Ben Kelley, a representative from the Division of Forestry for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), attended the Tuesday meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners to give money to the community from timber sales from state forests in the county.
According to a document from ODNR, the county was given a total of $41,257 for timber sales. The document said that money was dispersed to the Ohio Valley Local School District with $20,629, Brush Creek Township with $10,314 and the county with $10,314.
Kelley said the county has some state forest on its far east side amounting to around 400 to 500 acres. He said the reason for some money being given back to the community was because the state doesn’t pay property taxes and wanted to put money back into the community for its timber loss.
Kelley said the Division of Forestry actively and sustainably manages timber and that the intent of the program was that it would be managed for the length of the state forest system. He said a contractor comes and buys standing timber after foresters determine what needs to be harvested and how. Kelley said the forester must be a master logger to harvest the wood. He also said that timber is bid on “competitively” and open to the public. Kelley said that after that, the contractor comes in and harvests the timber with the oversight of the forester.
Commissioner Terry Britton said the board is currently working on the 2022 budget.
“As far as the budget, we’re real close to finishing it up so we’ll probably be approving it here in the next week or so,” he said.
Britton said that DS2 Architects have been working on layouts for the new dog pound to figure out what should be done. He said the commissioners hope to have something before the start of 2022 that they “can really sink our teeth into and move forward.” He said the commissioners are still working on it. He said that he’s talked previously about the shape of the old one and how it “served us well, but it’s time to update it because it needs a lot of updating.”
In other news, Jeff Duncan, president of the board, said the office hired Ashleigh Willey as a new commissioners’ clerk in the office.
The commissioners also made three approvals. Two of them were between the commissioners and the Highland County Clerk of Courts for Jury TRAC Rehost and Database Migration as well as Migrate CourtView to MSSQL 2019. The other approval was between the commissioners and Miller-Mason Paving Company, Inc. for Disbursement Request #2 for CR11-D and CR10-A/B Improvements.
In other news, there were 14 resolutions approved by the board of commissioners, which were as follows:
* Res. No. 21-222 is authorization for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to Capital Improvement – Hi-TEC – Other Expense, in the amount of $10,000.
* Res. No. 21-224 is an authorization for a modification within A-00 from Transfers Out to SCORJDC – Juvenile, in the amount of $20,162.
* Res. No. 21-225 is a request for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to P-50 Lakeside Sewer in the amount of $1,000.
* Res. No. 21-226 is an authorization for a modification within County in the amount of $26,000.
* Res. No. 21-227 is an authorization for a modification within B-00 – Dog and Kennel budget in the amount of $3,800.
* Res. No. 21-228 is a request for a budget modification within T-28 Prosecutorial Diversion FY20 in the amount of $1,512.
* Res. No. 21-229 is an authorization for a request to establish a line item within T-30 PSI FY20, Refunds. Alongside this resolution was a request for a budget modification within T-30 in the amount of $731.
*Res. No. 21-230 is an authorization for a request to decrease appropriations within T-31 JRIG FY20 in the amount of $9,869.
* Res. No. 21-231 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within T-36 ATP FY20 in the amount of $1,285.
* Res. No. 21-232 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within Q-02 Recycling Grant in the amount of $5,000.
* Res. No. 21-233 is an approval for the re-appointment of Michael Richards to the Board of Developmental Disabilities for a four-year term from Jan. 2, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2025.
* Res. No. 21-234 is an authorization for a budget modification within A-00, Tax Map – Equipment and Software, in the amount of $100.
* Res. No. 21-235 is an authorization for a budget modification within the A-00, Commissioners, in the amount of $12,000.
* Res. No. 21-236 is an authorization for a budget modification within the P-03, Rocky Fork Lake Sewer District, in the amount of $1,140.
Res. No. 21-223 was put on hold by the commissioners until next week’s meeting.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
