- Fiscal Court awarded a contract to Cincinnati-based Washington Marine to build a new dock for the Boone County Water Rescue complex using a FEMA Port Security Grant.
- The dock is part of the county’s new Ohio River water rescue facility, which is expected to be completed by March 2027.
- Commissioners also approved applying for a fully reimbursable Kentucky Homeland Security grant to purchase a mobile command and communications vehicle for large-scale emergency response and backup dispatch operations.
Boone County approved two measures this week to support the operations of the county’s emergency response and water rescue divisions.
On Tuesday, the Boone County Fiscal Court approved two resolutions that were coordinated by Boone County Emergency Management Director Kevin Vogelpohl.
The first resolution awarded a contract to Washington Marine, a Cincinnati-based marine services company that specializes in boat storage, repair, fabrication and construction of marine infrastructure, to build a dock along the Ohio River for the forthcoming Boone County Water Rescue complex. Washington Marine was the only bidder on the project.
Vogelpohl said the project would be financed through a Port Security Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grant program provides funding to state, local, and private maritime entities to support and maintain waterway infrastructure. The dock will be used to aid water rescue operations on the Ohio River by providing better infrastructure for emergency response boats.
Boone County Water Rescue received the FEMA grant in September 2025. Boone County’s total grant request was $300,067, with FEMA providing $225,050 and the county contributing a 25% match of $75,017.
The dock installation is part of the broader initiative to create a riverfront complex for Boone County Water Rescue. This project also includes the development of a 62’ x 144’ rescue station designed to store all equipment, boats, dive gear and other vehicles. LINK nky previously reported the project is expected to be completed by March 2027, with the dock installation being part of the first phase.
“The boat dock there is going to be very beneficial, having a boat dock on the north side of the county and on this parcel specifically,” Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore said. “Well done.”
The second measure was the fiscal court’s approval of the Boone County Department of Emergency Management’s application for a Kentucky Office of Homeland Security grant to purchase a new mobile command and communications unit. Vogelpohl said the vehicle would serve as the county’s mobile command center during large-scale emergencies.
“Our goal with this is to try to obtain a new mobile command and communications unit for the county that can provide us the opportunity to provide command level operations at the scene of large scale incidents, which we are getting an increasing number of in our county, as well as provide a backup center for our dispatch to operate in a mobile capacity if we would need them to, and completely operate our entire dispatch center separate if something would happen,” he said.
Vogelpohl explained that Boone County would be responsible for covering the upfront cost of the vehicle, but the grant program would fully reimburse the purchase down the road.
