At the August 26 meeting of the Clark County Commissioners, the commissioners appointed the following members to the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) for the 2015 - 2017 term. The appointees’ terms will expire August 14, 2017. The members are Brian Aller, Springfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol; Nancy Brown, Trustee - Bethel Township; Christina Conover, Project Manager - Clark County Combined Health District; Marc Cantrell, Disaster Program Specialist - American Red Cross; Douglas Clary, Director 911 Communications - City of Springfield; Lisa D’Allessandris, Director - Clark County Emergency Management; Thomas L. Dever Sr., Retired Community Member; Shayne Gray, GIS & Technology Director - Clark County Auditor’s Office; Bryan Heck, Deputy City Manager - City of Springfield; Timothy Hughes, Emergency Management Specialist - Springfield Air National Guard Base; Ken Johnson, Deputy Director - Clark County Emergency Management; Allen Jones, Water Treatment Plant Superintendent - City of Springfield; Scott C. Kaufman, Hustead Fire and EMS - City of Springfield, Clark County Hazmat; William Lohner, On-Scene Coordinator - Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; Glen F. Massie, Transportation Planner - Clark County Springfield TCC; John Maurer, Chief Operations Officer, Esterline & Son’s MFG; Carl A. Miller, Amateur Radio - ARES Emergency Coordinator; Charles A Patterson, Health Commissioner - Clark County Combined Health District; Rodney Rahrle, Hazmat Coordinator - City of Springfield Fire Rescue; Lisa P. Silva, Environmental Engineering Supervisor - Navistar; Chris Simpson, District Administrator - Clark Soil & Water Conservation District; Selinda Sizemore, Planner - Clark County Emergency Management; Michael Varner, Captain - City of Springfield, Ohio Police Division; Kristie West, Budget Specialist - Clark County Community Development; Dustin A. White, Uniform Patrol Commander - Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

John Detrick, Commissioner, said, “I want to commend all of these people for giving up their time to serve on this committee.”

The LEPC’s purpose is to develop an emergency response plan, review the plan annually, and provide information about chemicals in the community to citizens.

They also appointed the following members to the OhioMeansJobs Advisory Board. The appointees include Tammy Beam, Co-owner of Fitness Cellar LLC, whose term will expire December 2016, and Judith Finnegan, Human Resources Manager of Woeber Mustard and Rodney Hickman, Plant Manager Cascade Corporation. Their terms will expire in December 2018.

The advisory board is composed of business and community leaders who advise the agency on how best to serve the community.

In other business, the commissioners acknowledged receipt of bids from Com Doc, Modern Office Methods, ProSource, and Woodhull for Multi-Function Devices for the Information Systems Department. The ProSource bid was rejected because it was delivered after the RFP due date. The remaining proposals were referred to staff for further evaluation.

For the Utilities Department, the commissioners authorized the placement of uncollected water and sewer use charges for 27 residents of Springfield Township on the tax duplicate. Detrick asked, “Should we look at some other approach to increase collection of these fees? This seems like an enormous number of uncollected fees.”

Nathan Kennedy replied, “We send letters and make phone calls before placing these fees on the tax duplicate. I’m not sure what else we can do.”

In addition, Mark Keating, Loan Program Manager for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), gave a presentation to the Clark County Commissioners comparing the City Revolving Loan Fund and the County Revolving Loan Fund. Both funds are managed by the SBDC. According to Keating the city fund, which was established in 1986 with an initial investment of $558,900 has loaned over $4.6 million to small businesses in Springfield. These loans were matched by bank partners with $13.6 million resulting in the creation of 450 jobs and the retention of 85 jobs that were at risk. These loans are limited to small business in the City of Springfield.

He said, “In contrast, the county’s program, which serves the rest of Clark County, was established in 1999 with initial funds of $50,000. An additional $25,000 was added in 2014.” According to Keating the county fund has loaned only a little over $500,000 matched by $1 million in bank loans. The total job impact has been an increase in 92 jobs and the retention of 3 jobs. Keating said, “We believe very strongly that your program is limited by the amount of capital available. We would like the county to invest an additional $500,000 so we can actively market to the businesses in the county.

Kennedy said, “We can’t do anything now, but will consider it as a line item in the 2016 budget. The budgeting process doesn’t start until late October or November.”

The next meeting of the Clark County Commissioners is scheduled for September 2, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. in the County Commissioners Conference Room.