By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter
The City of Newport has received a grant of $91,500 from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security that will be used toward the purchase of digital radio communication equipment for use by the police department.
“We were fortunate enough to be awarded that grant and it comes in handy,” Newport City Manager Thomas Fromme said at Monday night’s board of commissioners meeting. “We’re making the transition from our current radio system, which is quite antiquated, and moving to an 800 megahertz system.
Thomas Fromme
The Kentucky Office of Homeland Security announced in September that 50 grant recipients will receive nearly $3 million under Kentucky’s 2018 Homeland Security Grant Program to purchase law enforcement, fire and emergency services equipment to counter threats of terrorism. Newport was awarded the grant of $91,500.
The board of commissioners on Monday formally authorized the acceptance of the grant, which is for the purchase of first responder equipment, communications equipment and critical infrastructure protection.
“That’s only a piece of the pie, because we’re spending probably five times that amount for radio equipment,” Fromme added. “We budgeted about a half million dollars for radio operations, so this will be about 20 percent of the cost. Portable radios for each officer is a big cost for the police department.”
For the 2019 federal fiscal year, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security will administer $2,869,600 in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants to city and county governments, fire protection districts and area development districts to purchase first responder equipment, communications equipment and critical infrastructure protection.
In the current grant cycle, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security received 269 applications requesting nearly $17 million, almost six times the available funds. The 50 grants awarded are spread across 36 Kentucky counties.
“We were one of the only cities to get the grant money for the portable radios,” Newport Police Chief Tom Collins said during Monday’s meeting. “We’re very proud to receive the grant. This will really assist our efforts.”
In other items Monday night:
• Retired NFD Lt. Chuck Dietz was recognized for his 17 years of service to Newport. Dietz, who was praised for his skills in grant writing for the department, retired on Aug. 31.
• Chris Holmes was promoted to the position of engineer/medic in the Newport Fire/EMS department.
• Fromme passed along a reminder that Halloween trick-or-treating hours will be 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 31 in Newport.
The board of commissioners will convene again in a caucus meeting on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
