Congress whacks $600K from dispatch grant

A compromise in Washington, D.C., has shriveled the grant amount earmarked for the city of Wasilla's dispatch center project by $600,000.

City officials had requested $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to build a multi-agency dispatch center serving not only Wasilla police, but Mat-Su borough fire and ambulance services, Palmer police, and locally based Alaska State Troopers.

A $1-million grant came through instead, after a compromise between the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

"It did get reduced a bit, which isn't unusual," Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin said, "but we're certainly going to put that $1 million to good use, and we'll request other appropriation dollars next year."

Palin said she expects the dispatch center to cost $1.5 million from design to installation -- that's based on preliminary work submitted by Charlie Fannon, former chief of the Wasilla Police Department and currently the city's newly created communications coordinator.

She also said a similar dispatch center project was recently installed in Fairbanks, and Wasilla expects to learn from that model. The project will likely take about a year and a half to complete, according to Palin.

It remains to be determined which public safety organizations will use the facility. Currently Wasilla police and borough public safety contract out their dispatch to the Palmer police dispatch center.

Palin credited Fannon and Wasilla's lobbyist, Steve Silvers, with identifying Wasilla's need for the money and targeting the Justice Department grant money. Palin said Silvers has advised the city seek more funding to complete the project.

Silvers is in his second year working for the city of Wasilla in Washington, D.C., and the city has no Juneau lobbyist, according to Palin.