The possibility of a Suicide Fatality Review Committee was discussed at the weekly Wednesday morning meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

Jared Warner, the Highland County health commissioner, said the county has had a suicide prevention coalition for “several” years which has representatives from the hospital, county mental health associations, the health department and local partners that meets to work on behavioral and mental health issues.

He said something that has changed recently is Ohio passed a law in Ohio Revised Code that now allows counties to establish a suicide fatality review committee.

He said this is a “sort of” new process similar to the child fatality review committee the county already has. Warner said that committee is where every death of a Highland County resident under the age of 18 is reviewed by the health department and its community partners to try and identify common causes or trends in those deaths, and then look to find ways the community can “intervene” and prevent those deaths.

Warner said the idea behind the suicide fatality review committee is to follow that same approach. He said they would call in their community partners to look at individual suicides in the county and figure out common factors and causes, after which they would look to see what can be addressed “either” individually as agencies or collectively as a community.

In terms of the aspect of the deaths possibly being something the committee might need to ask permission to discuss, he said there wasn’t a process where it has to get permission.

“There’s not a process where we have to get permission from a family to review a death,” Warner said. “Of course, we’re very sensitive, especially in this community, and this has happened with child fatality review where we’ll be reviewing cases with people who, from other agencies, who are related to the case. So, we’re always really sensitive about how we address the deaths and how we look at that. And we’ve got a pretty good track record with child fatality and how to handle this type of thing respectfully. And it’s not about pointing out, you know, individual issues. It’s really looking at common trends.”

He said there are some aspects of confidentiality to the committee that would be easier if the committee was officially established by the board of commissioners. He also said some of the people involved in the committees have restrictions on what they can and can’t talk about pertaining to personally identifiable information.

For an example of the child fatality review committee and how it might be used, he said the county had a child fatality a couple of years ago that was a suicide by gun. He said they sat down “as a community” and tried to think of some “common sense” things that could be changed, such as locking up guns and promoting firearm safety training.

Warner said, to move forward with the committee, he would need the passage of a resolution by the board of commissioners, which he said he would send to the board soon.

In other news, Dave Bushelman, director of Highland County Emergency Management Agency, returned to the board of commissioners to deliver multiple possible bids for the 19 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) that would be coming to multiple Highland County buildings.

Bushelman said the first bid was for a lease of $2,261 per month for the 19 AEDs for a three-year contract, where the company would take care of all of the maintenance of the devices.

He said the second bid consisted of the county completely purchasing the devices and maintaining everything itself, saying it would cost around $50,000 with a recurring charge of $630 per month to take care of the Life Ready 360 equipment.

Bushelman then said his recommendation was the third option, which was that the county buy all the equipment for $42,454.05, and then spend $1,121 per month to have the company take care of all of the maintenance and liability.

Dave Daniels, vice chairman of the board of commissioners, said he would like Bushelman to give the board some time to take a look at the numbers and return to him with their choice. He said they might want to go with the full lease option.

“I don’t think there’s any question that we’re gonna move ahead with one contract or another,” he said.

Kenneth Bohl, Clay Township Trustee, also attended to meeting to pursue answers on why the baseball diamond job hadn’t been completed yet. He said the trustees saw complaints at its previous meeting and “all the time.”

Terry Britton, a member of the board of commissioners, said the county previously did the bids and they came in “way” over budget. He said McCarty Associates went back and had to adjust the bid.

“But we just gotta get the bid and the finances to match so that we can go forward with this because, you know, if we don’t have the money, we can’t release the bid,” Britton said. “So we’re still working on that, try to get that down. But that’s where we stand, but it’s gotta be done by the end of the year.”

Dan Ziegler, senior energy consultant at Muirfield Energy, was in attendance at the meeting to discuss energy updates. He said, similar to Graham Leu of IGS Energy from last week, that the one thing they have seen is changes in capacity in the PJM market.

“It’s a disconnect unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” he said.

He said that, for many years, they have recommended a fixed-all-in-capacity-included price. However, he said that for the county’s upcoming renewal, Muirfield Energy will be recommending a capacity pass-through model.

Daniels asked if that recommendation meant that the county would be paying for the electrons it’s buying and not include the capacity charge, and then whatever that charge is, it would be paid like a “rider.” Ziegler said that would be the case.

The board of commissioners also approved one authorization to execute, that being a Contractor’s App for Payment to Doll Layman, Ltd.

There were five resolutions approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:

*Res. No. 24-140 is the adoption of a plan for “Residential Anti-Displacement and Relocation Assistance” and provide relocation assistance to each low/moderate income household displaced by the demolition of housing.

*Res. No. 24-141 is the agreement to set the time and date for a public viewing in New Market Township to be held on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 10 a.m. and a public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 11 a.m. in the Highland County Commissioners Office.

*Res. No. 24-142 is the appointment of Christopher Fauber to serve on the District 15 Public Works Integrating Committee for a term of three years beginning October 2024.

*Res. No. 24-143 is a request by Board of DD for a budget modification within the 2470 MR/DD Help Me Grow Fund in the amount of $400.

*Res. No. 24-144 is a request for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to 5030 Rocky Fork Sewer District in the amount of $75,000.

There was also one contract approved by the board of commissioners, which is as follows:

*Contract 43 is between the board of commissioners, the Highland County Common Pleas Court and Canon for a 63-month copier lease for $155.19 per month.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.