CCAO | Counties Current Template

Two former commissioners pass away

In recent weeks, two former commissioners have passed away.

Larry Mumper passed away on March 21 at the age of 88. After working as a teacher for 30 years, Mumpher served as Marion County Commissioner for three years before moving to the state legislature as a State Senator for 11 years.

You can view Mumper's full obituary here.

Larry Charles Kleinhans passed away on April 1 at the age of 85. Kleinhans served as Shelby County Commissioner for 15 years, from 1997 to 2012. He was very active in the agricultural community through the Farm Bureau and in the Ohio State Alumni Association.

You can view Kleinhans' full obituary here.


Former Marion County Commissioner Larry Mumper	Former Shelby County Commissioner Larry C. Kleinhans

In the initial mailing of Counties Current, we misspelled former Commissioner Mumper's name. We apologize for the error.

R.J. Lumbrezer named new Fulton County Commissioner

Last week, R.J. Lumbrezer was selected to fill the Fulton County Commissioner seat vacated by Jon Rupp's retirement. Lumbrezer was sworn in and began his service on Thursday.

Before his appointment, Lumbrezer had served as Royalton Township Trustee for more than 24 years. He is also a licensed surveyor and has worked as survey manager for DGL Consulting Engineers since 2012.

Welcome to CCAO, Commissioner Lumbrezer!

Disaster relief program activated for counties hit by January storms

Last week, Governor DeWine authorized the use of State Disaster Relief Program funding to support recovery efforts in 11 counties that were impacted by winter storms that occurred from January 24 to January 27. The counties are:

Butler
Darke
Greene
Madison
Mercer
Muskingum
Perry
Preble
Tuscarawas
Van Wert
Warren

The authorization allows the Ohio Emergency Management Agency to request funding from the Controlling Board. Any funding allocated would provide supplemental assistance to local governments and certain private non-profit organizations for damage repair, debris removal, and protective measures.

Pinnacle Partner

State & Federal

DuPont settlement funds distributed for clean drinking water projects

Last week, Governor DeWine and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced the distribution of $65 million that the state received from a 2023 environmental restoration settlement with DuPont, after the company was accused of releasing dangerous chemicals into Ohio River and the air.

The funding will be distributed to projects in Belmont, Gallia, Lawrence, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington counties and are dedicated to drinking water infrastructure projects.

The projects are expected to facilitate delivery of clean drinking water to about 77,000 Ohioans and to eliminate 241 contaminated wells.

A full list of projects can be found here.

Pending Attorney General opinion requests of note to counties

As chief law officer of the state, the Ohio Attorney General provides written opinions on legal questions at the request of designated public officials on issues arising in the course of their duties. These opinions do not have the force of law, but they help provide insight into gray areas of the law.

Opinions can be requested by the statewide elected officers; state agencies, boards, commissions, and departments; both chambers of the General Assembly; county prosecutors; and law directors of limited home rule townships. Practically, the majority of requests come from county prosecutors.

There are ten pending Attorney General Opinion requests, six of which have direct county implications. These are briefly summarized below.

Request 2024-011: A request from Franklin County concerning if allowing a county elected official to a new health care plan in the middle of the term constitutes a mid-term compensation increase if the elected official's contribution is unchanged.
Request 2025-014 (no link): A request from Lucas County concerning the authority of the county treasurer and the county investment advisory committee to determine policies and investments.
Request 2026-003: A request from Franklin County concerning if certain law enforcement funds (FOJ, law enforcement trust funds, mandatory drug fines) can be used to provide a per diem to cover an employee's meals while on official business.
Request 2026-005: A request from Delaware County concerning the length of appointed board members of a county library district board of trustees, in light of changes made in House Bill 96.
Request 2026-006: A request from Lawrence County concerning the permissibility of the City of Ironton sharing a portion of its income tax revenue with Lawrence County as part of an economic development project.
Request 2026-007: A request from Ashtabula County concerning if the county can establish a secondary location, outside of the county seat, for probate court proceedings.

There is no formal timeline for when the Attorney General must issue opinions on accepted requests. CCAO monitors the Attorney General Opinion page and includes information about opinion issuance in Counties Current.

NACo presidential appointment applications open until May 8

The submission window for consideration for a NACo presidential appointment is open and will remain so until May 8.

