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Oklahoma County committee hears ARPA spending, compliance update; staff report projects fully obligated
Summary
County staff reported that Oklahoma County's ARPA allocation is fully obligated, site visits and desk reviews of subrecipients are ongoing with no compliance warnings so far, and staff are preparing quarterly and annual reports with continued monitoring through 2026.
Oklahoma County policy and governance committee members received an update on the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation, including subrecipient activity, compliance work and reporting timelines.
Naomi, ARPA program staff, told the committee that the county’s ARPA projects are fully obligated and that staff are continuing to liquidate funds as subrecipients spend on approved projects. "We will be able to show you as well that increase after we have this most recent level of quarterly reporting from your subrecipients," Naomi said during the presentation.
The report summarized quarterly activity and listed example subrecipients that have used ARPA awards: Allied Arts (supporting community arts groups, including an Oklahoma Shakespeare production), Bonnie's Helping Hands (grocery delivery for homebound older adults and other vulnerable populations), the Regional Food Bank (using a credit model to serve county nonprofits) and a wounded warrior service-dog program. Naomi said site visits and desk reviews have been conducted recently and "we've not seen any concerns or had to do any warnings with anybody."
Staff said nearly all compliance checkboxes are complete for current projects; the team is scheduling repeat site visits or desk reviews until projects are closed out. Naomi also reported that the quarterly report for January–March will be submitted at the end of the month and that an annual report will be prepared for public release in July.
Committee members asked about oversight and internal controls. Jessica, County Manager, and Naomi described ongoing fixes to purchase-order (PO) setups and improved document workflows. Naomi said the county is working with MIS, purchasing and other teams to centralize document storage and create a Microsoft 365 tracking dashboard so stakeholders can view project status and reduce payment delays. "We're working through those issues and... putting together really good internal controls," Naomi said.
The committee formally received the written ARPA report during the meeting by motion; the packet and report copies were accepted for the record.
Next steps from staff include completing the current round of site visits and desk reviews, finalizing the quarterly submission at the end of the month and assembling the annual report in July for public release.
