Commissioners approve multiple sheriff grants and interlocal SWAT agreements

The Oakland County Board of Commissioners' Public Health & Safety Committee approved several grant acceptances and interlocal agreements for the sheriff's office during its meeting, county officials said.

The committee approved a Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) continuing professional-education grant of $629,000 to support newly required continuing-education hours, a Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) overtime reimbursement award for joint work in Pontiac, and two annual grant applications to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (marine safety) and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program (HIDTA), the sheriffs office told commissioners.

Gabe, the sheriffs fiscal officer, told the committee the MCOLES award funds mental-health crisis training and agency-selected in-service training required under the new certification rules. "This is a new program. We're obviously very pleased to get this large amount of money, and we're trying to make sure that we spend it accordingly," Gabe said.

The ATF award covers overtime related to investigative work in the city of Pontiac. Sheriffs staff said the ATF partnership places two ATF agents embedded with county detectives in Pontiac; the ATF award in the transcript was described as up to $217,004 to support overtime for task-force officers. The office said it is applying for $670,401 from the Michigan DNR for marine-safety programs (the department typically applies for the program maximum), and a HIDTA application of $132,300 was described as $119,700 for overtime and $12,600 for communications for the 2026 program year.

Separately, the committee authorized two interlocal agreements that would add one municipal member from the City of Birmingham and one from Charter Township of Bloomfield to the Oakland County Sheriff's multi-jurisdictional SWAT team. Sheriffs office staff said the SWAT team trains together across jurisdictions; municipalities pay their employee costs when their officers deploy, while the county covers the multi-jurisdictional training. "We don't ask them to reimburse that expense," the sheriff's presenter said of training costs. Lieutenant Hicks was named in the discussion as the SWAT team commander.

Votes and motions - The first group of four items (the MCOLES grant acceptance, the ATF overtime reimbursement acceptance, the MDNR marine-safety application, and the HIDTA application) were moved by Commissioner Gendel and seconded by Commissioner Powell and were approved by the committee (8 ayes, 0 nays). - The interlocal agreement with the City of Birmingham was moved by Commissioner Spitz, seconded by Commissioner Gintels, and the committee recorded the motion as carried (vote recorded in the transcript as 7 ayes, 1 nay). - An interlocal agreement with the Charter Township of Bloomfield was discussed and approved; the transcript does not record a full roll-call tally for that item.

Why it matters The grants provide new or continuing outside funding for sheriff training, overtime and marine-safety work; the interlocal agreements expand municipal participation in a county-level SWAT team but leave training-cost responsibility with the county while municipalities retain responsibility for their employees' pay and overtime.

What commissioners asked Commissioners pressed staff on operational details: whether the SWAT team is countywide (the sheriff's office said it serves throughout Oakland County), who commands it (Lieutenant Hicks), and how member municipalities pay for participation. Commissioner Cavell questioned whether SWAT training and membership should be treated differently from other law-enforcement service contracts; sheriff staff said municipalities cover employee benefits and overtime but do not reimburse for the shared team training.

Implementation and next steps Sheriff's office staff said the department will proceed with administering the new MCOLES training funds and complete the MDNR and HIDTA application processes; the county will finalize the interlocal agreements with Birmingham and Bloomfield. Specific implementation dates and contract copies were not provided in the transcript.

Ending Committee members approved the items as presented; staff said they would return with any formal acceptances or further contract paperwork as required.