The Highland County Board of Commissioners reviewed submissions from county departments requesting money from the S-22 Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) at their weekly meeting Wednesday.
The commissioners, along with county auditor Bill Fawley and prosecutor Anneka Collins, make up the five-person CRF Governing Board.
One request from Grow! Highland County was denied Wednesday on the grounds that it didn’t fully meet the requirements spelled out in CARES Act funding guidelines, while three other requests were tabled so that further clarification could be obtained.
Requests in question included a $13,973 submission from the Highland County Board of DD for expenditures from August through October 2020.
Two requests from the Highland County Clerk of Courts office were tabled as well, one for $70,237 for software upgrades for the courthouse “to bring the courthouse into the 21st century,” according to wording of the request, and the other a $4,100 request for funding to purchase supplies, personal protective equipment and sanitizers, with clarification sought concerning the purchase of laptop computers that were included in the request.
One other submission from the clerk of courts office for reimbursement of $518 for supplies met with approval.
Other requests for CARES Act funding that were approved Wednesday included:
• $7,166 from Nicole Oberrecht of the commissioner’s office for the purchase of a collaboration stand and video display unit for video conferencing at the North High Hi-Tech Center.
• A separate request of $460 was submitted by Oberrecht for the purchase of two mobile computer printers to be used in the event of having to work from home.
• $618 from the Highland County Veterans Service Center for the purchase of sanitizing light sticks.
• $518 from the Highland County Probation Department for the purchase and construction of protective dividers.
• $18,558 from Dep. Scott Miller of the Highland County Sheriff’s Office for software upgrades from APCO Intellicom, which he said would link both police and medical dispatching capabilities, and would enable law enforcement officers to remain in the field longer rather than having to make frequent returns to a police station.
• By entering into a sub-grant, a $20,497 request from Chief Kenny Stevens of the Highland County North Joint Fire and Ambulance District was approved for the purchase of a Lucas 3 chest compression device.
Also Wednesday, a line item budget transfer resolution for the Highland County Airport was approved, along with two contracts with the Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program, and one other with Distel Construction, LLC for drainage improvement on North Fifth Street in Greenfield.
In other matters, a proposal for the addition of a third 9-1-1 dispatch console from Advanced Radio Technology, the radio communications provider for the sheriff’s office, was approved.
Miller said the additional dispatch console would provide state-mandated backup to surrounding counties, and would provide redundancy in the event of equipment failure at either the Greenfield or Hillsboro police departments.
Britton said that funding had been located to pay for the ART equipment, which he said would cost $28,385.
Also, commissioners approved the certification of assessments to the county auditor for those served by the Rolling Acres sewage treatment plant, which amounted to an addition of $20 annually.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
