On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council accepted the Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, worth nearly $1.3 million.
The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) is to “support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal justice system for the period October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2026,” per the City of Dallas consent agenda details.
Dallas will use $719,561.66 of the $1,267,929.99 grant funds for management and administration to fund salaries and benefits for three community prosecutors and to buy equipment and supplies, including stun guns, reality-based training, and digital programs. The remainder of the grant, $548,367.34, will be divided among Dallas County, Balch Springs, Carrollton, DeSoto, Duncanville, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Lancaster, Mesquite, and Richardson.
“Named after Edward ‘Eddie’ R. Byrne, an officer in the New York City Police Department who was murdered while protecting a witness in a drug case, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program is the leading federal source of criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions,” reads the grant’s fact sheet from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
The JAG Program provides local governments, states, and tribes funding for law enforcement, indigent defense, prosecution, crime prevention, courts, community corrections, education, crime victim and witness initiatives, mental-health programs, crisis intervention teams, drug treatment, and more.
Other expenditures from the April 10 agenda approved by the Dallas City Council totaled $66,803,248.82. They include:
- $16,186,350 for a five-year service price agreement with Good Earth Corporation for ground maintenance services for Texas Department of Transportation properties inside the city limits.
- $9,888,100 for a four-year cooperative purchase agreement with Carahsoft Technology Corporation for network and security infrastructure.
- $6,082,420 for a three-year service price agreement with Pannell Industries for street-sweeping services.
- $4,735,274 for a three-year master agreement with Ennis-Flint, Centerline Supply, Kinetic Motorwerks, and Preform for pavement marking materials.
- $4,333,680 to settle a claim against Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company for failure by SAI Construction to complete construction under a Dallas Water Utilities contract.
- $3,932,863 for a two-year construction services contract with Vescorp Construction for water and wastewater adjustments.
- $3,350,000 for a cooperative agreement with Tarrant Regional Water District to continue funding a water conservation public awareness campaign.
- $3,498,000 for a three-year service contract with ESRI for a geographic information system.
- $2,738,807 increase in a construction services contract with Omega Contracting for the installation of permitted wastewater services.
- $1,940,300 for a three-year master agreement with Mueller Co., North Texas Winwater Co., Core & Main, and U.S. Pipe Valve & Hydrant for equipment for Water Utilities.
- $1,548,935 for a fleet damage insurance policy brokered by McGriff Insurance Services.
- $1,222,200 for the acquisition of 27,623 square feet of land from TB West Commerce near the intersection of West Commerce and Herbert Streets for the West Dallas Gateway Project.
- $981,812 increase in a construction services contract with Tegrity Contractors for the installation of water and wastewater mains.
- $818,949 for a professional services contract with Grisham Smith for storm drainage system and erosion-control improvements.
- $815,181 for a three-year service contract with a three-year renewal option with RollKall Technologies for a secondary job management system.
- $750,410 increase in a construction services contract with Douglas Daily Construction for the installation of water services, valve manholes, dewatering efforts, and paving and surface restoration work.
- $722,255 for a two-year contract with three one-year renewal options for professional consulting services with Freese and Nichols.
- $587,723 increase in a construction services contract with Austin Filter Systems for erosion-control improvements.
- $567,750 for a construction services contract with Northstar Construction for the construction of Coombs Creek Extension Trail improvements.
- $405,828 for a three-year cooperative purchase agreement with ePlus Technology for the Department of Information and Technology Services.
- $200,000 for a five-year contract with two one-year renewal options with JPMorgan Chase to finance personal property purchases.
- $163,200 grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments for a feasibility study on a composting facility.
- $139,195 for a professional services contract with HVJ North Texas-Chelliah Consultants Inc. for construction materials testing and inspection services at the Dallas Zoo South Garage.
- $109,916 for a cooperative purchase agreement with IEM International Inc. to evaluate the City’s continuity of operations program.
- $84,100 toward deposit and settlement related to condemnation proceedings in City of Dallas v. Nancy Ruth Lander as trustee of the Nancy Ruth Lander Marital Trust and John B. Reece, et al.
