Highland County Commissioner candidates discuss drug epidemic, economic development at Tea Party forum
Lead Summary
By
Caitlin Forsha-crforsha@gmail.com
Candidates for Highland County Commissioner Terry Britton, Alex Butler and Tara Campbell spoke about their vision for the county and answered questions from citizens at a forum hosted by the Highland County Tea Party at the Hi-TEC Center Monday night.
Each candidate spoke for several minutes, with the order being selected by lottery, according to Tea Party president Gary Furnish. Following their remarks, which included biographical information and an overview of their plans for the county, all three candidates fielded questions from the audience.
• • •
Independent candidate Butler, who was selected to speak first, said that after graduating from college and working full-time in Chicago, he asked himself, “Where can I apply my education, my experiences, my values, to something that really matters?”
“All roads led back to home,” Butler said. “I knew that this seat was coming open on the county commission and decided to pursue it.
“I want to serve in the place I care most about and be near to the people I care most about.”
Butler said that the drug epidemic in the county is among “the most pressing challenges facing our community.” He cited statistics from a survey of local high school students, which found that the “average age of first use in Highland County is 12 and a half.”
“Drugs don’t discriminate,” Butler said. “All facets of our community are affected and at risk.”
Butler said that he has been working with the Highland County Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition to help combat drug abuse in the area.
“It consists of local law enforcement, counselors, members of the business and faith communities and just concerned citizens who said, ‘Enough is enough. We’ve got to do something,’” Butler said. “For the past few months, we’ve put together a plan to educate the community at large to prevent drug abuse.”
Related to the drug abuse epidemic, Butler said, is the increase in children in protective care and its impact on the county’s budget.
“The issue affects even the most innocent among us, like it or not, and at a high financial cost to taxpayers,” Butler said. “We currently have approximately 110 kids in publicly funded foster care. This has skyrocketed the cost of the Children Services department of Job and Family Services.”
Butler listed several ideas for improving the Children’s Services department, including: increasing the number of qualified foster parents in Highland County to reduce the costs involved with placing children in homes in other counties; developing a “more permanent local solution that reduces the costs to taxpayers;” and taking “a hard look at Children Services” to make it “sustainable.”
“Columbus and D.C. are always going to do what they have always done,” Butler said. “We have got to put our heads together to solve our own problems. Nobody cares about Highland County more than Highland County. Nobody understands Highland County more than Highland County. Nobody can solve our problems better than us.”
Butler also said that economic development is a necessity.
“We have opportunities and potential all around,” Butler said, adding that local businesses such as PAS Technologies in Hillsboro and Corvac Composites in Greenfield continue to add new jobs to the area.
“Part of the key to success is working together and understanding the changing economy … a willingness to adapt to it, and aggressing soliciting new business, working with regional partners,” he said. “Regional success is local success.”
Butler also spoke about his choice to run as an Independent, saying that he did it to “focus on the issues, make progress and find solutions” without worrying about “party preservation.”
“By running as an Independent, I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” Butler said. “It’s not just talk.”
• • •
Democratic candidate Tara Matthews Campbell said that she decided to run for commissioner because she thought her educational and professional background applied to many of the issues Highland County faces.
“I remember reading that and thinking, ‘you know, a lot of these things I have a little bit of education in, and I have a little bit of experience in,’” Campbell said. “Just as I felt called to serve my country in the military, I felt called to serve again and run for Highland County commissioner.”
That career background includes serving as a military police officer while in the US Marine Corps; working with delinquent youth at Lighthouse Youth Center; and working with Highland County Children’s Services and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, where she was involved in child welfare compliance.
“When I worked in child welfare compliance, I got to travel around the state,” Campbell said. “I saw different foster care agencies, different adoption agencies, different children services agencies throughout Ohio. Some were doing great, and some not so much. I think through that experience, and the best practices I was able to see throughout the state – the things I learned while I was there are things we could implement right here in Highland County.”
