Wayne County committee approves de-escalation grant extension and secondary road patrol grant

A Wayne County committee approved two grant actions Tuesday, extending a U.S. Department of Justice de-escalation grant through Feb. 28, 2026, and accepting Michigan State Police Office of Highway Safety Planning funds for secondary road patrols running Oct. 2025 through Sept. 30, 2026.

Vanita Terry, Wayne County Sheriff's Office chief of administration, told the Committee on Public Safety, Judiciary, and Homeland Security that Amendment 2 to the de-escalation grant would extend the term to "02/28/2026" and allow the sheriff's office to submit additional expenditures. On the secondary road patrol grant she said the funding covers salaries and some equipment and requires "no county match."

The committee received additional details about the sheriff's office Citizens Academy from Regina Banks Hall, the grants director. Banks Hall said the Citizens Academy is a six-week training for community leaders drawn from across Wayne County's 43 communities to serve as ambassadors for the sheriff's office. She said participants are identified by recommendations from mayors and commissioners and there is no fixed term for volunteers.

Policy analyst Joe Slazak asked that approval be made contingent on updating account numbers from the older JD Edwards system to Oracle; staff agreed to include that contingency in the motion for the de-escalation grant.

Commissioner Dobbs moved to approve both items, supported by Commissioner Peterson Mayberry; the committee voted by tablet and the motion carried. The approvals include the stated contingency that account numbers for Item 2 be corrected and that a corrected draft be returned to staff after the meeting.

Staff did not identify a county funding match for the grants and said the secondary road patrol award would fund salaries and equipment for patrol operations. The committee recorded no public comments on the items and moved on to other business.