Gov. Beshear Announces Funding to Improve 911 Services Across Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 27, 2009) – Gov. Steve Beshear today announced the awarding of $960,944 in 911 grants to 12 communities from the CMRS Board’s competitive grant fund.

“These awards are used to upgrade equipment and improve the effectiveness and reliability of service at 911 call centers across the Commonwealth,” Gov. Beshear said. “The first step in a successful response to a life-threatening emergency is very often the 911 call.

“Providing resources and training for our dispatchers who receive those calls can make the difference between life and death and we gratefully appreciate their service,” he added.

The following entities are the recipients of the 2009 CMRS 911 Grant funds:

• Daviess County Fiscal Court, $41,334
• Hopkinsville/Christian County Emergency Communications Center Board, $226,620
• Greenup County Fiscal Court, $6,558
• Jackson County Fiscal Court, $34,907
• Boyd County/Regional Public Safety Communications Center, $40,216
• City of Henderson, $55,573
• Menifee County Fiscal Court, $32,055
• Paintsville/Johnson County E911, $85,172
• Muhlenberg County Fiscal Court, $112,896
• Carroll County 911 Board, $22,580
• Whitley County Fiscal Court, $166,696
• City of Campbellsville, $136,334

CMRS Executive Director Joe Barrows reported that there were 67 competitive grant applications with requests totaling $6.6 million. 

 “These grants were awarded to the 12 highest scoring applications,” Barrows said. “We had fewer dollars available for our competitive grant applicants this year because we needed some of our grant fund dollars for a required match on a significant federal E911 grant awarded to the CMRS Board.  The federal E911 grant with our match totals $2.3 million and will also be used to improve 911 services across Kentucky.”

The CMRS Board and The Office of the 911 Coordinator are administratively attached to the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security.

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