By Amantha Garpiel
TROY — The Miami County Board of Commissioners approved a new contract and two new purchases for the Miami County Department of Job and Family Services, approved a grant application from the Department of Transportation and approved a contract for counseling services at the West Central Juvenile Detention Center.
During the Tuesday, June 20, Board of Commissioners meeting, the new contract approved for the Department of Job and Family Services is a Title IV-E Child Placement Contract for the period of Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2025, with Rite of Passage Inc. for a cost of $800,000.
“This is a new placement service for one of the children that’s in our custody. The parent company is in Nevada, but the child’s placement is actually going to be in Tennessee,” said Jennifer Anderson with Miami County Department of Job and Family Services. “She has special needs, so this is a pretty specialized place.”
One of the two purchases approved by the commissioners is for 30 new activity trackers with holsters and lanyards for Child Protective Services staff are in the field. The activity trackers are equipped with GPS tracking, live monitoring, message button services, multiple alert levels and data reports for extra safety. This is a one time cost of $8,099.40. These trackers will be used to improve the safety of staff in the field with easy access to call emergency services with the press of a button.
The second purchase approved by the commissioners for the Department of Job and Family Services is the purchase of three 2022 Ford Escapes from Valley Ford in Huron at a cost not to exceed $84,855. This purchase had already been included in the department’s budget so that staff do not have to take personal vehicles to calls.
Next, the commissioners approved Sarah Baker, Miami County Transit director, to submit a grant application to the Ohio Department of Transportation for the Ohio Transit Partnership Program in the amount of $112,230 to be used for the replacement of five vehicles.
The commissioners then approved and signed a memorandum of agreement with the Darke County Recovery Services, doing business as Recovery and Wellness Centers of Midwest Ohio (RWC), to retain on-site assessment and counseling services for individuals at the West Central Juvenile Detention Center. RWC will provide one part-time licensed or license eligible counselor for the services at a cost of $35,415 annually or $2,951.25 monthly for the period of July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Set the proposal date for the 2023 Managed Print Services as Aug. 24, 2023, at 1:35 p.m. in the commissioners’ meeting room.
• Approved the amendment of two resolutions to update the pay range of a full-time animal control officer from $15-$17/hour to $18-$20/hour.
