County Healthy Aging Grant's successes celebrated at commission meeting

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton heard an update on the successes of a Healthy Aging Grant, approved a pay raise for county employees and made several approvals related to ongoing projects during their Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting.

Highland County Community Action Executive Director Julia Wise provided the final report for the county’s Healthy Aging Grant at the start of the meeting.

As previously reported, Britton announced in March 2023 that the state had allocated $259,581.37 in Healthy Aging Grant funding for Highland County. In December, commissioners said that the grant would be administered by Highland County Community Action Organization and voted 3-0 to enter a contract with HCCAO for that purpose.

“It was just a wonderful opportunity to help seniors,” Wise said Wednesday. “The other thing that was nice was it was above the normal poverty guidelines, so a lot of those people are on a fixed income, but they can't actually get assistance through our programs.

“It was just a nine-month program. We really enjoyed having the opportunity.”

For the full grant period, a minimum of 400 unduplicated seniors were served, Wise said. However, as noted in their final report, as many as “over 3,000 people” may have been impacted in some way by the grant, as it included digital literacy outreach that included in-person events, social media, a resource guide and more.

The “priority services” for the grant were housing assistance (46 percent of the total funding), food assistance (25 percent) and internet access/digital literacy (10 percent), according to state guidelines.

Over 75 unduplicated seniors were impacted by the housing assistance program, which included housing repair, housing payments and utility payments. According to Wise’s report, that included repairs or replacement of sewage systems, roofing, HVAC, water heaters, doors, ramps and bathrooms, as well as pest extermination. Seventeen households were provided rent, mortgage and/or property tax assistance, and 27 households received utility assistance.

“We had one woman that we just happened to hear, she was raising her grandchild, and she needed new doors and windows, and she was so grateful that that got done,” Wise said. “We targeted individuals that were raising their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and veterans. There was a mix, but we wanted to make sure we hit those numbers, which we did.”

For food assistance, Wise reported that 60 unduplicated individuals used the home-delivered meals program, with 100 using the food/personal pantry.

“We've had, at one point, 44 seniors come into the congregate meal site,” Wise said. “Yesterday, I was there for a veterans celebration, and we probably had 30 individuals there, so our numbers are going up.

“One kind of neat story was we took the group to La Comedia, and we took them on a riverboat cruise as activities. One of the seniors had never, ever been to the Ohio River.”

In February, Wise told commissioners that HCCAO provided a total of 40,822 meals for seniors in 2023 and expected that number to potentially rise in 2024.  

“During COVID, the Aging Department was like, ‘put people on, put people on’ [the home-delivered meals program],” Wise said Wednesday. “Now that's gone, we don't have nearly enough funds to continue serving that many people, but I vowed we are not going to take them off the program. What is it for a senior that's in need and homebound, getting home-delivered meals, and all of a sudden we say ‘you can't have a meal anymore, sorry?’ So we're keeping those on.”

For the digital literacy aspect, as mentioned, the Health Department hosted several in-person training events, plus had social media outreach, flyers, etc. Along with in-person events led by Health Commissioner Jared Warner, a 33-page digital literacy resource guide for senior citizens was produced using grant funding.

“[Warner] he did a lot of things, put some information out there publicly, some things online,” Wise said. “He’s created this wonderful project [the resource guide] for us as well.”

As she mentioned in February, the third-largest area in the original budget for the grant was a senior programs coordinator ($41,329), but Wise said that HCCAO is “internally” administering the grant.

“A very small amount was put for directing it,” Wise said. “The rest we put directly into direct services, because that's important for us to be able to do that. We were all just kind able to handle our own parts internally with our current staff.”

Wise added that a results study is being conducted “to share with the General Assembly,” with the hope being that the state may consider funding such a grant again in the future. She thanked commissioners “for the opportunity,” while commissioners thanked her and HCCAO for their work on the grant. Both Wise and commissioners credited ARPA funding coordinator Nicole Oberrecht as well for her assistance.

