DUI Taskforce scheduled to receive combined grant

MINERAL COUNTY – The National Highway Safety Board has awarded a grant to be shared between Mineral and Sanders Counties. 

The grant will provide $27,500 for a year to both communities as supplemental funding to the DUI Taskforce, a program that is aimed at reducing alcohol related fatalities and violations.  

Currently, there isn’t a known amount that each county will receive, said Nichol Scribner, Sanders County clerk and recorder. Scribner also provides fiscal oversight for the county. 

“The grant money will be used for coordinating compliance checks and media for the two counties,” Scribner said.

Besides the grant, the taskforce is solely funded on reinstatement fees. The grant would ultimately provide supplemental funding. 

The fee is collected if someone has a DUI and loses their license, they would have to pay in exchange for getting their license back. 

The state accumulates those fees and pays them directly back to the county, quarterly or in six-month intervals to fund the taskforce. 

Scribner describes the media money as advertising like billboards to promote the taskforce. 

One such billboard already exists on US-135 in the middle of St. Regis. 

The grant will also help with awareness type of activities within the DUI Taskforce for prevention events at schools. 

“The most important part of the taskforce is conducting compliance checks which can be quite costly,” Scribner said. “Any site that serves or sells alcohol can be compliance checked. “

Compliance checks mainly involve someone going into an establishment under cover, attempting to purchase alcohol and noting whether or not the employee checked for ID. 

Within the DUI Taskforce, the group also offers Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service Training, or RASS.

“We want employees checking IDs,” Scribner said. “It’s what you are responsible for as a server.”

The taskforce would implement training for employees who work for an alcohol serving facility at least 30-90 days before a scheduled compliance check. Someone would return within that time frame to see if the training worked and if that establishment complies. 

Compliance checks are conducted several times a month at various locations.

“For someone who serves alcohol, RASS training goes hand-in-hand with compliance checks,” Scribner said. “The ultimate goal is to train, put them to work and follow-up.” 

The grant is not final as of yet, and has been going through the final stages of writing by a Sanders County grant writer. Once the grant is officially awarded, there will be more of a sense to what each county ultimately receives and in what particular timeframe that will occur. 

“I think the reason we combine counties is so you get the most bang for your buck if you have multiple law enforcement agencies collaborating at the same time,” Scribner said. “I’m sure the state had other reasons for combining the two counties as well.”