FRS Transportation changes, HCSO agreements discussed at Highland County commission meeting

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades received updates on upcoming FRS Transportation changes as well as work at the Justice Center during their Wednesday, Jan. 14 meeting.

Damon Lucas, CEO of FRS Transportation, revisited several previously discussed changes for the company and gave a brief annual report.  

For a review of 2025 statistics, Lucas said that FRS saw a seven-percent mile increase and a 17-percent passenger increase from 2024 to 2025.

“We did 156,000 trips system-wide, which is a three-county system [Highland, Adams and Brown counties],” Lucas said. “That's up from 128,000 from year prior, and 3.1 million miles, as opposed to the 2.9 [million] in the previous year. 

“We're getting more capacity into the vehicles and building more efficiency.”

In a meeting with commissioners in September, Lucas discussed recommendations in a recent transit study for their new five-year transit development plan. 

One of the major changes proposed was to put a cap on the current monthly passes, which are currently offered with $20, $30 and $35 options for unlimited rides. As of Feb. 1, Lucas said the unlimited passes will be eliminated, as they will instead offer “pay-in-advance cards” for which “fares will be deducted using a diminishing balance based on single-trip fares,” according to the FRS website.

“We need to be more consistent with what other rural public transits are doing in the state of Ohio, so we're going more toward a balance drawdown,” Lucas said. “In February, it'll be a two-way pass and just keep a diminishing balance.

“The fares will stay the same, though. They'll still be anywhere between $1 and $4 to ride anywhere in the county, so nothing is changing there, just the unlimited pass is going away.”

Roades pointed out that although the unlimited passes came “at a great cost,” they were effective in helping FRS “get your name out and the word out of who you are and what you do” in recent years.

“It helped a lot,” Lucas said. “It's run its course. We've done what we could for the community, and for sustainability, we need to move forward with diminishing balance. 

“As a reminder, those fares won't come to us anyhow. It all goes back to ODOT, so it doesn't help us in any one way or another to charge a different fare or pass rate.”

One of the other recommendations that will soon be implemented is a new software program that will offer “microtransits” in the cities in the tri-county area and on-demand services elsewhere in the counties.

”The official go-live date on that is going to be March 1,” Lucas said. “We have in-house training starting in February, look to be using both systems through February, and then go live in March, so we're pretty excited about that.”

In another update, Lucas said that Robert Murray was the winner of a previously announced raffle for a 2020 Ford Transit Connect van no longer in use by the company. FRS sold $10 raffle tickets for a chance to win the van, which has approximately 214,000 miles and is valued at $5,000. According to Lucas, FRS sold 177 tickets for the raffle.

In other discussion:

• Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders announced that the HCSO received a shipment of the new locks for the jail. 

As previously announced by the Ohio Governor’s Office, Highland County will receive $379,504 through the Ohio Jail Safety and Security Grant Program “to renovate restrooms and make security enhancements at the Highland County Justice Center. The award represents approximately 80 percent of the total project cost.”

The project included converting the floors to concrete, as well as replacing locks and the screens. The flooring project has already been completed, and Washington Lock Service will be working on the installation of the new locks, Sanders said. 

“Those locks are the original locks that came with that building, so that will be good,” Britton said.

During Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners approved several contracts for the Sheriff’s Office, one of which was motion to approve an annual service agreement for the Tek84 Intercept Whole Body Scanner at the Highland County Justice Center.

Inmates go through the scanner for officers to check for drugs, weapons or other contraband before being processed into the jail.

“They're actually here training all of our officers today, or all of our jail personnel,” Sanders said of the Tek84 company. “I think they added like eight or 10 updates [to the scanner] when they came in earlier, in December.”

Britton asked if the jail officers “catch a lot of contraband” with the scanner.

“A lot of it,” Sanders said. “It’s basically the same things that they use in hospitals and same technology.”

Also approved was an agreement among commissioners, the sheriff’s office and the Village of Mowrystown for law enforcement coverage in Mowrystown. Sanders said this is a continuation of an existing agreement.

“They just want extra patrol in Mowrystown, and they contacted the sheriff several years ago about it,” he said.

Finally, an agreement among commissioners, the sheriff’s office and Primary Health Partners for physician services for inmates was passed. Sanders said this is “a renewal with an increase in nurses’ pay per hour, and they’re adding a nurse practitioner” for when the usual physician is unavailable.

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

• An independent contract agreement with Tech-T Productions for audio/video work in the commissioners’ meeting room. Since the remodel of their meeting space, commissioners have added more smart boards for virtual meetings, but Britton said they have “had trouble” setting things up so that everyone can be seen and heard. Roades also noted that they rearranged the room to put a table and chairs directly in front of the commissioners for individuals who would like to give a presentation at their meetings.

•  A motion to approve Bill Huhman as the county’s Ohio Department of Agriculture apiary inspector for 2026, as he also served in the role for 2025. Commission clerk Ashleigh Willey noted that appropriations for that position have increased from $2,500 to $5,000 this year, which is “more in line with the rest of the counties around us and allows him to catch up on some hives, considering we hadn't had one in quite a few years before last year.”

• A motion to approve the hiring of Elizabeth Hudson as a new employee at the dog pound. According to county human resources director Amy Bradley, Hudson will begin work Jan. 26.

• In separate motions, commissioners approved an Ohio Water Development Authority Fund pay application and a Mechanical Construction pay application, both for ongoing work on the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant improvement project.

• A request from Probation to rename two line items within the 2170 Community Probation Department Services Fund: Operating Expenses and Drug Testing.

• A request from Probation for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2170 Community Probation Department Services fund in the amount of $57,900.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2505 County Land Bank fund in the amount of $300.

• A request from the Board of Elections to rename 7190 Receipt – Revenue – Ohio Elections Commission fund to Ohio Elections Integrity Commission fund.

• A resolution granting authorization for listed “then and now” purchase orders and authorizing the county auditor to issue warrants for their payment.

• A request from the Auditor to create the following line item within the 2170 Community Probation Department fund – Workers Compensation.

• A request from the Auditor for a budget modification within the 1000 County General fund retroactive to the 2025 budget in the amount of $255.30.

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