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Sheriff requests $112.82 daily rate for DOC housing, reports grants and proposes line‑of‑duty family benefits
Summary
Sheriff Russell Thornton asked the commission to set the county billable rate to the Kansas Department of Corrections at $112.82 per day beginning in 2026, briefed commissioners on recent grant awards (including $4,100 toward vests and $10,000 for school 911 mapping) and requested consideration of a policy to pay a killed officer's family health insurance for two years.
Sheriff Russell Thornton asked the board to approve a billable daily rate of $112.82 for housing parole violators for the Kansas Department of Corrections beginning in 2026; the commission approved the rate by motion (recorded as passed 3‑0).
Thornton reported Ottawa County received $4,100 from the Ottawa County Community Foundation toward vests, helping realize a total savings of $8,000 on the purchase. He also said the state awarded a grant for 911 mapping and Ottawa County received $10,000 to map each school in the county. Thornton said he is evaluating a fingerprinting vendor compatible with dispatch software. He asked the commission to consider adopting a policy to pay an officer's family, including health insurance, for two years if the officer is killed in the line of duty. Thornton also proposed adding Minneapolis and Bennington EMS into the county GPS mapping system, noting the departments would split a monthly cost of $524.
