Commissioners Approve Purchase, Learn of Grant

The Board of Sequoyah County Commissioners approved District 1’s purchase of a truck cab and chassis at their weekly meeting Monday.

Board Chairman Ray Watts, the District 1 commissioner, said his crews could manufacture a water truck out of those parts that would serve the county well. He said the current water truck is in poor condition. The board awarded the $25,000 bid with District 2 Commissioner Steve Carter abstaining.

Sequoyah County Emergency Management Director Steve Rutherford updated the commissioners on the ongoing battle with the coronavirus. Rutherford said there are currently 17 total cases in the county, with only three active cases, Rutherford added.

Commissioners also learned about a grant the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Department recently received. The $275,000 grant will cover the salary and benefits for two new deputies for the next three years, said Cindy Smith, an investigator with the sheriff’s department.

The new deputies will have to be involved with the community, Smith said, which will hopefully stop “what’s happening around us,” such as the recent protests in the state and around the country.

Sequoyah County Sheriff Larry Lane pointed out that the grant is the 14th in three years that Smith has been instrumental in getting off the ground. Lane said the 14 grants have brought in a total of about $680,000 to the department, and there are other grant proposals in the pipeline.

“We are completely tickled (about the grant),” Smith said. She refused to take credit for the work, saying “Larry (Lane) and them make it easy for me. It’s a team effort. I couldn’t be happier.”

Smith said 1,100 law enforcement agencies applied for the grant, 595 of those applicants were awarded, and 18 of the grants were awarded in Oklahoma.

In other business, the commissioners:

*Appointed Matthew Orendorff as requisitioning agent for Family Drug Court

*Approved the resignation of John Mayhan from the Northeastern Health System - Sequoyah board, effective June 10, and appointed Treye Girdner to complete Mayhan’s term. Girdner was recommended by Stephanie Six, the hospital’s administrator

*Designated Sherrel Henry and Whitney Day as receiving agents for the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office

The commissioners also approved several transfers of appropriations, including:

*From the Sheriff Service Fee maintenance and operations account to the Sheriff Service Fee DEQ Personal Service account

*From the Victims of Crime Advocates (VOCA) maintenance and operations account to the VOCA Personal Service account

*From the VOCA maintenance and operations account to the VOCA Lease Purchase account

*From the VOCA maintenance and operations account to the Sheriff Service Fee account.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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