Harrison County Commissioners meet after storm to handle essential business

The Harrison County commissioners met Monday as the only business operating inside the courthouse. The meeting, held the day after the storm, was needed to handle essential business and pay bills.

The board began with a memorandum of understanding addressing child abuse and neglect. The MOU was filed under Agreement 6-26, and the county is required to maintain such an agreement under multiple sections of the Ohio Revised Code.

It is an agreement among Harrison County Job & Family Services and community partners that delineates roles and responsibilities for referring, reporting, investigating and prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases.

The MOU lists two primary goals: eliminating unnecessary interviews of children who are the subjects of abuse or neglect reports, and conducting a single interview whenever possible. It also outlines the duties of public children’s services agencies, including screening, assessment, investigation and service provision. A key objective is to clearly define each participating agency’s roles and responsibilities in providing child protective services.

Among the responsibilities, law enforcement agencies are to send referrals or reports of alleged abuse as soon as possible, or within 24 hours. Other agencies involved include the juvenile court judge, county prosecutor, county Department of Job and Family Services, and the clerk of courts, as well as local animal-cruelty reporting agencies.

Commissioners Amy Norris and Dustin Corder approved the agreement unanimously. Commissioner Paul Prevot was absent.

The commissioners will not meet during the week of Feb. 2. The next scheduled meeting is Feb. 11.