Plano police, firefighters and public works crews would get new equipment, and officers would get paid overtime for holiday drunken-driving enforcement, under three grant items on the City Council's consent agenda for Monday, Oct. 26.
Homeland security money
Two of the items accept federal homeland security dollars passed through the Office of the Governor for the 2025 grant year.
The larger one, from the Urban Area Security Initiative, is capped at $138,012.19. According to the Emergency Management memo, it would pay for hydraulic breaching tools for the SWAT team, a long-range listening device for the Police Department's protective order team, low-vision optics for the Fire Department and equipment for monitoring radiation at hazardous materials scenes.
The grant award itself is $129,076; prices rose between the application and the award, so the city would cover the remaining $8,936.
The second, from the State Homeland Security Grant Program, is capped at $86,302. It would buy a vehicle interdiction trailer and a variable message sign for the Public Works Emergency Response Team. The memo lists the award at $82,000, with the city adding $4,302 for the same reason.
The memos say both programs have funded police, fire, emergency management and public safety communications projects in Plano since 2005. Under a process change by the governor's office, these grants now come to the council twice, once to apply and again to accept the money. Officials wrote that a long federal delay separated the two steps this time.
