A second Homeland Security grant will be used for to buy a boat for the Orange Beach Police Department in the agency’s port security program.

“FEMA’s 2022 Port Security Grant Program allocates $100 million in federal funding to state, local, and private entities for the purpose of protecting America’s ports,” Police Chief Steve Brown wrote in a memo to the city council. “The program provides 75 of the cost for assets intended for use in varying categories of national priorities, for which Orange Beach qualifies. The city would be responsible for the remaining 25 percent cost of the vessel.”

The new vessel, once specs are finalized, will go out to bid and Lt. Rich Nolte, head of the Marine Division, says the cost is estimated to be about $432,000. It will replace a 17-year-old boat that is need of a costly refurbishing that would still leave it deficient for what the police department needs.

The city would have to spend an estimated $260,000 to refurbish the older boat but the match for the Homeland Security grant is only about $107,000.

“The city’s portion of the grant is less than half of what it would cost to just refurbish our 17-year-old boat,” Nolte said. “We’re going to keep the old Marine 1 which we call Marine 6 now. It’s the older of the two but it’s more multi-function. It’s the city’s first custom-built police boat. It was engineered to run offshore and patrol inshore. The decision was made to keep it because the Marine 2 which was the 2006 Ambar Silver suited to have a single operator, its space is limited and its functionality is not as diverse as the older boat.”

Nolte said when the new boat joins the fleet the city will have three similar boats and a smaller boat used for island patrols during the tourist season on weekends.

“When we get the new one, we will have three custom-made law enforcement rapid response patrol boats,” Nolte said. “We also have a 21-foot Sea Hunt, repurposed recreational boat. The only thing we really do with that is patrol close on the islands just north of Perdido Pass. It’s used on the weekends to get in close and patrol the island.”

With the coming of the Launch at the ICW, Nolte said plans are in the works to station one of the three response boats at The Wharf.

“Eventually that is the plan that I have been trying to work on,” Nolte said. “I’ve spoken with some people at The Wharf. It’s going to be a process because we have to get permission through The Wharf and permission through the Army Corps of Engineers. The eventual plan is to have two boats here and the oldest boat, the 2002 Silver Shift will be permanently stationed at The Wharf.”

In 2019, the city used a grant from the same Homeland Security program to buy a 38-foot boat for the fire department capable of pumping 3,000 gallons a minute with two cannons at just under $1 million. The city had to pay a 25 percent match on that vessel as well.