WILMINGTON — Wilmington firefighter and police unions oppose the Clinton County Board of Elections (BOE) moving to the Wilmington Safety Center located on Rombach Avenue.
Wilmington Safety Association Vice President Robert Wilson in a Friday email stated the city administrator assured the unions it’s only a conversation with the BOE at this time. He added the unions feel it’s important that everyone is aware of their position on the matter.
A document jointly signed by local representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the Wilmington Safety Association was emailed to the BOE, city hall and county commissioners. The matter was brought up during the commissioners first meeting this week.
The document states: “We consider the Safety Center to be a top notch facility that has been and should continue to be used as a local and regional training facility for public safety professionals. If this facility were leased to an outside agency it would be a major loss to our local police and fire personnel.
“Not to mention the leasing of the building would come across as trading our ability to train and conduct operations as less important than making rent money,” adds the document. “Something we firmly believe is an injustice to the public safety members and the citizens we serve.”
Clinton County Commissioners President Kerry R. Steed has said he does not want the county to pay rent for a facility to house the BOE when there is, in his opinion, available and adequate space owned by the county.
President of Wilmington City Council Randy Riley stated in an email reply to the unions’ email, “Having been city safety director, mayor and president of council and having seen the importance of a safety services presence on the east side of town, I agree with the [unions’] letter completely.”
The unions’ document signatories are Wilmington Police Sergeant Ron Fithen of the Fraternal Order of Police | Ohio Labor Council Inc., Wilmington Police Officer James Smithson of the Wilmington Safety Association, and Wilmington Fire Department Lieutenant Ed Myers of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Council on Aging gives update
Officials from the Council on Aging (COA) of Southwestern Ohio, which administers the Clinton County Elderly Services Program, were questioned by Clinton County Commissioner Brenda K. Woods about situations where senior citizens transfer from the Clinton County Elderly Services Program to the Medicaid program Passport. The county’s elderly services program receives nearly 90 percent of its funding from a countywide 1.5-mills senior services tax levy.
COA Vice President of Program Operations Ken Wilson said if a client becomes eligible for a Medicaid program such as Passport, he or she is required to apply and enroll in Passport because, contractually, the county levy is the payer of last resort.
He acknowledged there are some people who decline the enrollment process because, he said, they’re afraid of some of the state requirements such as the state taking the residential property to cover the cost of providing services. In those cases, the senior is dis-enrolled from the elderly services program, said Wilson.
Woods then said, “But am I not correct in saying that the levy funds come from homeowners in our county who have paid real estate taxes on the home that they own?”
Wilson said the COA’s contract with the Board of Clinton County Commissioners requires that the elderly services program be the payer of last resort, but he said commissioners can change the contract in that respect going forward. A result of that, however, would be the levy program picking up the care and cost for more seniors who otherwise receive services through Passport.
“… We’re [COA] just abiding by our current contract with you,” Wilson said.
Woods said if a person is enrolled in Passport, when he or she dies Medicaid has an opportunity to possibly take their homes from the estate to pay back Medicaid.
COA President Suzanne A. Burke said she would add that typically the cost of care plans for people in Passport will get significantly higher, as the people age and need to receive a nursing-home level of care.
The cost of care plans for Passport clients can be four times the cost of the levy care plans, said Burke.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
