Treasurer: County is financially healthy

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Delaware County Commissioners approved depository agreements Thursday with First Commonwealth Bank, Fifth Third Bancorp, Union Bank Company, Richwood Banking Company, and PNC Bank.

“We are healthy, financially, as you know,” said Treasurer Jon Peterson. “So financial institutions would naturally gravitate to us, I think.”

Peterson appeared before commissioners to present the third and final step in the process of selecting public depositories for the county.

“We do this every four years,” Peterson told commissioners. “You first asked financial institutions if they have any interest in serving as a depository. You then received notice from six financial institutions that they had an interest. This morning is an authorization for you to execute five of those six agreements.”

Commissioner Jeff Benton said there were a “number of qualified institutions” that showed an interest in being depositories.

“Looks like we got a lot of interest,” said Benton. “People want to do business with the county and that is a very good sign.”

Code Compliance

Code Compliance Supervisor Fred Fowler approached the commissioners recommending the approval of a 12-month contract with Toole and Associates of Columbus for residential and non-residential, backup inspection services in the county.

“We posted an RFP (Request For Proposals) and Toole and Associates was the only firm that responded,” he said. “We’ve been using Toole and Associates for the last several months for outsourcing inspections.”

Fowler said the company has been very responsive and able to manage the assignments they are given each day by code compliance. He said the primary focus will be electrical inspections.

According to the agreed-upon contract, Toole and Associates will be compensated $65 per hour for inspections. For specifically requested special inspections, the company is to be compensated $150 per hour with a three-hour minimum.

Fowler said he continues to look for inspectors, primarily in electrical, “at this time we don’t have that person yet or people, but we will continue to try.”

Commissioners approved the 12-month contract with Toole and Associates.

Finance Authority Board

Commissioners approved the re-appointment of David Stadge and the appointment of Kent Shafer to the Delaware County Finance Authority Board of Directors.

“I want to thank Dave for his leadership and his expertise,” Benton said. “The Finance Authority has made huge strides in the last few years and a lot of it’s been because of his leadership.”

Benton also welcomed Shafer to the board.

“His background, connections, and relationship with the City of Delaware will really be a benefit to the finance authority,” he said. “He’s a really strong independent thinker.”

Stadge’s and Shafer’s terms end on December 31, 2021.

Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program

Commissioners approved an amendment to the 2017 Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program due to receiving additional funding.

“Our original allocation of the Farmland Preservation Funds was $301,493,” said Scott Stevens, Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District administrator. “Through the allocation process, they were able to provide an additional $75,171 in funding.”

The Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program preserves farmland for future agricultural use and prohibits any industrial or housing developments on designated farmland.

County Engineer’s Office

Commissioners approved a contract modification for the Worthington-Big Walnut Intersection project on the recommendation of the engineer’s office.

“We encountered subgrade soils that were worse than we expected based on our preliminary investigations of our soil borings,” said Rob Riley, chief deputy engineer. “The extent of the work ended up being more than the amount we had in the contract.”

The original contract provided for compensation not to exceed $2,377,884. The total was increased $235,693 bringing the new total to of the contract not to exceed $2,613,577.

Riley told the commissioners that the project had been completed.

Peterson
http://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/12/web1_Peterson-copy.jpgPeterson

By D. Anthony Botkin

[email protected]

D. Anthony Botkin may be reached at 740-413-0902 or on Twitter @dabotkin.

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