Written with the help of AI from the Clark County Board of Commissioners minutes, Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
Emergency shoring at the Public Safety Building
This recap is based on the approved minutes of the Clark County Board of Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, held at 3130 East Main Street, Springfield. Commissioners Sasha Rittenhouse, Charles Patterson and Greg Kaffenbarger were present, and every recorded roll call was 3-0 in favor.
Why it matters: The $71,580.52 amendment, paid from ARPA interest rather than general fund money, keeps the YouScience career-aptitude program, offered to every Clark County eighth grader, funded through December 31, 2026.
Resolution 2026-0823 authorized an emergency contract of $14,535 with Bruns Construction Enterprises Inc., doing business as Bruns General Contracting of Tipp City, for temporary shoring to repair deteriorated columns in the Public Safety Building. It is paid from the Permanent Improvement fund and runs October 27 through November 30, 2026.
Community and Economic Development Director Ethan Harris said the chief building official was called in about a week earlier over cracks in windows and the facade on the building’s east side. The official did not consider those cracks structural. Staff also pointed out a heavily loaded corner support column with about eight feet of cracking and delamination, and an engineer was brought in right away. The engineer recommended temporary shoring and a design for a permanent repair. The contractor is securing steel and building the temporary support, on-site work was expected to start early the following week, and a quote for the permanent repair is still pending.
County Administrator Jennifer Hutchinson stressed there was no imminent danger and that the work is a precaution. Commissioner Patterson said there would be a permanent fix because the building will be used for the next few years.
Youth career program funding
Resolution 2026-0824 authorized Amendment #1 to the county’s contract with the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC), adding $71,580.52 to the original $325,000 for a new total of $396,580.52. The amendment funds youth services from October 28 through December 31, 2026. During the meeting, Ms. Hutchinson noted the funding source needed to change from the general fund to ARPA interest, and the agenda motion was amended to reflect that. ARPA is the federal pandemic-relief program.
Job and Family Services Director Tom McGrath said the department and CIC entered 2026 under a contract that had been in place for several years, with some wording possibly dating to 2014. State reviewers flagged issues around Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds in about March. He stopped the use of those funds and part of the contract ended July 31. He said he probably should have caught the issues when he signed the contract in December. Commissioner Patterson said the contractor had done nothing wrong and that the contract simply had not been updated.
CIC’s Horton Hobbs said the YouScience navigator program offers every eighth grader in the county an aptitude assessment and career exploration with local employers. It has grown from one high school to all 14 high schools across the county’s nine school districts. He described a roughly $70,000 gap after the funding was cut. The Crabill Family Foundation gave $30,000, which let CIC pay a licensing bill due a year in advance. The foundation agreed to shift its gift to next year’s program. Mr. Hobbs said Senate Bill 328 would require aptitude assessments in Ohio middle schools. He believes it will pass, though possibly not before the gubernatorial election.
Commissioner Rittenhouse said children services levy money could not be used because there was no good way to tell what share of participants qualified, and the county is looking at ways to track that.
Contracts and purchases
Resolution 2026-0827 awarded the re-bid for the Clark County-Springfield Township 2026 OPWC Resurfacing Project to R.B. Jergens Contractors, Inc. of Vandalia at a corrected low bid of $2,660,841, down from a base bid of $2,660,991. It is funded by an Ohio Public Works Commission grant and local motor vehicle and gas tax money, with work running through June 30, 2027. Ms. Hutchinson said the project is a little behind because it had to be bid twice.
Resolution 2026-0829 authorized a $201,325 contract with Rieck Services of Dayton to replace boilers, hot water circulation pumps and copper piping at Building C, 1345 Lagonda Avenue. The money comes from the county commission ($100,000) and the Children Services Levy ($101,325), and the work runs through December 31, 2026.
Resolution 2026-0828 acknowledged six bids for the Clark County Family Services Visitation Building and referred them to staff for evaluation. Base bids ranged from $950,000 (Westerheide) to $1,285,000 (Setterlin), against an estimate of $1,100,000. Ms. Hutchinson said the building was left out of the earlier Home Road project so part of the campus could stay open, and the work now includes ADA accessibility improvements and general maintenance.
Resolution 2026-0825 is a memorandum of understanding letting the City of Springfield use up to 20 of the county’s virtual private network connections for testing and training on the Spillman records system, from October 28, 2026 through January 27, 2027. Ms. Hutchinson said the county is moving the city’s Police Department off Citrix, which expires at the end of January. The VPN is a backup so the county can avoid another Citrix renewal she estimated at about $80,000.
Resolution 2026-0826 authorized $40,000 with Safety Kits Plus of Tucson, Arizona, for bleeding control kits and refills, reimbursed through the FY 25 Homeland Security Grant. Resolution 2026-0833 authorized a $35,939 2025 Ford Explorer for the Sheriff’s Office from Jeff Schmitt Auto Group of Fairborn, paid from the Permanent Improvement Fund for aging fleet replacement. Resolution 2026-0832 accepted permanent highway easements for the Spangler Road Safety Improvements project on two parcels for $15,344 and $15,123.
