GREENVILLE—The Darke County Board of Commissioners met on Thursday afternoon at the Birchwood Training Center to proclaim March Developmental Disabilities (DD) Awareness Month in Darke County. Commissioners Matt Aultman, Larry Holmes and Marshall Combs were present.
Prior to the start of the meeting, Katie Gilpin sang the national anthem.
Afterwards, Commissioner Aultman, along with several Darke DD clients, proclaimed March to be DD Awareness Month.
The board commemorated the progress that’s been made to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities, while also highlighting the challenges that remain in achieving a community that fully includes people with developmental disabilities.
Following the proclamation, the board held regular session.
The board approved a Request for Proposal with the intent to move into contract negotiations for countywide broadband network engineering & deployment.
“With accepting the proposal of Agile Network, we have taken a significant step forward to providing broadband access for the residents of Darke County,” Commissioner Holmes said.
The board began working on the improvement of countywide broadband in Sept. of 2021.
Agile Network will provide mid-mile broadband access to reach 90% or more of the households in Darke County through a wireless network which has potential internet speeds of up to 150 Mbps. In addition, Agile will identify and manage the last mile providers to get access into the homes and businesses of Darke County.
The project will be a $2.8 million investment over five years. The county will fund $2 million over three to five year period of time.
“We are optimistic that Broadband Ohio will provide a significant grant to defray what the county must fund,” Commissioner Holmes said. “Discussions with Broadband Ohio have been initiated.”
Lastly, the board approved a letter of recommendation from Darke County Engineer Jim Surber for the resurfacing and pavement marking of county and township roads.
Surber recommended an award be made for Darke County Pavement Marking to the Aero-Mark Company in conformance with all plans and specifications, and at the unit prices bid, for the estimated contract amount of $409,554.06.
In addition, he recommended an award be made for Darke County road resurfacing to Walls Brothers Asphalt inin conformance with all plans and specifications, and at the unit prices bid, for the estimated contract price of $2,132,558.80.
The board also approved the bids for spot improvements per ton for 404 LV asphalt at $77 per ton, fob at their asphalt plant.
The Darke County Board of Commissioners hold regular session every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at 520 South Broadway, Greenville, Ohio 45331. For more information contact the commissioner’s office at 937-547-7370.
