By Eamon Baird

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TIPP CITY — Miami County Commissioners Greg Simmons, Ted Mercer and Wade Westfall delivered their annual State of the County address at the Tipp Center on Friday, Oct. 11, in Tipp City.

The event was presented by the Miami County Chamber of Commerce, which included the Piqua Area Chamber, Troy Chamber and Tipp City Chamber, and featured over 100 different chamber members and community members throughout the county.

“I just want to talk about the other two commissioners. It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with them, we work together quite well, and I think the county is very blessed to have the commissioners that you have,” Simmons said.

“For some, it may be helpful to see a summary of county government structure,” Simmons said. “We have a board of Miami County Commissioners, the auditor, the coroner, the clerk of courts, the treasurer, the engineer, the prosecutor, the Common Pleas Court, Juvenile Probate Court, Municipal Court, and the county recorder.

“We work in cooperation with the other elected officials, and once again, we’re blessed where we have some of the best-elected officials in the state of Ohio,” Simmons added.

One of the major purchases the commissioners approved was a BearCat [SWAT] vehicle which was purchased for $285,256 through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The vehicle will be stored in a new climatized facility.

The commissioners stressed the importance of building a new incarceration facility in Miami County.

“Every year that we put off building a new incarceration facility it costs us $2 million,” Simmons said. “All three of us are working with the sheriff’s office operations and the needs of jail have changed, really over the last few years and we need to have some mental health help, and as the plan for funding becomes more clear, significant engagement of the public will need to be made.”

The commissioners also spoke about the Mental Health Fair in September which saw over 70 different participating agencies offer support and information and support of mental health.

Mercer talked about one of the of the major projects this year was the Peterson Road bridge replacement which, was opened in September.

“We want to again thank the voters and taxpayers of Miami County, support of the bridge levy which has been in existence during Miami County since 1973,” he said. “The county’s bridges are in great shape, if you don’t believe me just drive to other counties or bridges across the nation.”

Westfall talked about the importance of cybersecurity, including mandated cyber safety classes for all staff in partnership with the IT department and the University of Cincinnati.

“Our Board of Elections was the only board of elections in the state of Ohio that was not affected by the temporary outage due to an IT intervention,” Westfall said.

The commissioners recognized the contributions of Joel Smith who runs the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) for Miami County.

“Just a few weeks ago in Tipp City, they had a chemical spill, and the EMA went out there to handle that, so they’re always prepared,” Simmons said. “We’re very fortunate to have someone like Joel Smith.”

The commissioners also talked about a change to the Miami County Communications Center, which appointed Beth Hull as the new director in April.

“The Miami County communication center is a primary answering point for 911 calls in the sole dispatch agency for all police, fire, and emergency medical, and we’re very blessed to have that,” Simmons said.

Mercer talked about expanding the Job and Family Services facility.

“We are currently working with architects to improve the quality of the employee work environment by adding more office space for waiting areas for the public included in this building modification will be more home-friendly visitation areas for Children’s Services and Child Protective Services. Our hope is to put this construction project in place in late 2025,” he said.

“They have one of the hardest jobs in Miami County, and we have great people out there,” Mercer added.

While discussing the economic development of the county, Westfall talked about the ongoing concern of annexation.

“Over the past decade or so, the municipality of Huber Heights, located in Montgomery County, has annexed over 1800 acres of Bethel Township. The negative effect that this is having on the area in our county is tremendous, from the overcrowding and social issues at our federal school system to the infrastructure such as road utilities and the loss of agricultural land, the most recent annexation of nearly 300 acres started over three years ago, this board far fought hard and did everything legally possible to stop that annexation. Unfortunately, the law, which is predatory towards counties, is not on our side,” he said.

“Currently, the Board of Commissioners is consolidating support with our state legislation, working with our state organization, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO), and the State Farm Bureau to get this wall modified, allowing the counties to have at least a say at the table,” Westfall said.

In closing the commissioners thanked department leaders and chamber members for their financial stewardship in the county.

“The quality of life in Miami County is unmatched,” Westfall said. “When you look at the cooperation between philanthropic, our nonprofit, our schools, our parks and recreation, our chambers, our businesses, and, more importantly, our citizens, it’s unmatched, and we are honored and pleased to be a part of this process, and we thank you for the opportunity to share with you your State of the County.”