Oxford County will soon benefit from a Department of Homeland Security grant.

“Every department – fire, police and rescue – within the county will have new radios,” said Dan Schorr, director of the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency.

Schorr presented bids for the new radios at the Oxford County commissioners’ meeting Tuesday morning.

The commissioners reviewed the bids and agreed to purchase 206 radios for a total of $92,956. Fire and rescue departments will receive 71 mobile radios, police departments will receive 30 mobile radios, and 105 hand-held radios will be distributed throughout the departments.

“Those folks who didn’t get radios last year get theirs this year,” said Schorr, who called the new radios “a fairly good, state-of-the-art system.”

After the purchase of the radios, more than $100,000 will remain from the grant. Schorr said any agency in the county may submit an application for a portion of the money.

Commissioners expressed concern at the amount taxpayers must spend for medical costs incurred by inmates at the county jail. Commissioner Albert “Jim” Carey explained that inmates lose their insurance coverage upon incarceration, and said, “I don’t want the county taxpayers to pay it.”

The county currently budgets $64,000 for medical services for inmates and $37,000 for their prescription medications.

Commissioner Steven Merrill said the Maine County Commissioners’ Association has discussed the problem and is looking for a solution.

In other business, commissioners discussed the need for both a pilots’ lounge and a secure office area at the Oxford County Regional Airport. The airport’s lease states that it provide a pilots’ lounge. Commissioners would like that lounge to be open 24 hours a day.

“We should have a place for the pilots,” Carey said, “especially for someone who’s flown a long way and has to fly farther.”

The airport is willing to provide a lounge, but “they’re worried about security,” Merrill said. Employees want to be sure that office space will not be accessible from the lounge area. A door has been donated by a private citizen to help secure the lounge, but other security issues remain. Commissioners will continue to work on the problem.