Marshall County ratifies NG911 data grant contractor and adopts ordinance reallocating public-safety grants

Marshall County commissioners on March 2 ratified a seed‑grant effort to advance Next Generation 911 (NG911) data standards and approved a related professional‑services contract, then adopted a joint ordinance to clarify distribution of county public‑safety grant funds.

Ryan Ross, the county GIS coordinator, said the county was awarded an IGIO reimbursement grant of up to $30,000 to improve address, street centerline and parcel datasets to meet NG911 standards. Avan/Aban Marsh consultant Tim Ellarding described a pass‑through contract structure in which the consultant is paid after the county is reimbursed; he estimated the work would take roughly three to four months and would be billed in stages tied to measurable data‑accuracy milestones.

"This is to help Marshall County reach the NENA [Next Generation 911] standard of next‑generation 911 GIS model," Ryan Ross said, noting the grant requires no local match and will reimburse the county as data accuracy milestones are met.

Separately, commissioners approved a routine lake‑patrol grant application for the sheriff’s department (the meeting recorded approval of a 2026 lake patrol grant in the range discussed) and adopted Joint Ordinance 2026‑8, which amends the county’s public‑safety grant distribution to allocate funding to eight identified fire entities (town and township fire departments named at the meeting). The board suspended rules and approved second and third readings at the meeting.

The Aban/Avan Marsh professional‑services agreement and its earlier ratification were approved by motion. Commissioners emphasized the pass‑through nature of the IGIO grant and asked staff to return any final contract amendments or reporting details to the board.

The plan commission referral items and grant approvals will be included in future agendas for reporting and implementation.