photo by: Joselyn King

Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton, left, also president of the Ohio County Development Authority, sits alongside County Administrator Randy Russell and County Director of Finance Cody Koehler at Tuesday’s OCDA meeting at The Highlands Event Center.

The Ohio County Development could receive as much as $1 million for upgrades at The Highlands Sports Complex if it retains Sports Facilities Management as operator of the facility for the next 10 years.

The OCDA held its fourth and final meeting of 2025 Tuesday at The Highlands Event Center.

During the gathering, Ohio County Commission President Zach Abraham provided further details about the renewal of a five-year agreement between the OCDA and Sports Facilities Management (SFM) that was approved last fall.

SFM is based in Clearwater, Florida.

“The key highlights are we negotiated to where we have an opt out after three years, versus being locked in for five years,” Abraham said. “We did extract naming rights and sponsorships, so they don’t get any commissions for that.

“And if we wanted to hire somebody for the facility — primarily in marketing and general operations — we may do so if we chose to do that.”

What the OCDA didn’t expect is that SFM is providing the OCDA with an opportunity to receive $500,000 to put toward replacements and upgrades at the sports complex, Abraham noted

“If we do two five-year back-to-backs, we have the opportunity to get an additional $500,000,” Abraham said. “So basically, it’s $1 million if we stick with them for that amount of time.”

The OCDA also has put performance targets on SFM under the new contract that weren’t present in the initial deal.

“If they do not hit those targets, they will not get the inflationary increases they are proposing, ” Abraham said.

The new contract also contains a request from the OCDA for a “local resident reduction” to provide discounts for Ohio County residents wanting to watch events at the sports complex.

“They are still working on that and trying to figure out a way to automate that with the systems they have,” he continued.

SFM is trying to reduce their expenses through practices such as joining together their facilities to bulk buy items for their concession stands, according to Abraham.

“I’ve got a little better feeling in their being actively engaged in managing the facility,” he said.

Also during Tuesday’s OCDA meeting, members reappointed officers for another year.

Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton will continue to serve as president; Eriks Janelsins, vice president; Mary Pockl, secretary; and John Olejasz, treasurer.