The appointments include chairs and vice chairs of NACo's policy steering committees and subcommittees, leadership and membership slots for the Large Urban County Caucus, the Midsize County Caucus, and the Rural Action Caucus, as well as other standing committees, advisory committees, and others.

You can submit applications for consideration through the NACo Member Portal.

Education & Grants

State funding opportunities

The table below contains current state grant or loan programs. A full list can be found on the Ohio Grants Partnership webpage.

Grant Program	Brief Summary	Eligibility Criteria	Amount Available	Application Due Date
County Coastal Erosion Control Loan Program	To provide financing for construction of erosion control structures in coastal erosion areas.	Counties with Lake Erie shoreline containing coastal erosion areas: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky	Unspecified total, no maximum per request	May 22, 2026
Dam Safety Loan Program	To provide financing for planning, design, and construction of dams and repairs.	Counties, county sewer districts, and soil and water conservation districts, among others	Maximum loan: $7.5 million	May 22, 2026
H2Ohio Conservation Ditch Program	To fund construction of two-stage and self-forming ditches.	Soil and water conservation districts and county engineers	Unspecified, funding model is reimbursement	June 1, 2026
Ohio Sexual Assault Investigations Grant Program	To reimburse for the cost of testing sexual assault kits, including capacity building for agencies that complete sexual assault investigations	Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and crime labs	Unspecified, funding model is reimbursement	June 10, 2026
Extradition Reimbursement Program	To reimburse LEAs for the cost of in-state and out-of-state extraditions.	Law enforcement agencies and prosecutor's offices	Unspecified total, no maximum per request; No match	June 10, 2026

County News

Northwest District

Henry commissioners review projects proposed with CDBG funding
Crescent-News, April 8, 2026
Henry County commissioners reviewed a list of proposed community development block grant (CDBG)-funded projects throughout the county during their weekly meeting Tuesday.

Lorenzo Zamora of Maumee Valley Planning Organization, which administers CDBG grants in five area counties, presented potential projects in three grant classifications — the county’s regular CDBG allocation received every two years, critical infrastructure and neighborhood revitalization.

The City of Napoleon is seeking a $500,000 critical infrastructure grant to replace a waterline on Fillmore Street while the Village of Deshler is hoping to receive up to $750,000 in a neighborhood revitalization grant that would address a variety of work.

Projects in Deshler include building repairs, sidewalk improvement in the central business district, a new generator at the towns library and paving on three streets.

McClure, Holgate and Hamler are each seeking funds from the county’s smaller CDBG allocation grant. The villages are hoping to make various park improvements.

McClure, for example, wants to turn a tennis court into a pickleball court while Holgate is proposing repairs to parks on Chicago Avenue and Frazier Street and Hamler wants to install new playground equipment.

Only two projects can be funded with the CDBG allocation.

A second public hearing will be held on the proposed projects in late April or early May, according to Zamora. Commissioners will determine at that time which projects will be included on an application that must be submitted to the state by June 10.

Northeast District

Commissioners won’t automatically ban solar, wind farms
The Portager, April 8, 2026
Instead of approving an outright ban of solar and wind farms in eight townships, Portage County’s Board of Commissioners have opted to consider them on a case-by-case basis.

The commissioners’ unanimous April 2 vote followed a March 26 public hearing during which not one person spoke in favor of a ban that would have affected Atwater, Freedom, Hiram, Mantua, Nelson, Paris, Randolph and Rootstown townships.

All the requests for such bans were forwarded to the commissioners by the trustees of each township. Also at the township trustees’ request, the commissioners last year banned large and economically significant wind and solar farms in Shalersville.

Unless the commissioners repeal it, that ban remains in effect, said Chris Meduri, chief prosecutor of the civil division of the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office.

In scaling back blanket bans, county leaders will consider the interests of individual landowners, surrounding landowners and township trustees. The commissioners may prohibit each facility’s construction, limit its boundaries or take no action at all.

“After hearing from many residents, especially farmers, it’s clear some feel their property rights are being violated,” Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett said. “These decisions should be made locally, allowing communities and landowners to determine what’s appropriate for their property.”

Commissioner Mike Tinlin also expressed discomfort with a ban that affects everybody.

“I want it to come to us case by case, so that if it’s on a quarter-acre lot and it’s going to interfere with something, then that’s something we have to look at. But if somebody has farmland and property, and they want to do something, they should be permitted to do it,” he said.

