Supes to consider approving grants

GARNETT CHADD.jpg [1]

By NATHAN GREGORY
citybeat@starkvilledailynews.com [2]

The Okitbbeha County Board of Supervisors will consider approving two grants which will help step up seat belt and DUI enforcement at its meeting today.

The board approved similar grants in May. Funding for those grants, which is provided by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, has been spent, Chief Deputy Chadd Garnett said, prompting the need to pursue approval for new grants. He said funding is devoted to paying deputies overtime, buying new equipment and providing fringe benefits.

Garrnett said the seat belt grant will provide $12,500, while the DUI grant will give the department more than $22,000.

The grants do not require a match from the county. MDPS provides all of the grant funding.

OCSD was awarded $12,182 from a seat belt grant and $23,273 from a DUI grant in May.

Garnett said the grant requests have already gotten approval from MDPS and if approved would take effect Oct. 1.

The board will also hear from County Deputy Fire Coordinator Austin Check, who is inviting county leaders to attend fire academy sessions. Their involvement, Check said, can be helpful in the department’s overall success.

“They learn about how the (fire) rating system works. (The academy) shows how government participation … lowers insurance rates,” Check said. “They learn challenges faced by the firemen and the training they have to go through. We familiarize them with the day-to-day operations of the department.”

The board will meet 5:30 p.m. at the Oktibbeha County Courthouse.