By Eamon Baird
TROY—The Miami County Commissioners accepted a quote of $25,000 from MT Studio of Troy for renovations of the second floor of the Hobart Center for County Government.
Facilities Director Ben Howlett addressed the commissioners about the scope of the work.
“It’s a two-phase project,” Howlett said. “The first half will be for county offices and then the other half will be what’s known as shelf space so we can have it as a tenant improvement or leave it as storage if we need to.”
“I’m really glad to see us moving forward with this,” Commissioner Wade Westfall said. “It’s viable space and we love to see it getting utilized.”
The commissioners also accepted a quote from Christy’s Construction of Piqua to trim approximately 7,500 linear feet at the fence line at the north and south landfills as requested by the sanitary engineering department for $15,000.
“So, the reason we’re doing this is the trees and the bushes surrounding the landfill has now crept through the fence is now approaching in the landfill,” Assistant Sanitary Engineer Josh Lococo said. “We’ve tried spraying it in the past it hasn’t killed the back far enough where we can utilize the fence and defense repairs. So, we’re hiring one of these companies hopefully to come back and trim that back a couple of feet.”
While the commissioners accepted the quote Commissioner Ted Mercer suggested mowing a perimeter outside the fence to prevent future expenses.
“It sounds like it needs to be done,” Mercer said. “I just think we need to come up with a better plan, so we don’t have to spend $15,000.”
“That’s something we can look into,” Lococo replied. “If they clear it back, we can get in there with a mower and maintain it.”
The commissioners also authorized the disposal of an obsolete 2009 Ford Escape with 72,079 miles in poor condition to be sold through internet auction via GovDeals. The original resolution included a 2009 Ford Focus with 31,644 miles, which the commissioners opted to table.
“I’d like to look to see if there’s some organization or something that we can donate that car to that would help them. If we can’t we put it back on GovDeals,” Mercer said.
In other business, the commissioners authorized or approved the following resolutions:
• A quote from The Illusion Maker of Dalton, Pennsylvania, as requested by the sanitary engineering department authorizing said company to conduct 14 in-person environmental programs at Miami County Elementary Schools in the fall of 2024 for $6,880.
• To execute and sign 2024 standard certifications and assurances for the rural transit program.
• To sign an employment requisition for a full-time telecommunicator in the communication center at a pay rate of $22.91 due to the departure of Connie Sandy.
