LAWTON – Comanche County will use part of its federal pandemic relief money to buy new radios for first responders.
The Comanche County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved on May 30 a notice of award and a subrecipient agreement with the Comanche County Facilities Authority, which will receive about $1.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The authority will use the money to buy approximately 1,000 mobile and portable 800-megahertz and very high-frequency radios and related equipment for the county’s volunteer firefighters, police officers and emergency management officials.
The county’s emergency workers will appreciate the new radios, said Emergency Management Director Clint Langford.
“This will definitely increase the safety of all those first responders on the scene, so thank you,” he said.
The commission also signed off on a $300,000 ARPA grant for Rural Water District 2 in Cotton County. RWD 2 will use the money to build a new lagoon cell at the district’s wastewater treatment plant to serve southern Comanche County.
Oklahoma received about $1.87 billion under ARPA, a 2021 federal law designed to help local governments coping with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Comanche County’s share of ARPA money was approximately $23 million, which must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by December 2026.