Pre-meeting release 9/24

Commissioners to discuss health insurance proposal Tuesday
An update on a fiber project and the launch of a new county website also on the agenda

[Tiffin, OH Sept. 24, 2018] – Seneca County commissioners are to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the commissioners’ office, 111 Madison St.
The first order of business is to hear a recommendation from the county’s health insurance advisory board regarding employee rates for 2019.
Also during the meeting, commissioners are to announce the launch of a county new website. The site, at www.senecacountyohio.gov, will feature an improved layout and design, biography pages for the commissioners and other department heads and more content and media releases.
In other business, the board is to hear a request to purchase about $217,000 in equipment to move forward with the county’s fiber project.
In March, the county approved a 20-year, $719,000 deal with Bascom Communications to upgrade the county’s internet lines from T1 (telephone-based) lines to fiber technology. The county will lease several strands of underground fiber within a fiber ring from the company. The county’s network will be private and could be upgraded further with more equipment. The new equipment is needed to link several offices into the network.
Commissioner Holly Stacy also is to give an update about the County Commissioners Association of Ohio. The CCAO had a meeting last week. Topics for the update include the organization’s stance on state ballot issue 1.

During appropriations, the board is to consider:
* A $2,000 appropriation adjustment within the Maintenance and Repair Fund for the county engineer.
* A $200 appropriation adjustment on behalf of the county sheriff for training.
* A $5,000 and $10,000 supplemental appropriation to the Juvenile Court Special Projects Fund to help fund records preservation and retention.
* A $66,237 supplemental appropriation to the General Fund for a project at Seneca County Airport.
* A $15,000 supplemental appropriation to the Victims of Crime Act Expansion Fund. The legislation moves leftover funds from the 2018 fiscal year into next year’s fund.
* A $23,870 appropriation adjustment from the Agricultural Center to Department of Job and Family Services. The money is to be used to purchase and install a new boiler.
* A $34,900 supplemental appropriation to the Capital Projects Fund to repair the cooling system at the County Services Building.
* A $320,443.51 supplemental appropriation to the DRETACH Fund. The money is to be used by the county land bank, with $300,000 of it being reimbursed back to the county through a state land bank grant. The other funding is for land bank fees.
* A new three-year agreement with the County Employee Benefit Consortium of Ohio (CEBCO), the group that helps establish health insurance rates for county employees. The company’s three-year deal with the county had expired, but another three-year deal is on the table to consider.
* Re-establishing the County Capital Projects Fund. Some language of the resolution that established the fund was tweaked at the advice of the state auditor’s office.
* Hiring Jason Richie as an intermittent paramedic for the Seneca County EMS Echo Unit.
* Allowing the department of job and family services to accept Medicaid Income Maintenance Fund from Sandusky County.
* Disposing of a 2005, 72-passenger Blue Bird bus, on behalf of Seneca County Board of Developmental Disabilities. The bus had a trade-in value of about $2,300.
* A food service agreement between Bridges Academy and Seneca County Sheriff’s Office.