The Highland County commissioners commented on the results of the 2023 election at the board’s weekly Wednesday meeting.

Tuesday’s unofficial election results showed that Ohio voted through Issue 1 and Issue 2, the enshrinement of abortion rights and marijuana, respectively. However, Highland County voted against both measures plus a Children Services levy.

Commissioner Dave Daniels called the vote against the Children Services levy “disappointing.”

“I know that any time that we ask for additional revenue from the citizens of Highland County, it’s a difficult decision that we have to make to allow those things on the ballot,” Daniels said. “But I think that Children Services has shown over the course of the past two or three years that the need is there. We see from the prosecutor’s office, from law enforcement, the problems that we have with substance abuse that are fueling these things and we must make provisions to take care of those children that are affected by that. So, I know that probably there’s gonna be some discussion in the Children Services world in Highland County Children’s Services about where we go from here and the things that we need to be doing as we go forward to meet the needs of the kids that are involved and that are recipients of those funds.”

Commissioner Terry Britton said it was “kind of a shame” that the state could vote for marijuana, but the county couldn’t vote in the measure to help the children.

Britton also said that “it seems like” Issue 2, which legalizes recreational marijuana for adults, is “feeding the source” that’s causing the issues with Children Services.

“So that’s really the only comment I got about it,” Britton said. “When I seen the results last night, I was just sitting there and I thought, you know, this is just really not right.”

In other news, the commissioners approved the purchase of eight new headsets and three new wireless adapters for the Highland County Sheriff’s Office. Ashleigh Willey, commissioner clerk, said the headsets ended up being cheaper from Amazon, with the board of commissioners recommended to purchase from there instead of Advanced Radio Technology.

The board of commissioners also approved three authorizations to execute, those being a contractor’s application for payment to Doll Layman, Ltd. for the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant improvement project, Request 1 authorized certifications for OPWC disbursements for $895,032.95 and a Fee schedule to Dinkler Law for the defense of the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.