Highland County commissioners (l-r) David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton are pictured alongside Highland County ARPA Funding Coordinator Nicole Oberrecht (far right) during the weekly board of commissioners meeting.
Jacob Clary | The Times-Gazette
The Highland County Board of Commissioners approved a grant agreement for broadband expansion to Southern Ohio Communication Services (SOCS) at its weekly Wednesday morning meeting.
Dave Daniels, chairman of the board of commissioners, said SOCS is a company based in Waverly that the board pledged to give $250,000 in broadband expansion funds to through the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.
“They’re doing a project down in the southeastern portion of the county coming up through, from Adams County down in the Elmville area down over into Concord Township for broadband expansion.”
SOCS was at a prior meeting of the board of commissioners on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, which The Times-Gazette reported on with the following passage:
“Gary Cooper, president of Southern Ohio Communication Services (SOCS), was also in attendance to deliver news about the company’s fiber project. He said the company’s fiber build is currently going “really well.” He said they have built about 10 miles on the current project and will build 32 miles in the county. He said that project will pass 461 homes and that they are on Fair Ridge Road right now.
Cooper said the next part of the project is another 77 miles that the company will start on “probably” the first of 2025 and “hopefully” have it lit up by July 2025.
He then said the company still has a lot of area to do under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Program. Steve Williams, a representative from SOCS, said the company is down to 336 homes that it would like to serve that it still needs to find funding for.
Daniels said the county had some funding available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that it had previously used to help broadband expansion. He said he thought the county still had some uncommitted funds from it, with the county fast approaching its deadline.
Daniels then asked Nicole Oberrecht, the county’s ARPA funding coordinator, to work on the county’s ARPA budget and come in with a recommendation on if there is any money available to give to the project. “
In other news, Julie Bolender, the director of Highland County Economic Development, introduced Heith Brown, the new Highland County Workforce Development director to the board.
“So he is going to be working with our local employers as well as students,” Bolender said. “Believe we have some opportunity also to work with residents that are no longer in high school. An Ohio Means Jobs partnership with the folks out there on North High Street that gives us a great opportunity as well to get some adults into some workforce development programs to get them into some internships and things of that sort. So, we are tickled to have Heith. Some of you may remember the program that we started a year and a half ago, two years ago, had the acronym ACCESS. And so we’ve decided just to stick with what we know and it is workforce development, career development, so workforce development director, formerly known as the ACCESS director.”
Bolender said agriculture is one of the county’s biggest industries, but it hasn’t jumped into that pool yet for its workforce development. She said that is now something they’re working on, saying they will be doing an AG Day.
The board of commissioners also opened three bids for the Rolling Acres Wastewater System Repair/Replacement Project, with Daniels saying it was for the replacement of some lines and some system work. The bids are as follow:
*Cody Wheeler for $418,000.
*Unger Construction for $399,600.
*Holden Construction for $546,840.
Mitch Given, a representative of The Empowerment Alliance was also in attendance to talk about his organization which is nonprofit that “promotes the benefits of natural gas.”
Given said the organization is working with the DeWine administration, “whoever the incoming governor” will be and other legislative leaders on possibilities for ways to bridge the gap between capacity and the available energy sources.
Daniels also said the board of commissioners need to put two people onto the Board of Developmental Disabilities. He said an ad will be put in multiple newspapers for those interested in it and want to see the different requirements.
The board of commissioners approved the purchase of two 2024 Dodge Durangos from Jake Sweeney Chrysler Jeep in Cincinnati for $40,919 apiece for the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, with that price not including the needed changes to the vehicles for law enforcement use.
The board of commissioners also approved the purchase of a 2020 Chevrolet Equinox and a 2025 Chevrolet Blazer by the Highland County Clerk of Courts for other Highland County Sheriff’s Office use.
There were five resolutions approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:
*Res. No. 24-206 is a directive by the board of commissioners for a portion of the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund payment for the Broadband Expansion Project by Southern Ohio Communication Services (SOCS).
*Res. No. 24-207 is an authorization for a budget modification within the 1000 County General Fund in the amount of $5,000.
*Res. No. 24-208 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2470 DD – Help Me Grow Fund in the amount of $3,000.
*Res. No. 24-209 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 1000 County General Fund in the amount of $142.75.
*Res. No. 24-210 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 1000 County General Fund in the amount of $142.75.
There were also two contracts approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:
*Contract 62 is between the board of commissioners and Southern Ohio Communication Services (SOCS) for a Grant Agreement.
*Contract 63 is between the board of commissioners and the City of Hillsboro for an agreement on Payment Distribution for Municipal Court Clerks.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
