JEFFERSON —
Commissioners on Tuesday approved the county’s grant agreement with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to participate in the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program.
Janice Switzer, program manager for the county’s department of planning and community services, told commissioners that $691,790 is available to Ashtabula County from the foreclosure abuses/fraud settlement that lenders made with the Ohio Attorney General. Of that, $500,000 is available without a local match. The balance would require a match, which the county has not identified at this time.
The county applied for the grant last month and was recently awarded the money.
Switzer told commissioners that the county is acting as the lead on the grant and will hold a meeting for the other political subdivisions that want to participate in the program, which provides money to demolish blighted properties.
The money must be spent by Dec. 31, 2013. Switzer said it is possible that there will be another round of grant money made available because some counties chose not to participate in the program. Allocation of the funds was made by population.
She said the program is especially attractive because it does not come with as many stipulations as some of the federally funded demolition grants.
Also on Tuesday, the board awarded several paving projects to Koski Construction Co. of Ashtabula. Koski will pave portions of Clay, Seven Hills and State roads and Runkle Avenue with hot mix asphalt. Motor Vehicle Gasoline Tax receipts will pay for the work.
Koski’s aggregate bid of $495,502.20 was the lowest of the six the county received. It also was significantly lower than the engineer’s estimate of $562,351.
In other action, the board:
- Approved a licensing maintenance contract with Digital Data Technologies of Columbus for emergency management agency software. The annual contract amount is $26,480.
- Passed a resolution to provide for the insurance and sale of bonds in the amount of $800,000 principal to pay for a roof replacement at the Ashtabula County Children Services building. The Children Services Board will pay the debt, but the county must issue the bonds.
- Approved a change order for $9,457.43 on the Linwood Drive sanitary sewer project in Saybrook Township. The change order, with contractor Hallmark Excavating, is the only that has been presented and will close the project.