Campbell also spoke about her current job at Highland County Community Action, where she serves as the director of workforce services for OhioMeansJobs. Campbell said her work with other agencies and even the federal government has helped her learn the importance of partnerships.
HCCAO was the only organization in Ohio, and one of only ten in the country, to be selected for a Rural IMPACT (Integration Models for Parents and Children to Thrive) project grant, Campbell said. The agency is working on multi-generation poverty with assistance from the US Department of Agriculture and the White House Rural Council.
“If we can get the next generation stepped out of poverty, it’s going to help our national budget, our state budget, our local budget – plus these families are going to have opportunities that maybe the generation before them never had,” she said.
Campbell said that she has also worked with the current Highland County commissioners, Southern State Community College and the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth with her current job.
“I think partnerships are something that can help us overcome a lot of our challenges,” Campbell said. “If you don’t reach out to your partners and to state elected officials, you’re losing out on a lot of opportunities to expand your county.”
Campbell said the two most important issues in the county are “our safety and our children.” She has previously worked with Job and Family Services director Katie Adams and would welcome the opportunity to work with her again if elected commissioner.
“We have a really good working relationship,” Campbell said. “Some of the things that need done at Children Services is just implementing best practices. There are things throughout the state that work, and we need to bring them here.”
Campbell said that she is “a Highland County girl” who considers all Highland Countians family.
“I’ve traveled around the world and came back home,” Campbell said.
• • •
Republican candidate Terry Britton said that his decades of management experience at Hobart Corporation included $60 million budgets and work with construction projects, and he has also served on the Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education.
“I have 42 years of work experience, and I will be a full-time commissioner,” Britton said.
Britton said that his vision for the county is growing the economy, with an emphasis on obtaining grants and outside funding and working to promote Rocky Fork Lake.
“Funding is the key to success,” Britton said. “Our working with the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission every year, a lot of funds come into the county through that organization. We’ve got to work very hard each year trying to get some of those funds channeled to Highland County. Without funding, nothing happens.”
Britton said that the current board of commissioners has done a great job working with current manufacturing companies, and he wants to continue to meet with the companies to bring new jobs to the area.
“Our commissioners right now are going basically door to door with our local manufacturing facilities and talking to people, trying to figure out if there’s anything they need and anything the commission can do for these companies,” Britton said.
The county also needs to pursue opportunities with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Britton said.
“Rocky Fork Lake is a huge area, and it’s a beautiful area,” Britton said. “Our Rocky Fork coalition that’s working out there around the lake has done a great job.”
One possible opportunity at the lake that Britton suggested would be a lodge, such as the new facility recently announced at Cave Lake in Pike County.
“We need to look at new development projects,” Britton said. “Pike County just got a new lodge. I don’t see any reason why we can’t go after something like that.”
Britton also discussed the $843,498 Department of Justice grant for Rocky Fork Lake announced earlier this month and listed the goals for utilizing the grant, including development of a land bank at the lake, increased law enforcement and an increased presence by the Highland County Health Department.
Britton said the county needs to find a way to support the efforts highlighted in the grant after its two years expire.
“The only downside to the grant is the challenge that we have to sustain it,” Britton said. “I think that we can start now. We’ve got two years to try to figure out what kind of funding we can possibly get or take a look at the budget to see where we can pull back. You’ve got to start now. It’s a long process.”
Britton also spoke about the drug problem in the area, saying that the key to combating the rampant abuse is “education.”
“The communities are doing a great job,” Britton said. “This summer, there were events held trying to get the word out. The drug coalition is working very hard, and our faith-based programs. We just need to make sure we have support for all of those.”
Britton said that if elected, he would use the same qualities he has always used in his management experience.
“Listening and making decisions based on facts is the way that I do business,” Britton said.
• • •
All three candidates also gave their views on Issue 7 and Issue 8, two local tax levies on the November ballot. All three candidates said that they supported Issue 8, a 1.9 mill levy for Highland County Children Services, but only Campbell supports Issue 7, a 1 mill levy for the Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMH) Board.
