Oktibbeha supervisors authorize ARPA re-obligation, approve bridge repairs and redevelopment agreements

Oktibbeha County supervisors on Dec. — during their regular meeting — authorized the county administrator to obligate about $1.6 million in unobligated ARPA funds before the federal deadline and approved a string of infrastructure measures, including emergency repairs to Dry Creek Road bridge, notice-to-proceed packets for multiple bridge and road projects, and a regional redevelopment agreement with the city related to a proposed hotel development.

The board voted to give County Administrator Carlton authority to obligate unobligated American Rescue Plan Act funds before the federal deadline so the money is not returned, and asked the administrator to report back on which projects were funded and what county dollars, if any, were freed as a result.

The action matters because the ARPA funds are time-limited: the administrator told the board that unobligated funds must be under contract, purchase order or subaward by the federal cutoff or the county risks returning them. The board set a process deadline for entities with pending allocations to provide documentation by Dec. 21 and directed the administrator to obligate remaining funds by Dec. 31, 2024.

In other business, the board approved several immediate and planned public-works measures. Road Manager Vincent Thompson briefed the board on a structural repair needed at a bridge on Dry Creek Road and described the work as an emergency to avoid a permanent closure; supervisors approved emergency authority to authorize repairs and for the county to use county forces supplemented by a contracting welder.

Thompson also asked the board to approve a pilot to test a granular chemical dust suppressant…