Commissioner Cliff Mears says Richland County will be “the place to be” in 2023, with a variety of public and private projects getting underway, progressing or coming to completion.
Mears was elected chairman and Darrell Banks vice chair Thursday as the board conducted annual organizational business at its first meeting of the new year.
Mears was asked what his goals as chairman would be for the board for 2023. His first response was “to administer the people’s business with the taxpayers in mind.”
Mears said two projects of special interest to him are the connection between the Richland B & O Hike-Bike Trail and the City of Mansfield’s new Trimble Road trail, which is in the design stage, and demolition of the former Westinghouse “A” building that began last month.
He also pointed to a number of projects that either have been allocated funds or are being considered for funding with county American Rescue Plan Act dollars including courthouse renovations, a community center proposal from the North End Community Improvement Collaborative, a north side broadband initiative, water projects in Shiloh and Crestline, west end Mansfield improvements in the Glessner Avenue area, the Park for All project at Sterkel Park, and the proposed indoor soccer project and sewer upgrades in Bellville.
More ARPA funds allocated for bike trail project, insurance reimbursement
Commissioners took a step to move the trail connector project forward by designating $500,000 in ARPA funds for the work. Once a construction contract is signed, the city will receive a credit for that amount toward its quarterly invoice for housing prisoners in the county jail and the county will use the ARPA revenue loss dollars to cover the $500,000 gap in funding for jail operations.
The board also voted to allocate $815,693 in ARPA revenue loss dollars to pay for COVID-related medical expenses.
“The (U.S.) Treasury final rule allows recipients such as counties that have self-funded health insurance plans to reimburse excess health insurance costs due to COVID-19 medical care,” County business manager Andrew Keller explained. “So our self insurance risk pool CEBCO (County Employee Benefit Cooperative) in conjunction with Anthem (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) provided some information to the county that documented $815,693 in COVID medical care claims for members of the CEBCO program, namely county employees and a number of other agencies that participate in CEBCO.”
The reimbursement covers expenses where COVID was the primary or secondary diagnosis for the period from March 3, 2021, through Nov. 30, 2022. Keller said the money will be distributed proportionately to the 23 departments that paid health insurance premiums to CEBCO according a pro-rated formula developed from information compiled by County Auditor Pat Dropsey.
Commissioners decided to put the county’s $351,311 general fund share of the reimbursement in the contingency fund, which has only around $2,000 to cover unanticipated expenses. The board also agreed to allocate $35,049 in ARPA funds to reimburse the county for a portion of Keller’s salary because he administers the program.
The actions Thursday involving ARPA funds leaves a balance of $12,135,207 out of the county’s $23.7 million total allocation. That includes a little over $7 million in restricted ARPA funds and $5 million that was designated as revenue loss ARPA funds, which can be used for a broader range of expenses.
During the organizational portion of the meeting, the board named Mears and Commissioner Tony Vero to the Richland County Land Bank board with Banks and Clerk Stacey Crall as alternates. They also approved Mears as the voting representative and Vero the alternate to the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, continued the existing rules governing their meetings, and reviewed and approved department representatives and appointments to county boards.
Routine business items saw commissioners continued a long standing state required memo of understanding between Job and Family Services and Children Services involving duties and protocols when the agencies work together. They also authorized the sale of a Sheriff’s Office 2006 Chevy Express van on GovDeals.
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