The Jay Select Board on Monday awarded the Hollandstrong Community Foundation a Spirit of America Foundation Tribute for its dedication and outstanding community service. In front, from left, are Jenna Rocque, Deb Roberts, Robin Roberts, Michele Coates and Terry Bergeron; in back, Selectperson Gary McGrane, Toby Kachnovich, and Selectpersons Lee Ann Dalessandro, Tom Goding and Tim DeMillo. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal

JAY – The Select Board voted to accept police officer reimbursement funds of $27,499 after Franklin County hired one of Jay’s officers that the town sent through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

The town is eligible for reimbursement if the officer goes to another agency within five years of graduating from the academy.

The board voted to put the reimbursement into the Police Department’s Training Reserve Account. Jay has received $21,000 of the $27,499 and will receive the remaining $6,449 in July after the county’s new budget kicks in, according to Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere in a memo to the Jay board.

The county’s budget is under review by the Franklin County Budget Advisory Committee that meets at 4:30 p.m. on April 23 at the county courthouse at 140 Main St.

There is an upcoming need for training for Police Department employees on the upgraded computer-aided dispatch and record-keeping system that Jay, the county and other towns have contributed to. By designating the funds to training reserve, it will allow for that training as well as the typical academy training that the fund is generally used for, LaFreniere wrote in a memo to the board.

The Select Board opened the meeting with Selectperson Lee Ann Dalessandro reading the Spirit of America Foundation Tribute to the Hollandstrong Community Foundation. The community foundation was selected to receive the award this year in recognition of its outstanding community service.

The community foundation was established by Deb Roberts of Livermore and her family to honor the legacy of her son, the late Michael Holland, 25, of Wilton. Holland died along with 32 other crew members on the SS El Faro when it sank off the coast of Bermuda on Oct. 1, 2015, during a hurricane.

Hollandstrong has raised money to rebuild the tennis courts beside the Spruce Mountain Elementary School in Jay, to give scholarships to qualifying graduating seniors at three high schools and for other community contributions. Holland graduated from Jay High School in 2008 and from Maine Maritime Academy in 2012.

In other business, the board also approved a $5,050 request from the town’s Recreation Committee for recreation improvements. Those improvements include material for map kiosks, trail signs and Adirondack chairs for French Falls Park or the town’s recreation area.