TO: Honorable Mayor & Members of the North Port Commission
FROM: Peter D. Lear, CPA, CGMA, City Manager
TITLE: County-Wide Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) for Behavioral/Mental Health Court
Recommended Action
Approve the expenditure of the County-Wide Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) for Behavioral/Mental Health Court and for the Mayor to sign the County-Wide JAG Support Letter.
Background Information
Office of Criminal Justice Grants (OCJG) administers the JAG Program for the State of Florida. The JAG Program replaced the Byrne Formula and Local Law Enforcement Block Grant (LLEBG) programs with a single funding mechanism that simplifies the administration process for grantees and allows states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal justice system.
Each county is allocated a sum of money for use by all local governments within the county. This amount is determined through a funding algorithm established in the administrative rule. Chapter 11D-9, Florida Administrative Code, requires that units of government in each county reach consensus concerning the expenditure of these funds, including projects to be implemented and the agency responsible for such implementation.
Furthermore, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) requires that units of government in each county reach consensus concerning the expenditure of the JAG funds, including the projects to be implemented and the agency responsible for such implementation. Each county must document this consensus by submitting letters from at least 51 percent of the units of government, which also represent at least 51 percent of the population located in said county.
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) wishes to ensure that recipients are aware of several areas of national focus and priority and to encourage recipients to maximize the effective use of JAG funds. One area of use is for improving behavioral/mental health s...
Click here for full text