FAITH — For months, members of the Granite Quarry Town Council and the Faith Board of Aldermen have been working on hammering out terms and creating an official contract to maintain the Granite Quarry Police Department’s coverage of the town of Faith. Town officials of both have said that the effort is close to coming to fruition.

The talks stem from a disconnect by the towns on what the history and current status of the agreement has been. While the department is called the Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority, the department has always been solely a branch of the town of Granite Quarry, who then contracted its services to Faith.

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, a Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority board was established with representatives from both towns, 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.

“We did decide that, it says joint, but it’s actually not a joint (department), and that’s fine. Joint means that we would probably have to share in more of the costs than we do, so I know this town can’t afford to go any deeper than we are right now. So, I think we’re on the right track,” said Faith Mayor Randall Barger at the board meeting on Tuesday.

The contract, as the towns have discussed, would lay out concrete terms between the two on expectations and obligations. Previously, the agreement has been laid out in annually-renewed contracts between the two towns outlining costs and terms for the upcoming fiscal year.

The contract would also require quarterly meetings between officials from both towns allowing for discussion of town and police relations.

“We’ve sat down and talked, and what we’re going to do is we’re going to get back together, we’re going to start meeting quarterly and have meetings and go over things that we think that we can do better for our police department for Granite Quarry and Faith. There will be a contract, and we’ve got to work all that stuff out,” said Barger.