FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners Tuesday approved using federal funds for several projects, including $50,000 to help with the expansion of an emergency shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking.

Safe Voices’ $1.87 million housing project is underway in Farmington. The county’s money would be used for items that had to be cut because the project cost was more than expected, Executive Director Elise Johansen previously said.

Commissioners also voted to use $48,100 from the county’s allotment from the American Rescue Plan Act to upgrade five new hybrid cruisers with light bars, push bars and safety cages, Tiffany Baker, county human resource specialist and administrative assistant, said Wednesday.

It costs $9,820 to equip each vehicle, she said.

The county has received half of its allocation of $5.86 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. It is expected to receive the second half after July 1.

Commissioners also approved $3,160.84 to buy four laptops for employees at the courthouse to work remotely when needed. They also authorized $38,000 for engineering and design work to create a larger space for medical and psychological space at the jail.

There would be a separate space for people who are sick and one for psychological services to be provided, Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said Feb. 1. The medical space would have two cells for sick inmates, an examination room and a doctor’s office, Nichols said. The overall addition would be 1,250 square feet to 1,500 square feet.

Commissioners also approved $240,000 to implement broadband internet service in Perkins and Washington townships, Weld and Wilton. The split of $40,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act and $200,000 from the county’s tax increment financing agreement needs to be revisited, Baker said Wednesday. The TIF is unorganized territory-based, she said.

Commissioners also approved use of $40,000 from federal funds for a broadband analysis, Baker said.

In other business, commissioners voted to accept an anonymous donation of $4,000 to the county’s K-9 program. It will be used to buy a K-9 insert for a hybrid cruiser and a door popper, she said.

A door popper is a heat monitoring system that keeps the dogs safe by alerting the handler if the temperature in the vehicle gets too hot or too cold, Lt. David Rackliffe wrote in an email Wednesday.

“Depending on the system, it will send a page to a pager, activate the siren and lights, send an alert to a cellphone and open the vehicle windows and turn on a fan. If so equipped, it can also be activated by a button on a pager that the handler carries that will open one of the rear doors of the vehicle, which allows a handler to release their dog from a distance should the need arise,” he wrote.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Farmington-based school board moves ahead with reapportionment process

Next »

Planning Board accepts one marijuana store application, rejects another in Livermore Falls