Mayor proposes $2.8M in ARPA interest for youth programs and policing review; council bifurcates and holds $900,000 for further review

Mayor presented a proposed allocation of $2.8 million in interest revenue earned on the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and asked the council to approve four uses: two years of support for Boys & Girls Club after‑school programs (proposed $750,000), a pediatric mental‑health facility led by Alliance Healthcare Services ($750,000), programming and residential support at Pure Academy ($400,000), and $900,000 for an initiative the administration called “integrity in policing,” which the administration said would fund an independent monitor, outside subject‑matter experts, and related studies tied to a police‑oversight task force.

Council members debated the $900,000 allocation most intensely. Councilwoman Logan offered a substitute requesting that the $900,000 instead be directed to blight remediation activities including legal personnel, land acquisition, a sidewalk assistance fund, tree removal, and three additional convenience centers, and moved to bifurcate the integrity‑in‑policing money from the other grants for separate consideration. The Council approved bifurcation and then approved the allocations for the youth and health programs (the mayor’s proposed allocations for Boys & Girls Club, Alliance Healthcare Services and Pure Academy) while sending the $900,000 policing allocation to a two‑week hold and additional committee review.

Supporters of the administration’s policing initiative said the funding is intended to finance an independent monitor and expert studies the city had committed to after a public‑facing review process; opponents and some council members asked for more details about scope, measurable outcomes and whether the money is the best use of a relatively small interest‑revenue pot. Several council members asked city finance staff for a fuller accounting of other pockets of interest revenue and the general fund or ARPA balances so the council can weigh the funding tradeoffs across competing priorities.

The council approved the first three grants on the record and directed staff to return with additional information on the $900,000 proposal, blight remediation needs and a full accounting of interest revenue and fund balances in two weeks. No final decision on the policing allocation was made at this meeting.