The Highland County Board of Commissioners announced its plan to partner with the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia (ORCA) at its weekly Wednesday morning meeting.

Greenfield Village Council Chairman Phil Clyburn said ORCA is putting together a plan to start advertising and promoting throughout the whole region for the UNESCO Heritage Site coming to the area. He said the organization thinks it’ll bring about 174,000 to 180,000 visitors to the “region as a whole.” He also said that ORCA said that if the visitors didn’t have something to do, a plan or somewhere where they could get information, they will drive in and out.

“The quality of life is the ability for them to keep workers, for them to attract workers … It is the ability for us to help keep our children and grandchildren in this area,” Clyburn said. “We’re losing population and this is a way to help stop it, not all the way, but it helps us stop it. This is the first step in starting to look at a regional approach to advertising or promotion. It doesn’t cost us anything because there’s no work to it.”

Commissioner Terry Britton said multiple counties are involved in this partnership alongside Highland County, such as Adams, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Noble, Morgan, Perry, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Washington.

He also said the “biggest” thing about the partnership is it gives the counties in it a better chance for getting grants for projects around outdoor recreation. He said that’s good because Highland County has a lot of that with its lakes. He also said the partnership doesn’t cost the county anything.

In other news, the board of commissioners announced that AEP Ohio planned to build a proposed transmission project in Highland County. A document provided to media said that AEP Ohio representatives would build Spickard Station and multiple power line connections “to support a customer substation” in Dodson Township.

“These improvements, located at U.S. 50 near the intersection with Kibler Road, connect the customer’s substation to the existing power grid and create redundant electrical service,” the release said.

The release said that the project has been filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board and, if approved, construction would begin in the fall and be completed in spring 2024.

Britton said McCarty Associates is “still evaluating” the bids for the records storage building.

The board of commissioners also approved one authorization to execute, that being a contractor’s application for payment from Doll Layman for the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.