Editor’s note: The Following is the first of a four-part series reviewing some of the highlights of 2023:

January

4 – The city of Hillsboro closed North West Street as a start to a complete infrastructure rework for multiple streets in Hillsboro over the early summer. Hillsboro Public Works Superintendent Shawn Adkins said previously said that this portion of the project would take 90 to 120 days to finish, with the closure due to multiple water main breaks in “bad shape.”

11 – Nicole Oberrecht, the county American Rescue Plan Act funding coordinator, said at a weekly meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners that an OSU Extension Building was possibly coming to the Highland County Fairgrounds. She said multiple proposals were being worked through, including soil tests to discover viability.

18 – Multiple people from the Laborers’ District Council of Ohio gathered at the intersection of S.R. 138 and New Market Road near Buford to protest worker issues at the solar farm project helmed by the California-based SOLV Energy company. Laborers’ District Council of Ohio Marketing Director Randy McGuire said they were protesting fair wages and that the workers would be out of a job when the project is finished.

19 – The village of Greenfield and the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) came to an understanding regarding the Elliott Hotel in Greenfield following multiple disagreements about payments after the building partially collapsed. Todd Book, the land bank’s legal counsel, said the land bank “should be responsible” for $50,000 worth of the tear down of the property.

30 – The land bank approved a bid of $78,000 from Thompson Petroleum Services for the Rocky Fork Truck Stop Brownfield Remediation project. The Ohio Department of Development described the project as the removal of multiple oil tanks on the property, with it to then be transitioned into a retail market and parking lot.

February

2 – Dennis Williams Jr., manager of post office operations for the village of Lynchburg, posted on the Lynchburg (Ohio) Community Voice Facebook page that a temporary post office would be placed on a grassy lot next to the former post office and would open on Feb. 6, 2023. The Facebook page also announced that Kratzer’s Pharmacy would be closing on the same day.

15 – Dave Bushelman, director of Highland County Emergency Management Agency, announced that the old communications tower on top of the Highland County Sheriff’s Office would need to be replaced due to extreme winds knocking it down.

21 – Planning started for the 51st annual Ernie Blankenship Radio-Telethon by the Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary Clubs for the Highland County Society for Children and Adults. Multiple items were planned to be available for auction, including “sports memorabilia, game tickets and other items” that would be announced in March.

22 – Commission president Terry Britton announced that the new dog pound would be a “really nice” facility for the dogs and the community, saying that it would open “very, very soon.” Commissioner Dave Daniels said there was still a “little bit” of equipment to still be finished, such as the dog bath and the dog warden station.

27 – The Highland County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for the Highland County ACCESS program at the Hopewell Center in New Market. Tim Dettwiller, the program’s director, said the program had agreements with about 20 programs so far and runs through TRANSEO, a software program.

March

1 – Janet Grothe, Innergex manager of community and government relations, said that construction would begin on the Palomino Solar Project in 2024 and would be finished by mid-2025. She said some of the issues had been mediated, such as setbacks and property line issues.

3 – The National Weather Service in Wilmington announced multiple tornadoes were confirmed to have hit Highland County and its surrounding area. The NWS said there were two touchdowns in the Highland County area, one west of Hillsboro and another south of New Vienna. The Highland County Emergency Management Agency reported that 2,457 customers were still without power on Saturday following the Friday evening storm.

17 – Hillsboro City Safety and Service Director Brianne Abbott said that Hillsboro would be tabling plans for a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) at a Hillsboro City Council meeting. Hillsboro City Council President Tom Eichinger said the application for the DORA was pulled due to timeline issues.

20 – The land bank met for a Monday special meeting to award the East Monroe Mill demolition project to Mound Waste and Recycling for $33,441. Matt Wagner, a certified professional from Tetra Tech, said he’d previously worked with the company on two projects while with Athens County, saying that they “did a really good job.”

23 – Former Highland County deputy sheriff Jonathon “Dustin” Malone pled not guilty to one count of reckless homicide, a third-degree felony, at a hearing held in Highland County Common Pleas Court. Joshua Engel, the defendant’s attorney, said Malone was involved in a vehicle chase with the victim, Richard J. Poulin, 58, Hillsboro, after Poulin allegedly committed a traffic sign violation.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.