“In general, I’m opposed to things that raise taxes,” Butler said of Issue 7. “It’s hard to quantify how much Highland County actually benefits.”
Britton agreed, saying he “doesn’t like the system.”
“There’s too much politics going through all five counties,” Britton said.
Campbell said that she “struggled” with Issue 7, but that her support of Issue 7 stems from her support of Issue 8, as “part of the whole picture.”
“If we don’t pass the ADAMH Board levy, and say the Children Services levy passes – you’re taking care of the kids, but the issue is continuing with the families that are addicted and on drugs,” Campbell said. “I don’t think that we’re going to be able to solve a problem if we pass just one levy, because right now our problems are together. To be able to serve that entire family and work on reunifying a child that has been placed in foster care, we’re going to have to provide services for addiction treatment.”
Butler supports Issue 8, “with hard conditions,” he said. He cited both the increased drug use in the county and the Highland County commissioners’ action to disband the children services board of governors as reasons for the need for increased funding.
Butler said that in her role as JFS director, Adams has worked to “increase general oversight and accountability,” which he said had been lacking since the disbandment of the board of directors, and that she has also worked to cut spending.
“I know it’s a complicated situation, but I’ve talked with Katie, and some good things are happening in the department,” Butler said. “We’ve got to take care of our kids.”
Britton echoed Butler’s praise of Adams.
“To date, she’s taken out $600,000 out of her budget,” Britton said. “Children Services is a problem. It’s going to cost us a little bit of money to straighten it up, but I look at the kids. From being on the school board, it’s all about the kids to me. When I look at this situation, it’s all about the kids.
“We have an obligation to take care of the children in our county.”
As she discussed earlier, Campbell said that she supported Issue 8, as well as advocating for changes at the agency.
“I absolutely know when it’s passed, it has to come with someone going in and working with Katie and making sure best practices are implemented so we aren’t back in the same situation,” Campbell said.
• • •
Following their remarks, candidates took turns responding to several questions posed by the audience.
The first question was regarding “improving transportation … to contribute to more opportunities in Highland County.”
Britton said that Highland County Engineer Dean Otworth has done well at improving infrastructure in the county.
“There have been some bypasses in the past few years, with Hobart [Drive] being the last one, to try to help solve some of the traffic issues that we have,” Britton said. “It would be a very big challenge for us to bring an interstate or something that would be close to that.”
Butler added that Highland County is “in a logistical desert,” with major highways in all directions “but nothing like that right through Highland County.”
“It is a huge challenge,” Butler said. “It would be very helpful in a lot of ways to have that, but the reality is it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
Campbell said that an interstate system in Highland County would negatively impact local farmers.
“I see the benefit of trying to bring more roads to Highland County, but by doing that, you’re going to hurt the local agriculture industry,” Campbell said. “You’re going to take away from farms, from farmland. That’s not something that I would be willing to do.”
Another audience member asked if the commissioner’s office was a “stepping stone” for the candidates to pursue higher political offices.
“Absolutely not,” Britton said. “I’m here for the long run for the county, and that’s it.”
Butler said that he didn’t “want to shut any doors” but that he was committed to serving as commissioner.
“We have big challenges here in Highland County,” Butler said. “Before I would consider anything else, I want to accomplish some good things in Highland County.
“Full-time pay, to me, requires full-time work. I am pledging that I will be a full-time commissioner.”
Campbell agreed with Butler about “not going to close any doors,” but she said her “focus is Highland County.”
“The problems we’re facing now deserve full-time attention,” Campbell said. “If someone is up there not giving 150 percent, we’re going to continue down the path that we’re currently on. It’s not acceptable.”
• • •
Prior to the candidates’ remarks, the crowd also heard comments from Manya Jones, who spoke out against a proposed pain management clinic in Hillsboro. She and Furnish encouraged the crowd to sign a petition against the clinic and to attend the next Highland District Hospital board meeting on Oct. 26.
