The grant was made available through the Local Share Account program, which distributes gaming revenues through the Commonwealth Financing Authority to support projects that serve the public interest.
“Our original grant application was for $1 million to offset the capital project,” said Claudia Garner, deputy director of administration for the department.
County commissioners last week approved replacing the current unit, which is about 27 years old, said Bob Shively, department director.
“While it’s not the full award, it’s notable that we were the second highest award amount of all county government approved projects,” she told the Cumberland County commissioners last week. They approved an agreement to receive the grant from the authority, which is an agency of the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
“We take this opportunity to thank Sen. Greg Rothman and all of our delegation for their support,” Commissioner Kelly Neiderer said.
In late October 2024, commissioners approved the purchase of a new $1.34 million unit to replace the current unit that is almost 30 years old. The mobile unit provides dual capability to cover continuity and backup 911 operations as well as incident support for field communications.
In related business last week, the commissioners authorized department staff to apply for a $29,183 Radiological Emergency Response Fund grant through the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Cumberland County commissioners recently approved a six-year $6.9 million maintenance contract with Motorola tied to a future P25 radio project.
The grant will help the county maintain its comprehensive response plans for areas around the Crane Clean Energy nuclear plant in Middletown – the former Three Mile Island facility.
“If you’ve seen the news, it wasn’t expected to be operational until 2028, but they are now looking at 2027,” Garner said. “All the counties need to be fully prepared, and this funding will help to offset any of those expenses.”
Commissioners also approved an inter-governmental agreement with Dauphin County to incorporate the Cumberland County system into a regional computer-aided dispatch network like what has been done for the phone and radio systems.
“This is the next step in our partnership to maximize our resources, minimize costs and improve efficiencies and services for county residents through our share of the CAD system,” Garner said.
Lastly, the commissioners renewed a contract with the Center for Living Forward of Wormleysburg at an amount not to exceed $15,000. Under the contract, the mental health service will provide each department staff member with two wellness sessions with a licensed clinician. The focus will be on checking for signs of depression, anxiety or stress.
The Cumberland County commissioners granted a request from the Department of Public Safety to purchase pagers for ambulance companies at a cost not to exceed $75,000.
“We’ve had a full year of this program in place,” Garner said. “They gave us a report back. We are happy to report that there has been a measurable downward trend in symptoms reported with notable improvement in stress regulation and trauma response. That all directly impacts and affects daily functioning and resiliency.
“This just affirms our decision to renew this contract and continue the program to provide screenings for our staff, which is our most valuable asset,” she said. “The contract also includes up to four training sessions for the entire staff that can address any specific needs that may come out of these sessions.”
© 2026 The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
