Killingworth Gets $500,000 STEAP Grant For a New Emergency Operations Center

Killingworth has won a $500,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant to construct a new Emergency Operations Center. The town’s current center lacks the facilities to support a sustained emergency response.  The new EOC will be adjacent to and will be built partially below ground to better withstand severe weather. 

“The $500,000 state grant to Killingworth for an emergency center has been a priority of mine,” said State Senator Ed Meyer, D-Madison, Branford.  “It will make Killingworth and adjoining towns safer places to live in the event of weather or other emergency conditions.”

Malloy announced the grant award during an afternoon press conference here at the Killingworth Emergency Operations Center on Route 81.

The local funding is part of some $10 million earmarked in the STEAP grant program to improve emergency management in local communities.

The State Bond Commission allocated $10 million this month for 2013 STEAP grants. The grants are awarded to small towns across the state, in part because of their impact on overall regional economic development.

Malloy said the money is essential spending that will towns improve public safety and emergency services.

The STEAP announcement here is one of several Malloy made today. He was in Portland earlier in the day to announce a $227,700 STEAP grant there for a new sand and salt shed intended to protect a major source of public water in town. In Madison, Malloy announced the town would also get $500,000 in STEAP fundin g, for streetscape improvements.