Norwich – The state Bond Commission Tuesday approved a $500,000 urban development grant to cover a portion of the $2.7 million cost of upgrading the aging and obsolete police radio system.

Norwich voters approved a referendum bond in November for the $2.7 million cost to replace the city’s 1940s-era radio system by partnering with the state to use state radio towers to transmit messages from police mobile and cruiser radios.

The state grant funding was included in Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s final Bond Commission meeting Tuesday, as Gov.-elect Ned Lamont will be sworn into office in January.

Norwich Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom attended the Bond Commission meeting Tuesday and said he thanked Malloy personally after the meeting for supporting the essential Norwich project. Nystrom said he also thanked state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose district includes Norwich, for making the Norwich police radio project a priority in requesting bond money for her district.