Commissioners updated on ongoing area transportation plan revisions

Highland County Mobility Manager Chris Hetzel met with Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton to provide an update on ongoing transportation plan revisions during their Wednesday, April 10 meeting.

As previously reported, Hetzel told commissioners in January that the Ohio Department of Transportation is “moving toward regionalization of coordinated transit” and is asking the entire region — which includes Highland, Adams, Brown, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton counties — to have a “coordinated plan.” The counties are working with the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission on the plan, to be completed later this year and implemented in 2025.

“Each individual county has its own plan right now, but we have begun the process in this region to write one plan as a region that will cover all 10 counties,” Hetzel said Wednesday. “Commissioner Roades and Phil Loudin are part of an oversight committee through OVRDC, whereas we the mobility managers are writing this plan as a group. His committee oversees and votes yea or nay as we write this plan. 

“Right now, we're in the first two sections of it, which covers about 45-50 pages of a 200-page document. We'll be writing this over the next year. It'll go into effect fiscal year ’25, which is July of ’25.”

Hetzel said “getting across county lines at a reasonable rate” is one of the major topics being discussed, and Highland County’s program is being looked at as “a model” thanks to FRS Transportation. 

“We're very fortunate here in Highland County to have an organization like FRS, who is really, really far advanced as far as transportation organizations go throughout the state,” Hetzel said. “They're actually one of the top two rural transportation providers in the entire state, and really a model for others to look at, to copy, if you will. 

“They brought it up a couple of times during the meeting yesterday how we were very fortunate.”

Another topic discussed at the meeting is a new “initiative that mobility managers from the region started,” called “Friends of Mobility,” as a way to help make transportation accessible to even more individuals, according to Hetzel.

“Each manager from the county is trying to solicit funds to hold in a pot to help folks who either fall in the cracks of maybe their insurance doesn't qualify them for transportation to be able to go to their doctor's appointment or therapy or dialysis or anything like that, and also really geared towards workforce,” Hetzel said. “This is what we hear all the time from the public: ‘I can get a job, I just don't have a way to get there.’ We're going to use those funds to maybe buy a bus pass to get them started. 

“[Highland County Economic Development Director] Julie Bolender has done a great job of working with local employers, factories, to try to make that a part of their onboarding package, if you will.”

If transportation is preventing people from seeking employment, Hetzel said employers can purchase a bus pass for new hires. Similar programs have already been implemented in Adams County with success, he added.

“We're going to also use that pool of funds that I can start gathering together to maybe help those folks who need a bus pass to work or need a ride just to get an interview to a job,” Hetzel said. “We're going to we're going to publicize that. Commissioner Roades and Phil both talked to me last night about helping solicit those funds, going to some of the organizations around town and around the county to work toward that.”   

Other exciting local development is that FRS is now “going to expand to Saturday services” effective April 20, with transportation offered from 5 a.m.-11 p.m. on Saturdays, Hetzel said.

For a reminder of FRS rates, Hetzel said that each individual trip costs $1 per person for people living in the Hillsboro city limits; $2 per person within 10 miles of the Hillsboro city limits; and $3 per person outside that 10-mile radius to go anywhere in Highland County. Trips are to be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance.

“For example, if we pick somebody up here in Hillsboro, and they wanted to go to Greenfield, it's $1 to pick them up here,” Hetzel said. “They set a return trip to come back to Hillsboro, it's $3, so round trip from here to Greenfield and back is $4. 

“Since we do the transit in Adams and Brown County, if you wanted to go between the counties, it's only $4 per trip.”

Monthly bus passes can be purchased for $20 for those living in the Hillsboro city limits, to go anywhere in Highland County; $30 for anyone outside of Hillsboro, to go anywhere in Highland County; or $35 for anyone in Highland County to travel to Adams/Brown counties. Those rates cover 30 calendar days and are for unlimited trips.  

“That’s been a tremendous success,” Hetzel said of the bus passes.

Commissioners thanked Hetzel for the information.

Roades said that part of the reason he invited Hetzel to speak Wednesday was to recognize him for all the positive feedback they heard about Highland County specifically, as Hetzel referenced.

“At our meeting yesterday with 10 other counties, almost every county at some point along the way referenced Chris and Highland County with their mobility management,” Roades said. 

As commissioners’ April 10 meeting also included, in unrelated appointments, hearing from Southern State Community College president Dr. Nicole Roades and Highland County Economic Development Director Julie Bolender, Commissioner Roades pointed out that work by them and other local leaders is also being noticed by other counties.

“We had a meeting last fall, the BB2C Conference — Building Bridges to Careers — that's the same type of scenario where we had our ACCESS program with Julie and everybody at Southern State,” Roades said. “They are using Highland County as a blueprint to look how to run the program. 

“We ought to be proud. We've got programs that are running and running strong. We’ve got people who are heading them up and going in the right direction.”

Roades added that someone from Brown County also recently told him they had noticed Hillsboro was “looking really nice.

“I said, well, it doesn't really have a whole lot to do with us, except for we've got a great group of people in the city,” Roades said. “It’s building the relationships, not only within our county, with the villages and cities, but it's also building those relationships in the counties that are adjacent to us to try to get us all working together and moving in one direction.

“We are sitting as a strong community, and I think what we're doing here needs praised and needs to be supported as it goes on.”

