City awarded security grants

The City of New Rockford has been awarded three significant grants to improve the safety and security of several locations in town.

All three grants came to New Rockford via the State Homeland Security Program from the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services (NDDES) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

As its name suggests, the program’s purpose is to generally improve the overall security of important locations across the state, and the City of New Rockford now stands to gain.

One of the grants awarded will be put toward putting up a new security fence around the local water tower.

The grant is for $32,000, and New Rockford City Auditor Andrew Presnell said they’re hoping to have the new fence up this coming spring, once the winter weather moves on.

The water tower doesn’t currently have a fence around it, but the local water plant does. And having a new fence around both stands to improve the security of two of the city’s most vital properties.

A notice of grant award from the NDDES states, “The intent of this award is to enhance the capability of the subrecipient to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism and other catastrophic events in accordance with the federal Notice of Fund Opportunity for this grant program.”

Meanwhile, the city is also looking to put up several more security cameras on city property.

The second grant awarded to the city is for $9,500 to be put toward new security cameras at the Brown Memorial Auditorium in downtown New Rockford.

This will be the second significant upgrade announced for the old auditorium, as the building will also get a new fire suppression system using funds from another recent grant.

Third, the city was also awarded a $12,000 grant for a new camera system to be installed at New Rockford City Hall and the attached fire hall.

Presnell said they’re planning to get the new security camera systems installed within the next couple of months.