CONGRESSMAN BOUCHER ANNOUNCES NEARLY $7 MILLION FOR NEW RADFORD PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING

            (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Rick Boucher announced today that, at his urging, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through its Rural Development Agency is providing a low-interest federal loan of $6,975,516 to the City of Radford for the construction of its new public safety building. The new facility will house the City’s police department, emergency communications center and some administrative offices.

“Currently, the City of Radford’s police department is housed in a 120 year old building. As a result of the building’s advanced age, the City is unable to outfit the building with many pieces of modern technology police departments today require, and the City’s emergency communications center must occupy a separate building. To address this problem, I have been working with the City of Radford for several years to secure funding to construct a new, modern public safety building that can house all of the City’s emergency services. With the benefit of the nearly $7 million in federal funding I am announcing today, construction is set to begin on the new facility in March,” Boucher said.

            Congressman Boucher has been instrumental in securing previous allocations of federal funding for the new public safety facility. In 2007, Congress approved a federal appropriation of $200,000 for the City for the purchase of equipment needed to outfit the new public safety building at Boucher’s request.

            “I am pleased that the Rural Development Agency is providing this significant federal investment in the City of Radford. The new public safety building will help the City’s police department respond efficiently to emergencies by providing more streamlined and reliable communications capabilities between the police department and emergency dispatchers and the most up to date equipment available," Boucher concluded.

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