By Amantha Garpiel
TROY — The Miami County Board of Commissioners authorized and signed an agreement for the electric aggregation program supply, approved a state purchase for radio programming and tuning and signed a partnership agreement with Piqua and Troy.
During the Thursday, June 15, meeting of the Miami County Board of Commissioners, an agreement was signed with Energy Harbor, of Akron, for the provision of electric aggregation program supply, ending in December 2o25.
Also received was a request for proposal (RFP) from Palmer Energy for residential and small commercial customers in the unincorporated areas of Miami County, excluding Newberry Township. The RFP included approximately 7,000 electric meters, using around 105,000,000 kW annually from AES Ohio to five potential suppliers. Two responded and Palmer Energy recommends Energy Harbor based on the refreshed pricing received.
A representative from Palmer Energy spoke to the commissioners via phone during the meeting to explain why the county should move forward with the agreement with Energy Harbor sooner rather than later. According to the Palmer Energy representative, a recent market change has occurred to the benefit of the county.
The original request for qualifications received included a price of 7.1 cents/kilowatt hour (kWh) with the recent change, the estimated price is now 6.49 cents/kWh. The average price for the area is around 11 cents/kWh and waiting to authorize the agreement may not work in the county’s favor as the prices may rise again.
Next, the commissioners accepted a quote and authorized a state purchase of radio programming and tuning services from Motorola, Inc. for a price not to exceed $99,120.
According to Jeff Busch, director of the Miami County Communications Center, this is the final step in updating the public safety mobile and portable radios and improving dispatch capabilities throughout the county. This agreement also includes the installation of a required security layer in the radios, called Link Layer, to protect emergency responder communications via the MARCS (Multi-Agency Radio Communications System).
The commissioners then moved on to authorize a partnership agreement with the cities of Piqua and Troy for the 2023 Community Housing Impact and Preservation (CHIP) Program.
This agreement was requested by the Department of Development and is required by the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) and essentially outlines the budget for the proposed grant should it be approved. Along with signing this agreement, the commissioners authorized the Department of Development to submit a grant application to the ODOD Office of Community Development on behalf of the cities of Piqua and Troy, the participating jurisdictions of program year 2023 funding.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved re-appointment of Michael Brown, of Piqua, to the Board of Rural Zoning Commission for a term ending June 27, 2028.
• Approved the re-appointment of Randy Mott, of Casstown, to the Miami County Planning Commission for a term expiring July 21, 2026.
• Signed an agreement for early intervention services coordination grant agreement with the Miami County Family and Children First Council and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. The grant amount is $376,984 for the period of July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
• Authorized a sub grant agreement with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Ohio Department of Medicaid on behalf of the Miami County Department of Job and Family Services for the terms, conditions and requirements governing the administration and use of financial assistance received or used by the Miami County Department of Job and Family Services.
• Signed an employee requisition for a full-time animal control officer for a pay of $15-$17/hour depending on qualifications for one vacant position.
