From left, Washington County Clerk Ben Cowdery and Commissioners Charlie Schilling, Eddie Place and Greg Nohe discuss change orders on Wednesday. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

The Washington County Commission met for a brief meeting Wednesday morning to approve recent change orders and invoices.

Upon the adjournment of the meeting, the commissioners attended the County Commissioners Association of Ohio winter conference in Columbus to meet with commissioners all over the state.

“It’s always nice to talk with them and see how they do things in their county and share some things that are going on,” said Commissioner Charlie Schilling.

Commissioner Greg Nohe was present for his second meeting as appointed commissioner and would be attending the conference alongside Schilling and Commissioner Eddie Place.

“We appreciate the time we have to do this,” said Schilling.

The commissioners approved a change order for $2,555 for the abandoned mines assessment in Guernsey County. On Oct. 30, the commissioners approved for Partners Environmental Consulting, Inc. to perform the inventory and assessments to provide an overview of the status of the land for future development.

The contract amount started at $5,945 with the change order approved to $8,500 total.

“This is a three-county USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) grant for Washington, Guernsey and Pike County,” said Schilling.

On behalf of the USEPA Coalition Assessment Grant, Partners was approved as the client who would undergo the assessments. Applicants could request up to $500,000 for grants up to four years to assess Brownfield sites which are sites contaminated by hazardous substances and pollutants, according to the USEPA.

The assessments are the first step towards development of land that had previously been contaminated.