By Garett Valcourtgvalcourt@kentsmith.biz
Unanimous approval was reached by the Holmes County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to reapply for the Rural County Spring Grant during a special session on March 26.
The grant was requested by 911 Coordinator Cricket Hall with the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office.
“We have to reapply for this grant annually,” Hall said. “This grant gives our first responders the most recent and most accurate addresses to ensure the promptest service times. This improves our time from distress call to informing our deputies to deputies on site. This allows us to build an accurate database through public interaction in order to correct inaccuracies that are currently within our system.”
The E911 Rural County Grant program is a semi-annual grant program provided for the purpose of assisting rural counties.
According to the Florida Administrative code, “Any Board of County Commissioners in the State of Florida with a county population of fewer than 75,000 is eligible to apply.” According to the 2023 census bureau, Holmes County currently has a population of approximately 19,944.