The Custer County Board of Commissioners approved the use of jail trust funds for officer and jail employee training during the board’s regular meeting Monday morning.
The request came after the County Excise Board had difficulty finding a place in the budget for the more than $10,000 yearly training with Lexipol, which typically comes out of sales tax.
District 3 Commissioner Lyle Miller said this would be a “one-time thing,” and they would find a way to fit the expense in the budget next year.
Sheriff Dan Day said his deputies will be taking training from the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, which will be significantly cheaper and will fit in the sheriff’s office budget.
However, this is a new program, so Day said he wants to just send the deputies to the training this year and potentially switch everyone to ACCO later.
District 2 Commissioner Bruce Walker expressed concerns because the commission had approved a few other one-time expenses, which also were taken from the jail trust. District 1 Commissioner Wade Anders also expressed these concerns.
Ultimately, all three commissioners voted to approve the item, but Walker said they need to stick with their stance of it being a one-time expense and be sure to make room in the budget for next year.
In other news, the board approved two transfers. The first was $2,000 from District 2 M&O to District 2 Highway Personnel. The second was from Clinton Fire Department M&O to Sales Tax M&O.
The board approved a letter of commitment in support of the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s application for the community health workers. This letter states the county will support the local health department’s pursuit of grant money which will be used to hire more personnel and fund vaccination clinics should there be another spike in COVID-19 cases.
The board approved a resolution regarding purchasing procedures for emergency management office grants. Purchases of $500 or less require no approval. Purchases between $500 and $2,500 require the approval of the board chairman, currently Miller. Purchases greater than $2,500 will need to be approved in a county commission meeting.
The board approved a second resolution to dispose of several items sold through an auction site.
The courthouse window project should wrap up this week. County Clerk Melissa Graham said the punch list and final inspection should be done sometime this week.
The board approved payroll, blanket purchase orders and purchase orders for payment. The board also approved a single permit for a turn radius related to the new wind farm project.