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COG hears plan to delegate leftover ARPA funds to cities; cities asked to place an action item on local agendas
Summary
Commissioners said leftover ARPA funds (about $180,000) would be delegated to cities that applied; larger prior awards to some cities leave roughly $30,000 available to distribute among remaining municipalities. Cities were asked to submit a city-council action item detailing proposed use so the commission can release funds in June.
County commissioners reported that after allocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for several larger municipal projects, roughly $180,000 remained and the commission planned to delegate distribution of that remainder to cities that request it.
Background and allocations described: commissioners said some municipalities had already received larger ARPA allocations—examples given in the meeting included awards for a pickleball project and an accessible playground request, as well as a $200,000 award referenced for a named municipality and a $100,000 award for Farrin to replace stock-show pens removed by fire. Because several large allocations were already made, presenters said only about $30,000 would remain for distribution to other cities that apply.
Procedure requested of cities: commissioners asked each city to place a COG agenda item or city-council action item describing what the city would spend any allocated share on, and to send a letter or application to the county so commissioners can distribute the funds. The county asked to resolve the distribution quickly, aiming to have money spent by June.
Why it matters: ARPA funds are time-limited federal relief dollars and the county indicated it prefers to allocate and spend the remaining balance promptly. Commissioners said they wanted cities to have an opportunity to propose projects and also noted some departments had hoped for additional county allocations.
Outcome and next steps: cities were asked to place the distribution request on their council agendas, submit the request to the county (the transcript mentions routing a letter through Commissioner Leonard), and return proposals promptly so the commission can finalize allocations. No formal COG vote to approve distributions was recorded in the transcript; commissioners described this as a county decision and asked cities to act on their own council agendas.
