earmarks: 56
This data as json
| id | fiscal_year | chamber | member_name | member_last | member_first | bioguide_id | party | state | district | subcommittee | recipient | recipient_normalized | project_description | recipient_address | amount_requested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | 2022 | House | Cynthia Axne | Axne | Cynthia | A000378 | Democrat | IA | Agriculture | Van Meter Public Safety Building Project | VAN METER PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING PROJECT | The purpose of this funding request is to build a new public safety biuilding, capable of housing needed public safety offices and improving safety within the community. Van Meter Public Safety employs 15 full-time, part-time, and paid-on-call staff serving three divisions (Police, Fire, and EMS). When allowable, these personnel are cross trained to serve the roles of firefighter, emergency medic, and/or police officer due to lack of space, lack of population, and budget constraints. Taxpayer dollars would be best utilized to pay fully trained professionals within fire, police, and EMS. Currently, Van Meter Public Safety services over 25,000 residents, two major highways, and two major waterways. They operate within an 81-square mile service area including the City of Van Meter and townships of Van Meter, Lee, Boone, and Jefferson, which are all small rural counties and towns. This covers approximately 30,000 people. The current population demands already exceed available services, and taxpayer dollars would be wisely used to increase public safety to keep up with growth. EMS as Advanced Life Support (ALS) service is not readily available to the community. A new facility would allow for the housing of ALS-certified staff, making Advanced Life Support immediately available, as well as provide 24/7 community policing supported by two full-time, two part-time, and four reserve officers. The current building has 340 square feet of office and meeting space for the operation of three divisions of public safety - with no security or privacy for police operations. It has a total of 14 vehicles with room to only house six indoors or on City-owned properties. The six units are housed in an old facility that is cramped and deteriorating. The remaining units, including water rescue boats and fast attack fire units, are housed in donated space that is also old and rotting. Van Meter provides water rescue services to Dallas County, Madison County, and the entire state of Iowa via 28E agreements as one of a limited number of water rescue units in the state. These units are housed in an old facility with rotting infrastructure. Using taxpayer dollars to rebuild these small and failing facilities will ensure that additional, future taxpayer dollars are not spent to fix or purchase equipment that has suffered damage due to failing infrastructure. Currently, Van Meter has demand for between 1 and 2 fire/EMS personnel. By 2040, the demand could increase to between 4 to 5 full-time personnel. Currently, Van Meter only maintains a volunteer force because the current facility for fire/EMS is 486 square feet. It is estimated that should the population grow as expected, 900 to 1,400 square feet will be needed. Dallas County Ambulance’s average response time to the City of Van Meter is 11.5 minutes. With this taxpayer investment, the City believes they can achieve an under two-minute response time from when a 911 call is made to first responders to a residence. The current facility does not allow for the complete operation of the police, fire, or EMS divisions to make this goal achievable. | 505 Grant Street, Van Meter, IA 50261 | 500000 |