing Impact & Preservation (CHIP) program.
• • •
Commissioners received and opened one bid for the Engineer’s Office from Hydro Conduit Corp.: gasket joint, $72,016.48; mastic joint, $38,581.04.
“We encourage all citizens to realize that individuals with developmental disabilities should be afforded opportunities in the community, including full access to housing, employment and recreational activities,” the commissioners said in the proclamation. “Opportunities for citizens with developmental disabilities to function as independently and productively as possible must be fostered in our community.”
[[In-content Ad]]
Accepting the proclamation were representatives from three local school districts, including: Community First director and People First of Ohio coordinator Kraig Walker, Community First Coordinator and Special Olympics Coordinator Nathan Boatman and Randy Heaton, on behalf of the Highland County Board of DD; Hillsboro Middle School intervention specialist Marci Snively, Hillsboro High School special education secretary Penny Carter and Hillsboro students Savannah Corrigan, Brandon Evans and Brylee Thornburg; and Lynchburg-Clay special education secretary Chris Hawk and LC student Reagan Leininger.
Representatives of the Highland County Board of DD also traveled to the Ohio Statehouse last week to meet with public officials, including Sen. Bob Peterson and representatives of Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s office, for DD Advocacy and Awareness Day.
Snively told commissioners that the Highland County Special Olympics Bowling Tournament will be held at Highland Lanes this Saturday, March 18 at 11 a.m. The event will also include a silent auction.
“This is our major fundraiser for the Highland County Special Olympics,” Hawk said. “It’s the only fundraiser we have.”
This year’s Special Olympics will be held this September at Lynchburg-Clay High School, but Boatman said that local track and field athletes will be competing in Rio Grande on April 28 for a chance to qualify for the State Summer Games in June.
Many of the students in attendance Wednesday morning are local athletes themselves, including basketball players and cheerleaders. Wilkin congratulated the Special Olympics Wildcats basketball team on their “come-from-behind classic victory” in a game last week against officers from the Highland County Sheriff’s Office.
• • •
Wilkin reported that a meeting this week in Columbus with Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction director Gary Mohr has been rescheduled for next Tuesday. Wilkin and Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss plan to attend the meeting next week, which will discuss a proposed amendment in Ohio House Bill 49 that would mean felony five offenders would be exempt from prison sentences for non-violent, non-sexual offenses.
Wilkin also spoke about meetings of the Rocky Fork Lake Area Safety and Advancement Plan (ASAP) steering group as well as the land bank committee held on Monday.
“The steering group met for Rocky Fork Lake and heard presentations regarding the groups to help us develop the plan and implement it,” Wilkin said. “We’re hoping to be able to select that sometime soon. My guess would be next Wednesday we’ll have the recommendation from the steering committee to the commissioners, and then the final decision lies with this office.”
The Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation held their first meeting after the Rocky Fork Lake ASAP meeting, Wilkin said. As previously reported in The Highland County Press, the corporation will “act on behalf of and in cooperation with the Highland County commissioners in exercising the powers and performing the duties of the commissioners under Chapter 5722 of the Ohio Revised Code; directing the preparation of an agreement and plan in furtherance of these matters; and authorizing related matters.”
The board includes Kathryn Allen of the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office; Paint Township trustee Randy Mustard; city of Hillsboro representative Charlie Guarino; and commissioners Britton and Wilkin.
“Mark [Current, of Highland County Community Action] had a lot of things printed off that dealt with other land banks, so they were pretty straightforward policies and procedures,” Wilkin said. “We are going to ask Anneka [Collins, Highland County prosecutor] to help us come up with a little more of a simple contract in the event somebody is wanting to purchase property from us.”
Wilkin said that he is glad the board members understand the goals of the land bank program.
“This is in no way an attempt of the government or the county or whomever to go out and grab land,” Wilkin said. “It’s land that’s not paying for itself. It’s not on a tax-paying basis. Typically, the taxes are going to be delinquent, and there doesn’t appear to be any public interest in it.
“I think everybody else also had the mindset that this has kind of got to be a business and you’ve got to justify the cleanup and have that end user before we go in and buy a piece of property. We’re not designed to acquire and hold. This is more of acquire and then get it to someone else that is going to take over the property and pay the taxes and better the community by owning it.”
At their next meeting on April 3, Wilkin said he anticipates Mustard will present the board with a list of properties to consider.
• • •
Duncan said that he attended a meeting of the Hope Over Heroin organizers this week. The event has been scheduled for June 16-17 at the Highland County Fairgrounds, Duncan said, and committees are being formed.
“They are still looking for volunteers,” Duncan said. “If anybody’s interested in helping with that program, Kim Davis is coordinating that, and she works at FRS. If anyone needs information and wants to help with that program, feel free to contact her.”
• • •
Highland County auditor Bill Fawley presented commissioners with a report of the permissive sales tax receipts thus far for 2017. March’s total was $657,253.18, bringing the year-to-date totals to $1,807,886.28.
“It’s going well so far,” Fawley said, as the numbers each month this year are higher than the 2016 totals for the same months.
Fawley also said that the county’s regular audit is being conducted this week by Millhuff-Stang.
• • •
In other action, commissioners approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:
• A resolution appointing the 2017 board members to the Highland County Local Corrections Planning Board & Reentry Coalition.
• A resolution authorizing a replacement structure on Lewis Lane in the amount of $173,800.
• A resolution entering a joint partnership with the city of Hillsboro for the Community Housing Impact & Preservation (CHIP) program.
• • •
Commissioners received and opened one bid for the Engineer’s Office from Hydro Conduit Corp.: gasket joint, $72,016.48; mastic joint, $38,581.04.