ASHEBORO – The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office will be looking to hire a part-time SRO officer following the decision of the Board of Commissioners at the Sept. 3 meeting.
The board approved a request made by the Sheriff’s Office on behalf of Uwharrie Charter Academy for the creation of a part-time deputy sheriff SRO position for UCA Elementary School during the 2024-25 school year.
The total cost for this new position would be $46,700 with approximately $28,000 going toward the officer’s salary and an additional $19,000 going toward initial costs, program investment fees, operational expenses and equipment, although that cost will be covered by UCA through a three-year grant that the school received, according to UCA superintendent Sharon Castelli.
“We’ll be looking at the morning times specifically because that’s our heaviest traffic,” Castelli said. “So in order to support that, greet our families, greet our kiddos, but we also know that if we have (a themed) night or a PTO night, that we can flex those hours.”
While the board approved the creation of the new position, the biggest issue is that the sheriff’s office doesn’t have somebody to fill the position.
“This is a particularly challenging position because it does have to be a certified school resource officer,” chief deputy Aundrea Azelton said. “They have to have experience because we wouldn’t put just anybody in that position. We had a particular person that we thought would be interested – he’s already working part-time for us – but he’s so happy doing what he’s doing now, he doesn’t want to take it, so we will be advertising it. I’m sure that we’ll be able to fill it though in some capacity.”
The board also authorized NC Cooperative Extension to receive a $47,790 Digital Champions Grant from the NCDIT Division of Broadband and Digital Equity.
“We are going to use the full grant amount to purchase 150 Chromebooks which will be used to give away to participants who complete a six-part computer basics course,” said Hannah Bradley, a digital skills agent. “Our goal is to provide 150 county residents, in particular targeted populations throughout the county, with both a device and the basic computer education necessary to connect and thrive in today’s digital world.”
According to Bradley, those groups include aging adults, individuals living in low-income housing, justice-involved individuals and individuals living in rural communities.
The board then approved resolutions authorizing and approving bond anticipation notes in an amount not to exceed $130 million for the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority who’s issuing them in order to finance the expansion of the water treatment plant and to accomplish the removal and elimination of PFAS and other emerging compounds.
“The funds that the county will be committing are for the emerging contaminant removal for the 1.25 million of treated water that the county currently can get from the water authority,” PTRWA executive director Greg Flory said.
“PFAS is a big issue for all public water systems,” board chair Darrell Frye said. “Sort of like the opioid settlement, there are legal proceedings going on that have yet to be decided. This document allows us to offset some of that if there’s revenue that comes to the water authority or the county.”
The board also approved Terry’s Plumbing as the low bid for the I-74 Industrial Center – Pump Station and Force Main project.
The bid from Terry’s Plumbing came in around $3.7 million, about a million less than the next lowest bid.
Combining the construction costs, construction contingency and other soft costs, the grand total for the project comes out to just more than $4.8 million.
In addition, there were two recognitions at the meeting. Jeff Goins was recognized for his retirement after 29 years of service with the Sheriff’s Office and Annie Lou Gregson was recognized on the occasion of becoming a centenarian.
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners will next meet Oct. 7.
