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Washington County Commission discusses job incentives

A county Employment Incentive Program through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services was discussed Thursday during the Washington County Commission meeting.

A memo was sent to the commissioners this week that Washington County received an allotment for $14,476 to support the program, which incentivizes individuals who are “either currently enrolled or recently stopped participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, or a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, to maintain employment.”

Flite Freimann, director of Washington County JFS, said if a person has been out of work for more than 30 days and returned to work, every time they work 40 hours, they will receive an extra $25.

“Just bring in your pay stub and we’ll give you $25. It’s a little over 50 cents an hour bonus,” he explained. “If you work 100 hours in any one month, you bring in those pay stubs that show you worked 100 hours within a month, we verify with your employer, and we give you $100.”

He said a person can be in the program for five months and they can earn a total of $500.

“This is all state money. There’s no local dollars in this,” Freimann said. “This is $14,000 we were able to secure from the state to start this.”

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Contracts for two landslip repairs were signed by the commission.

The first was for the landslip on County Road 60, awarded to Shelly & Sands Inc. The bid price was $302,158, with the engineer’s estimate of $308,735.

The second was on County Road 111, awarded to Alan Stone Company with a bid of $218,741. The engineer’s estimate was $255,980.

County Engineer Roger Wright said he hopes by January to have less holes in the road.

“With these two, there will be four of our very large land slips under contract,” he said.

He noted the landslip on County Road 17 is the last one they are struggling with. The other four have all been approved by FEMA.

“We still don’t have it approved yet,” Wright said of County Road 17.

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Commissioner Jamie Booth posted earlier this week on social media that he hopes Marietta City Council will soon ratify the agreement made between the commissioners, Mayor Josh Schlicher and Safety Service Director Steve Wetz regarding the lawsuit over the Devola sewer.

” A positive resolution to this long-time disagreement would be positive for both sides and it would allow the nearly 60,000 citizens of Washington County to finally move forward,” he said.

Commissioner Charlie Schilling read a statement asking the council to carefully study the settlement agreement that was agreed to.

“The county has agreed to pay more than it was legally obligated to pay, and provide the city with a steady stream of income for 20 years without harming county sewer customers,” Schilling read. “This deal not only resolves on-going litigation, but lays the groundwork for productive cooperation in the future on issues like public works, economic development, law enforcement, and emergency services.”

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Dates to remember:

¯ Finance meeting, 10 a.m. Tuesday, courthouse.

¯ Investment committee meeting, 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, courthouse.

¯ Regular commission meeting, 9 a.m. Thursday, 1115 Gilman Ave.

¯ Courthouse closed Oct. 11 for Columbus Day.

Source: Washington County Commission Clerk.

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