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LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners on Wednesday approved the annual lease agreement with the county Department of Jobs and Family Services for its space at the Government Services Building on Dickey Drive.
Between Feb. 1, 2021 and Jan. 31, 2022, the JFS is expected to pay $465,769 in equal monthly installments of $38,814. According to Rachel Ketterman, director of the JFS, the agreement is equal to $10.56 per square foot of space.
The building opened in 2011 and the amount of the lease with the JFS is determined after a company analyzes the space annually.
When the building was built, the county had three loans totaling $9.581 million. The JFS is not the only occupant of the building, which also houses the Board of Elections, the Veterans Services Commission, the OneStop and the Ohio State University Extension Offices. The OneStop pays $51,000 per year for its space and the VSC pays $45,000 annually. The other two reportedly do not pay for their space.
The commissioners pay for snow plowing and other major maintenance, according to Ketterman, but the JFS pays for its own cleaning contract and day-to-day maintenance to its part of the building.
The JFS receives both state and federal funding as well as funds from a senior services levy and a Children Services levy.
Also Wednesday, commissioners approved for the JFS to contract with four attorneys -- Hannah Crews, Stephen A. Hill, Richard Hoppel and Dan Solmen -- with funds coming from the senior services levy. They will work on behalf of senior citizens.
The commissioners recently completed a purchase of 1.83 acres of property adjacent to the Government Service Building on Dickey Drive, paying $100,000. The property is currently being used for the recycling containers with a driveway created to connect Dickey Drive with Rose Drive. In the future, Commissioner Tim Weigle said, some of that property could be developed to create more parking for the Government Services Building offices.
In other matters:
-- Commissioners approved the hiring of Logan Seabrook of East Palestine and Courtney Wagner of Salem as eligibility referral specialists in the public assistance department of JFS. They join Hycianna Grace of Youngstown and Morgan Slater of Lisbon, who commissioners approved for hiring as social service workers at a meeting earlier in February.
-- Commissioners also approved some changes to the Prevention, Retention, Contingency Plan requested by Ketterman. These include changes to the gas vouchers program, the phone cards program and a cap on kinship care dollars at $3,000 for those families who qualify for it by not exceeding an income of 200 percent of the poverty level. Currently, that is an income of $53,000 for a family of four, $43,920 for a family of three and $34,840 for a family of two.
--If the annual Johnny Appleseed Festival is able to happen on Sept. 18-19 this year, the organizers have permission to utilize the parking lot of the courthouse. In the past, rides and some concessions have been there. The 2020 festival was canceled due to COVID-19.
djohnson@mojonews.com