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Sheriff’s office wins multiple grant approvals, reclassifies open captain slot
Summary
The Public Safety Committee approved multiple sheriff’s office budget amendments and a personnel reclassification on Oct. 27.
Rutherford County’s Public Safety Committee on Oct. 27 approved several sheriff’s office budget moves and personnel changes intended to support operations and hiring.
The sheriff asked the committee to appropriate $175,000 from restricted public-safety funds into data-processing equipment for the drug fund; commissioners approved the transfer by roll call. The committee also approved reallocating $3,014 in rollover funds from a Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance virtual-reality de-escalation grant into the sheriff’s pension line (no county match).
Most prominently, commissioners approved recognizing $250,000 from the COPS Universal Hiring Program grant for the current fiscal year to create a highly visible highway safety unit. The grant requires a local match; the committee budgeted $208,033 from unassigned fund balance to meet the county portion for year one. The grant is structured as a three-year award with varying local-match percentages across years; officials said subsequent budget years will include the matching amounts in regular budget requests.
The sheriff also asked to reclassify one open captain’s position into two positions — a lieutenant (to staff booking-room duties) and a legal secretary. Officials said they expect available budget funds to cover the reclassification and will complete interviews and finalize compensation before filling the posts.
Committee members asked about line-item usage elsewhere in the sheriff’s report, including overtime and training percentages, and about SRO openings; the sheriff said four school-resource-officer slots are open with three candidates in background checks.
Actions recorded: transfer of $175,000 into drug-fund data-processing equipment; reallocation of $3,014 for pension from DOJ VR grant rollover; acceptance and budget recognition of $250,000 COPS hiring grant with $208,033 county match; reclassification of captain position to lieutenant and legal secretary. Each item passed on roll-call votes as recorded.
