Graham County supervisors approve routine contracts, grants, IT policies and budget transfers; authorize Fill the Gap grant submission for pretrial services

GRAHAM COUNTY, Ariz. — The Graham County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a series of routine contracts, intergovernmental agreements and administrative policies and authorized the county to submit a Fill the Gap grant application intended to help fund the county’s pretrial services officer.

The board voted, by voice, to (1) approve indigent defense contracts for four attorneys who will handle misdemeanor indigent defense in the Justice Court for fiscal year 2026; (2) authorize submission of a FY26 Fill the Gap application for state and local aid to partially fund pretrial services; (3) accept several public-health intergovernmental agreements, including a COVID-19 epidemiology and laboratory-capacity IGA and the Title V Maternal and Child Health IGA; (4) approve two IT administrative policies revised to meet NIST and auditor expectations; and (5) approve FY24–25 unbudgeted capital items, unbudgeted transfers and budget transfers and authorize the chief financial officer to make additional transfers needed during year-end closeout. The board also approved a special-event liquor license for the Battle of the Bands, a CDL drug-testing contract and several routine personnel and travel items.

Why it matters: the Fill the Gap funds and the health IGAs provide grant dollars to cover staff and program costs tied to court supervision and public-health services. The budget transfers and administrative policies address the county’s fiscal closeout and audit compliance requirements, respectively, and the actions together reflect routine annual housekeeping and grant-management work for county operations.

The Fill the Gap application and pretrial services. Mindy Young of Superior Court told the board the county’s projected FY26 state aid is $15,021, roughly $2,300 more than FY25 because a three-year indexing of felony cases raised the allocation. Young said the court wants to continue using special-revenue funds to pay part of the pretrial services officer’s salary and employer-related expenses and described the officer’s work: intake at arraignment, referrals to counseling, substance-use or employment services, and compliance monitoring. She also said the officer uses an app called Reconnect for messaging, location monitoring and virtual contacts.

Young said the county plans to apply to use roughly 15 percent of the state Fill the Gap funds and 16 percent of local funds toward pretrial personnel costs; she noted AOC (the Administrative Office of the Courts) handles the application and that she included the relevant statutes for supervisors to review. The board approved a motion authorizing submission of the FY26 Fill the Gap application.

Public-health grants. Brian Douglas of the Graham County Health Department asked the board to approve several grants and IGAs. He described a COVID-19 epidemiology and laboratory capacity IGA that originally carried an amount of $600,000 nationally (the department indicated HHS negotiations may reduce that figure to $300,000) and said the county intends to treat the agreement as if the original $600,000 allocation were available; the county would use funds to partially cover several staff salaries for FY25 and FY26. Douglas also sought approval of the Title V Maternal and Child Health five-year IGA (family planning program) with no change in funding from the prior year, and he asked the board to approve a state opioid response scope-of-work agreement with the Arizona Department of Health Services that the county will administer in-house rather than contract out. The board approved each request.

Indigent defense contracts and related housekeeping. Jessica Garner of the Justice Court presented four indigent-defense agreements for FY26 for attorneys Dennis McCarthy, Rebecca Johnson, Raymond Geiser and Josie Lopez. The contracts match last year’s terms; Garner told the board the court has four misdemeanor appointments. Supervisors discussed that indigent counsel are provided when jail time is at stake and noted applicants must complete an eligibility application. The board approved all four agreements, with supervisors noting the county follows state statute requiring provision of counsel in qualifying cases.

IT policies and audit compliance. McCoy Hawkins of the IT department presented two revised administrative policies — an Acceptable Use policy and an Access Control policy (policy numbers 2025-01 and 2025-02) — updated with contractor help to meet NIST standards and to address audit findings. Hawkins said the policies are effective immediately and that procedures will be distributed to staff; the board approved both policies.

Budget adjustments and other approvals. Julie Rodriguez asked the board to approve FY24–25 unbudgeted capital items, unbudgeted transfers and budget transfers and to authorize the chief financial officer to make additional transfers needed to resolve negative budgets or errors during year-end closeout. The board approved the requested authority. The board also approved an out-of-state travel request for an assessor’s camera coordinator to attend training in Fort Collins, Colo.; accepted a quitclaim deed for right-of-way on Alder Lane from Peter and Kathy Hansen; approved the Battle of the Bands special-event liquor license for the Ag Building at the fairgrounds; approved the county’s CDL drug-testing agreement with Scott Medical Solutions for FY25–26; and approved health-department requests described above.

Process and next steps. Several supervisors and staff noted items had been discussed in prior work sessions (IT policies, fairgrounds master-plan preliminary work) or were part of standard annual grant and contract cycles. County manager Welker and multiple supervisors gave brief updates on ongoing projects, including a Motorola radio upgrade scheduled to finish July 30 and recent recognition for the Graham County Jail from the National Institute for Jail Operations. The board adjourned after a short call to the public.

Ending: The approvals authorize staff to move forward on the described grants, contracts and administrative policies; where the board authorized county staff to submit or sign grant applications, final award amounts and terms remain subject to award notifications and executed agreements.