The Lawrence County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday morning was one of recognizing May as both Mental Health Awareness Month and Older Americans Month.

Speaking to the commissioners on behalf of the ADHAMS Board was its executive director, Sue Shultz.

“Mental health is a very important subject all across the state of Ohio,” she said. “Unfortunately, it is one of the least funded projects and we are trying to pull more funds from our state and federal government to try and help our area.”

She said they are inundated with the substance abuse issue, but many of the people they seek to help have issues with both drugs and mental issues and it feels like the issue of mental health has been “left behind.”
Commissioner DeAnna Holliday said that they are entering into the time period for One Ohio settlement, which is a case against opioid distributors and manufacturers, and a large piece of that settlement is mental health as part of community recovery programs. She said that money will be very important to tackle the issue.

Jenni Lewis, director of Community Outreach and Training for the Area Agency on Aging District 7, gave the commissioners a packet of information on what the agency does and services done in Lawrence County. She also said the agency is celebrating its 50th year.

“In Lawrence County last year, we helped over 1,000 people,” Lewis said.

For a list of services provided by AAA7, go to www.aaa7.org.

The commissioners also recognized the Lawrence County Civic Scholars, 10 high school students who got to see how local government works by shadowing elected officials.

“I am always so just blown away by the talent and the intelligence of our youth,” Holliday said, adding that the idea came from Dylan Bentley, a deputy auditor for Lawrence County, who wanted to give back to the community, came up with the idea and ran the program. Holliday and Bentley worked with

Tomi Blankenship at the Educational Services Center.

“We couldn’t be more proud of this program” Holliday said.

In items on the agenda, the commissioners took the following actions:

• Approved a new floodplain permit for James Douglas for the filling and grading of the bridge and stream maintenance projects located at 4796 County Road 16 and renewed a permit for Randy Carpenter for a stream maintenance project located at 414 County Road 54. The permits were submitted by the Soil and Water Conservation District.

• Reappointed William Nenni and Mark Christian to the Lawrence County Airpark Board.

• Approved a $5,000 donation to the Lawrence County Fair Board from Mike Patterson, Clerk of Courts.

• Approved the bill for $5,000 for the S.W.A.C. Organization, requested by Tim Dickens.

• Appointed Sue Shultz and Michelle Bower to the ADHAMS Board and appointed Jenny Lewis to the Area Agency on Aging.

The commissioners meet at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays.