News

At its last General Session meeting of 2020, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners passed what County Administrator Kenneth N. Wilson described as “responsible, sustainable, and forward-focused” budget, while also acknowledging that the challenges of 2020 are likely to continue for some time.
 

Seven Ohio counties today jointly urged Ohioans to “stay at home” to protect themselves and their family members, reminding residents to follow public health guidance related to social gatherings, wearing masks, and avoiding unnecessary travel.  Within the last week, each of the participating counties – Franklin, Cuyahoga, Hamilton, Summit, Montgomery, Lucas and Mahoning – have issued a Stay at Home Health Advisory, in partnership with their county administrations, boards of health, and their largest cities.

The Franklin County Commissioners this morning voted to add a new entry to their list of fundamental principles.  The pursuit of racial equity now joins community safety and security, job creation and economic development, health and human services, environmental sustainability, and fiscally responsible government among the set of guiding principles the commissioners use to set county policy.
 

Franklin County Administrator, Kenneth N. Wilson, this afternoon presented the administration’s proposed 2021 budget to the board of three county commissioners to kick off this year’s annual budget hearings.  Wilson is the county’s highest unelected official, and oversees the budget process.  The commissioners will preside over two days of budget hearings before voting to approve an amended budget at their final meeting of the year in December.  As the administrative branch of county government, the commissioners set the budgets for all county agencies and departments, even those overseen by other elected officials.
 

A total of 250 jobs were created or retained thanks to grants awarded from the newly launched Franklin County Business Growth and Equity Alliance. The grants, which totaled more than $1.6 million, were awarded to 65 different businesses, many of which did not receive help in the federal Payroll Protection Program.

The Franklin County Commissioners are taking steps to integrate county human services systems to better meet the needs of residents. The Board today announced Joy Bivens, currently the director of Job and Family Services (JFS), will begin serving in the new role of deputy county administrator for health and human services.
 

A collaboration of nine Franklin County agencies is the recipient of a $900,000 award from the U.S. D.O.J., Office for Violence Against Women to implement the Blueprint for Safety through September 2023 to combat domestic violence.  The Blueprint for Safety model, originally developed and implemented in Saint Paul, MN, provides a consistent, coordinated criminal justice response to protect victims of domestic violence. It uses a high level of collaboration and information-sharing among service providers to facilitate victims’ safety from an initial emergency call for help through to sentencing and probation. 

The Franklin County Commissioners this afternoon highlighted a new Small Business Response and Recovery grant program that provided a revolving loan fund and more than $1 million to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

The Franklin County Commissioners yesterday sent a letter to Ohio’s two Senators, Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman asking that they follow the precedent set by the Senate in 2016 by not considering or approving any nominee to the Supreme Court with less than two weeks before Ohioans begin voting in the presidential election.  Click for the full text of the letter.

The COVID-19 Resilience Initiative Grants provided by the county total more than $5.3 million and will assist nonprofits in helping residents avoid eviction and stay in their homes, put food on their tables, access mental health services, and more.