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Residents ask Gadsden County for itemized ARPA, CARES and SHIP spending records; staff agrees to provide details
Summary
Two residents asked commissioners for detailed accounting of federal COVID-relief (ARPA/CARES) and SHIP allocations and requested updates on the Boys & Girls Club and emergency housing set‑asides. County staff and commissioners said they would provide the requested records and follow up.
Two residents used the county’s public-comment period to press Gadsden County officials for clearer accounting of federal relief and housing funds and to request progress updates on local youth and housing programs.
Linda Barclay of Quincy told the board she had searched public records and wanted an itemized accounting of the county’s ARPA funds, asking, “I need to know whether or not the county still have any of those funds.” She said the county had received “somewhere up to almost $9,000,000” in ARPA dollars and that public records she checked showed about $3,000,000 unspent as of September 2024; she asked the board to confirm current balances and allocations. Barclay also asked whether CARES Act dollars remain for line items she identified in the county’s published budget (she cited $375,000 for Public Works renovations and $500,000 earmarked for a Boys and Girls fund) and asked whether the county still had the $300,000 SHIP emergency set-aside shown in earlier plans.
Rochelle Robinson, speaking later in the public-comments portion, raised several countywide concerns including the Boys and Girls Club location, the hiring of a permanent county administrator, employee wages and the operating budget; she urged the board to pursue decisions that benefit the entire county rather than individual districts.
County responses and next steps County staff and commissioners responded on the record that they would compile and provide the requested records. The interim county administrator and other staff said records requests had already been received and that staff would assemble documents and an itemized accounting. One commissioner said the county already had a pending records request and staff would follow up; the transcript records staff agreeing to provide an itemized receipt and to deliver the information to Barclay.
Because many of the figures mentioned in public comments were described as approximate, staff told the board they would verify allocations and report back in writing.
