LISBON — With a goal of alleviating overcrowding issues at the jail, the Columbiana County Commissioners announced on Wednesday they have received approval for plans for a construction project from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

According to a letter from Chris Darlington, a project manager, with the Bureau of Adult Detention, the project proposed by the county has received conditional approval for phases one through four.

Commissioner Mike Halleck noted that the Columbiana County Jail continues to be in the top 10 in the state when it comes to being overcrowded with inmates. This project will be the second half of the plans to remodel sections of the county jail.

According to Halleck, the plans include remodeling one wing to house just female inmates and alleviate having too many inmates in close proximity to each other.

The county jail was built to hold 200 people, something Halleck said it rarely holds. This will reconfigure some of the sleeping arrangements to help alleviate inmates sleeping in too close of proximity to each other. Designed by Howells and Baird, the project will be ready to go out to bid in the next couple of weeks and will be paid for with American Rescue Plan Act money the county has received.

During Wednesday’s meeting, the commissioners also voted to accept some of the changes recently approved for how ARPA money can be spent. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused losses up to $10 million to the treasury of the county, then $10 million of the money can be used to fund government services.

That list of government services now includes items that were not on the original list of approved expenses. The list now includes road building and maintenance; health services; general government administration, staff and facilities; environmental remediation, safety services like police and fire including the purchase of vehicles; cyber security and building of infrastructure.

Additionally, commissioners approved the guidelines for increasing the Federal micro-purchase threshold when it comes to the expenditure of ARPA funds and setting the guidelines for how the county will make purchases with the money. That includes how the county with bid out projects and what documentation is needed and at what level of spending conducting a cost analysis is required.

In other matters:

— Commissioners approved a proclamation naming April 28, Workers Memorial Day, which is set to recognize the workers injured, falling ill or suffering a fatality due to an accident in the workplace.

— The county is getting ready for the annual electronics collection event, scheduled for May 12, 19 and 26. Halleck said the plan right now is to limit each vehicle to no more than three TVs. Those wanting to participate will have to call 330-596-5000 for an appointment. More information will be released after Monday’s meeting of the Carroll-Columbiana-Harrison Solid Waste District.