Commissioners share details on County projects at talk with seniors

GENEVA – The Ashtabula County commissioners continued an initiative titled “Coffee with the Commissioners” where the commissioners visit area coffee shops or community spaces to share information with constituents about work underway in the county on Wednesday, Feb. 4, with a visit to the Geneva Senior Center.
“We’re really excited to be here,” Board of Commissioners President Casey Kozlowski said. “We think it’s important for you to know what’s going on in County government.”
Each commissioner talked about a couple projects, with Kozlowski highlighting the Ashtabula County Public Safety Center/Jail project.
This project involves updating the county jail.
“This has been an issue that has long plagued Ashtabula County,” Kozlowski said.
The current facility was built in the late 1970s and was never finished.
“The county has actually been undersized as it relates to having jail space here in the County since the ‘70s,” Kozlowski said.
When the facility first opened, they had roughly 109 inmates.
The laws have changed since then. When the jail was first built, individuals could serve one day short of one year in the facility.
Now they can serve just short of two years of their sentence in the county jail, he said.
“We just don’t have enough space for inmates in our current facility,” Kozlowski said. “The condition of the facility is also failing. Over the years there has not been adequate money put into the facility to maintain it appropriately.”
When the new Board of County Commissioners was seated, they have been able to move the project forward, he said.
Originally, they proposed a new jail built on greenspace just north of Jefferson.
That project required an ask of the taxpayers, who rejected it.
“And I respect that wholeheartedly,” Kozlowski said.
That project did not move forward, but since then, the commissioners worked hard to find funds without making a new ask of the taxpayers.
Last year, the County secured a $15 million grant from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.
“We have applied to every grant opportunity that’s existed,” Kozlowski said. “And we’re pairing that with $15 million that the County has saved up primarily from ARPA funds – federal grant dollars that we have received.”
The plan is to build an approximately 55,000-square-feet facility just north of the current Sheriff’s Office, connected to the existing county jail.
There will be roughly 220 beds.
“That will enable us to meet the correctional needs that exist for our county today and into the future,” Kozlowski said.
Right now, the county is housing some inmates in Geauga County because they don’t have the space here, he noted.
“It’s also important to note that the state has slowly pared back how many inmates we can house in our current jail,” Kozlowski said.
Pre-COVID, they had upwards of 170 inmates in the facility.
The state has slowly told the County because of space limitations, the current design and jail conditions, they cannot house that many there. The County can only house around 98 inmates.
“That has added to the space issue that we’ve had,” Kozlowski said.
The County is in the midst of the design phase, which will take about six months.
“We just want a basic jail that’s going to meet the needs for our county, now and into the future,” Kozlowski said.
Once the design is done, the goal is to go out to bid in the summer of this year. Then a contractor will be selected, and if all goes as planned, they will break ground in the fall, he said.
The jail will take two to three years to build.
Kozlowski also talked about the Tire Amnesty Day coming up in the spring.
The Ashtabula County Solid Waste District will host the Tire Amnesty Day on Saturday, May 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds. Use the west side of North Poplar Street.
People are allowed to dispose of four tires for free, and pay $1 per tire after that for up to 10 tires. No oversized tires over a 22-inch rim size will be accepted. Rims will not be accepted.
The event is for Ashtabula County residents, and people must show proof of residency. The event is not open to businesses.
Next up, Vice President Kathryn Whittington spoke of the Ashtabula County Manufacturing Institute’s summer STEM camps that take place over three weeks in July that focus on agriculture, chemistry and robotics.
The camps are put on by the commissioners; OhioMeansJobs Ashtabula County; A-Tech; Ashtabula County Job & Family Services; Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County; Gazette Newspapers/Great Lakes Printing; Camp Beaumont; Congressman U.S. Dave Joyce’s Office; and Country Neighbor.
This past summer, they put on five camps total – fifth- and sixth-grade camps for three weeks, a seventh-grade camp and, new, an eighth-grade camp.