Highland County Tea Party member Barb Cole invited the crowd to attend a second forum hosted by the Tea Party, scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Greenfield public library.
Furnish also invited the crowd to attend the monthly Highland County Tea Party meetings.
Each candidate spoke for several minutes, with the order being selected by lottery, according to Tea Party president Gary Furnish. Following their remarks, which included biographical information and an overview of their plans for the county, all three candidates fielded questions from the audience.
• • •
Independent candidate Butler, who was selected to speak first, said that after graduating from college and working full-time in Chicago, he asked himself, “Where can I apply my education, my experiences, my values, to something that really matters?”
“All roads led back to home,” Butler said. “I knew that this seat was coming open on the county commission and decided to pursue it.
“I want to serve in the place I care most about and be near to the people I care most about.”
Butler said that the drug epidemic in the county is among “the most pressing challenges facing our community.” He cited statistics from a survey of local high school students, which found that the “average age of first use in Highland County is 12 and a half.”
“Drugs don’t discriminate,” Butler said. “All facets of our community are affected and at risk.”
Butler said that he has been working with the Highland County Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition to help combat drug abuse in the area.
“It consists of local law enforcement, counselors, members of the business and faith communities and just concerned citizens who said, ‘Enough is enough. We’ve got to do something,’” Butler said. “For the past few months, we’ve put together a plan to educate the community at large to prevent drug abuse.”
Related to the drug abuse epidemic, Butler said, is the increase in children in protective care and its impact on the county’s budget.
“The issue affects even the most innocent among us, like it or not, and at a high financial cost to taxpayers,” Butler said. “We currently have approximately 110 kids in publicly funded foster care. This has skyrocketed the cost of the Children Services department of Job and Family Services.”
Butler listed several ideas for improving the Children’s Services department, including: increasing the number of qualified foster parents in Highland County to reduce the costs involved with placing children in homes in other counties; developing a “more permanent local solution that reduces the costs to taxpayers;” and taking “a hard look at Children Services” to make it “sustainable.”
“Columbus and D.C. are always going to do what they have always done,” Butler said. “We have got to put our heads together to solve our own problems. Nobody cares about Highland County more than Highland County. Nobody understands Highland County more than Highland County. Nobody can solve our problems better than us.”
Butler also said that economic development is a necessity.
“We have opportunities and potential all around,” Butler said, adding that local businesses such as PAS Technologies in Hillsboro and Corvac Composites in Greenfield continue to add new jobs to the area.
“Part of the key to success is working together and understanding the changing economy … a willingness to adapt to it, and aggressing soliciting new business, working with regional partners,” he said. “Regional success is local success.”
Butler also spoke about his choice to run as an Independent, saying that he did it to “focus on the issues, make progress and find solutions” without worrying about “party preservation.”
“By running as an Independent, I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” Butler said. “It’s not just talk.”
• • •
Democratic candidate Tara Matthews Campbell said that she decided to run for commissioner because she thought her educational and professional background applied to many of the issues Highland County faces.
“I remember reading that and thinking, ‘you know, a lot of these things I have a little bit of education in, and I have a little bit of experience in,’” Campbell said. “Just as I felt called to serve my country in the military, I felt called to serve again and run for Highland County commissioner.”
That career background includes serving as a military police officer while in the US Marine Corps; working with delinquent youth at Lighthouse Youth Center; and working with Highland County Children’s Services and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, where she was involved in child welfare compliance.
“When I worked in child welfare compliance, I got to travel around the state,” Campbell said. “I saw different foster care agencies, different adoption agencies, different children services agencies throughout Ohio. Some were doing great, and some not so much. I think through that experience, and the best practices I was able to see throughout the state – the things I learned while I was there are things we could implement right here in Highland County.”
Campbell also spoke about her current job at Highland County Community Action, where she serves as the director of workforce services for OhioMeansJobs. Campbell said her work with other agencies and even the federal government has helped her learn the importance of partnerships.
