The Greene County Commission approved all resolutions on their agenda including a last minute added resolution, which was for the Greene County Sheriff and/or the County Mayor to apply for a School Resource Officer Grant for a total of $1.2 M.
The grant helps with funding for a School Resource Officer to be placed in every school and will be awarded to the Sheriff’s Department. $75,000 would be dedicated for each school. This could be one of multiple grants received. At the moment, the grant would be reoccurring per year but some are worried those funds will eventually stop and the Sheriff’s Department will be out of funding to keep SRO’s in schools. Some also agreed that it was better to try and receive funds now rather than worry about a “what if” situation later. Especially with the hate crimes and shootings that are not going away.
Twenty commissioners voted yes with one absent. Once the application is submitted funds could be received rather quickly. Sheriff Wesley Holt said there are 18 SRO’s staffed at their department. According to Greene County Mayor Kevin Morrison, the grant was recently established by Governor Bill Lee after the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March of this year.
