Lake County Council members are questioning why commissioners have not signed off on a U.S. Department of Justice grant administered by the Sheriff’s Department.
Councilman David Hamm, D-Hammond, raised the question Thursday when representatives from the Sheriff’s Department appeared to begin the application process for the grant for next year. Prior to the workshop, Hamm said he learned from the council’s grant coordinator Jeanann Ficker that the sheriff’s department was still waiting for a signature to move forward with the 2023 DOJ Justice Assistance Grant.
Hamm said he was unsure why the application was being helD up and learned at the meeting commissioners were seeking additional information.
Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said Thursday via email the department first contacted commissioners seeking the signed letter for the application in August 2022.
“Back in July of 2023, we sent an email to Lake County Attorney Matt Fech advising him that we had been waiting for about four months for Commissioner Repay’s signature for the annual JAG grant,” Martinez said.
Fech responded in July that Commissioner Repay wanted an audit first, Martinez continued.
“We only received information about this request for accounting after we repeated our request for a signature,” Martinez said.
Repay said he has no intention of signing the attestation until he is assured what he is signing is accurate. The signature required means he attests that all the funds from the grant are spent in accordance with the grant application.
“Nobody (at the Sheriff’s Department) has provided any evidence of such. Until that time, I’m not signing it,” Repay said, adding it is not just a signature needed so the department can apply for the grant, it is a sworn attestation it is correct.
“That attestation has to come from me. I’m not going to attest to something either I don’t have firsthand knowledge of or some level of assurance it’s accurate,” Repay said.
He said he is not comfortable relying on the word of the sheriff or his staff without documentation.
Ficker and Tanya Curtis, sheriff’s department grant manager, are in the process of compiling the information requested. He said the DOJ has internal audit procedures in place to make sure funds awarded through the grant are properly spent.
“This impacts communities in our area because monies from the grant are shared between drug units in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and the Lake County Sheriff’s Department,” Martinez said.
The DOJ JAG grant is probably the most restrictive grant the county has. The JAG grant is a reimbursement grant that requires no match from the county; however, the funds are not distributed until proof the police department has spent it on what was indicated in the application, Ficker said.
“In my opinion, the opportunity to mismanage or misuse these grants funds doesn’t exist,” she said, adding the DOJ would not provide reimbursement for an item not on the grant application.
For more than 10 years, the JAG grant has been used to support a regional multi-jurisdictional drug task force, according to documents provided by the Sheriff’s Department to the county. Gary, East Chicago and Hammond police departments qualify for the funding and the Sheriff’s Department is required by statute to lead it.
East Chicago is slated to receive $19,819; Gary will get $36,749; Hammond will get $38,150; and the Sheriff’s Department will receive $26,715, including the $12,143 permitted to administer the grant, which can be used for the grant manager’s salary. The total grant is $121,435.
