County commission meeting was at Lawrence County fairgrounds this week

ROME TOWNSHIP — Lawrence County Commission accepted 1,953 signatures at its meeting Thursday at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds for a petition to allow the Lawrence County EMS to have a 2 mill levy on the November ballot.

Commission President Bill Pratt said the levy is for county EMS to have a protected revenue source, rather than its current state of splitting between county 911, the county sheriff’s office and EMS.

The signatures, from both online and physical petitions, have only been collected for about two and a half weeks.

Lawrence County Treasurer Stephen Burcham said online second half tax collections at the end of this past Friday totaled more than $62,000, which is one of the largest if not the largest amount ever collected online in the county.

Burcham also gave an update on the Lawrence County Land Bank, and said the fifth demolition day is quickly approaching, where 10 structures on properties in the Chesapeake area, 12 in the Ironton and Hanging Rock area, eight in the Burlington, South Point and Coal Grove area, and three in the Proctorville area will be demolished.

The land bank is also in the process of taking ownership of 14 properties in the Burlington and South Point area, 13 in the Ironton area, 12 in the Chesapeake area, four in the Proctorville area, three in the Coal Grove area and two in the Athalia area, which would be demolished sometime in the future.

Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Andy Ballard talked about part of Ohio’s new budget that wasn’t vetoed, regarding not sending certain felony-4 or felony-5 offenders to prison if under the right conditions using Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison (TCAP) grants.

He said the annual prison budget in the state of Ohio is $2 billion, and this would cut down on that cost. Those who would be eligible for TCAP include those with no previous felony records and offenses that aren’t sexual or violence related.

Ballard said this would affect hundreds, if not thousands, of people in Lawrence County. However, with TCAP, it would increase the Lawrence County Jail population due to people choosing jail time over treatment over an extended period of time. Offenders can still be sentenced to jail under TCAP, just not prison.

Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless informed commission that the sheriff’s office is looking to get a school bus from Ironton City Schools, which would be painted black for the sheriff’s office use. The bus would be used to transport those in jail.

Lawrence County Fair Board President Randy Lambert said that the board has put in a grant request to build a small stage as well as get better electrical service in the barn.

In other action, commission:

• Approved one floodplain permit.

• Approved Commission President Bill Pratt to sign the resolution authorizing the submission of the Lawrence County Community Development Block Grant Allocation Program Grant.

• Approved Commission President Bill Pratt to sign the resolution authorizing the submission of the Lawrence County FY17 Community Development Block Grant Downtown Revitalization Grant.

• Authorized Lawrence County Commissioner Patrick Leighty to sign the LPA Agreement for PID 97484 LAW 52-17.27/Solida Road J and C Interchange/Roadway improvement projects. Leighty said this is for improvements at the intersection of Collins Avenue and Solida Road, where The Point Industrial Park comes out on Solida. The project is estimated to cost about $1.6 million.

• Approved and signed the Fee Agreement Letter regarding the development of a County Personnel Manual and position descriptions.

• Approved two transfer funds.