HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-2021-022 Orange County Sheriff's Office Traffic Safety Project and Budget Amendment 1-A ORD-2021-022
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: September 14, 2021
Action Agenda
Item No. 8-b
SUBJECT: North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program: Orange County Sheriff's
Office Traffic Safety Project and Approval of Budget Amendment #1-A
DEPARTMENT: Sheriff's Office
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Attachment 1. Traffic Safety Project Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood,
Contract 919.245.2900
Attachment 2. Agreement of Conditions Jennifer Galassi, Legal Advisor,
Attachment 3. Local Government 919.245.2952
Resolution Lt. T. Brian Whitehurst, Sheriff's Deputy
Attachment 4. Award Notification Letters and North Carolina Governor's
Highway Safety Program Triangle
Region Law Enforcement Liaison,
919.245.2900
PURPOSE: To:
• Adopt a Resolution recognizing federal funding for traffic safety projects to the Sheriff's
Office;
• Approve Budget Amendment #1-A; and
• Authorize the Chair to sign the Resolution.
BACKGROUND: The North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program (the "GHSP") partners
with Law Enforcement Liaisons to promote highway safety awareness and to reduce the number
of traffic crashes and fatalities in the State. Law Enforcement Liaisons ("LEL"), located in the
eleven regions in which the GHSP divides the State, are full time law enforcement officers. An
LEL serves as a coordinator and organizer for highway safety activities in his/her respective region
and as liaison to the GHSP Office in Raleigh.
Some of the duties of an LEL include:
• promoting traffic safety measures in the region,
• supporting and informing law enforcement agencies within those regions of current and
upcoming campaigns,
• providing information and guidance in the grant process by assisting agencies with
questions, and
• directing them to the appropriate grant manager for their region.
LELs communicate on a regular basis with the county coordinators in their region and assist them
with their efforts to promote activities and campaigns on the county level. "Booze It & Lose It" and
"Click It or Ticket" are well known GHSP campaigns. Additionally, LELs monitor campaign
reporting in their regions and ensure all agencies are participating in the reporting of campaign
statistics.
LELs are required to attend quarterly meetings held throughout the State with GHSP staff, the
annual Lifesaver National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities in the spring, and assist with
planning, set up, operations, and tear down of the annual North Carolina Highway Safety
Symposium. To facilitate travel, training, and the other activities of the LELs, GHSP awards a
grant to the employing agency of each LEL. The grant funds travel, training, and traffic safety
equipment for the agency.
Lt. T. Brian Whitehurst of the Orange County Sheriff's Office is the Law Enforcement Liaison for
Region 5. The GHSP approved an application from the Sheriff's Office's for Fiscal Year 2022 in
the amount of $25,000. This funding will allow the Sheriff's Office to purchase 1) Two (2) In-car
Video Systems (including shipping and installation); 2) a golf cart; 3) a trailer for golf cart; 4)
remote data collection for speed display signs; and 5) fund the LEL's travel to the required
meetings, conference, and symposium.
The Sheriff's Office also has the following additional budget amendment:
• Governor's Crime Commission Grant — After the County's FY 2021-22 Budget was
approved, the Sheriff's Office received official notification that the Governor's Crime
Commission awarded a one-year grant for an additional deputy in the Crisis Unit in the
amount of$46,863.61. The new position will establish and oversee a safe, supervised child
custody exchange space, increase capacity to enforce and pursue violations of Domestic
Violence Protective Orders and Release Conditions, and provide additional support to
follow-up with victims and provide periodic check-ins with defendants. The Sheriff's Office
match share of $15,621 .23 will come from the Sheriff's Office detention
certification/licenses budget (10715020/530200). These funds will be used to create a new
time-limited (1.0 FTE) Deputy I for the duration of the grant through September 30, 2022.
This budget amendment provides for the budgetary changes listed above, and approves the
creation of a new 1.0 FTE time-limited Deputy I position through September 30, 2022.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The Orange County Sheriff's Office will receive $71,836.61 in grant
funding. Funding comes from federal sources and requires a $15,621.23 match, which will come
from existing appropriations. This Budget Amendment#1-A provides for the receipt of these grant
funds.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goal is applicable to
this item:
• GOAL: CREATE A SAFE COMMUNITY
The reduction of risks from vehicle/traffic accidents, childhood and senior injuries, gang
activity, substance abuse and domestic violence.
Receipt of GHSP grant funding will allow the Orange County Sheriff's Office to advance the North
Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program's purpose to promote highway safety awareness
and to reduce the number of traffic crashes and fatalities in the State, objectives which overlap
with this Social Justice Goal.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal
impact associated with this item.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board:
• Adopt the North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program Local Governmental
Resolution recognizing federal funding for traffic safety projects to the Sheriff's Office;
• Approve Budget Amendment#1-A accepting the $71,836.21 from federal grant funds; and
• Authorize the Chair to sign the Resolution.