The Highland County Board of Commissioners approved two applications for the 2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) at its weekly Wednesday meeting.

Mary Remsing, Highland County’s CDBG coordinator, said the county was awarded $240,000 minus administration fees for this year’s grant, which came out to $192,000 for projects. She said that the Ohio Department of Development limited the number of projects counties can undertake to two.

One of the projects approved was from Highco for a Phase I Autism Center project. Remsing said Highco plans to complete the project in steps, with this first phase being the center’s courtyard. She said it would be a 1,200-square-foot concrete pad equipped with swings and a gazebo, among other things. Remsing said the request was for $102,900 and they would contribute $3,500, with the total being $106,400. She said the organization’s current capacity is 99 and they serve 90 people, with the new facility to benefit some local residents.

The other approved project was for a new roof at the Because He Lives Food Pantry in Lynchburg. Remsing said their request was for $89,100, and they would contribute $3,500, with the total project cost being $92,600. She said the food pantry serves the low to moderate income population as well as the entire Lynchburg-Clay School District. She said the food pantry served 3,537 people in 2023 and had so far served 967 people from January to April this year.

Remsing said applications open on May 14, 2024, and completed applications are due on June 14, 2024. She said the grant will reopen in two years for projects that didn’t get approved.

Commissioner Dave Daniels spoke on why the two projects were chosen.

“Lot of different reasons, but it looks like we’re serving a population with those two that rarely have an opportunity to find grant funding for capital improvements and for the improvements that they wanna make, although I see value in every project,” he said.

In other news, Daniels said that last week Bob Prosek, manager of the Highland County Airport, came with a request for additional security upgrades at the airport. He said they want to install cameras around the airport that would provide video of multiple locations that would be viewable from the airport’s office. He said some examples were both ends of the runway to see what is and isn’t approaching, takeoffs and landings from and activity around the gas pump area and hangars.

He said the airport submitted a proposal for $6,775, and also asked the commissioners to pay for about half of it. Daniels said the board will take the proposal under consideration.

The commissioners approved off-site storage of HVAC equipment from Weller’s Plumbing and Heating for the Records Storage Building that is under construction off West Beech Street in Hillsboro.

The board was notified by the Highland County Board of Elections that $14,497 was still needed to cover the full costs for reimbursement shortfalls for the purchase of 50 pollbooks, which would only need to be transferred to the necessary accounts due to the purchase already having been made. The commissioners approved the transfers.

The commissioners hosted representatives from CORSA, the county’s liability insurance provider. Daniels broached the possibility of increasing the county’s deductible from $2,500 and asked the representatives to put together figures from the past three years on what the county’s spending would have looked like if they had been using a more expensive deductible.

There were four resolutions approved by the board including authorization to sell for $1 to officer Nick Thompson his retirement weapon. He is scheduled to retire May 15, 2024.

A resolution to vacate an alley in Danville was also approved.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.