It was a short meeting for the Lawrence County Commissioners on Tuesday, besides the standard floodplain permits, fund transfers and personnel changes on the agenda, one of the main topics of conversation was that Olivia Fosson, of Kitts Hill, had been named Miss Ohio on Saturday.

“I want to say a quick congratulation and hopefully, we will get to elaborate on this more in the future, to our reigning Miss Ohio, Olivia Fosson,” said Commissioner DeAnna Holliday, adding Fosson is Lawrence County native and is the granddaughter of Keith Dickess, who many people get their Christmas tree from at the Dickess Tree Farm. “We are just extremely proud of her accomplishments. She is a beautiful young lady, both inside and out, and very intelligent and talented. We are really excited to see what she is going to do in the national competition and she is going to make Ohio, and especially Lawrence County, have a whole lot to be proud of.”

“We are well represented,” said Commissioner Mike Finley.

In other upcoming events, Finley said everyone needs to get ready for the Lawrence County Fair which is July 7-12 at the fairgrounds in Rome Township.

“We are already seeing the kids come in,” he said.

In reports from county agency heads, David Hamm, the director of Lawrence County EMS, told the commissioners that early this year, the agency had its first basic EMT class and two of the new hires that were on the agenda were graduates of the class.

“Of the five of the six that have passed the class, all five have been hired by us and we have one more that hasn’t tested yet,” he said. “It was a great success.”

“That is fantastic,” Holliday said.

“That’s phenomenal,” Finley said. “We appreciate all you do.”

“We do. I think it is a testament to the strong leadership we have in place at EMS right now,” Holliday said. “That is a level we have tried to reach for a really long time. And we do really appreciate the hard work you have put into it.”

In the items on the agenda, the commissioners took the following actions:

• Approved the following floodplain permits submitted by the Soil and Water Conservation District: New: Shawn C. Ellixson-Installation of a 26-module count roof mounted photovoltaic system project located at 292 Township Road 1107, Brittany Black- Installation of a 31-roof mounted photovoltaic modules onto existing structure project located at 16 Township Road 1187, Edward Berry-Stream maintenance project located at 1987 County Road 37, Ashley Tackett-Manufactured home project located at 11385 State Route 93.  Renewal: Herrell Farm LLC-Stream maintenance project located on Township Road 101, Travis Gates-Stream maintenance project located at 18705 State Route 141. 

•  Approved the following EMS personnel changes: Tyler Endicott, part-time to full-time EMT; Mike Misner, full-time to part-time paramedic; Chris Epperson, full-time to part-time paramedic and Patrick Misner, new hire as part-time paramedic.