LISBON — Some foster families in Columbiana County received a gift of beef recently, offering many thanks to their benefactor, Lisbon area beef farmer Duane Nickell.

Columbiana County Department of Job and Family Services Director Rachel Ketterman handed Nickell some thank-you cards and offered her own thanks during the county commissioners’ meeting Wednesday after sharing the news about the donation of half a beef.

“I would like to thank your staff for distributing the beef,” Nickell said, adding thanks to Commissioner Tim Weigle for his assistance in coordinating the donation. The donation equaled about 200 pounds of ground beef.

Nickell is a supervisor on the board for the Columbiana County Soil and Water Conservation District and operates his family’s beef farm.

According to Ketterman, eight families benefitted from the beef donation, with those families accounting for 14 foster children, eight previous foster children who were adopted by their families, two biological children and one kinship child (living with a relative).

She noted that the agency has been working this year on bolstering the foster care program, first increasing the per diem for licensed foster homes and more recently starting a training program for treatment foster care providers.

In other business related to DJFS, the commissioners met in executive session with Ketterman for personnel regarding the pending collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), with no action taken. The union represents about 70 agency workers in the public assistance, child support and adult protective services divisions.

The commissioners approved a contract extension recommended by Ketterman for Fishel Downey Albrecht & Riepenhoff LLP for legal services for human resource management from Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2025, with a contract ceiling of $20,000.

Senior services levy contracts approved for contract periods from Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2025 included: legal public guardians, attorney Stephen Hill for $5,000, attorney Dan Solmen for $25,000 and attorney Richard Hoppel for $5,000; public guardians Bonnie Crook for $1,000 and Margaret Ketchum for $1,500; and case managers Randy Calhoun for $47,255, Lisa Argiro-Hetric for $47,255, Bree Painter for $47,255 and Gillian Filaccio for $34,731.

In other matters, commissioners approved an updated agreement with the Beaver Valley Power Station to account for the name change of the operator to Vistra Corporation from Energy Harbor. Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency Director Peggy Clark noted that Vistra Corporation has experience in the operation of nuclear power facilities and now operations not only the Beaver Valley Power Station in Pennsylvania but also Davis-Besse in Oak Harbor and the Perry plant in Lake County, both in Ohio near Lake Erie.

Commissioners also approved frost laws from Jan. 1, 2025 to April 15, 2025 for hard surfaced roads in Butler Township and a 50 percent weight limit reduction on roads, streets and alleys in Middleton Township. A letter of credit cancellation for Encino energy was also accepted.

Weigle reported that the joint board of the Multi-County Juvenile Attention Center approved its budget and Columbiana County Juvenile Court Administrator Dane Walton was elected as the new MCJAS board chairman, taking the place of Weigle, who’s retiring at the end of the year. He chose not to seek re-election as commissioner.

The next meeting of the county commissioners will be 9 a.m. Nov. 27 in the downtown courthouse.

mgreier@mojonews.com