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County director says paused AmeriCorps funding briefly threatened RSVP; judge blocked pause and county will plan contingencies
Summary
NORFOLK COUNTY, Mass. — Norfolk County’s director, Cronin, told commissioners on Jan. 29, 2025 that an Office of Management and Budget bulletin had briefly paused federal assistance for AmeriCorps programs supporting the county’s RSVP program, prompting immediate local contingency planning; a federal judge temporarily blocked the pause.
NORFOLK COUNTY, Mass. — Norfolk County’s director, Cronin, told commissioners on Jan. 29, 2025 that an Office of Management and Budget bulletin had briefly paused federal financial assistance for AmeriCorps programs that support the county’s RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program), prompting immediate local review and contingency planning.
Cronin said the county spoke with the RSVP director, Robert, and reached out to grant administrators to assess impacts. He reported that a U.S. district judge (named in the meeting as Judge Lauren Ali Khan) temporarily blocked the administration’s bulletin, maintaining the status quo for existing programs while litigation proceeds; the transcript records that the court’s temporary order was to maintain existing programs pending further litigation and referenced an expiration date of Feb. 3, 2025 for the temporary status. Cronin said the administration later withdrew its interest in the approach. The county will nevertheless draft contingency steps should federal assistance be paused in the future.
Cronin also updated the board on other administrative matters: the county is halfway through department head midyear performance evaluations; he expects to complete the evaluations within about a week. He said the county is preparing a quarterly ARPA filing due at the end of the month to reflect spending approved as of Dec. 30, 2024, and reminded commissioners that municipal budgets are due Feb. 4, 2025.
On infrastructure and grants, Cronin said the county is again exploring electric-vehicle charging through potential vendors; a prior fast‑charging grant opportunity had expired, but a vendor interested in installing level‑2 chargers has approached the county and will present ideas. Cronin also said he will meet with the Norfolk County retirement system via Zoom to review actuarial schedules of retirement liability costs.
The director reported that county offices experienced shaking from a 4.1 earthquake off the coast of Maine earlier in the week; he said staff were surveying county buildings for damage and noted that the county’s recently approved disaster‑recovery plan would allow operations to continue from an alternate location if needed.
