Latest news with #Ducro
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RAM Clinic provided over $336,000 in care
SAYBROOK — This year's Remote Area Medical Clinic provided $336,906 in care to 451 patients from March 22-23 at Lakeside Junior High School, according to data from RAM Follow-up Care Coordinator Troie Noland. 'Thank you all for everything you have done throughout this process,' Noland said in an email. 'Your hard work and dedication has paid off.' RAM is a national organization that hosts free clinics across the country for medical, dental and vision services, and has hosted annual clinics in Ashtabula County for several years. Of the 451 people who were treated at the clinic, 397 were adults and 54 were children, according to the data. Ashtabula County Commissioner J.P. Ducro said the numbers for the clinic were slightly down from last year, but largely consistent. 'The clinic went amazingly well, despite some of the challenges faced this year,' he said. Ducro said the slightly lower numbers were likely due to clinic having to move to the junior high. The clinic has previously been hosted at Lakeside High School, whose roof collapsed during the Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm. The number of children at the clinic increased from last year, Ducro said. 'I thought that was encouraging,' he said. Care provided to adults was valued at $272,873, and care for children at $64,033. The post-clinic data showed 616 total encounters, which Ducro said were the combined times people were treated in the dental, medial and vision clinics. Of the three types of care available, medical processed 181 people, vision processed 227 and dental, 208. The medical side saw 164 adults and 17 children, vision saw 203 adults and 24 children and dental saw 183 adults and 25 children. There were 248 glasses given out by vision and 75 medical exams done. Dental did 229 extractions, 134 fillings and 106 cleanings. The clinic had 445 total volunteers working with patients. Ducro was thankful for the time volunteers put in, he said. County leaders are looking forward to the next clinic, Ducro said. 'We're already in discussion for our clinic next year,' he said. Ducro said organizers want to find ways to bring more people from southern Ashtabula County to be seen at the clinic. 'More than half the patients were [from] 440 area codes,' he said. Ducro said they are also looking to get more attendees, bring in more resources and having more chiropractors and more speciality medical options.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Prep moving along for RAM clinic
Mar. 8—SAYBROOK — Preparations for the Remote Area Medical event, scheduled for March 22-23 at Lakeside Junior High School, are moving along well, said Ashtabula County Commissioner J.P. Ducro, who serves on the board that brings the clinic to Ashtabula County. RAM, a Tennessee-based organization, coordinates free clinics in underserved areas all over the United Staes. They have been working with county leaders for the event in Ashtabula since the late 2010s. kAm"(6 2C6 C62==J :? AC6EEJ 8@@5 D92A6[" sF4C@ D2:5]k^Am kAm%96 4=:?:4 H:== 36 D=:89E=J D>2==6C E9:D J62C 3642FD6 @7 E96 >@G6 E@ {22E H:== 36 E96 D2>6 2D E96 =2DE D6G6C2= J62CD[ H:E9 A6@A=6 D66? @? 2 7:CDE 4@>6[ 7:CDE D6CG65 32D:D[ sF4C@ D2:5]k^Am kAmw6 D2:5 A6@A=6 2C6 E@ 6?E6C E96 $2?3@C? #@25 6?EC2?46 E@ E96 4@>A=6I[ 2?5 H:== 36 5:C64E65 E@ E96 A2C:5?:89E |2C49 aa]k^Am kAm!6@A=6 H:== 36 23=6 E@ DE2J :? E96:C 42CD[ 2?5 G@=F?E66CD H:== 368:? 2DD:DE:?8 H:E9 AC6\C68:DEC2E:@? :? A6@A=6'D 42CD[ AC@323=J 36EH66? b 2?5 c 2]>] (96? :E :D 4=@D6 E@ D6CG:46 E:>6[ A6@A=6 H:== 36 >6DD2865 3J E6IE @C 6>2:=]k^Am kAmsF4C@ D2:5 :7 2 A9@?6 @C 4@>AFE6C :D ?@E 2? @AE:@?[ A6@A=6 H:== 36 :?7@C>65 3J DE277 :? E96 A2C:?8 7@C 56?E2= 42C6[ J@F D9@F=5 4@>6 62C=:6C[" sF4C@ D2:5]k^Am kAm~? E96 @E96C D:56 @7 E96 6BF2E:@?[ E96C6 H:== 36 >@C6 G:D:@? AC@G:56CD G@=F?E66C:?8 E9:D J62C]k^Am
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Commissioners host meetings on jail project
Feb. 13—JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners hosted a pair of public meetings on proposed plans for an expanded Ashtabula County Jail Wednesday. The first of two meetings Wednesday was well-attended, with nearly every seat in the commissioners' conference room filled. J.P Ducro, president of the commissioners, started the event by thanking everyone for attending. Commissioner Casey Kozlowski said the jail project has significant public interest. Commissioner Kathryn Whittington said the purpose of the meetings was full transparency. Sheriff William Niemi said the current jail does not meet the county's needs. "I have an obligation to keep my community and the county safe, and I can't do that properly with the current facility that we have," he said. "So this is something that had to be addressed a long time ago, and I'm glad the county commissioners are listening to me." Ducro said while the jail may look great on the outside, the inside is a completely different story. "It's kind of become a money pit," he said. "We've put hundreds of thousands of dollars into just the elevator repairs over the course of the last few years." How corrections was addressed 50 years ago is completely different from today, Ducro said. "Because it's a multi-story facility, it's operationally inefficient, and it's undersized to meet the needs of today's incarceration," he said. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the jail housed as many as 170 inmates. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections recently lowered the maximum number of inmates to 98, Ducro said. "It's housing half as many people, and that's all we're allowed to house by law," Ducro said. The county has contracted with the Geauga County Jail to house inmates there. The jail is not equipped to deal with many complex issues, including inmates who are detoxing or on suicide watch, Ducro said. "Because of the size of the jail, also, we have one room in our current facility that is used for GED classes, for parenting classes, for budgeting classes, for religious, faith-based observation, for Alcoholics Anonymous or other programs like that," Durco said. There are many different programs in the community that exist, but there is not room in the jail to accommodate them, he said. "We're housing gang members, murderers, you name it, they're in our county jail," Niemi said. "And we have to separate people, by law, we can't have them all in one room." He suggested adding on to the current facility to the commissioners. "I don't need anything fancy, I need a jail and I need space to house people, that's all I need," Niemi said. "I don't need anything like a Taj Mahal, I don't need that." He said people who steal are given summons, and some have received five or 10 for minor crimes and do not show up to their court dates. "We're dealing with a whole different