VALLEY GRANDE — For the city of Valley Grande, patrolling the county roads and highways through the city is not the job of a city police force, rather it is the job of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department.

Soon after the city was chartered, the city partnered with the department to provide patrols — a partnership that has continued through today and has been —in the words of the city council Monday — “tremendous.”

“They have done their patrols and been very successful,” council member Libby Ezelle said, noting deputies have responded to a number of calls, helped city authorities break up a driveway-paving scheme and even recently removed a snake from a Valley Grande home. “They do a lot of things in the community that most people in the community don’t know about or are aware.”

In once instance, Ezelle said, deputies helped the city remove a “problem” from the city’s park and walking trail.

“We were having problems at the park and the walking trail and we contacted them and they set up out there one night and caught some guys that were hanging around up there. Turns out they were wanted on arrest warrants in Clanton,” Ezelle said. That pretty much ended our problem at the park overnight.”

In their annual budget, Valley Grande allocates funds for the sheriff’s department to help cover the additional patrols through the city limits, but Monday, the council appropriated an additional $7,500 to provide matching funds needed to help purchase two new patrol cars.

The money — which was unanimously approved by the council — will be used by the sheriff’s department to provide the matching funds needed to finalize the grant that will pay for the new patrol cars.