Officials discuss SS4A grant opportunity and possible multi-county collaboration for public-safety communications

Daniels County staff and vendors discussed a U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant opportunity during the April 2 meeting, focusing on eligibility, deadlines and whether a multi-county collective might improve the county’s chance of securing funding for communications and trunking buildout.

Participants said SS4A includes two funding pools: the meeting cited roughly $650 million for actionable buildouts and about $250 million for writing safety plans; preliminary applications were stated as due April 24 with final submissions around May 26. The grant favors rural areas and communities where 20% or more of residents are below the poverty line; staff noted that higher priority would be given to counties meeting that threshold but that not meeting the threshold would not necessarily disqualify an applicant.

County staff and partner counties discussed forming a collective to submit either a combined application or coordinated individual submissions that repeat a consistent buildout message. Staff said MDT’s state safety action plan contains useful data and could be referenced, but counties would still need a granular, locally applicable communications safety plan indicating which channels responders use on-scene. Meeting participants said the two-month window is short and recommended immediately identifying who will draft any required safety plan and whether some counties already have plans that can be adapted.

Next steps: County staff and regional partners will gather to determine who can contribute existing safety plans, who will write any missing plan material, and whether to coordinate a joint or separate grant submission; staff offered to serve as a conduit for interested counties.