FELLSMERE – With the help of grant funding, the Fellsmere Police Department is able to stretch its budget and purchase equipment it couldn’t otherwise afford. The latest grant, for a little more than $1,000, was approved earlier this month at the Fellsmere City Council meeting.
The grant brings the department’s recent awards to more than $52,000 since November. “We feel pretty lucky,” Police Chief Scott Melanson said of the grant funds, adding the monies would be used for “things we don’t have money for in the budget.”
Such pieces of equipment include a pair of winches for the police department’s recently acquired ATVs, radar detectors, Tazers, and emergency lights.
The Fellsmere Police Department was awarded $47,500 in grant funds in November, most of which has been allocated, according to the chief.
The department also received $3,500 earlier this year and another $1,006 this month. The $4,506 cannot be spent until April, however, Chief Melanson said.