MEDINA – Those who get serious about spring cleaning are being encouraged to dump their unwanted trash at the county’s Central Processing Facility.

Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin told county commissioners March 21 that the Medina County Solid Waste District is inviting communities around the county to sponsor spring cleaning campaigns by reducing the normal gate rate for trash hauled to the county transfer station as part of the spring clean-up campaign.

Communities who sponsor a cleanup program will be allowed to dump the trash it generates at the CPF at a cost of $30 per ton instead of the normal $42 a ton fee. Lyon-Galvin said the Solid Waste District is reaching out to community leaders around the county to encourage them to take advantage of the offer.

Lyon-Galvin also said residents in communities that cannot offer a spring cleaning program may be able to receive a voucher for a reduced rate to dump bulk trash at the CPF. Those vouchers would be offered to township trustees for distribution in communities that do not sponsor a clean-up day for their residents.

Jail healthcare

County commissioners approved a one-year renewal of the contract with Advanced Correctional Healthcare to provide medical services to inmates at the County Jail. Advanced Correctional Healthcare will be paid just under $393,000 for the services.

Commissioners had previously approved a two-year contract in which Advanced Correctional Healthcare was paid $319,000 a year for the services.

Contracting for the medical services at the jail was originally projected to save the county about $140,000 a year for medical services provided to jail inmates. Former County Administrator Chris Jakab estimated the county had been paying about $460,000 a year for similar services which included having nurses on duty at the jail, paying pharmaceutical costs and having a doctor make regular visits to treat inmates who had fallen ill.

Water agreement

County commissioners authorized a cooperative agreement with the Ohio Water Development Authority to provide the county with a low interest loan to perform rehabilitation work on the high and low water towers in Westfield. The towers were once part of a village water system and are now part of the county water system managed by the Medina County Sanitary Engineer’s Department.

Child support

Commissioners approved a one-year agreement between the Child Support Enforcement Agency and Sheriff’s Department to provide a service of process program in accordance with Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The agreement also authorizes a contract budget of $123,000 for the program.

New buses

Medina County Public Transit has been approved for grant funding in the amount of $301,000 to replace four aging buses in its fleet. Commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with the Ohio Department of Transportation to pay 20 percent of the cost to purchase the buses. The other 80 percent of the cost is being provided by federal funds.

Vehicle lease

Commissioners authorized an agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management to lease two Jeep Renegades at a monthly cost of $380 each. One of the Jeeps will replace a vehicle that has been is use by the Building Department. The other will be assigned to the county coroner, who had not had use of a county vehicle in the past.

Commissioner Pat Geissman reported that the coroner and her assistant had been driving their personal vehicles up to 500 miles a month on county cases due to a recent rash of suspicious deaths in the county.

“It’s been a bad couple of months for the coroner,” Geissman said. “Hopefully the trend will not continue.”

Personnel expenses

Commissioners approved the travel expenses for several county employees to attend a series of out-of-town meetings and training seminars. Among those expenses were $1,850 for two Common Pleas Court magistrates to attend a three-day conference in Columbus, $900 for Judge Kevin Dunn to attend a four-day conference in Warren, $850 for two officials at the Juvenile Detention Center to attend a three-day conference in Mason, and $875 for two sheriff’s deputies to attend a two-day seminar on evidence room procedures in Columbus.

Appointed

Anastasia Birosh was appointed to represent Brunswick on the Medina County Advisory Council on Aging.