(CENTREVILLE) - St. Joseph County Central Dispatch is receiving a Federal grant to help with a tower project.
On Friday St. Joseph County officials along with U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg announced that Central Dispatch has been awarded a $1.2 million Community Project Funding Grant. Walberg's office helped get the grant for Central Dispatch.
Erin Goff, Deputy County Administrator, says they heard about this grant in 2022-2023 from their grant writer. They applied for it and didn't receive it at that time. They applied again and made it further in the process but were rejected. Goff says they reached out to Walberg's office and he helped the process along after they applied for the grant. (LISTEN ABOVE).
The money will be used to support the construction of the new $3.3 million Cade Lake 800 MHz communication tower at the corner of U.S. 12 and Plumb School Road. Construction is already underway and once completed, the tower will significantly enhance radio coverage in the southeast corner of St. Joseph County. It's an area that has historically presented some of the most challenging communications conditions for first responders.
Central Dispatch Executive Director Stacey Bower says the grant will allow Central Dispatch to put money towards some future projects. One is the Federal mandate to do radio encryption, along with a new computer-aided dispatch system and modern call handling solutions.
Walberg says he's happy to have been able to help get this grant through to help the citizens of St. Joseph County.