Highland Completes Requirements To Receive $430,000 Fire Grant

4/15/13 - The Highland Township Fire Department will get full access to a $430,000 federal grant after the township board approved a budget amendment last week. In 2012 a Highland firefighter applied for FEMA’s Staffing of Adequate Fire & Emergency Response, or SAFER, Grant. The no-match grant is free funding for the department, but it came with some requirements. Township Supervisor Rick Hamill says meeting those requirements got put on the back burner rather than addressed, so the township board met the final requirement on Wednesday by passing a budget amendment. It created a line item for the revenues and expenditures associated with the grant. Hamill tells WHMI that the funds could not be spent unless they were budgeted, and the fire department could not risk letting such a large amount of money get taken away. The funding could be used to pay for training, equipment, new firemen, modifications to the department, and a new digital sign. The grant spreads the $430,000 in funding over a four-year period. (TD)