In other discussion:

• Commissioners voted at 9:30 a.m. to enter an executive session to discuss employee compensation. According to commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, upon exiting executive session, “the board voted 3-0 to approve a 3.5-percent pay increase to county employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.”

• Commissioners congratulated Highland County native Gerold “Buzzard” Wilkin and Rep. Brad Wenstrup on their recent induction into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

“We congratulate them for the work that they’ve done and their service, and we wish them well,” Daniels said.

• Commissioners made two approvals related to the Clay Township Park improvement projects.

First was a motion to authorize the commission president to execute a change order with Kiley Construction.

As previously reported, the county received $250,000 for the demolition of the former Buford school, which has been completed, and subsequent renovations. In May, commissioners opened bids for Clay Township park improvements and playground equipment. Two physical bids were submitted, with Kiley Construction having the low bid.

“We didn’t have enough money to take care of replacing the playground equipment, so we’re going to do some refurb on it,” Britton said. “We had a little extra money from stuff that we had to cut out, so we put it back in.

“There was some concrete for the pavilion, some work around the playground equipment and just some general cleanup. There was some blacktop that we were going to seal.”

As previously reported, when the project was awarded, a change order removed $89,283 from the original contact, bringing the new project cost to $110,000.
 
Also approved was a $4,850 quote from Ultra Pro Professional Painting for work to refurbish the playground equipment.

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to issue a notice of award to Unger Construction Ltd., who submitted the lowest and best bid for the Rolling Acres wastewater system repair/replacement project.

Unger Construction submitted a bid in the amount of $399,600, according to a bid opening held Oct. 30.

• Commissioners authorized an application for payment for Doll Layman, Ltd. for ongoing work at the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“They are continuing their work,” Daniels said. “They've passed the point of substantial completion, going through a few last-minute cleanup items, and that project is going to be wrapping up very soon.”

• Commissioners approved the purchase of a 2025 Ford Explorer for Highland County Juvenile Court, which will be purchased using grant funding, according to Daniels.

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to accept a $22,880 quote from Durable Slate Company  for roof repairs at the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office.

• Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders reported that the department’s new K-9, Code, was preparing to complete training, with graduation set for Nov. 15.

“I’m sure he’ll pass the state test, and we’ll have a second dog on the road,” Sanders said.

The first K-9, Dom, is doing well and has “already been involved in a couple felony” arrests.

“Last night, they got three ounces of meth out of a traffic stop,” Sanders said. “Earlier, we had a suspect that fled, and he tracked him a couple weeks ago, and he was apprehended. He’s doing good so far.”

• Highland County mobility manager Carl Rayburn announced that for the Work Ride Solutions pilot program — through which FRS offered free rides to and from work, thanks to a national grant — a total of 143 clients were served.

“We felt that was a pretty good success and a great hope for folks here in the county,” Rayburn said.

Commissioners also approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A budget modification from Transfers Out to County General (1000) fund in the amount of $50,000.

• A budget modification within the 5030 Rocky Fork Lake Sewer District Fund in the amount of $5,000.

• A request from Probation for a budget modification within the 2620 PSG FY24-25 Fund in the amount of $24,850.

• A request from the Recorder for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2155 Recorder Equipment Fund in the amount of $5,345.

• A resolution to rename fund 2640 within the Commissioners fund, to RPIG PY23 (Residential Public Infrastructure Grant). The new fund shall have an appropriation of $750,000.

• A request from the Sheriff for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 2220 Sheriff Donations Fund in the amount of $25,537.38.

• A resolution declaring a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox at the Veterans Service Commission as no longer needed by the county and obsolete, ORC 307.12(A)(1), and therefore listed as surplus property and no longer needed by the county.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 5030
Rocky Fork Lake Sewer District Fund in the amount of $12,000.

• A request from JFS for a transfer from Public Assistance Fund (2050) to Children Services Fund (2115) in the amount of $104,446.99.

For more from Wednesday’s meeting, see the story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/commissioners-recognize-hunger-and….

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