Insurance, veterans fund and settlement
Resolution 2026-0831 set 2027 self-insured medical and pharmacy rates for employees. Monthly contributions without a wellness credit are $160.90 for single PPO coverage, $320.82 for employee plus one and $473.32 for family. For the high-deductible plan they are $104.88, $209.16 and $308.28. The county will put $60, $120 or $175 a month into a health savings account for employees choosing the high-deductible plan. Wellness credits are $63, $94 and $125 a month depending on coverage.
Resolution 2026-0830 set the contribution policy for county officers whose terms begin in 2027: 15% of the premium for a PPO and 10% for the high-deductible plan, with the county paying 60% of the lowest single dental rate. HR Director Michelle Noble said a new attorney general’s opinion generally requires elected officials’ plans to stay the same through their terms. Chief Legal Counsel Beau Thompson said it is not a big change because the county already follows that approach.
Resolution 2026-0834 created a Veteran’s Capital Projects fund, number 4905, and moved $123,610 into it from the Veteran’s Park Renovation account. The resolution says the park near the county’s Springview property is no longer expected to be built, and the Veterans Service Commission still needs money for capital items such as a vehicle and a server. Resolution 2026-0837 rescinded an earlier $53,000 supplemental appropriation for a Ford Transit van and a server because the fund had not been established at the time.
Resolution 2026-0841, added to the agenda, authorized a settlement in the case County Risk Sharing Authority v. Board of Clark County Commissioners v. Armcorp Construction, Inc. Commissioner Rittenhouse said it concerned the propane tank explosion on Home Road, and Ms. Hutchinson called it a good compromise compared with going to trial. The minutes give no settlement amount.
Commissioner and staff updates
Commissioner Patterson said preliminary work has started at the Tremont Barrel Fill cleanup site. U.S. EPA Region 5 has authorized site improvements, including an access road and a concrete pad for sorting buildings, while the cleanup plan moves toward final approval. Crews are not yet removing barrels. He said the Responsible Environmental Solutions Alliance group is paying, with a cost he estimated at $30 million to $50 million, and that the work could take two to three years for roughly 55,000 drums holding about 1.5 million gallons of hazardous waste. Mr. Harris said building permits have been issued for the site.
Mr. McGrath said marketplace open enrollment, running from Monday through January 15, would bring thousands of Medicaid applications while the Benefits Plus team is at about 42% staffing after losing seven employees two weeks earlier. He said he planned to work with the state on options such as temporarily reducing calls or case assignments and using overtime, and he apologized for delays.
Ms. Hutchinson said general fund allocation numbers should go out by the end of the week now that mediation is finished, and that next week’s meeting will be at 5 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. Commissioners also invited the public to an Electra celebration from 5 to 7 p.m. that day at the National Advanced Air Mobility Center for Excellence at Springfield’s airport.
Public comment
A Springfield Township resident described security concerns around a book launch, thanked sheriff’s deputies for providing security, and raised concerns about the county’s 2051 planning process, saying it appeared to be moving toward eliminating townships. Commissioner Patterson, who holds the county’s seat on the steering committee, said he saw nothing about eliminating townships in the most recent presentation and did not expect it in the plan to be presented at a community meeting in November or December.
A representative of the Veterans Service Commission and a VFW post asked how donated money for vans was being accounted for, saying a figure of about $35,000 had been mentioned for a van while the actual cost was closer to $75,000. Ms. Hutchinson said she assumed the matter was settled. The speaker said his post is considering a donation and wanted to be sure the money would be handled properly.
Routine items
The board approved the previous meeting’s minutes and the agenda, 3-0, and met in executive session to discuss the purchase of property. No action on that discussion appears in the minutes. Other 3-0 actions included:
Intra-fund transfers for Juvenile Court, a Juvenile Court mediation pilot fund and Probate Court to cover end-of-year expenses, and a supplemental appropriation for the DETAC prosecutor of $50,000 in salaries, $7,000 for PERS, $650 for Medicare and $4,300 for health insurance because of mid-year staff changes.
Two warrants of $27.98 each to Culligan for invoices received after purchase orders were created, three travel allowances of $400, $750 and $225, and Resolution 2026-0840, which certified six properties for the 2027 tax list over uncollected water and sewer charges ranging from $296.68 to $5,357.30.
Source: Clark County Board of Commissioners minutes, Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
By the numbers: Montgomery County, 2026 year to date: 993 housing units permitted through September, vs. 847 through September 2025 (+17.2%). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, monthly county and place files. See the data. Montgomery County permitted 1,079 new housing units in 2025 (Census Bureau). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (through FRED). See the data.
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