News on multiple Highland County solar projects was delivered at the weekly Wednesday morning meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

Alex Butler, Highland County auditor, reported that the New Market Solar Project has been deemed complete and operational for one phase of it. He said that because of that, they will have a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) payment due next year. Butler said his office planned to try and sync that up with the real estate settlement timeline and then distribute them at the same time.

Butler said that at this point, it’s “difficult to say” exactly who would get how much of the PILOT payment, but that it would be in the same proportion as the real estate settlement. He said that, for example, if the school gets “x amount” of the real estate settlement, they would get the same for the PILOT payment.

He said part of the reason his office doesn’t how specifically how much each parcel is receiving is because it needs to figure out where each parcel is located in terms of specifics like school districts.

In other solar project news, the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) delivered a brief on all of the projects in Highland County at the moment, which those new updates as follow:

*Concerning Highland Solar, located in Clay and Whiteoak townships, the project filed correspondence on Aug. 26, 2024, describing the “expectation of achieving commercial operations” and transitioning from construction to operations management. It also read that, in response to that correspondence, that OPSB staff did an on-site pre-operations meeting on Sept. 4, 2024, when compliance operations expectations were given. The report also read that “project is advancing positively and is expected to engage the DOD on PILOT implementation within the next three months.”

*Regarding Willowbrook Solar, located in Highland and Brown counties, on Sept. 4, 2024, OPSB staff approved the project’s use of a temporary off-site Operations and Management (O&M ) property, where the operations staff has office space to work while repairs on the main transformer are being worked on.

*For New Market Solar, located in Clay and Whiteoak townships, New Market is working on a redesign plan that falls in line with the previously discussed setback requirements and then the installation of approved agricultural-style fencing. The report also read that New Market Solar would pay $0.515 million to the Highland County Engineer’s Office for the completion of road repairs.

*On Dodson Creek, located in Hamer and Dodson townships, construction is on schedule and expected to be finished in early 2025.

In other auditor news, Butler delivered updates on the informal hearing period related to the property value increases. He said his office is still continuing to work through that appraisal hearing period, saying that it has seen a full schedule.

“In the auditor’s office, we are committed to transparency, informing the public and great customer service,” Butler said. “I work for the taxpayers and I wanna be as accessible to them and as informative as possible so I would encourage anyone, still while we’re in our informal hearing time, to reach out, to review the values we have online, let us know if they have any questions or if they want to call in and schedule or just walk in, we will accommodate that.”

He said his officer’s phone number is 937-393-1915 and the email is [email protected].

Butler said that, because the final abstract isn’t due to the state until the end of October, his office might have more time if the number of people exceeds the time allotted for the informal hearing date.

He said that a common question he is getting is how the property value increase might be related to a possible tax increase. In response to that, he said there are two parts to the tax equation. He said one is the valuation and the second part is the tax rate, which won’t be delivered until “probably” December. Because of that, his office can’t calculate or give an estimate on what the property taxes might be.

Concerning the cost of living, though, Butler said that something he needs to investigate is if the board of commissioners has the option to roll back part of the county’s millage like the state does and maybe “provide some relief in light” of the increased value and increased cost of living. He said it is something the board needs to look into “right away” and act on “as soon as possible.”

Dave Daniels, chairman of the board of commissioners, said Butler is working on a recommendation to give to the board on what they are allowed to do and the parameters of what it can do. He said the board would “probably’ hear back in the next few weeks on that.

In other news, Damon Lucas, chief executive officer at FRS Transportation, revealed that a new program would be coming to the organization. Lucas said FRS was awarded $20,000 in grant funds from the National Center for Mobility Management out of Washington, D.C., with him saying that FRS was one of four programs selected for this next project phase.

Lucas said the $20,000 is for a learning launch for the organization to look and see if there is a need in the area and a sustainability feature for workplace rides in FRS’s 10-county region stretching from Brown County to Gallia County.

He said the learning launch session begins on Sept. 30, 2024, and runs for around a month through Nov. 1, 2024. He said the program will offer free workplace rises for people already currently riding or people newly seeking employment, whether that’s for interviews or to work itself. Lucas said the free rides will come in the form of passes that the grant pays for.

Lucas said the project will only take place in Adams, Brown and Highland counties, with information available on the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission’s (OVRDC) website, the Area on Aging’s website, FRS Transportation’s website, with flyers also available for viewing.

Lucas said that after this project is finished and approved, it could open FRS for more federal funds possibly in Spring 2025 “to the tune of $75,000.”

He said to get involved in the program, people need to call the office at 937-393-0585, where there will be a form to fill out, and then after the end of the 30 days, the person will need to fill out a qualification survey.

The board of commissioners also discussed a possible Change Order for the Record Storage Building from Alpha Construction. Nicole Oberrecht, Highland County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds coordinator, said the change order was to waterproof the building foundation. She said it would “I guess” be the eastern wall.

Oberrecht said the original change order request was for around $54,000, She said after that request, the two sides went back and forth to try and scale down what they were looking for from the request.

She then said Alpha Construction returned with a request for $20,367.75 which, alongside the price increase, they asked for a six-day addition to the contract, with three of it being for the excavation period and another three for the waterproofing.

The board of commissioners approved the change order.

Jeremy Ratcliff, director of Highland County Job and Family Services, reported, despite the organization running for a renewal levy, that it was based on levy valuations from 2008. He said that means that if the levy is passed, it will lock in 2008 valuations.

The board of commissioners also approved two authorizations to execute, the first being a Change Order Request from Alpha Construction for waterproofing the Record Storage Building foundation and the other being a proposal for design and construction services at the possible Highland County Engineer Truck Barn by WDC Group.

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

*Res. No. 24-162 is an authorization for a request to create a new line item within Probations TCAP FY24-25 (2625) fund. Also requested was a budget modification within the 2625 fund in the amount of $72,731.50.

*Res. No. 24-163 is a request from the Auditor for a budget modification within the 1000 general fund in the amount of $1,500.

*Res. No. 24-164 is the rescinding of Res. No. 24-130 for the authorization of a proposed tax levy renewal. Also requested was a proposed tax levy renewal.

*Res. No. 24-165 is the awarding of the Clay Township Park Improvement Project to Kiley Construction in the amount of $199,283.

There were also two contracts approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:

*Contract 44 is between the board of commissioners and Roberts Paving, Inc. for an Independent Contract Agreement for crack sealing at the Highland County Airport.

*Contract 45 is between the board of commissioners, Highland County Job and Family Services and FRS Transportation for a Purchased Service Contract from FRS Transportation for the Non-Emergency Transportation (NET) contract.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.