Jackson County legislators press executive’s office over ARPA allocations, contractor access and emergency GIS contract

Jackson County legislators pressed the County Executive's office on March 24 over several administrative matters, including the status of ARPA fund allocations, the employment status and email access of a contractor named Mr. Schulte, and the justification for an emergency contract with Nearmap for GIS services.

The exchanges began after Caleb Clifford, speaking for the County Executive's office, told the legislature “The 2025 budget has not been adopted yet” and that the administration planned to amend the 2025 budget to add line items related to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) designations. Legislator Barkin said the ordinance passed late last year required “a fund was to be created immediately, for which the county executive was to make sure and appropriate money within, 50% of the total pot, of the $70,000,000 into both designated funds,” and said that step has not been completed.

Why it matters: Legislators said the ordinance's language required an immediate accounting step they believe has not happened; the administration responded that budget amendments will follow adoption of the 2025 budget and that staff will review the ordinance language to determine whether additional action is needed.

The meeting also included extended questioning about the status of a person identified as “Mr. Schulte.” Clifford said he did not know whether Schulte’s contract had been finalized but that “they're working on finalizing his contract. But, yes, he will be a contractor if he's not currently.” When pressed whether Schulte currently had county email access, Clifford said Schulte “was given access again” so he could assist on projects and to keep public records within county accounts. Legislators raised IT security and procurement concerns, noting that Schulte was described in the discussion as working “at risk” if the contract was not finalized and that he was not currently a county employee.

Legislator Smith pressed the administration about an emergency purchase made with Nearmap, a commercial GIS imagery provider. Smith read from the county code provision she had located (1030.3), which states that “competitive bidding shall not be required when the county executive has declared in writing the purchase to be an emergency” and that purchases in excess of $25,000 made under that provision must be reported to the legislature at its next regular meeting. Smith said she had not seen the required notification and questioned how an emergency justification covered a contract described in the meeting as lasting up to five years and potentially costing as much as $500,000.

Clifford said he did not have the contract terms in front of him, believed the contract had been filed with the clerk, and referred legislators to an emergency memo that he said would explain the county executive’s basis for the declaration. He told the legislature the purchase memo would “speak for themselves.”

Throughout the exchange legislators pressed the administration for clearer follow-up procedures and better responsiveness on information requests, with Clifford offering to confer with departments and to provide further documentation. He said staffing vacancies and extended leaves limited the administration’s current capacity and that once the 2025 budget is adopted additional staffing would help with responsiveness.

Ending: The administration committed to review the ordinance language on the ARPA allocations, confirm the status of Mr. Schulte’s contract and access, and to locate and provide the emergency declaration memo and contract documents related to the Nearmap purchase for legislative review.