Grant Awards Letter - Caution

To:          Fire Chiefs or Fire Department Representative

From:    Kentucky Fire Commission

                Jeremy Rodgers, Director of Operations

The Kentucky Fire Commission works daily to find new and progressive avenues to further the mission of the Fire Service within the Commonwealth.  One of these avenues is the addition of Personal Protective Equipment grants for all fire departments and Capital Project Equipment grants for Fire Based EMS agencies.  The monies which these grant programs are derived from are not driven by statute or regulation requirement but by the commitment of the Kentucky Fire Commission leadership and board to provide additional support to our firefighters and fire departments.

We would like everyone to know that we advocate for every fire department requesting funds that each of you feel are needed by your agency and if that need is in the amount of $10,000 by all means request the full amount, although we do ask that if your need is for a lesser amount that you request the lesser amount so that we may provide as much assistance as possible to as many agencies as possible with the funds.

It has come to our attention that there may be or have been some concerning comments being made by equipment sales individuals in reference to these grant requests.  We have had information relayed to our office that departments may have been offered a “store credit” for any funds above their need, so that they should request the full $10,000 no matter their “needed amount”.  The funds which are being disbursed by our agency will be subject to audit as are any “public funds” received or distributed by our agency or by any fire department within the Commonwealth.   We ask that anyone with information of these occurrences contact our office immediately.  If fraud of this nature is found, our agency will report and give all findings to the appropriate law enforcement agency for prosecution. 

Any questions you may have please feel free to contact me at any time at 859-256-3180 office, 859-608-7575 cell, or jeremy.rodgers@kctcs.edu.

 

Jeremy Rodgers

Director of Operations