By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — You could say that working together has brought some prosperity to local emergency response groups.
Clyde Avery, director of the Marshall County Emergency Management Agency, made his year-end report Monday to the Marshall County Commissioners and part of that report included substantial grants flowing in to help the county during the previous year. All told, close to $450,000 worth of grant money has already come into the county with another $119,000 already applied for.

“Some of the grants are easy to write; some are a little harder,” said Avery. “You have to submit everything, follow it while it goes through the process and then once you have the award, there’s paperwork for the county, reporting to the agency that gave the grant and sorting everything out. That’s actually what I’ve spent the past couple of days doing is delivering equipment around.”
Most of that money — $344,414.82 to be exact — has gone toward 800 MHz radio equipment for local agencies to upgrade their communications. It’s equipment that some agencies would likely never be able to budget for and other agencies would have to wait to find the funding.
“It’s a little easier now because a lot of the grants out there are for specific use,” said Avery. “In the past, they gave you a lump sum and you had to decide what you should buy. You had to have priorities and sometimes people would feel kind of left out in the cold if their project wasn’t one you chose. That of course was never the intention, but it’s easy to see how that could happen.”
Marshall County also received over $57,000 and the city of Plymouth over $16,000 in Public Assistance Reimbursement in the past year. The MCEMA is also tapped to receive a $50,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment to deal with disaster issues from last year’s flooding.
Avery says the county has benefitted greatly from co-operation.
“Most of the money comes from the Department of Homeland Security and they are really focused on getting entities working more closely together,” he said. “You’re application is going to get more points towards approval if you apply as a group as opposed to a single entity.”
Avery has been happy with the county willingness to work together.
“I’ve been pleased. We’ve got a lot more elected officials and department heads on board with what we’re trying to get done,” he said. “The simply fact is that we’re all in (emergency response) because we all care about the communities we live in and want to keep them safe.”