Feb. 26—The Delaware County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote to approve two grants for the Department of Emergency Services during its meeting Wednesday, Feb. 28.

The grants will be used to continue to update the Computer Aided Dispatch System, maintain equipment at existing towers and buy equipment for a new tower scheduled to be built in Trout Creek.

According to a resolution scheduled to come before the board, the county received a $165,193 from the state’s 2023-2024 Public Safety Answering Points Operations Grant Program for call-taking and dispatch services. The Emergency Services Department and the Sheriff’s Office are combining their information into one CAD system, Daily Star archive articles said. It will allow first responders to know if they are responding to a house owned by someone who has been involved in criminal activity in the past. The software has been updated, but it has to go through testing before it can be placed online.

The board is also scheduled to vote on a $667,382 state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant. The grant will pay for the maintenance contract on the communications system as well as the equipment for the new tower that is slated to be built in Trout Creek, Emergency Services Director Steve Hood said.

In addition to accepting grants for the emergency services department, the board is scheduled to accept grants for the Board of Elections and the Probation, Mental Health and Social Services departments.

The board is also scheduled to vote on resolutions relating to the county’s occupancy tax. One resolution will use $53,463 to match the funds the county received through the state’s I Love NY tourism program. The other resolution will use 155,502 for a marketing contract.

The board will also vote on a resolution to spend more American Rescue Plan Act money. During the Feb. 13, meeting the committee voted to give the village of Delhi $10,921 to add a bathroom to its police shooting rage classroom and $50,000 to the “train to work” program that is administrated by the county Economic Development Department.

Before the meeting, there will be a public hearing on a new local law about weighted voting.

Every 10 years, after the U.S. census is taken, the county has to redistribute its weighted vote based on population, per state law. The county proposes to change the weighted vote from the current 4,849, which was 10% of the population in 2010, to 200. Otsego County did something similar, but based its weighted vote out of 100.

The county’s population in 2020 was 44,308. The new weighted votes would be as follows if approved: Andes — five; Bovina — three; Colchester — eight; Davenport — 13; Delhi — 22; Deposit — six; Franklin — 10; Hamden — five; Hancock — 13; Harpersfield — six; Kortright — seven; Masonville — six; Meredith — seven; Middletown — 15; Roxbury — 10; Sidney — 25; Stamford — nine; Tompkins — six and Walton — 24.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.