By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Darke County Commissioners met Tuesday to discuss the OSU Extension and contracts. Commissioners Matt Aultman, Mike Stegall, and Larry Holmes were present.

In a matter of examination and allowance of bills, there is $21,545.62 in the General Fund, and there is $843,520.76 in the Outside General Fund; for a Grand Total of $864,066.38.

Roseanne Scammahorn attended the meeting to give an update on the OSU Extension. In the next 30 days, Taylor Dill, will have four educational opportunities available. One will include guest speaker Garth Ruff. Ruff will talk about Feeding Dairy Beef at the West Ohio Dairy Luncheon Kickoff on Nov. 16.

“She is also wrapping up her data. She’s got three more soil samples to collect, and then she will do her data analysis for this harvest season,” Scammahorn said.

Scammahorn said Dill is working on Grant Development with her team in regards to sulfur on corn yield and feed quality. She is also recruiting a farm in regards to Poultry Litter on Wheat at Top-dress.

Keeping with the busy schedule, Jocelynn Ryle has 25 programs scheduled for the next 25 days, all of which are at organizations that are SNAP benefit eligible. At least 50 percent of those that attend have to be SNAP eligible, but they do not have to receive SNAP Benefits.

“For me in the next 30 days I have 37 educational opportunities, I will have three state level presentations, I’ll be gaining three additional certifications, and I will be wrapping up the writing of three new curriculums for the state of Ohio,” Scammahorn said.

One of the events Scammahorn will be hosting includes Shared Harvest on Nov. 30 at the Radiant Lighthouse from 3 until 5 p.m. This program was originally scheduled for a different date, time, and location, but due to conflicts like daylight savings, the information was voted upon to change.

“The program has been going very well. In October, we fed 371 households and 1,001 individuals, which is about average of what we are doing,” Scammahorn said.

Scammahorn asked if any organizations would like to host the site for the Shared Harvest for the 2023 year, to please reach out. The biggest concern with location is “they either have a side street or parking facility where the majority of traffic can be off of a main route.”

“The site organization must be willing to provide us with 10 to 12 volunteers during the event, and of course with the light issues, that their parking lot may be well lit for safety standards,” Scammahorn said.

For more information about the event or to volunteer, visit darke.osu.edu.

Rhonda Williams, with the OSU Extension, will also be busy, as she was asked to serve as Interim Junior Fair Coordinator by the Senior Fairboard on Nov. 10 and is currently working on finding missing information and filling in the gaps.

She also has 16 meetings and educational opportunities scheduled while serving as a mentor to two educators across the state, and she is currently writing three new curriculums.

“There is a lot of activity going on. Very well done,” Holmes said.

Continuing with the regular meeting, the commissioners approved an Addendum to a contract between the County of Miami and the Darke County Commissioners in regards to the Detention of Juvenile Offenders for an increase in bed space. The cost was $95, but the cost of bed space will increase by three percent to $97.85 for 2023. Darke County will be using five contracted beds.

“Everybody knows, the cost of operations have all went up,” Aultman 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].