Post-meeting release 9/7/23

Commissioners receive state grant for County Airport improvements

[Tiffin, OH – Sept. 7, 2023] – The Seneca County Board of Commissioners discussed a state grant Thursday morning worth more than $200,000 dollars that is to help improve the Seneca County Airport.
Commissioner Anthony Paradiso said he was excited to learn the news that the grant was received. He said the funding, from the Ohio Department of Transportation, is to pay for the installation of a new Automated Weather Observation System.
In other grant-related news, Commissioner Tyler Shuff used time during his report to discuss Gov. Mike DeWine’s announcement of $100 million in funding to help communities eliminate dangerous railroad crossings.
Shuff expressed excitement for the grant and said he has already had discussions with several local organizations about applying for funds and is encouraging Seneca County entities to work hard to bring the state funding back to the community.
“County Engineer Mark Zimmerman has already applied,” he said, adding that this is a great opportunity to improve the safety of rail in the community.
According to a press release from DeWine’s office, Ohio has approximately 5,700 railroad grade crossings, which are locations where roadways intersect with railroad tracks. Funding from Governor DeWine’s new Ohio Rail Crossing Elimination Program will support the work of local communities to engineer construction projects to eliminate these crossings and pay matching funds that are required for additional support from the Federal Railroad Administration.
The release continues, “Railroad grade crossings are both a safety hazard and a barrier to traffic, including emergency vehicles. Since the Federal Railroad Administration began collecting blocked crossing data in late 2019, more than 10,500 reports of blocked crossings in Ohio have been filed.”
Also during the session, the commissioners announced that they would be canceling their Oct. 5th board meeting.
In County Administrator Barb Patterson’s report, she said tests have confirmed “perfect” air quality in the County Services Building areas served by the HVAC system for the Seneca County Prosecutor’s Office and the Seneca County Board of Elections. This testing was initiated due to mold discovery in the other HVAC system that services other offices (Health Department, Regional Planning, and Law Library) in the building. The discovery of mold led to the temporary relocation of the impacted offices.
In new business, the board approved all financial adjustments and resolutions from the meeting agenda.