By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Darke County Board of Commissioners met Thursday to discuss grant agreements and amend proposals. Commissioner Matt Aultman and Mike Stegall were present.

In a matter of examination and allowance of bills, the commissioners have a total of $52,294.23 in the General Fund and $2,404,432.32 in the Outside General Fund. Combined there is a grand total of $2,456,726.55. The commissioners approved the payment.

A letter of recommendation and notice award was presented for the bids for the Sanitary Sewer Relining Phase 1 for the Village of Ansonia. On June 14, one bid was received and opened. After reviewing the bid package from Insight Pipe Contracting, a math error was discovered when preparing the bid tabulation of $100.

“They have increased the bid $100 increasing it from $72,471.55,” Administrative Clerk/Secretary Robin Blinn said.

The Village of Ansonia Council accepted the low bid in the amount of $72,571.55 on Tuesday, July 5. The Sanitary Sewer Relining project will be funded with CDBG Allocation Program grant funds. The Village of Ansonia is contributing towards the project, as well.

County Recorder Hillary Holzapfel spoke about an Addendum to amend the proposal with US Imaging, Inc for an additional $15,994.76.

“This is for us to add in abstracting books to be back scanned in order to support the archived books that are already online, Holzapfel said.

She said it will make it easier to research properties. An abstract book is a book used to locate a deed of mortgage that is associated with the property.

“It’s basically like a table of contents in a book. It will tell you where to find it somewhere else,” Aultman said.

The commissioners also approved a grant agreement between them and the Ohio Department of Development for $471,000. The grant agreement was made to set forth the terms and conditions upon which the grantor will provide financial assistance to the grantee.

“It was awarded, and I believe there were roughly 37 houses, but it is to clean up houses that are falling down and other spaces that need cleaned up around Darke County,” Aultman said.

The grant has to be utilized by May 2023, and the commissioners said most of the spaces will be turned into green spaces. This means once the properties are cleaned up or leveled, they will come back and plant grass on the property.

The commissioners approved the transfer of appropriations for Darke County Solid Waste in the amount of $10,500 to cover the cost of Memorial Benches.

“Some of these benches go out to The Great Darke County Fair,” Stegall said.

Aultman added these benches are the recycled benches that are around Darke County. The benches are made out of bottle caps, and they have a dedication on them stating who they are representing.

“It really is a great program,” Blinn said.

The Darke County Board of Commissioners meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at their office located at 520 S. Broadway Street in Greenville. To contact the office, call 937-547-7370.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].