A computer glitch is the apparent cause delaying federal grant payments to Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies around the U.S. Treasurer Michelle Richardson reported April 1 to commissioners the county had received only $140,000 of $500,000 in promised federal law enforcement grants.

In her conversation with Maine Emergency Management Agency officials, she learned the problem was caused by federal and state computers "not playing nice with each other."  She added the "miscommunication" occurred in the grant portal between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and MEMA. In her conversation with MEMA, Richardson was told the money would arrive, but the county has decided to pause all work regarding federal Homeland Security Operation Stonegarden grant funds. 

So far, Lincoln County has received $140,000 of a $500,000 Operation Stonegarden grant. FEMA administers these funds through the Department of Homeland Security. The grant provides funding to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to support joint efforts securing the U.S. border. The funds are used for overtime pay, general purpose equipment, travel and lodging. 

"This is not uncommon and likely nothing to do with the federal government's spending freeze. A problem with the grant portal not communicating properly between the state and federal. In an email, MEMA said the money is coming, but I have a hard time accepting a promise by email," she said.  

Chief Deputy Rand Maker told commissioners now is a good time to pause. The sheriff's department won't schedule additonal Operation Stonegarden  patrols until the problem is solved. "We're telling our partners they can continue at their own risk. We've stopped Operation Stonegarden patrols," he said. "Our patrols do a lot of traffic study in high traffic neighborhoods. So it probably doesn't make sense to put them out now. A better time is in May, June and July when the heavy traffic starts."

In other action, commissioners approved $4,900 to purchase two traffic radar units and sell a 2018 Ford SUV. Maker told commissioners a recently purchased vehicle is being equipped and will replace the Ford.  Maker added future cruiser purchases may increase due to increased Canadian tariffs. All U.S.  law enforcment vehicles are made in Canada so the proposed tariffs would impact future prices, he said. 

Commissioners approved purchasing an Artic Wolf Managed Detection Service subscription for $34,302. The service provides "24/7" monitoring of networks, endpoints, and cloud application services to detect, respond and recover from modern cyber attacks. Commissioners authorized $16,551 for a firewall replacement and network switch replacements. County Administrator Carrie Kipfer said this would create a second firewall between the courthouse and communication center. The program comes with an extended warranty and replaces 10-year-old switches. 

The county also received a Maine Department of Transportation notice of layout and taking. MaineDOT is taking a 0.06 acrce from Dina Smith's and Richard Rizza's Friendship Road property.   

Commissioners meet next at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 15 in the courthouse.