Highland County commissioners, other offices celebrate National County Government Month

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades recognized April 2024 as National County Government Month during their Wednesday, April 3 meeting, inviting staff from several offices to pose for a photo to represent some of the faces of county government.

Representing several different departments — including the auditor’s office, commissioners office, maintenance department, map office, recorder’s office, records center and treasurer’s office — were Ashley Behm, Heather Bieler, Angie Burnett, Andrea Crowe, Anne Griffith, Emily Jackson, Tiffany Johnson, Heather Loudin, Krista Mason, Cierra Moore, Nicole Oberrecht, Mary Remsing, Jo Sanborn, Anna Thomas, Julie Wallingford, Valarie Webb, Ashleigh Willey and Jeff Wilt.

Earlier in the meeting, several representatives of the Highland County Job & Family Services agency (Mariah Collier, Stephanie Kelley, Melissa Lipp and Jeremy Ratcliff) visited for an unrelated proclamation, while Highland County Auditor Alex Butler and Treasurer Vickie Warnock were also in attendance.

“There are a lot of different agencies within the county that do an awful lot of good work for thee people of Highland County,” Daniels said. “All those agencies are important to the operation of government within Highland County that serves the citizens.

“I want to make sure that we recognize the good work that you do and call attention to the different agencies. While we might be claiming this County Government Month, there's a whole lot of people that are out here serving our community that need recognition.”

Later, during their normal passage of resolutions, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the resolution to recognize April as National County Government Month 2024.

The resolution reads: “Whereas, the nation’s 3,069 counties serving more than 330 million Americans provide essential services to create healthy, safe and vibrant communities; and

“Whereas, counties fulfill a vast range of responsibilities and deliver services that touch nearly aspect of our residents’ lives; and 

“Whereas, Highland County and all counties take pride in our responsibility to protect and enhance the health, wellbeing and safety of our residents in efficient and cost-effective ways; and

“Whereas, Highland County and the County Commissioners Association of Ohio encourages our fellow citizens to become engaged and aware in services provided by county government throughout Ohio; and

“Whereas, we appreciate the dedication and hard work of the county workforce, who deliver critical services to the people of Highland County.”

After their regular session was over, the commissioners office, assisted by Warnock, quickly recruited staff members from several different offices in the Administration Building to come up for an impromptu photo, at Britton’s suggestion.

“This is more about the people that work in county government than it is about the elected officials,” Daniels said. “There are a lot of people that are work hard every day, and a lot of people don't see who those folks are.”

He added an apology “to the courthouse and everybody else for not having people here.”

In other discussion:

• Commissioners met with Josh Martin and Rick Provenzano of Horizon to discuss the fiber company’s offerings as well as upcoming changes.

Martin said that Horizon, which is based out of Chillicothe, “actually just rebranded yesterday as Glo Fiber” as the result of a merger with Shentel, a telecommunications company in Virginia. Provenzano said that the merger will open up additional markets for Horizon as well as expanding their services offered.

“We're just here to see kind of if there's any opportunity to partner with Highland County,” Martin said. “Glo Fiber has a stronger presence with fiber to the home, so that might be an opportunity in the future for unserved markets in Highland County.

“I just cover the enterprise side of things, and we do business with a lot of counties.”

Provenzano said that Horizon already works with several businesses in the Highland County area, including in Hillsboro, “running right through town.

“There's a lot of local and county governments that we have partnered up with,” he said.

Daniels asked if the company had only fiber internet or “total communication packages.” Provenzano said they offer “quite a few different services.

“It’s quite a big portfolio that we offer,” he said.  “That has actually just recently gotten larger with Glo Fiber coming alongside, and literally, that's what our name is going to be in probably 10 days.”

Roades also asked about “how far” Horizon’s fiber offerings have expanded.

“We have 7,200 miles of private fiber across from Youngstown all the way to Portsmouth,” Provenzano said. “We’ve done really well with health care, schools and government. That’s been where we’ve been able to find our niche.”

Provenzano said they would be interested in speaking with the county’s IT representative to see how they “match up” with their current contract.

“Competition in the marketplace is always a good thing,” Daniels said. “We would welcome the opportunity for you to sit down with our IT director and look and see if we can save money, if we can improve service and those kinds of things.”

Martin and Provenzano left their contact information with commissioners, who thanked them for the information.

• Commissioners voted to buy out their current contract with Otis Elevator and enter a new agreement with Schindler Elevator Corporation for maintenance/repair services. The Schindler company recently completed work on the Highland County Administration Building elevator.

“To buy out our current Otis contract would cost us $2,445.21,” Daniels said. “Our renewal number [with Otis] for this next year is $4,038.48 to renew that contract. Schindler's annual price is $1,920, so it's considerably less.

“If the board so chooses, we can buy out Otis, go with Schindler, and our net savings next year would be about $2,000 a year on the elevator contract.”

Commissioners voted 3-0 to make the approval.

• Daniels said that the county was notified by the Ohio Department of Commerce that “on the first of June, all Class C and D liquor permits will expire, and every permit holder must file for a renewal.”

According to the Ohio Division of Liquor Control, “Approximately 8,881 Retail (Class C and D) liquor permits (i.e. bars and restaurants) located in the following 34 counties will expire June 1, 2024: Adams, Allen, Auglaize, Brown, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Defiance, Drake, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Highland, Logan, Lucas, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Ottawa, Paulding, Preble, Putnam, Sandusky, Shelby, Van Wert, Warren, Williams and Wood. Local legislative authorities have the right to object to the renewal of a liquor permit in their jurisdiction. They must postmark their objections by May 2, 2024.”
 
“There's always an opportunity for the public to have input on those, and we offer that up to the community,” Daniels said. “Anybody that wants to send a statement has to do so to the Division of Liquor Control with their legal section on Tussing Road no later than May 2.”

• Daniels also noted that the commission was signing a letter of support for McClain FFA in connection with a recent presentation.

As previously reported, commissioners enjoyed a presentation by McClain FFA students and Agricultural Issues team members Brooke Baldwin, Addison Goddard, Avery Murphy, Reese Roble, Maguire Ross and Olivia Stegbauer during their March 20 meeting. 

• In addition to the National County Government Month resolution, commissioners made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

– A resolution to approve the Solid Waste Management Plan of the Ross Pickaway Highland Fayette County Solid Waste Management District.

– Three related resolutions to establish new funds. The resolutions included requests from the auditor to establish the following new funds: 7998, Probate Unclaimed Funds; 7997, Sheriff Sale Unclaimed Funds; and 7996, Auditor Sale Unclaimed Funds. Also requested was the creation of two line items for each fund.

“We currently have one unclaimed funds fund in our budget, but to be in compliance with ORC, we need to split it out,” Butler said. “We’ll tidy that up with these resolutions and get the money where it needs to be and better accounted for.”

– An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within County General Fund 1000 in the amount of $8,200.

– An annual consulting services agreement contract among commissioners, the auditor’s office and Local Government Services, LLC. Butler said the firm is “a resource that the auditor's office has used for a variety of accounting- and real estate-related questions that come before our office.”

• After their regular meetings, commissioners entered an executive session regarding employee compensation, followed by a work session with records manager Wallingford. No action was taken after either session, according to commission clerk Willey.

For more from Wednesday’s meeting, see the story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/commissioners-proclaim-april-child….

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