By BRAD GASKINS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – The Shelby County Commission adopted a resolution Monday night to apply for a grant to fund the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force.

The grant requires a local match of $73,000, which the commission, through the resolution, agreed to pay if the sheriff’s office is not able to cover the local match in its budget.

The grant is available through the Alabama Law Enforcement Planning Division of ADECA.

The commission and the sheriff’s office “agree to be accountable for providing the required local match funds that may be needed,” according to the resolution, which passed with a unanimous vote.

According to the resolution, the local match would be paid through “accrual of funds within the sheriff’s office budget line items associated with the personnel expense cost codes.” If those accruals aren’t enough to cover the local match, then “the remaining funds will be provided from the adopted Fiscal Year 2012 General Fund Programmed Reserve Funds for Public Safety Equipment.”

Commissioner Tommy Edwards said the drug task force is “much needed inside our county.”

The commission also adopted a resolution to apply for an ADECA grant to help fund additional recreational facilities at Oak Mountain State Park.

The grant would assist with development of ADA-accessible facilities near the Peavine Falls area at Oak Mountain from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, according to resolution.

The commission approved a memorandum of understanding between the county and the city of Hoover for the Valleydale Road widening project from Caldwell Mill Road to Inverness Center Drive.

The MOU would “promote and formalize cooperative relationships … for the completion of the survey, design, right of way acquisition and construction.”

Thirty-five percent of the project is located within Hoover city limits, while 65 percent is located within an unincorporated area of Shelby County, according to the MOU.

The county and city have agreed to share futures costs of 10 percent each to fund the local 20 percent match to complete additional survey, design and right of way acquisition for properties outside of Hoover City Limits which is estimated” to be about $6 million, according to the MOU.

Hoover would continue to be the local project sponsor, while the county would agree to reimburse Hoover for the county’s “share of the local match for the future survey, design and right of way acquisition costs for properties outside of Hoover City Limits, including all expenses associated with condemnation, not exceed” $1 million, according to MOU.

Also, Hoover and the county, according to the MOU, have agreed to share construction costs of 10 percent each to fund the 20 percent required match for the project. The county’s share of construction cost should not exceed $1 million, according to the MOU.