FARMINGTON – Franklin County commissioners recently told sheriff’s deputies they need to know if a grant application is being proposed. And, if any grant money comes into the county, commissioners need to accept those dollars before they can be spent.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Department was awarded about $368,000 of a joint $770,000 Department of Homeland Security grant with Oxford County Sheriff’s Department, Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective Tom White said. The grant was supposed to be for three years but turned out to be for one year, he said.

The money comes out of Homeland Security’s Operation Stonegarden program and covers from Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009.

It is the first time Franklin County has received this specific type of grant that allows for equipment purchases as well as providing money for extra patrols to assist the U.S. Border Patrol along the Canadian border, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office.

Franklin County has received labor reimbursement from the federal government since after Sept. 11, 2001, Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike said. Deputies do special details outside their regular shifts to help patrol the borders, he said. It would take some digging to find out actually how much the labor reimbursement was, Pike said, but that information would be available at the county treasurer’s office.

Commission Chairman Fred Hardy of New Sharon and member Gary McGrane of Jay said they started noticing warrant items pertaining to equipment purchases that were funded by Operation Stonegarden late last year. McGrane said Feb. 17 that he refused to sign the warrant until he found out more about them.

Pike called in Chief Deputy Ray Meldrum and Detective Tom White into that meeting to explain the funds.

Both Meldrum and White believed it was a continuing grant program that they had been participating in for at least three years and thought commissioners knew about it.

It is commissioners’ duty to oversee the county’s funds, McGrane and Hardy said.

Meldrum and White apologized to commissioners for any mistakes and misunderstandings during the process.

“It was a legitimate misunderstanding,” Pike said.

White also said he learned from county Treasurer Karen Robinson that any item over $10,000 has to go out to bid, after two snowmobiles were bought. The Yamahas cost $19,916 total.

Other equipment bought through the grant are night vision equipment, $8,925; a dual snowmobile trailer, $5,757; and extreme weather survival gear, $6,540.

Hardy and McGrane signed the warrant to pay for the items.

White said later that he and Sgt. Steve Lowell researched the best machine to buy for the purposes they needed it.

The snowmobile trailer has the Department of Homeland Security name printed on the exterior.

The snowmobiles and trailer were bought separately but picked up together from Rev-It Up Sports Shop in Rangeley Plantation, Meldrum also said later.