The other two commissioners agreed.

“It never hurts to ring your own bell,” Daniels said.

“The old saying is everybody’s rowing the boat in the right direction,” Britton added.
 
In other discussion:

• Commissioners held a bid opening for the Highland County Engineer’s Office for 2024 chip and seal projects. Three bids were submitted, including Miller-Mason Paving, $656,200; Allied Construction LLC, $1,033,600; and Russell Standard Corp., $1,024,425. 

Following review by engineer Chris Fauber and deputy engineer Christian Dunlap, commissioners voted 3-0 to award the bid to Miller-Mason Paving.

• Commissioners approved a subrecipient grant agreement with the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission and Economic Development Department for the Appalachian Community Grant Program Technical Assistance Grant.

“Well over a year [ago], our regional area chose to utilize OVRDC as our fiscal agent for the technical assistance money received from the Appalachian Community Grant,” Bolender said. “We just need to sign this is basically just entering into that agreement that we've spoken of for well over a year. 

“We have $141,975 left in our technical assistance money, and entering into this agreement will allow us to submit invoices to OVRDC for payment once our group approves those expenditures.”

As announced by Governor Mike DeWine’s office in 2022, the $500 million infusion into this region is to “help unite Appalachian communities on transformational local projects with three priorities: infrastructure, including downtown development; health care, such as investments in school- or community-based services to address physical and behavioral health; and workforce development, including public-private partnerships to build and coordinate job training.

“‘OhioBuilds – Small Communities, Big Impact – A Plan for Appalachia’ includes a $50 million planning phase to allow Appalachian communities and regional partnerships to develop transformational plans that incorporate each of the three aforementioned priorities. Following the planning, $450 million in implementation grants will be awarded to help communities and regional groups carry out projects that rejuvenate the region and stimulate economic growth.”

• Highland County Auditor Alex Butler briefly updated commissioners on property tax settlements and asked them to schedule a work session as the county’s property tax reappraisal is currently underway.

“We're pushing out of the last bit of our first-half real estate settlement money this week to in our various political subdivisions of the county,” Butler said. “The total dollar amount that we're pushing out into the various political subdivisions is $22,648,080.36. Last year at this time, what was distributed was $21,651,934.38, so we are up about four and a half percent from this time last year.

“What the county general fund will receive from the first-half settlement of this year is $1,520,147.75.”

Highland County Treasurer Vickie Warnock was also in attendance, and Daniels asked her about property owners who “pay up front for the entire year.” 

“We have had more people paying for the full year,” Warnock said. “I think more people each year are paying for the full year when they come in.”

Daniels said that as a result, “our second half settlement’s going to be down.”

As mentioned, 2024 is Highland County’s “sexennial reappraisal” year, and Butler said that “appraisers are in the field now.

“Something we should get on your agenda in the coming weeks would probably be a work session between our two offices to discuss the 2024 reappraisal year that we're in, to give an update on how that's going,” Butler said. “The state mandates that every six years, we do a full reappraisal of every parcel in the county.

“[Appraisers] should have a badge and a magnet on their car, an ID badge with them. They don't go inside homes, and they may not even come in your driveway or on your property.”

• Commissioners also heard from a citizen, Mark Partin, who expressed frustration about area solar projects, particularly one near his home.

“I’m an adjacent homeowner,” he said. “I feel like throughout the entire solar project that the adjacent homeowners have not been heard, listened to, approached in what has happened to them.”

He said there is “a noise” coming from the project as well as drainage issues, and he feels his concerns are “not getting any attention.” 

Daniels said he would be happy to listen to “specific issues.” For example, he pointed out that solar developers “are required to not to disrupt the normal drainage of an area, so if there are issues like that, that we can be made aware of that we can pass on to the regulators,” then the commissioners “are happy to do it.” He added that the county engineer’s office may also need to look into drainage issues if they affect roads involved in their Road Use Maintenance Agreement (RUMA).

“We're into three years here that I've mentioned this stuff,” Partin said. “There's not any collaboration.”

Daniels said the commission has “had more than one conversation” with regulators about issues at solar projects.

“Just so you know, there are areas where problems have been identified that they are now in discussions with those companies as to how to mitigate those,” Daniels said. “We are interested in those, because obviously, from the county standpoint, while we have very little to do with with some of these projects that have already got started, we want to make sure that the impact is what it's supposed to be. 

“A lot of times there's construction going on that, really, it's not our job to monitor it, but we can pass that on to those regulatory agencies that are supposed to be doing it and say, ‘hey, you need to get down here and address these.’”

Daniels said they would take Partin’s concerns “under advisement and see if we can't pass some of those concerns along.”

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

• A motion authorizing the commission president to execute a subgrant award agreement with the Ohio Department of Public Safety for a previously announced grant awarded to the Highland County Sheriff’s Office for body-worn cameras.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within County General Fund 1000 in the amount of $335.

• A standard annual contract among commissioners, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Highland County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Highland County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for the IV-D Contract Enforcement Program.

• A contract with Knoblauch Lawn Care/Kent Knoblauch for 2024 mowing services, after previously voting to award the bid to that company.

For more from Wednesday’s meeting, see the stories at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/commissioners-alternatives-violenc… and https://highlandcountypress.com/news/sscc-president-provides-update-com….

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