DARKE COUNTY – At Monday’s meeting, Darke County Commissioners approved the application for a grant with the Ohio Department of Transportation Office of Aviation to remove trees obstructing the Darke County Airport’s runway.

Commissioner Mike Rhoades said they would be taking down the taller trees currently and come back to remove more later. The grant program would be used on the trees on the opposite end of the runway that was currently being worked on, Rhoades said.

“FAA paid for the west end,” he said. “ODOT is helping pay for the east end of it.”

He said land owners in the area have come to an agreement for the removal of the trees.

Commissioner Matt Aultman gave an update to the work being done on the jail, saying it was almost complete. He said the air duct system was being finished and the jail should be operational by next week. The jail has not been in use while the updates were in progress.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Darke County Solid Waste Director Krista Fourman presented bids from companies on their three upcoming community events. First, was the Community Shred Day, which will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on June 9 at the Ohio Center at the Darke County Fairgrounds.

Fourman received one quote from Document Destruction from Cincinnati. The company said for one truck, which will hold 15,000 pounds, will cost $800. For two trucks, holding 20,000 pounds, it will cost $1,250. Fourman said in the past, they have used two trucks, which held 10,000 pounds each.

“The reason we do two trucks is so we go faster, but this will be the same amount we have been doing for a lower price we paid in the past,” Fourman said.

Commissioner Rhoades said they’ve used this company many times before. The commissioners approved this bid and left for Fourman to further investigate whether one or two trucks would be better, following up with them later.

The second event, the Tire Recycle Collection, will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 26. Fourman received two bids. One came from One Shot Services in Bradford for $17,875 and the other from Rumpke Waste and Recycling in Greenville for $13,975. The commissioners approved the bids and left it for a follow-up from Fourman to investigate the better option.

The third event, the Household Hazardous Waste, will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 6 at the Darke County Fairgrounds. Bids were sent to three vendors and one was received from Environmental Enterprises, Inc. from Cincinnati for $10,322.42. The commissioners approved this bid outright.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners approved the payment for removing additional trees from the Darke County Airport by Foster Tree and Landscaping. The total amounted to $3,840.00 and came out of the FFA grant funds. Commissioner Rhoades explained why this needed to be done: “When they did the aerial pictures, you couldn’t tell if it was one tree or two trees. We found out there were two trees side by side the same height.”

The next meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday.