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Sweetwater County accepts $244,113.41 state grant to equip regional bomb squad
Summary
County commissioners unanimously approved a Wyoming Office of Homeland Security grant to buy a bomb robot and related EOD equipment for Regional Emergency Response Team 4.
Sweetwater County commissioners on March 4 approved a state grant contract totaling $244,113.41 from the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to equip Regional Emergency Response Team (WERT) number 4, the county’s bomb squad.
County grounds manager Christina Marshall told the board the award requires no local cash match and expires June 30, 2026. "This funding will be used to purchase critical equipment for the Sweetwater County Bomb Squad under the Regional Emergency Response Team or WERT, number 4," Marshall said, naming items such as a bomb robot, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) suits, plates and vests, wire tack kits and supplies. She said parts of the project had been denied under federal grant submissions because the state appropriation was pending and that the award came from the 2024 budget session appropriation under House Bill 0001 (general government appropriations), sections 8–9.
Sheriff Grossnickle described operational uses for the equipment: the robots are used "in tactical situations where we don't want to jeopardize life. We can approach vehicles with it...they have video, they have the ability to manipulate things, so we use them in the place of a human being and they're very instrumental in us keeping our men and women safe," he said. Undersheriff Tomich noted the current robot (an HD-1 purchased in February 2009) is past its life expectancy, batteries are no longer in production, and the robot has been out of service for nearly three years.
Marshall said WERT 4 is the only bomb squad in the region and supports Sweetwater, Sublette, Lincoln, Uintah (transcript spelled Buenta), Carbon, Fremont and Daggett counties, protecting approximately 149,000 residents in the region. The county will purchase the items specified in the contract’s Attachment A and track the project in segregated accounting; federal uniform guidance did not apply because the award is state funding.
Commissioner John Jones moved to approve the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security contract and authorize the chairman to sign; Commissioner Richards seconded. The board voted unanimously to accept the grant and authorize execution of related documents.
The county will purchase the new bomb robot and related EOD equipment identified in the contract packet and reconcile expenditures to the award through project accounting.
