By Haylee Pence
TROY — During its regular meeting on Tuesday, the Board of Miami County Commissioners authorized over 10 agreements.
The first agreement discussed was Courtroom Replacement Project with the Common Pleas Court in order to receive 24 new interior chairs which will replace outdated chairs in Courtrooms 1 and 2. The costs shall not exceed $24,109.76, which will include costs for delivery and installation.
The commissioners authorized the submission of a grant application with the Miami County Family and Children First Council along with the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities in regard to fiscal year 2022 Early Intervention American Rescue Plan Act Grant Agreement. The requested funds amount to $86,891. This act would provide a one-time supplemental fund to early intervention and special education services aimed for infants to teenagers with disabilities along with their families. The funds would be utilized to provide more support and application of these services and practices to individuals. This agreement is effective starting July 1, 2021 and will terminate June 30, 2023. Following this agreement, the commissioners also authorized an amendment to a previous contract with Miami County Family and Children First Council, which involves the Family Preservation Program for family coaching services from Adriel, Inc. The amendment impacts funding for this program and was approved to increase to $24,000. The additional funding will be used to acquire another family coach in hopes to increase the services provided by the Family Preservation Program.
Another agreement authorized the payment for more employees with the county engineer for emergency snow removal, which also declared these employees to be essential employees. The county engineer is required to assist local governmental agencies in emergency snow removal if they need assistance, which includes usage of equipment and personnel.
The sanitary engineer was also authorized to purchase five overhead garage doors and their necessary equipment amounting to a total not exceeding $19,896, which was a $750 price increase from a previous statement. Another authorization for the sanitary engineer included the purchase of a new Mitsubishi Caterpillar 2C5000-LP Cushion Tire Lift Truck totaling a cost of $28,237.62 to replace an almost 20-year truck.
Next, the commissioners awarded a contract to Tipp City Artistic Inspirations in order to design a new interactive website, which would communicate Miami County’s projects and programs. The website also seeks to make the application process for funding easier. Commissioner Gregory Simmons supported this stating that the website would make everything “real transparent.”
Following the authorizations of agreements, Director Joel Smith from the Miami County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) provided an update of COVID-19 cases in Miami County in comparison to Ohio’s statistics. Currently, Miami County has had 16,748 total cases, 999 hospitalizations, and 329 deaths. The case rate for Miami County is 481.4 per 100,000 people, which is less than the state’s case rate of 496 cases per 100,000 people. Miami County is ranked 55th in the state. Their estimate is that 46.71% of the county’s population has received their first vaccine.
