Zinke secures nearly $6M in grants for community projects
Funding provides more than $3M toward emergency services and $3M toward infrastructure
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News from the office of Congressman Zinke
KALISPELL — Congressman Ryan Zinke recently joined stakeholders from Lake, Glacier and Flathead Counties and Kalispell City Officials for ceremonial check presentations to celebrate the nearly $6 million in grant funding to support five separate public safety and infrastructure projects.
“Projects like this take the government back down to its most basic role: protecting our people and providing sound infrastructure,” said Rep. Zinke. “With the rate of growth, we’re seeing across western Montana, I am focused on shoring up our roads, bridges, safety systems and emergency services. Most importantly, getting our county sheriffs the resources, they need as the effects of the border crisis reach us here in Montana.”
The Lake County Project:
$300,000 — Law Enforcement Vehicles and Security Upgrade Project
The Lake County facility currently maintains felony authority over both Indian and non-Indian offenders throughout the County, as well as misdemeanor authority for non-Indian offenders. Lake County is feeling the brunt of the opioid crisis – particularly with the abundance of fentanyl trafficking along highway 93, the main artery running north to south across the county. Lake County’s detention facility is severely under-sized and over-crowded with a substantial, and growing, number of drug-related offenses. This requires both additional pre-detention screening and an increased need to move prisoners to other facilities in the state due to the lack of capacity. The requested funds will be allocated to procure: a) two fully-outfitted police cruisers and b) one Full Body Security Scanning System.
All projects made their requests to Zinke’s office through the U.S. House of Representatives Community Project Funding policy which allows Members of the House to propose up to 15 local projects to receive funding from eligible grant programs. All projects must meet the published grant requirements and pass a series of legislative hurdles. Both projects were approved by the House Appropriations Committee, of which Zinke is a member, the full House of Representatives and included in the joint funding package approved by the House and Senate and signed by the President.
