Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Congressman Tom Barrett on Monday hosted U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to visit Livingston County 911 Central Dispatch, where Barrett recently secured a $495,000 federal investment for the county to purchase a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.

This new streamlined system will improve call intake, location verification, dispatching the appropriate emergency response, record management, and more.

“Modernizing our computer-aided dispatch system will enable our team of professionals to efficiently field emergency calls and deploy first responders and law enforcement throughout Livingston County,” said Livingston County 911 Director Kecia Williams. “Congressman Barrett's work to secure federal funding made this much-needed technological upgrade possible. We are grateful to Congressman Barrett and Secretary Rollins for visiting 911 Central Dispatch and supporting our mission to keep Livingston County residents safe.

Earlier in the day, the congressman and secretary participated in a roundtable meeting with local farmers, and toured the MSU Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research Center.

The pair met with local farmers who are benefiting from both the tax relief and farm provisions Barrett and the president delivered through the Working Families Tax Cuts.

“Michigan’s farmers deserve a federal government that understands their challenges and ensures they can keep feeding our communities,” said Barrett. “The Working Families Tax Cuts are putting more money back in the pockets of farmers and families, and I’m grateful to Secretary Rollins for joining me to hear it directly from the people of mid-Michigan. I was also proud to welcome her to Livingston County to highlight federal funding I secured for the new computer-aided dispatch system, providing emergency dispatchers the tools they need to keep our communities safe. I’ll continue fighting to bring Michiganders’ tax dollars home to benefit our communities.”

“The Working Families Tax Cuts provided the largest investment in American agriculture, including boosting support for America’s row crop and specialty crop farmers,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “It’s thanks to members of Congress like Tom Barrett that the Michigan agricultural industry and those around the country will be able to use these investments.”

At the Michigan State University Dairy Research Facility, Barrett and Rollins hosted a roundtable with farmers from across mid-Michigan to discuss the challenges they face and how the tax relief and farm provisions in the Working Family Tax Cuts are essential to their operations. After the roundtable, the officials toured the Dairy Research Facility.