Commissioners OK land transfer to Madison Schools
The Richland County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a land transfer to the Madison Local School District that will help improve the safety for parents who pick up their children from Mifflin Elementary School. The action involves 0.625 aces of land at the intersection of Reed Road and Galaxie Drive just north of the school that had been the site of two small county wastewater treatment facilities.
Commissioners’ Chairman Cliff Mears said the parcels had been offered to the district “a number of years ago” but school officials were not interested at the time. He said the district now has an interest because of traffic problems on Reed Road.
Madison School Superintendent Rob Peterson told the board that traffic is lined up in the school parking lot and onto Reed Road, where there are 20 or more cars stopped at dismissal time and causing a traffic safety issue.
“What we would like to do with the property is put an access drive off of Galaxie Drive that runs up through our property and will accommodate two lanes of traffic and will run right into our parking lots so that backed up traffic that currently goes onto Reed Road will no longer be there. It would be in this drive, which will be blacktopped,” he said.
Peterson said Mifflin Township trustees came to the district following complaints from the community. He said he believes more parents are bringing their children to school because they don’t want them taking the bus or walking to school. Mifflin Elementary houses students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Wastewater Treatment Director Amanda Miller said that while the lots are not buildable because of facilities that remain underground, there would be no problem with a driveway as long as there are easements to maintain the lines and manholes. She noted that the county would save on mowing.
Peterson was asked if the proposed traffic pattern was discussed with Galaxie Drive residents.
“There would only be a handful of homes on Galaxie that would see more traffic, although the traffic could come from Reed Road onto Galaxie and then onto the drive,” he replied. “I don’t know if the township trustees have discussed that with those folks, but it’s my understanding they have some of the same concerns about the traffic on Reed Road as well.”
Commissioners agreed to transfer the properties at no cost to the school district except for transfer and recording fees. Ohio law allows the county to sell or transfer property without competitive bidding or auction if it is being transferred to another political subdivision.
Peterson said the township will help with the grading work and that the project should be done before the start of the next school year.
New software for dog warden's office
Commissioners also tentatively approved the purchase of software that will computerize recordkeeping at the county dog shelter and allow law enforcement officials to keep track of potential problem dogs. HLP of Littleton, Colorado has agreed to provide its Chameleon software, a server and training at a cost of $37,295.
Dog Warden Missy Houghton said Chameleon will track from the moment an animal is captured.
”Deputies can take photos of dogs while out in the field that will check a dog all the way in through the shelter. Medical records can attach to that dog. Owner information can attach to that dog. Adoption information attaches to that dog. We can attach barcodes to that information. We can create records and create a history so we can track interactions and we can track problem dogs and the interactions we have with those dogs,” she explained.
The dog warden’s office currently has basic software for shelter operations but not for all recordkeeping. “Everything is paper right now and that’s no way to be,” Houghton said.
The new software also will be able to track dogs that are microchipped.
“It will also create a lost and found tracking program that ties in all the lost and found reports that they receive and it will cross match that automatically and eliminate us having to do that” Houghton said.
System information will be available to deputy wardens and sheriff’s deputies in the field so they are aware of any dogs they may encounter, particularly those that have been determined as dangerous.
Richland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jim Sweat said a dog warden program was to have been part of a new $1.4 million computer aided dispatch system for the county’s 911 operation. However, officials had to look for a third party vendor after it was demined that the new CAD system from Tyler Technologies of Plano, Texas, was not able to provide all the features officials wanted for the dog shelter operation.
Sweat said Tyler Technologies currently is in the fact-finding and information-gathering phase of system design with a preliminary “go live” date of May 2024. The project will be paid for with a combination of American Rescue Plan Act funds, state 911 dollars and county money.
Commissioners accept latest opioid settlement
In other business, commissioners approved a resolution accepting the latest national consolidated opioid litigation settlement, this time involving manufacturers Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS, Walgreens and WalMart. County Business Manager Andrew Keller said officials expect the first payments from the $20 billion national installment to be made sometime his year or in 2024.
Keller said the One Ohio memo of understanding calls for 30% of the state distribution to go directly to participating local political subdivisions and 55% to the One Ohio Foundation, a non-profit fund that provides grants with the settlement money.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County commissioners approve land transfer to Madison Schools
