DARKE COUNTY – The Darke County Commissioners’ Oct. 22, 2026 regular meeting started at 1:30 P.M. with Commissioners Aultman, Flatter, and Marshall present. The minutes from October 20th were then read and approved.
The Examination and Allowance of bills were next. The General fund amount was $66,898.49, Outside funds were $696,345.46 totaling $763,243.95, and was approved.
The council approved an amendment to the Opioid Settlement Advisory Council. The council approved mandatory membership appointments for Commissioner Aaron Flatter, Josh Kunkel, and Deputy Auditor Shana Howard. All were appointed until June 8th, 2031. Membership appointments were made for Brian Phillips-Fire and EMS until 6/8/2030, Terri Becker-Recovery/Mental Health until 6/8/2030, Chief Deputy Tyler Young until 6/8/2030, Jordan Francis, Darke County Board of Health until 6/8/2029, James Mollette from the Probation Dept. until 6/8/2029, and Anna Varvel-Courts until 6/8/2029.
The Commissioners, Auditor, and Building Dept. all transferred appropriations. The Commissioners transferred $10,000.00 to cover the Grid Growth power line expenditures, the Auditor transferred $2,500.00 for vision insurance, and the Building Dept. transferred $5,000.00 for office supplies for the remainder of the year.
Fund Advances for the Grants Dept. were next to be approved. The Grants Dept. Advanced $2,000.00 for Choice One Engineering for the Castine Sewer, and $1,500.00 for the Gordon/Ithaca Sewer, and $12,159.13 for the 2025 Brownfield Grant for Turn Key for pre-demo and asbestos inspections for several locations. All were approved.
The Grants Dept. also had Revenue and Appropriation increases . The first from the 2025 Brownfield Grant to cover the village share for $43,750.00, and $339.64 from the 2024 CDBG Grant, twp. share.
The Facilities and Maintenance Director declared a 2010 Chevy Silverado as junk after 220,000 miles, and a rotted 1-frame in three places. As the Commissioners said, “They got their money’s worth!”
Two expense requests came in: one from the Common Pleas and one from the Recorder. Common Pleas will send Judge Travis Fliehman to the Ohio Common Pleas Judges Association Winter Conference in Dublin, Ohio, Dec. 1-4, 2026, for $1,254.52. The second request was for Recorder Hillary Holzapfel to attend their winter Conference in Lewis Center, Ohio, November 15- 18, 2026, for $890.00, and was approved.
The Darke County Animal Shelter accepted Mark Johnson’s resignation as Deputy Dog Warden, effective October 19th, 2026. The Darke County Community Development and Grants Dept. announced Sally Keiser’s retirement, effective Jan. 1, 2027. She will be greatly missed.
The 2025 Brownfield grant returned a large fund advance totaling $101,259.09. It was happily accepted.
The 24th of this month is the D.E.A. Drug Take Back Day at Family Health in Greenville. This is the opportunity to get rid of old prescription drugs in your home for free. Call the Solid Waste Dept. for further information.
Session ended at 1:42
