By Aimee Hancock
TROY — The Board of Miami County Commissioners heard from Miami County Veterans Services (MCVS) Executive Director Selena Loyd on Tuesday regarding the Sept. 11 memorial event planned for this year.
In April, Loyd approached commissioners to share MCVS had joined together with the Miami County Agricultural Society (MCAS) to hold a three-day event, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12., memorializing the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City and honoring first responders.
The event, which will include the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s “9/11 NEVER FORGET” mobile exhibit, was originally intended to be held at the Miami County Fairgrounds, however, Loyd requested on Tuesday that the mobile be set up in downtown Troy, citing “structural issues and challenges” with holding it on the fairgrounds property.
According to Loyd, this exhibit — an 83-foot tractor-trailer that transforms into a 1,100-square-foot exhibit — costs $10,000 per day to lease, and a member of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation will also come to facilitate the educational experience of the memorial. Loyd said funds for the memorial itself have already been secured by MCVS.
All three commissioners were in support of hosting the mobile exhibit on Main Street in front of the Miami County Courthouse.
“If it’s not going to work (at the fairgrounds), let’s put it in front of our most iconic structure in Miami County, which is the Courthouse with the new plaza, new fountain, new lighting, and everything that goes with it, along with the downtown amenities,” said Commissioner Ted Mercer.
City of Troy Director of Public Service and Safety Patrick Titterington was in attendance Tuesday and said the city is willing to work through the logistics necessary to host the exhibit downtown. Titterington said he will be in contact with the Ohio Department of Transportation this week to request approval of street closures during the event.
MCAS President Nick Shellenberger was also in attendance during Tuesday’s meeting and said he is willing to support the event in any way he can. The fairgrounds will be hosting campers and planned activities during the Sept. 11 weekend, and Shellenberger said the grounds will be available for parking for exhibit attendees.
The Miami Valley Veterans Museum (MVVM) will also be hosting events during that weekend in honor of Sept. 11 at its new location at 2245 S. County Road 25A. MVVM Executive Director Karen Purke said she has been in contact with Troy City Schools regarding the planning of a shuttle service using TCS buses to take attendees from the fairgrounds to both the veterans museum and the downtown mobile exhibit event.
The following was also approved during Tuesday’s meeting:
• Authorization for the renewal of the lease agreement with Lenz Inc. for the Auto Title Office, at 1275 Experiment Farm Road in Troy, at a cost of $32,493.78 for the period of July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2023.
• Authorization for the auditor/IT department to purchase Dell server hardware and operating systems for use in the Miami County network, as the county’s current servers have reached the end-of-support from Dell after seven years of use and need to be replaced. The cost is not to exceed $244,885.60.
• Authorization for the purchase of Microsoft Exchange server email and associated user licensing as the county’s current email server and database servers are nearing Microsoft’s end-of-support and need updated. The total cost is not to exceed $56,859.91.
• Authorization for the purchase of network switches and other associated electronics for the server cabinets at the IT department’s downtown location and 25A campus as the current servers have a single point of failure and the new switches will correct this by implementing failover switches in each cabinet, which will allow for continued operations in the event of a switch failure. The total cost is not to exceed $12,369.20.
• Approval to set the date of Thursday, July 22, 2021, at 1:35 p.m., in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room at the Miami County Safety Building, to hear testimony for the proposed road name change to officially change Eidemiller Drive to Crimson Way. The county engineer received a request from a homeowner on Eidemiller Drive for this name change as it is more easily identified, referenced, recognized, remembered, and spelled.
• Authorization for the purchase of 10 HP EliteDesk 800 G6 computers, 13 HP Workstation Z2 G5 computers, and 23 Acer Nitro VG-0 monitors, at a total cost not to exceed $27,610, for use by Municipal Court staff. This is a budgeted purchase.
• Authorization for Municipal Court to submit an FY 2022-2023 Community Corrections Act grant application to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, requesting $245,472 for the Female Outreach/Standard Probation program. According to Municipal Court Administrator Tony Blakely, this grant has been awarded to the department annually for the past 20 years.
• Authorization for the extension of healthcare services with Team Health/Premier Physician Services Inc., of Dayton, for inmate health care services at the Miami County Jail and Miami County Incarceration Facility for an additional 1-year term, as recommended by Sheriff Dave Duchak.
• Re-appointment of Ann Runner to the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services for a 4-year term starting July 1, 2021.
• Authorization for a Memorandum of Agreement with Darke County Recovery Services and Miami County West Central Juvenile Detention Center for the provision of on-site assessment and counseling services to residents detained at the facility. Costs are $47,220 annually.
