To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Sheriff’s Office
Staff Name and Phone Number: Connie Newton, 8884
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Sheriff’s Office Federal Grant Applications
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Authorize the Sheriff and his designee to apply for and if awarded, accept the subsequent award for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act in the amount of $125,000, to provide mental health resources to law enforcement officers. In addition, authorize the Sheriff and his designee to execute all related documents needed to accept the grant award and implement the grant project.
B) Authorize the Sheriff and his designee to apply for and if awarded, accept the subsequent award for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance FY 2021 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program in the amount of $41,305, to improve radio communications interoperability. In addition, authorize the Sheriff and his designee to execute all related documents needed to accept the grant award and implement the grant project.
i. Authorize the Chair, as the Chief executive of the applicant, to execute the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program FY 2021 Local Solicitation “Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government”.
C) Authorize the Sheriff and his designee to apply for and if awarded, accept the subsequent award for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance FY 2020 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program to be reimbursed for costs incurred for certain incarceration of undocumented criminal aliens. In addition, authorize the Sheriff and his designee to execute all related documents needed to accept the grant award and implement the grant project.
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Executive Summary:
The Sheriff’s Office is pursuing three grant opportunities from the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain funding that is being made available to the County for law enforcement and detention programs. The applications have been submitted in order to meet submission deadlines; however, the application process requires authorization from the Board of Supervisors. In the event the Board does not approve these funding opportunities, the Sheriff’s Office will withdraw applications accordingly. This item requests authorization for the Chair, the Sheriff and the Sheriff’s designee to apply for these funding opportunities and execute necessary grant award documents. There is no match requirement for these funds, therefore, the County will not be required to provide any funding in order to accept the awards and/or implement the grant projects.
Discussion:
In response to the Board of Supervisors direction to seek outside funding and leverage resources, the Sheriff’s Office has identified several promising grant opportunities and is seeking the Boards authorization to apply and accept the subsequent awards. Specifically, the following three grants are being presented for the Boards consideration:
1. Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act - The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services is soliciting projects for grant funds to improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement officers through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other promising practices for wellness programs. The Sheriff’s Office, if awarded, intends to use these funds to enhance its Peer Support Team and to provide more mental health resources (such as licensed providers and access to care) to law enforcement officers. The grant is offering awards up to $125,000 per agency. The funds can be spent over a two year period. This grant will not supplant local funds as there are no funds in the Sheriff’s FY 21-22 budget for enhanced peer support. Refer to “Attachment 1” for the application budget narrative.
2. Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program - The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (Byrne) offers funding to assist law enforcement efforts to prevent or reduce crime and violence. The Sheriff’s application is requesting funds for new portable radios, under the grant allowed request for emergency communications activities to help improve interoperability. The Sheriff is in the process of converting all of its existing portable radios to P25 radios, the standard for interoperability. Interoperability allows first responders from various agencies to easily communicate with each other during events that require multi-agency response, such as wildfire evacuation activities. The grant pre-designates funding allocations to governments. Sonoma County’s allocation is $41,305, which will cover most of the costs for ten P25 radios and related accessories.
Byrne grant funds may not supplant any local funds. The Sheriff’s FY 21-22 budget includes one-time asset forfeiture funding for the project to convert infrastructure, portable radios, and mobile radios to P25 radios. However, this project is estimated to have a $70,000 shortfall, therefore requiring additional funding sources. If approved, the Byrne funds will be used to help cover this shortfall and other solutions are being researched to cover the remaining project shortfall. At this time no funds from the County’s General Fund have been appropriated for the radio project. The grant budget narrative is provided as Attachment 2.
The Byrne grant requires that the Chair of the Board, as the Chief Executive of the applicant unit of local government, execute a “Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government” form (Attachment 3). This form has several requirements, such as ensuring non-supplanting, providing the application to the governing body for review at least 30 days prior to executing the certification, making the application available to citizens, and neighborhood or community based organizations and providing an opportunity to comment, and ensuring reporting and data tracking as outlined in the grant guidelines. The 30-day requirement and public comment will be satisfied by attachment of the proposed project to this Board Item. The Chair should wait to execute the form until more than 30 days have lapsed from the 9/14/21, the date of the Board of Supervisors meeting, if approved. The full list of certifications is included in the “Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government” form attached to this Board report.
3. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance FY 2020 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program- The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance FY 2020 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program reimburses agencies for costs incurred for incarceration of undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law, and incarcerated for at least 4 consecutive days during the reporting period. The FY 2020 grant covers the period FY 18-19, reimbursing the County for costs already incurred. The Sheriff’s Office received SCAAP funding from 2002 through 2016. The SCAAP guidelines changed in 2017, creating a conflict with State law. The conflict was resolved in 2021 based on new guidelines issued by the Biden Administration, and the Sheriff’s Office can resume applying for these funds. If awarded, and once the award amount is known, the Sheriff’s Office will work with the County Administrator to identify the best use of the funds. At this time it is not known how much funding will be received for the FY 2020 grant. Per the solicitation, SCAAP payments are calculated from information provided by applicant governments in online applications, information provided to OJP by DHS regarding the DHS review of data on “eligible inmates,” and the amount of appropriated funds available for the SCAAP application cycle (e.g., for the FY 2020 program). The last award was received in FY 16-17 in the amount of $302,170. The Sheriff’s Office data used for the SCAAP application is attached.
The County is not required to provide any match funding in order to accept these awards and/or implement these grant projects. Any budgetary adjustments needed to implement these grants will be conducted through the County’s consolidated budget adjustment process once official awards are received.
Staff recommends that the Board authorize the Chair, the Sheriff, and the Sheriff’s designee to apply for these funding opportunities and execute necessary grant award documents.
Prior Board Actions:
Approval of annual Justice Assistance Grant Program applications since 2005, and since 1996 through the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program. This grant was recently approved June 4, 2019 for the District Attorney’s Office and on November 17, 2020 for the Public Defender.
Fiscal Summary
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Any fiscal impacts to the Sheriff’s budget will occur if the application is approved and a grant is awarded to the Sheriff’s Office. Awards will not result in any use of County General Funds. If awards are received, budget adjustments will be made through the County’s consolidated budget adjustment process.
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
1. Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Narrative
2. Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Narrative
3. Byrne Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government
4. SCAAP application data
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
Grant Program Solicitation Descriptions