type of individual now than we did 10 years ago," Niemi said. He said there are people who have been turned away four or five times when trying to serve their time. The Geauga County Sheriff cut the county a break with the deal to house inmates, which has helped them out, but it is not a permanent solution, Niemi said. "Our situation is dire," he said. "So I suggested we add on to our current footprint, it saves the county money, and it gives us a 209-bed facility." The current booking area will have to be modified, he said. Niemi said adding onto the current facility is the cheaper route, and easier to do. Whittington said this is not a new issue, and the commissioners have been working on it for several years. In 2021, the commissioners put a sales tax increase on the ballot in order to pay for the construction of a new jail north of Jefferson. Voters rejected the proposal. Whittington said the commissioners started saving money and looking at where they could reduce things after voters rejected the proposal. The new plan would be an addition on the north side of the current facility, which would cover the entire Sheriff's Office parking lot, Whittington said. The proposed expansion is approximately 55,000 square feet. Potential additional costs would include purchasing additional property for parking. The construction cost estimate is $36 million, Whittington said. Kozlowski said there have been two components to the discussion — construction and operations. "We've learned that actually building the jail is the easy part, we're told," he said. "The hard part is actually going to be able to ... afford to maintain it and run it for many years to come." He said the current jail was undersized to begin with. The proposed jail would have an operationally-efficient design, with a mezzanine, Kozlowski said. The design is an open concept, so corrections officers can keep an eye on everyone in the jail. He said a few additional corrections officers will have to be hired, because of the increase in inmates. "We're calling this an addition, but really it's a new facility added on to our existing Sheriff's Department," Kozlowski said. The county is applying for $15 million in grant funds from the state, and has saved an additional $15 million for the project, he said. "I think that's a pretty aggressive grant application, because we can say we have a 100% match," Kozlowski said. Kozlowski said the commissioners saved the money from federal COVID-19 relief funds, along with spending less on general fund items and taking in increased revenue. That leaves a $6 million difference, plus any ancillary costs. "It would be our desire, the commissioners' desire, for us to borrow funds to pay for that difference," Kozlowski said. Niemi said he expects the county will likely hear about whether or not the county received the grant by June. In response to a question from the audience about what would happen to the old jail, Whittington said the space would need to be renovated before it could be used for anything else. She said the commissioners have been fiscally conservative over the last eight years to save money. Niemi said there is a lot of work that would need to renovate the current jail space before it could be used again. The county cannot demolish the current facility, because the second floor is connected to the courts, Kozlowski said. He said construction is expected to take three years, in response to a question from Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere. The county needs the grant for the project to move forward, Kozlowski said. However, Gov. Mike DeWine included $130 million in his proposed state budget for jail renovation and construction, he said. Whittington said this is not the first grant the county has applied for. "Our chances are getting better, because others have already been funded through the other grant opportunities that, unfortunately, we were not awarded," she said. Ducro said the county has not had funds to put forward as a match for grant requests before. Kozlowski said the county is being methodical in their grant request. "We learned, don't ask for the full amount and hope we're going to get less," he said. After the meeting, Niemi said the county has to do something. "I can't keep the community safe as they deserve and they way it should be, because you've got to put people in jail when needed," he said. "It's a law and order issue, it's a safety issue. It affects the entire county. This is an option for us to do it, to where we don't have to go to the taxpayer and ask for more money."
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Commissioners approve software upgrade for building department
Feb. 5—JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners approved a service agreement between the county building department and Citizenserve Community Development Software at a Tuesday meeting. At a Jan. 22 meeting, County Building Inspector Thomas Congdon and Office Manager Cari Ellsworth said the new software would allow the department to have customer service talk with customers and help the county work with municipalities. The building department had been using Cityforce Software, to that point. During a work session before the meeting, the commissioners talked with Ashtabula County Prosecutor's Office about a few issues, including a bidding complaint. The county previously advertised for a food truck for the Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake. The commissioners rescinded the original bid for the food truck at a meeting last week, after the company found they would not be able to fulfill it. They then awarded the bid to another company. Ashtabula County Administrator Janet Discher said the first bidder claimed in an email they were not treated fairly. "The original people that we awarded the bid to were the only ones that submitted the 2025 year, and that's what we asked them to bid," she said. Discher said the decision to rescind the bid came after the original bidder said they could not provide a 2025 model. Ducro said he thought the commissioners do not want to be the ones to respond to the email. "I just want to make sure we get a proper response to him from our legal," he said. Ducro said he assumed a response would be devised by Discher and the prosecutor's office. Ducro also spoke at the meeting about a venue in the county which has not been paying its lodge taxes. "This has been an ongoing thing for a long time," he said. The unpaid taxes have gone back around six months, Ducro said. Assistant Prosecutor Christine Davis said she will check with the staff working on it to see what the next steps are. Davis said the commissioners should reach out if they have any pressing issues in the future. The commissioners approved union agreements between the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Department and the Fraternal Order of Police.
