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Rutherford County applies for federal grants to staff deputies and firefighters
Summary
The county authorized applications for two federal grants: a DOJ COPS grant the sheriff's office said would fund deputies focused on traffic safety, and a SAFER grant the fire chief said would fund 16 firefighters/medics to staff a new rescue; both applications were approved to be filed and would return to commission for acceptance if awarded.
Rutherford County commissioners authorized staff to apply for two federal grants intended to add public-safety personnel: a Department of Justice COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) grant for deputies and a FEMA SAFER grant to add firefighters and medics.
Steve Spence, deputy chief at the sheriff's office, said the COPS grant is a three-year award with a 75/25 match. "The max award from the grant is $750,000, which is a hundred and $25,000 per officer for 3 years," he said, explaining the department would use awarded funds to hire deputies for traffic-safety education and enforcement. Spence noted the 25% match had been approved previously by the county opioid committee and that the match would otherwise come from opioid-committee funds for the next budget year.
Chief Farley, the county's fire chief, asked for permission to file a SAFER application for 16 people. He said the SAFER grant pays 75% of wages for the first two years (county pays 25%), and in the third year the grant pays 35% (county pays 65%). He said the proposal would "allow us to fully staff the new head rescue" and place a full crew on Engine 60.
Both applications were authorized by the commission as requests to apply only; commissioners noted staff would return for formal acceptance if either grant is awarded. Roll-call votes were recorded in favor of both applications.
Spence and Chief Farley both stressed that approval at this meeting was only to file the grant proposals and that any acceptance of awards would require future commission approval.