“Last year, we sold out four out of five camps, and we served 97 children,” Whittington said.
The camp is open to Ashtabula County residents.
“We’re super excited about what’s going to happen this year. We’re just in our planning stages for this year’s camp,” Whittington said.
This year, camp weeks are July 13, 20 and 27. The second week is the week of the 7th/8th grade camps.
“We keep the price very minimal,” Whittington said. “We do offer scholarships when necessary so that every child can attend.”
Country Neighbor provides meals for the children Monday through Thursday, with a Friday luncheon for the families provided by the Gazette.
“It really opens those doors to letting those kids know what’s available in the county,” Whittington said of the camps.
Whittington also talked about the plans underway for the next Senior Levy Conference, which will be held June 12 at the Lakeside Junior High School.
“It is always a great conference for the seniors. Great speakers, lots of vendors,” Whittington said.
She said information will be sent out to the seniors as it further unfolds in planning.
In his remarks, Commissioner J.P. Ducro IV talked about the Remote Area Medical Clinic being held Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and 12, at Lakeside Junior High School.
RAM provides free medical, dental, and vision care to the uninsured or under insured in the community.
“This will be the 7th clinic that’s been held in Ashtabula County,” Ducro said.
Patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis with doors opening at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cars may get a place in line by arriving anytime after midnight the day of the clinic, but they will be required to wait until the doors open and cannot leave and return later with their place held in line.
In dental, services such as cleanings, fillings and extractions can be provided, while in vision, a patient can receive an eye exam, a prescription, select their own frames and have prescription glasses made for them while they wait.
On the medical side, services such as general medical, women’s health, dermatology, and chiropractic are typically available.
“Usually you have to pick either vision or dental when you come to the clinic. It’s unusual that you can see both on the same day, because there’s only a limited number of spaces,” Ducro said.
He said there are no questions as far as qualification.
“Anyone who wants services is welcome to show up. There’s no income eligibility. There’s no restrictions,” Ducro said.
The RAM Clinic can help the uninsured, but also the underinsured.
“It’s designed to help anybody,” Ducro said.
Ducro also talked about water and sewer projects taking place in the county.
“Lots of investments have been made,” Ducro said.
He talked about the South River waterline that is going to service some of the wineries along the South River corridor and into Lake County.
Ducro also highlighted the water tower that is going to be built in Harpersfield Township, just off Interstate 90 and Route 534.
“That should be completed here by the end of the year, we expect. So that will be a big project to provide pressure and capacity stabilization, because that area actually connects into the City of Geneva’s water supply. So it’s a very important project for both the city and the township,” Ducro said.
He also said Kingsville has a big project coming up, with an aim of putting sewers at the interchange at State Route 193 and Interstate 90.
They hope to have that go out to bid soon.
That is the only interchange on Interstate 90 in Ashtabula County, other than the Route 11 cloverleaf, that does not have sewers, he said.
“We certainly see the impact that having sewers has been for investment in Harpersfield, in Austinburg, in Conneaut. So we’re hopeful this will give Kingsville some of the same opportunities moving forward,” Ducro said.
Lastly, Ducro talked about efforts to improve broadband in Ashtabula County.
There are still quite a few people in Ashtabula County that have very poor service. Even if they are subscribing to a provider, they maybe pay $100 or more for service that’s very poor, very slow, he said.
“We do have people that live in Ashtabula County that don’t have any option to access Internet service. They cannot find a provider to service their address,” Ducro said.
Broadband is something the commissioners all feel very passionate about, in order for Ashtabula County to be 21st century, to be competitive, whether that’s at home or for businesses, he said.
“We have about five different projects right now that are in varying levels of completion,” Ducro said.
In the next 12-18 months, three of the projects should be complete, he said.
“The other two actually have several more years before they’re required to have their projects complete, based on the grants they received,” Ducro said.