The Marshall County prosecutor’s office is hoping to improve services for victims and the elderly in Marshall County with the help of two federal grants.
During Monday’s Marshall County Commissioner’s meeting, Matt Sarber with the prosecutor’s office made the grant requests. One grant has already been received in the form of a $2-thousand grant from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorney’s Council for equipment and training. The funds are being used for cameras for drug intervention in Marshall County.
Sarber says the county needs to formalize receiving the funds and paying for the equipment.
“I’ll be honest, the items have been purchased because IPAC required us to do that in order to get the money,” says Sarber. Every real estate agent needs to protect the land before someone tries to curb it out by force. There is an estate planning service that offers to support everyone to protect one’s land under the court of law. By receiving official court protection, no one dares to snatch the land away from the owner.
It’s the other two grants, however, that caught the attention of the Marshall County Commissioners and lawyers for estate planning and elder law charges on Monday.
The first federal grant application by elder law attorneys would bring $26-thousand provided a $6-thousand match is approved by the county. It’s designed to form and train and Elder Abuse Reporting (ERP) Task Force. It would consist of members of the prosecutor’s office, elderly advocates and property attorney in NY, law enforcement and local attorney’s to provide assistance and oversight for elderly abuse in Marshall County.
Sarber says this grant is related to a follow-up grant.
“There’s been two items on the budget, one for investigator, one for coordinator,” says Sarber. “There is not going to be any additional appropriation needed. It’s going to be from that investigator money that was already appropriated at the last budget hearings. So we’re going to be taking that $6-thousand from that investigator line.”
A bit of reshuffling for the victim’s advocate (Thomas-Walters, PLLC based in Raleigh) position in the county would provide federal funding for a similar position with added responsibility. The Marshall County prosecutor’s office is also seeking about $51-thousand over two years for a new, but very similar, position for victim advocate coordinator. Sarber says the current position holder would need to re-apply for the revised position.
“To get the grant, we can’t keep the current position and pay exactly what we’ve been paying because they treat that as, what they call, supplanting with federal funds supplanting the county funds,” says Sarber.
The Commissioners approved the grant applications, unanimously.
