The Kenai City Council accepted and appropriated grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security passed through the State of Alaska Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs for the purchases of public safety radios for police, fire, and communications departments. The city received notice that it was awarded a total of $259,000 for grant projects under the 2021 State Homeland Security Program.
Two projects were awarded funding under these grant programs, including $84,000 for police and fire mobile radios and $175,000 for dispatch radio system upgrades.
Kenai Police Chief Dave Ross told Council:
“So about for the last four/five years we’ve been trying and succeeding to get grant monies to replace all of our radios. The first phase of the dispatch radio was $400,000. This phase is probably going to be about $200,000. We’ve also been working to replace all of the portable radios that the officers and firefighters carry and all of the mobile radios that are in all of the vehicles. We’re still working on that. It’s been very expensive and time-consuming project to get grant funds, but we’ve been succeeding in doing that. The reason for it is they are becoming obsolete. There’s new standards that they require. The old ones are still working at the moment, but we can’t get parts for them. the dispatch radio’s vendor, if there’s problems, we’re looking for parts on the used market. They’re not available anymore. They’re not servicing that equipment. Hopefully when we finish this radio project over the next year or two, we’re good for the next 15 years, it would be my hope, but upgrading a whole emergency services radio system is the goal.”
The city has been involved in a multi-year project to upgrade all radio systems to newer manufacturer supported technologies that meet current industry standards.
Ordinance No. 3255-2021 unanimously passed.