HCCAO was the only organization in Ohio, and one of only ten in the country, to be selected for a Rural IMPACT (Integration Models for Parents and Children to Thrive) project grant, Campbell said. The agency is working on multi-generation poverty with assistance from the US Department of Agriculture and the White House Rural Council.
“If we can get the next generation stepped out of poverty, it’s going to help our national budget, our state budget, our local budget – plus these families are going to have opportunities that maybe the generation before them never had,” she said.
Campbell said that she has also worked with the current Highland County commissioners, Southern State Community College and the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth with her current job.
“I think partnerships are something that can help us overcome a lot of our challenges,” Campbell said. “If you don’t reach out to your partners and to state elected officials, you’re losing out on a lot of opportunities to expand your county.”
Campbell said the two most important issues in the county are “our safety and our children.” She has previously worked with Job and Family Services director Katie Adams and would welcome the opportunity to work with her again if elected commissioner.
“We have a really good working relationship,” Campbell said. “Some of the things that need done at Children Services is just implementing best practices. There are things throughout the state that work, and we need to bring them here.”
Campbell said that she is “a Highland County girl” who considers all Highland Countians family.
“I’ve traveled around the world and came back home,” Campbell said.
• • •
Republican candidate Terry Britton said that his decades of management experience at Hobart Corporation included $60 million budgets and work with construction projects, and he has also served on the Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education.
“I have 42 years of work experience, and I will be a full-time commissioner,” Britton said.
Britton said that his vision for the county is growing the economy, with an emphasis on obtaining grants and outside funding and working to promote Rocky Fork Lake.
“Funding is the key to success,” Britton said. “Our working with the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission every year, a lot of funds come into the county through that organization. We’ve got to work very hard each year trying to get some of those funds channeled to Highland County. Without funding, nothing happens.”
Britton said that the current board of commissioners has done a great job working with current manufacturing companies, and he wants to continue to meet with the companies to bring new jobs to the area.
“Our commissioners right now are going basically door to door with our local manufacturing facilities and talking to people, trying to figure out if there’s anything they need and anything the commission can do for these companies,” Britton said.
The county also needs to pursue opportunities with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Britton said.
“Rocky Fork Lake is a huge area, and it’s a beautiful area,” Britton said. “Our Rocky Fork coalition that’s working out there around the lake has done a great job.”
One possible opportunity at the lake that Britton suggested would be a lodge, such as the new facility recently announced at Cave Lake in Pike County.
“We need to look at new development projects,” Britton said. “Pike County just got a new lodge. I don’t see any reason why we can’t go after something like that.”
Britton also discussed the $843,498 Department of Justice grant for Rocky Fork Lake announced earlier this month and listed the goals for utilizing the grant, including development of a land bank at the lake, increased law enforcement and an increased presence by the Highland County Health Department.
Britton said the county needs to find a way to support the efforts highlighted in the grant after its two years expire.
“The only downside to the grant is the challenge that we have to sustain it,” Britton said. “I think that we can start now. We’ve got two years to try to figure out what kind of funding we can possibly get or take a look at the budget to see where we can pull back. You’ve got to start now. It’s a long process.”
Britton also spoke about the drug problem in the area, saying that the key to combating the rampant abuse is “education.”
“The communities are doing a great job,” Britton said. “This summer, there were events held trying to get the word out. The drug coalition is working very hard, and our faith-based programs. We just need to make sure we have support for all of those.”
Britton said that if elected, he would use the same qualities he has always used in his management experience.
“Listening and making decisions based on facts is the way that I do business,” Britton said.
• • •
All three candidates also gave their views on Issue 7 and Issue 8, two local tax levies on the November ballot. All three candidates said that they supported Issue 8, a 1.9 mill levy for Highland County Children Services, but only Campbell supports Issue 7, a 1 mill levy for the Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMH) Board.
“In general, I’m opposed to things that raise taxes,” Butler said of Issue 7. “It’s hard to quantify how much Highland County actually benefits.”
