Anthony Texas receives a $1.9 million dollar grant to update town facilities

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Anthony Texas residents will soon see an update to some prominent town facilities. The Anthony Police Department was awarded a $1.9 million dollar grant.

The Valentines Day gift was presented to the department by El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar.

The Anthony police department plans to use the money to construct a new police station, courthouse, and emergency community shelter facility.

"The 1.9 million is gonna allow us to grow exponentially our police department," said Carlos Enriquez, Anthony's Chief of Police.

"It means actually a breath of fresh air some breathing room," said Benjamin Romero, Anthony Mayor.

The town of Anthony was awarded $1.9 million dollars as a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act Grant. Veronica Escobar presented the town with the check.

"I'm really grateful to be able to support the town of Anthony you know they have a wonderful vision of wanting to create a space for public safety for their police department. It's a growing community," said Rep. Veronica Escobar.

"It was an awesome feeling to be able to receive this money," said Enriquez.

"We've been really crowded in this small building that we've had for.. since even the town of Anthony was first incorporated. Basically, we started running out of space," said Romero

Carlos Enriquez, Chief of Police, for the town of Anthony says the current police department houses the Courthouse, the Water utilities, the Mayor's office, the City Council, and City Council Chambers.

"So it all encompasses all into this one building," said Enriquez. "The police department came over here in the early 2000s. The facility here I believe... this was a converted home".

"We've always looked to address and prioritize our spending with everything we're needing to do in the community first. So, we've always kind of neglected and put aside what we've had to do for our own municipal building for such a long time," said Romero.

Anthony Mayor Benjamin Romero believes the updates are exactly what the town needs.

"Not only our image but our professionalism the building having its state of the art to be able to provide all these services that our citizens deserve to have," said Romero.

No timeline was given on when construction would begin.