County awarded 'Back the Blue' grant

On Tuesday, December 5, Eddy County commissioners signed off on a grant to help the county sheriff's department retain and recruit deputies.

The grant is called "Back the Blue," and it's designed to aid local law enforcement agencies by providing funding to help pay for important retention and recruitment strategies.

For example, the funding can be used to provide hiring and retention bonuses to new and current officers and for providing tuition and fee payments on behalf of law enforcement trainees.

The grant opportunity was signed into law by N.D. Governor Doug Burgum in April, making a total of $3.5 million dollars available to local agencies.

That funding is distributed to city and county agencies based on their number of licensed peace officers. Eddy County Sheriff Paul Lies told commissioners on Tuesday that his department stands to receive $17,000 from the grant.

A motion to approve the grant was carried unanimously.

Lies also told commissioners that the sheriff's department recently hired a new deputy, who was undergoing some additional training in Williston, N.D. at the time of Tuesday's meeting.

Lies said the expectation is that he'll be ready to go by mid-December.

On the flip side, Lies told commissioners that they could be losing a deputy relatively soon, underlining the importance of retention and recruitment moving forward.

Also at Tuesday's meeting, the commissioners named a new chairperson and vice-chairperson for 2024.

A motion was made to appoint Jamie Allmaras to the position of chairperson, and to keep Glenda Collier in the position of vice-chairperson, and that motion was carried unanimously.

The commission's current chairperson is Dave Gehrtz, and Collier has been vice-chairperson in 2023 while Allmaras completed his first year on the board.

Allmaras will take over as chairperson during the commission's first meeting of 2024.

Before adjourning the meeting on Tuesday, commissioners also approved a new sale price for three delinquent tax properties within the county.

The properties are adjacent vacant lots within the Greeleys Addition of the City of New Rockford: Lots 23, 24 and 25 of Block 3.

The original price was set at $170.90, and they were not sold during the scheduled sale on Nov. 21.

Taxes and special assessments have not been collected from the owner of those properties since 2020, and the sale price of $170.90 was set to match the amount of taxes due for each lot.

However, commissioners learned on Tuesday that the amount of tax revenue due was miscalculated, and the sale price was adjusted to $181 to better match the correct amount.

Commissioners did not schedule a new sale date at Tuesday's meeting.

The commission's next regular meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, at the Eddy County courthouse.

Prior to their next regular meeting, the commission will hold a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 11 at 8:30 a.m., also in the Eddy County Courthouse.