Britton agreed, saying he “doesn’t like the system.”
“There’s too much politics going through all five counties,” Britton said.
Campbell said that she “struggled” with Issue 7, but that her support of Issue 7 stems from her support of Issue 8, as “part of the whole picture.”
“If we don’t pass the ADAMH Board levy, and say the Children Services levy passes – you’re taking care of the kids, but the issue is continuing with the families that are addicted and on drugs,” Campbell said. “I don’t think that we’re going to be able to solve a problem if we pass just one levy, because right now our problems are together. To be able to serve that entire family and work on reunifying a child that has been placed in foster care, we’re going to have to provide services for addiction treatment.”
Butler supports Issue 8, “with hard conditions,” he said. He cited both the increased drug use in the county and the Highland County commissioners’ action to disband the children services board of governors as reasons for the need for increased funding.
Butler said that in her role as JFS director, Adams has worked to “increase general oversight and accountability,” which he said had been lacking since the disbandment of the board of directors, and that she has also worked to cut spending.
“I know it’s a complicated situation, but I’ve talked with Katie, and some good things are happening in the department,” Butler said. “We’ve got to take care of our kids.”
Britton echoed Butler’s praise of Adams.
“To date, she’s taken out $600,000 out of her budget,” Britton said. “Children Services is a problem. It’s going to cost us a little bit of money to straighten it up, but I look at the kids. From being on the school board, it’s all about the kids to me. When I look at this situation, it’s all about the kids.
“We have an obligation to take care of the children in our county.”
As she discussed earlier, Campbell said that she supported Issue 8, as well as advocating for changes at the agency.
“I absolutely know when it’s passed, it has to come with someone going in and working with Katie and making sure best practices are implemented so we aren’t back in the same situation,” Campbell said.
• • •
Following their remarks, candidates took turns responding to several questions posed by the audience.
The first question was regarding “improving transportation … to contribute to more opportunities in Highland County.”
Britton said that Highland County Engineer Dean Otworth has done well at improving infrastructure in the county.
“There have been some bypasses in the past few years, with Hobart [Drive] being the last one, to try to help solve some of the traffic issues that we have,” Britton said. “It would be a very big challenge for us to bring an interstate or something that would be close to that.”
Butler added that Highland County is “in a logistical desert,” with major highways in all directions “but nothing like that right through Highland County.”
“It is a huge challenge,” Butler said. “It would be very helpful in a lot of ways to have that, but the reality is it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
Campbell said that an interstate system in Highland County would negatively impact local farmers.
“I see the benefit of trying to bring more roads to Highland County, but by doing that, you’re going to hurt the local agriculture industry,” Campbell said. “You’re going to take away from farms, from farmland. That’s not something that I would be willing to do.”
Another audience member asked if the commissioner’s office was a “stepping stone” for the candidates to pursue higher political offices.
“Absolutely not,” Britton said. “I’m here for the long run for the county, and that’s it.”
Butler said that he didn’t “want to shut any doors” but that he was committed to serving as commissioner.
“We have big challenges here in Highland County,” Butler said. “Before I would consider anything else, I want to accomplish some good things in Highland County.
“Full-time pay, to me, requires full-time work. I am pledging that I will be a full-time commissioner.”
Campbell agreed with Butler about “not going to close any doors,” but she said her “focus is Highland County.”
“The problems we’re facing now deserve full-time attention,” Campbell said. “If someone is up there not giving 150 percent, we’re going to continue down the path that we’re currently on. It’s not acceptable.”
• • •
Prior to the candidates’ remarks, the crowd also heard comments from Manya Jones, who spoke out against a proposed pain management clinic in Hillsboro. She and Furnish encouraged the crowd to sign a petition against the clinic and to attend the next Highland District Hospital board meeting on Oct. 26.
Highland County Tea Party member Barb Cole invited the crowd to attend a second forum hosted by the Tea Party, scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Greenfield public library.
Furnish also invited the crowd to attend the monthly Highland County Tea Party meetings.