Central District

Logan County Commissioners unanimously support farmland preservation
Peak of Ohio, April 7, 2026
The Logan County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to support local farmland preservation through the Ohio Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (LAEPP).

The Logan County Land Trust approached the commissioners earlier in the day seeking backing for applications from several local farm families.

The resolution supports the purchase of agricultural easements on six properties totaling up to 775 acres across Logan County.

These easements represent the next two years of preservation efforts for the Land Trust, ensuring farmland remains protected well into the future.

The families involved in the applications are: Ackley, King, Smith, Smucker, and Strayer.

Agricultural easements allow farmland to remain dedicated to farming permanently, helping protect the county’s rural heritage, strengthen the local economy, and support farming families for generations.

Commissioner Joe Antram said, “Supporting these easements helps ensure that our farmland stays in production and that farming remains a vital part of life in Logan County. Preserving this land benefits not only our farmers but the entire community for generations to come.”

The resolution was passed with a 100% vote.

The next step in the easement process is completing the final touches on the hard copies, which will be submitted to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) by the deadline of April 15.

Southwest District

Warren County fairgrounds ‘a big thorn.’ Commissioners want financial picture from Agricultural Society
Journal-News, April 4, 2026
Warren County Commission wants financial reports from the county’s Agricultural Society about revenues and expenses from the county fair, the event center on fair property and horse-boarding operations, in part to determine if the society is the right organization to run non-fair related businesses.

The request comes in the wake of an audit by the Ohio State Auditor’s Office that found that more than $19,000 in public funds had been misused between between 2020 and 2023 — the date range of the audit — and an unsuccessful bid by the city of Lebanon to purchase the fairgrounds from the county.

Findings for recovery involved $8,448 in interest and late fees on credit cards, and $11,323 in late fees and disconnection fees for utilities after bills went unpaid on time for years, according to the auditor’s report. The audit does not indicate any theft took place.

Warren County Agricultural Society President Chris Lutmer, who was elected in August 2025 as part of an overhaul of society leadership, said the financial problems have compounded over the years as the society went through a revolving door of presidents, treasurers and executive members.

“The fairgrounds became, quite frankly, a financial dumpster fire,” Lutmer told the commissioners during a work session about the fairgrounds. “We inherited the mess. We did not create it.”

Four former members named in the audit — an executive director, two treasurers and a secretary — resigned and no longer have any affiliation with the agricultural society, Lutmer said.

A new leadership team was elected in August 2025 along with Lutmer, including former Ohio Rep. Ron Maag, who was named vice president.

Maag said in addition to leadership changes, the society has implemented more stringent accounting practices, changed its bylaws to address the auditor’s report and doubled the number of public meetings it has to increase transparency.

“These are not superficial changes. These are reforms,” Maag said.

Southeast District

Harrison County approves TB testing contract, Freeport sewer project
Your Ohio News, April 6, 2026
The Harrison County Board of Commissioners approved Contract 4-26 with the county Board of Health to fulfill requirements for tuberculosis testing for county residents.

The contract outlines definitions under Article II, including active tuberculosis, communicable tuberculosis, physician qualifications, pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculosis.

Under the agreement, tuberculosis treatment is limited to cases involving active tuberculosis and infected contacts.

“The tuberculosis control unit shall serve all residents within its jurisdiction, regardless of the length of time that the individual has resided in the area or the individual’s income and resources,” the contract states.

The contract runs for four years, beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31, 2029. The annual cost is not to exceed $8,400.

Deb Knight, director of Harrison County Job and Family Services, also presented an amendment to Contract 8-25 between the county and Jefferson County Community Action for a youth program.

“There was a mistake in the original contract,” Knight said. “The total funds available in the original contract was incorrect.”

Knight said the original amount was listed as $247,325 but should have been $235,000, a difference of $12,325. She said no other changes were made to the contract, which expires June 30, 2026. The bidding process for next year’s youth programming is already underway.

Commissioners also approved Agreement 16-26 for the Freeport Sanitary Improvement Project.

The private service connections portion of the project includes installing sanitary drain connections to the new public sewer system and abandoning existing septic systems for 23 properties in the village of Freeport, according to the agreement.

Verdantas LLC of Dublin is serving as the project engineer. The contract states the work is to be substantially completed within 120 days after the project begins and fully completed within 150 days.

April 13, 2026

Association & Member