LOGAN — Audie Wykle, Hocking County’s regional planner and the head of its zoning commission, appeared last Thursday before the county commissioners with a prepared contract to move forward with a consultant on its eventual zoning ordinance.
The document, he said, has been looked over by county Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Catri, who approved it with some addendums.
The contract was not approved by the commissioners Thursday, but will likely come up for a vote at this week’s meeting.
From Buckeye Hills Regional Council, executive director Chasity Schmelzenbach also had an appointment Thursday, with a yearly update on the council’s various projects throughout Hocking County.
In 2023, according to a report obtained by the Logan Daily News, the agency — which serves eight counties across southern Ohio — brought in nearly $4.2 million across a wide array of services in Hocking alone.
This is in comparison to the $4,566 the county pays Buckeye Hills in annual dues (the agency is largely funded through administration fees on the grants it brings in to its member counties).
Among the major projects funded in 2023 were the Clean Ohio grant through the Ohio Public Works Commission, which seeks to protect land from overdevelopment through conservation easements or nonprofit acquisition. Clean Ohio initiatives received nearly $2 million last year.
Another major beneficiary of grants through Buckeye Hills in 2023 was the PASSPORT waiver & in-home care, an in-home alternative to nursing home care for aging adults. This program received around $1.2 million.
Public infrastructure projects, other senior citizen-aimed initiatives, and more made up the remaining benefits that Buckeye Hills brought Hocking County last year.
“It’s been a bit of a fire hose,” Schmelzenbach said in Thursday’s meeting. “Of 25 years being in this project realm I’ve never seen the amount of funds and programs that we have today. But there’s a cliff coming in a year or two,” she warned, in reference to the flood of federal and state dollars that have poured into Appalachia in the years since the pandemic.
Elsewhere in Thursday’s meeting, Commissioner Jason D’Onofrio presented lodging tax administrator Josh Givens’ lodging report for July, which showed an increase in tax delinquent businesses.
Between short term rentals, six hotels and motels, and the Hocking Hills State Park Lodge, there are now 2,007 lodging units in the county. These are owned by 596 separate businesses. Eleven new businesses registered in July.
Of those 596, 562 are up to date on their taxes. The remaining 34 are delinquent, and four businesses were added to that list since the previous month. Of those 34, Givens estimates there are 80-85 total units operating without being up-to-date on their lodging tax payments.
Commissioner Michael Linton stated later in the meeting that he has a meeting scheduled with Catri of the prosector’s office on next steps to bring delinquent businesses into line.
As a last note, the regularly scheduled Thursday, August 22 county commissioner’s meeting has been moved to August 21, at the regular 9:30 a.m. start time, for anyone looking to attend or catch the meeting live on Facebook.
Email at rmorris@logandaily.com
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