City Awarded SAFER Grant; Undecided on Acceptance
The City of Jackson has been notified the city has been awarded a $1.67 million SAFER grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The city must decide whether they will accept the grant by next month. According to FEMA, The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) program was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter organizations to help them increase or maintain the number of trained, "front line" firefighters available in their communities. The city received a $1.9 million SAFER grant in 2012 to hire and retain nine firefighters. Upon the expiration of the grant and the grant's extension, nine firefighters were laid off in October of 2015. The $1.67 million SAFER grant would temporarily staff nine firefighters for a two-year period. City officials have until mid- to late-October to accept the grant, with funds set to flow into the department beginning in February 2017 if accepted. “We have time to deliberate with the firefighters union and reach an agreement before the deadline to accept the grant sunsets,” said Will Forgrave, public information officer for the city of Jackson. “Just like the SAFER grant before it, we want to have a contract before we…
