County asked to fund SART position for second FY

     Sheriff Greg Graver and County Attorney Kristofer Lyons both met with the Jones County Supervisors during their Feb. 22 board meeting to request funding for the rural SART coordinator.

     Brandi Lewin serves as the SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) coordinator. She covers Jones, Benton, Delaware, Clayton, and Buchanan counties.

     For Fiscal Year 2022, Graver and Lyons ask the board to consider helping to fund the coordinator position at $13,780 that fiscal year. The hope was that the State Attorney General’s Office would see the benefit of a multi-county position and start to fund it.

     With this latest FY 2023 funding request, it appears the AG’s Office hasn’t made the decision to fund it at this time.

     “We hoped this position would be able to acquire the attention of the AG to fund the position,” admitted Graver.

     However, he said the AG has not released additional funding.

     “So we had to come back to the counties to fund the position,” continued Graver.

     Lewin is available to the Sheriff and Lyons at any moment of the day, night, or weekend. She also conducts sexual assault training for officers across the region in which she serves.

     “We have four deputies going to that (training),” said Graver.

     There are also monthly SART meetings that both Graver and Lyons try hard to attend.

     “When we have a sexual assault case, she (Lewin) is notified and reaches out to the victims and supports them through the process,” explained Graver.

     So far, three of the five counties, Graver offered, have offered funding support again for FY 2023, at the same as the previous fiscal year, $13,780.

     Lyons clarified that the AG’s Office certainly isn’t lacking the necessary funds to support SART, but that perhaps they’ve already committed their funds.

     “I don’t see this as long-term,” Lyons said of asking the county to help fund the position. “The AG has always been pro-county collaboration like this.”

     Like Graver, Lyons also feel Lewin provides a “valuable service” to Jones County.

     “The more training, the better,” he urged. “Sexual assault cases are not coming down. They’re going up, sadly.”

     Supervisor Joe Oswald asked Graver and Lyons where the county and sexual assault victims might be today if Lewin were not providing the service.

     “It’s unique because there are no other types of crimes where everyone meets on the same page and all (involved) departments handle it evenly,” explained Lyons. “We all feel we could use her (Lewin) more than we already do. We appreciate her expertise with sexual assaults.”

     Lyons said while there might very well be other places the county could contract with for sexual assault issues, those outlets may not be as responsive.

     “We’re getting results,” said Lyons.

     The board unanimously approved the measure to fund the SART position for another fiscal year.

     “Since we bought into this, we have input and some say,” added Graver.

     Supervisor Jon Zirkbelbach inquired as to what the county would see of its money. Graver offered that Lewin uses her own vehicle, which might be unused.

     “She gets a lot done with a passion for this,” Graver said.

     “The reality of it is, we just hope the AG’s Office sees the value in it,” Jones said.