A pair of supposedly routine grant applications from Alamance County’s sheriff kicked up quite the kerfuffle when they came before the county’s board of commissioners at the end of a marathon meeting on Monday.
The county’s governing board ultimately gave its unanimous nod to these two funding requests, which seek more than $5.6 million between them from state and federal authorities. If approved, the office of Alamance County’s sheriff intends to use these funds to upgrade its detention facilities, acquire digital storage for its new body cameras, purchase a veritable catalog of equipment, and distribute bonuses to more than 300 current and future staff members.
These two applications had initially been slated for the rubber stamp treatment during a 3 1/2 hour meeting that was dominated by a public hearing about a potential moratorium on data center development. Both proposals began the evening as part of a so-called “consent agenda” of ostensibly routine and noncontroversial items that the commissioners adopted en bloc before the public hearing…