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Plans to place Brooke County sheriff's deputies as resource officers in local schools are still pending.
The Brooke County Commission called a special meeting Friday morning to consider an agreement for the officers, but it hadn't reached their desk in time for the meeting. Commissioners said they remained hopeful a deal can be reached.
Brooke County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Barki, the commission's legal counsel, said he and other county officials met with school officials and their attorneys for about 4½ hours to discuss the matter.
Barki said he walked away from the meeting "believing we had a general framework" for the agreement while leaving its final draft in the hands of attorneys with Bowles Rice, who represent the school board.
Jeffrey Crook, Brooke County superintendent of schools -- who was called for comment -- said the decision was made to present the agreement to the school board first at its next regular meeting. The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at its office at 1201 Pleasant Ave.
Barki said he planned to attend the meeting so he could answer any questions the school board may have. He said attorneys for the school board were asked to prepare the final draft to ensure it complied with policies set by the state board of education.
Barki said if approved, the agreement would involve the school district contributing $80,000 for each of three officers. He said the figure amounts to 76% of the county's cost for each, including wages, equipment and other expenses, and reflects the time in each year they would spend in the schools.
Barki said pending approval by the school board and the commission, the three officers would start their school assignments "as soon as practical." County Sheriff Rich Beatty said the three deputies eyed for the positions previously received the required training and "are ready to go."
The county commissioners agreed to place the agreement on the agenda for their next regular meeting so it may be considered then. The meeting will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the county courthouse.
Commission President A.J. Thomas cautioned the three will need time before then to review it.
Barki said the tentative agreement is for five years, with an automatic renewal in each of those years. He said there had been concerns about whether the board may enter into an agreement for more than one year, but they appeared to have been addressed.
Barki said there is to be a clause allowing either party to terminate it while adding he hopes that won't occur, given the time both have spent in negotiating it.
Plans had called for a deputy to be placed in each school using funds from the school district's five-year operating levy, which was approved by voters in 2019. A shortfall in revenue from the levy led school officials to seek a contribution from the county commission.
But the commissioners said they couldn't afford them and, citing a lack of funds, cut those positions from their budget. Earlier this week they authorized County Coordinator Adrienne Ward to seek a grant to fund the officers in the future.
Since the deputies were let go, the school board has employed a former sheriff's deputy and resource officer to serve at Brooke High School and oversee a Wellsburg officer serving at Brooke Middle School, through a separate agreement with the city, and security guards hired for other schools.
Barki said in working for the tentative agreement, there were "a lot of hoops that needed to be jumped through and a lot of roadblocks that had to be overcome."