GRANITE QUARRY — When the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill in 2007 authorizing the towns of Granite Quarry and Faith to create a joint police authority, Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority board was established but a separate authority was not created.

Despite the defunct status of the joint police authority board, the two towns have continued to have a joint police force for the past 17 years. The members of the Faith Board of Aldermen, led by Mayor Randall Barger, raised their questions about that administrative confusion during their December meeting.

“One thing that concerns me, first of all, we have got to figure out what a joint police (authority) looks like. We’ve got to figure out what that looks like, because this says we’re not, we say we are, whatever, but we’ve got to find out what we are,” said Barger.

Granite Quarry-Faith Police Chief Todd Taylor answered during the December meeting by saying that he and Granite Quarry Town Manager Jason Hord were looking into the legal status and definition of the department, saying that so much of the work had been done before either of them joined town leadership.

“We’re looking into everything. There are some things in the back that, quite frankly, none of us had anything to do with. So, we’ve got to go back and look and see where we are and what we need to do to get this fixed,” said Taylor.

Hord voiced the same thoughts as Taylor during a phone conversation on Friday, saying that he and Taylor were researching the issue in order to make sure they were “doing right by both Faith and Granite Quarry.”

“We just want to make sure that it’s titled correctly, and that Faith’s citizens and Granite Quarry’s citizens are continuing to get the service that they desire and deserve,” said Hord.

The joint police authority was established in 2007 by House Bill 925, which gave the towns the authority to establish a joint department with officers that had authority in both. A board governing the authority was established, but has since ceased to exist.

However, all of the official authority currently rests with Granite Quarry, as the town has authority over the hiring and firing within the department, the purchasing of all of the department vehicles, the setting of the overall budget and any other department issues. Faith, on the other hand, effectively hires the authority through an annually-renewed contract to cover the town.

The authority receives funding from both Faith and Granite Quarry, with Faith budgeting $175,798 for “contracted services with Granite Quarry” and Granite Quarry budgeting a total of $1,036,733 for the police department during the current fiscal year. The number that Faith contributes to the budget is updated on an annual basis.

The proportionality of the contributed funding has been a question for both towns’ officials before. For reference, Faith contributed approximately 17 percent of the budget while containing approximately 21 percent of the authority’s covered population and a quarter of the coverage area. Faith puts approximately 20 percent and Granite Quarry puts approximately 21 percent of each of their total budgets towards police.

Neither side has expressed a desire to end or overhaul the agreement, with Barger simply asking for clarification and Mayor Brittany Barnhardt saying that she appreciated the partnership between the towns and looked forward to continuing to work with Faith officials.

Faith aldermen also raised the concern during the same meeting that the growth of Granite Quarry, which recently annexed properties on Julian Road near the interstate, would affect the department’s coverage. Taylor said he shared that concern, and that the department is actively working to address it.

“I look forward to (Mayor Pro Tem) Dale (Peeler) and I sitting down with y’all and getting some of these hashed out and I know you’ll help us,” said Barger.