PORTSMOUTH- The Scioto County Commissioners have approved a request from the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office for a local match for a grant for compact response shields for “high risk calls to service.”

The Commissioners considered the request at their meeting on June 8. The total of the grant is $90,000 and the county would be required to provide a 20 percent match, or approximately $18,000.

“This is for personal body shields,” said Commissioner Bryan Davis. “We did the full body shields last year. We need to insist that the 20 percent match comes out of general fund for equipment in 2024.”

Davis said he didn’t know if the amount was in the budget for the sheriff’s office that had been submitted. However, he said it should come out of monies allocated for equipment and not beyond what’s already been requested from the county’s general fund.

“They can use other funds,” Davis said. “I don’t know if it’s in the requested budget they’ve submitted for next year. We need to make a note that we’ll visit this. If they get the grant, we’ll visit this as part of the match request.”

The commissioners also awarded a bid for work on Pond Run Road to local Beaver-based company DGM, Inc., in the amount of $950,000.

“Very happy about all the work that’s being done on all the bridges across the county,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of bridge work being done.