Cooke County votes to join regional application for statewide emergency radio grant to boost redundancy

The Cooke County Commissioners Court voted Jan. 26 to pursue the Statewide Emergency Radio Infrastructure Grant (FY2027) as part of a regional application with Denison and Grayson County, aiming to improve redundancy and reliability in the county’s emergency radio infrastructure.

Commissioner Hollowell explained Cooke County’s standalone allocation and argued the county should combine funds with nearby jurisdictions to create greater coverage and redundancy. "Cook County's portion of that grant is $253,560," he said, and he described a regional total around $932,330 if combined with Denison and Grayson County. Hollowell said combining funds would position the counties better for future grants and meet the state’s emphasis on expanding a statewide core network.

The court discussed technical and procedural constraints: the application must be routed through the regional council of governments (TCOG in this area), then prioritized by the state's review bodies (including the SWIC/8‑sec board). Commissioners noted the grant cannot be used to buy "subscriber" radios in the COG procurement language (commonly understood as individual radios) and emphasized projects must enhance existing infrastructure (towers, fiber, microwave links) or fill capability gaps. Hollowell described the benefit of Cooke’s existing microwave link to Sanger and the Walnut Bend tower as "equity" that would make Cooke a valuable partner in a regional application.

Timing was a focal point: staff noted short notice for the program and the need for quick agreement among taxing entities; the transcript references a state submission window in March and a local goal to have materials submitted to TCOG by Jan. 30 to meet internal prioritization timelines.

The motion to proceed with the regional application passed 3–1 with one commissioner absent. Commissioners instructed emergency management/IT staff and the COG representatives to finalize a project list and submit the joint application through TCOG for state prioritization.

Provenance and next steps: the discussion and vote are recorded in the meeting transcript (beginning with Commissioner Hollowell’s presentation). The court's authorization is a direction to staff to prepare and submit the regional proposal; final award decisions will depend on the COG prioritization and state grant awards.