Commission authorizes short-term VOCA funding and grants Commissioner Charles McGee authority to sign

The Carroll County Commission voted April 14 to accept the first six-month block of Victim of Crime Act (VOCA) funding for 2025 and to authorize Commissioner Charles McGee to execute the required grant paperwork on the county’s behalf.

A county staff speaker described how the federal VOCA award is being administered this year in two six-month blocks because of uncertainty in federal funding; the first six months will be funded from existing federal funds, and the county will wait to see whether additional federal allocations become available for the later six-month period. The staff speaker said VOCA funds “fund a portion of our victim witness director salary” and cover related supplies such as gas cards and office materials.

A draft county resolution in the meeting packet named “Commissioner Charles McGee” as the county official authorized to enter into and execute documents with the New Hampshire Department of Justice and other required parties. The commission moved, seconded and approved the resolution; commissioners then signed or initialed required pages of the grant paperwork during the meeting and were told all pages would need initials and a signature before submission to the state.

County staff told the commission the application and signature pages must be returned to the state by the end of the month; staff also warned that each page of the 30-page grant agreement must be initialed and dated. No dollar amount for the six-month block was stated aloud during the discussion; staff said the award covers salary and program support but did not give a specific figure in the meeting.

The motion passed by voice vote with the commissioners indicating “all in favor.”