Sheriff Gets Nod From Council To Seek Drug Rehab Grant
Sheriff Gets Nod From Council To Seek Drug Rehab Grant
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
Sheriff Gets Nod From Council To Seek Drug Rehab GrantKosciusko County Sheriff Kyle Dukes got permission from the county council Thursday night to apply for a renewable grant that would fund the county jail’s drug rehabilitation program for a year.
Dukes is applying to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s Residential Substance Abuse Treatment program to fund the county’s Jail Chemical Addiction Program. The initial grant application for $163,240.40 will pay for contract programs and operating expenses for 12 months beginning July 1. Included in the request are funds for the first full-time director in the program, still in its first year of operation in the jail.
The program just graduated its first class of seven inmates less than two weeks ago.
Dukes said the response to JCAP has been “phenomenal,” with many individuals and companies in the community indicating willingness to help. The sheriff cited a bank sending volunteers to teach program members how to balance a checkbook, and cooking classes recently were held.
Dukes said an emphasis on life skills will help in the recovery process once the inmates/class members are released from jail. Participation in the class does not reduce a sentence.
County attorney Chad Miner gave the county council essentially the same update he gave to the county commissioners about the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s progress on the petition for the proposed Tippecanoe/Chapman lakes regional sewer district.
Miner said an IDEM official told him there are two issues that needed to be handled for the petition to move forward.
IDEM requested data on the median income for residents in the district, and Miner said that information has already been sent. The other item is that if the district enters into a contract with the Lakeland RSD, IDEM will require a county commissioner be a member of Lakeland’s board.
Miner said IDEM hadn’t scheduled a public hearing date for the sewer district project, but he expected one soon.
The council also agreed to let the county auditor handle intradepartmental funds transfers of less than $10,000. Auditor Michelle Puckett told the board those requests are granted “nearly all the time,” and it would save the council time during its meetings.
In other business, the council accepted additional appropriations for two sheriff’s department vehicles and a county highway truck for repairs after wrecks earlier this year.
The county council will next meet at 7 p.m. April 11 at the courthouse.
