Area leaders discuss projects

TIFFIN — The League of Women Voters of Tiffin recently met with representatives to hear updates on current projects or initiatives in the county and allow residents to ask questions and meet with area leaders. Updates were provided by the Seneca County Youth Center, the Seneca County Jail, the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board and the Seneca County Engineer. Youth Center Director, Jason French and program coordinator, Tasha Boyd spoke first, explaining what the youth center is, what its role within the community is and discussed new initiatives currently in practice. The youth center, a juvenile detention center, houses and rehabilitates area youth who are serving time for charges against them. Boyd said that the length of stay for each youth center resident depends on the number and severity of charges and can range from 24 hours to 90 days per charge. Boyd said that the main purpose of the youth center is to provide a supportive environment for children and teens aged 10-17 to learn life skills and rehabilitate before being reintegrated back into their homes. But school is also an important facet of the youth's life and there are a few different ways youth can earn school credits while at the center or fulfilling court-ordered requirements, Boyd explained. One way to complete these requirements is through the Time To Invest day treatment program that gives students a more individualized learning plan with smaller class sizes and more teacher attention. Students in the TTI program are kept completely separate from full-time youth center residents. Boyd also discussed how each resident is still able to earn school credits while serving time through a group of committed teachers who contact the resident's home school district to obtain assignments for the residents. When a resident has completed their sentence, youth center staff meet with the resident's parents and teachers to discuss how to facilitate a smooth transition back to their home life. The youth center also provides access to study materials for residents needing to take the GED test. "We had a resident last summer," Boyd said, "who wasn't going to meet the high school credit requirement before graduation; But it was very important to us that he received some type of diploma. So we worked with the GED testing center and made sure to work with the probation department to transport the individual to a testing site… If we could give him one thing before he was released, we knew that once he was released back, the chances of him getting a diploma was slim." She later said the youth center also works with therapists and counselors to provide therapeutic services for residents and provides classes on how to manage emotional well-being. Finally, she discussed a recently adopted employee, Elon, a three-year-old golden retriever, trained to provide emotional support to residents and staff in need. "Those affected by emotional trauma tend to trust dogs quicker than humans," Boyd said. "Elon works to break down those barriers and help residents trust staff too." Sheriff Fred Stevens and Grace Morehart spoke next about the Seneca County Jail. Stevens introduced Morehart as a case manager who, after interning with the jail while attending Tiffin University, was offered a full-time position just before graduation. Morehart said recently, she has been able to add several programs for inmates that were not previously available. "We are one of only three jails in Ohio that allows inmates to take their GED course while incarcerated," Morehart said. She later said so far there have been two inmates who have completed a GED while in jail and four more in the process. But Morehart finds the biggest obstacle is a release date. Morehart made similar observations to Boyd when she said that once released, inmates weren't very likely to continue to work on schooling. She later said a large part of her job is also to help inmates find mental health or other well-being resources, either while incarcerated or when released. Stevens then discussed the impact of having access to resources like the GED program while in jail to stop re-offenders. "A large portion of that recidivism is that they just keep falling into the same tract," Stevens said. "If they don't have a high school diploma or a GED, employers just aren't hiring them. If we could get one of those stumbling blocks out of the way, then maybe they won't come back." Stevens later discussed a new "mobile crisis response team," that he hopes will be expanded in the near future. Currently, with limited hours, the response team has been deployed on 247 calls in the last year, 46 of which were crisis calls. Of those 46, law enforcement officers were able to leave the scene of 33, letting the response team finish the call. But Stevens later expressed some frustration with an ongoing lack of mental health resources. He explained that in discussion with other county sheriffs in Ohio, an estimated 50-75% of inmates struggle with one or more mental health disorders and some needed mental health support more than jail time. On the state level, Stevens explained, at the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo, there are a very limited amount of beds available. If someone is lucky enough to get a spot, it may be weeks before they are even assessed by a doctor. Stevens then introduced Mirceau Handru of the Seneca County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board to discuss what could be done. Handru and Stevens reported working to get a new local mental health facility for the benefit of Seneca, Sandusky and Ottawa counties that would offer support to people who were brought in for charges but needed the crisis intervention more than jail. Stevens also said they were looking at simply adding more beds to the county jail for those struggling with mental health issues but couldn't be housed with the inmate general population. "What can we do locally to help the situation in Seneca County?" Stevens said, explaining that he and Handru were also looking into adding 5-10 more beds in a medical and mental health wing to the county jail. Handru later added that once an inmate becomes incarcerated, that person or their insurance can no longer be charged for medical services. The cost falls to the facility. "It's increasingly difficult to provide quality mental health services to those incarcerated," Handru said. With 114 beds covering 26 counties in Ohio, Handru said there is always a waitlist for a bed at NOPH. Handru and Stevens hope a new facility locally would help relieve some of the waiting for help for those in crisis. Finally, Seneca County Engineer, Mark Zimmerman discussed the engineering department and his role in it. "We are largely behind the scenes," Zimmerman said, later saying that county engineers mainly work with county commissioners and township trustees to maintain and repair roads and bridges, which includes construction, snow and ice removal, tax maps, bridge inspections among other things. With 34 years of experience with the county and 17 years as the county engineer, Zimmerman and his team take care of 397 miles of road and 43 bridges with a $6.4 million budget. He says his biggest priorities are safety and frugality and often finds he has to get grants to help support the latter. "We work with what we have," he said. "... The realization that I am spending your money is one of the most important things that we have to share with the public." He also said that even though $6.4 million seems like a lot of money, it doesn't always last as long as necessary. According to Zimmerman, it costs $150,000 to pave a mile of road and approximately $1 million to maintain a bridge. "That is the cost to do business these days," Zimmerman said. Zimmerman also discussed the success he has found with roundabouts after the installation of one in the county greatly reduced fatality accidents at an intersection. "Roundabouts save lives," Zimmerman said.