The Platte County Sheriff’s Office received commission approval for acceptance of nearly $200,000 in grant funding last week.
At the Monday, Oct. 21 administrative session of the Platte County Commission, Major Erik Holland presented a bevy of grant agreements helping to fund special enforcement efforts and overtime.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Highway Safety and Traffic Division is the agency handling funding from various state and federal programs. The county will receive $25,750 for enforcement of hazardous moving violations in high-crash areas. The funding will cover overtime costs. With a local match from the county, another $70,882 grant will fund the salary of a traffic safety officer. Local matching funds will also be paired with $31,343 in funding for DWI enforcement, with an additional $55,500 targeted for saturation enforcement efforts targeting dates around the holidays when drivers tend to drive impaired.
Of the last grant, $25,000 is allocated for a special enforcement vehicle, which is painted half as a police cruiser and half as a taxi. The high-visibility vehicle is used to raise public awareness of impaired driving and the importance of using a designated driver or calling a cab.
Holland also publicly thanked auditor Kevin Robinson and county clerk Nancy Armstrong, who both volunteered as “hostages” during a joint training exercise with the FBI held Friday, Oct. 11 at the Platte County Resource Center.
Also at the meeting, commissioners approved a resolution thanking Alicia Stephens for her service to the county through her years with the Platte County Economic Development Council.
Stephens retired this month as executive director, but will stay on as a special projects coordinator to assist with the completion of the Northland Sports Complex project.
Presiding commissioner Ron Schieber said he knows she plans to travel with her husband during her retirement, but expects she will remain busy in the community, as she has during her years with the EDC.