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Grant County approves sheriff—s appropriations and green-lights pursuit of grant-funded part-time SRO
Summary
The Grant County Council approved additional funding for the sheriff—s office — including $260,500 for inmate meals and a $40,695.86 transfer for work-crew salaries — and gave conditional approval for a grant-funded part-time school resource officer at Eastbrook. A separate Jonesboro request for two deputies was tabled pending contract review.
The Grant County Council voted to approve a package of additional appropriations requested by Sheriff Del Garcia and gave conditional approval for the county to pursue a grant-funded, part-time school resource officer (SRO) position.
Sheriff Del Garcia told the council the sheriff—s office is seeking $260,500 to cover inmate meals, $50,000 for jail supplies and roughly $250,000 for detention-home contractual placements for juveniles, citing rising food and placement costs. "We're averaging about 12 to 13,000 per week" on meal bills, he said, and described efforts to seek lower-cost vendors or to evaluate returning to in-house cooks.
The council approved the additional appropriations and also approved a $40,695.86 transfer from the misdemeanor fund to cover sheriff work-crew salaries. The sheriff said the work crews perform community projects and that the county sometimes partners with neighboring jurisdictions to house and transport juveniles; he said he would obtain a more detailed breakdown from community corrections for the council.
On school safety, the council gave the sheriff permission to pursue a grant that would fully fund a part-time SRO at Eastbrook and to create the position in the salary ordinance, subject to later review and approval of the underlying contract by the Board of Commissioners. The sheriff identified the prospective officer as Officer Beebe of Van Buren and said the school would cover the salary portion of the role. "They—re wanting to fund a part time SRO position, that they will fully fund," he said. Council members pressed for contract language to ensure the position would be vacated if grant funding ended and for clarity on FICA and equipment costs; the motion passed with those conditions noted.
Separately, Sheriff Garcia described an approach from Jonesboro to fund two full-time deputies who would patrol evenings in that town. Council members raised concerns about long-term county obligations for union benefits, vehicle and liability costs and whether the arrangement would be sustainable if other municipalities followed. The council voted to table the Jonesboro deputy contract request and asked the sheriff to return with a contract and more specifics.
What happens next: The SRO position was approved in principle but not finalized; the sheriff will take the contract to the commissioners for formal approval and the council expects to see contract language confirming the grant-funded, temporary nature of the post. The Jonesboro contract remains tabled pending the sheriff—s presentation of a written agreement to the commissioners and council.
