Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Arpa Funds Records Scanning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Winnebago County approves ARPA disbursement resolution to fund records-scanning work
Summary
The Winnebago County board approved Resolution 12-30-2024-01-01 to disburse American Rescue Plan Act funds, endorsing continued funding for a records-scanning contract and clarifying accounting of interest and expenditures.
Winnebago County board members voted to approve Resolution 12-30-2024-01-01, authorizing disbursement of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for county projects including a multi-office records-scanning effort.
The resolution passed by voice vote after discussion about the total ARPA award, interest earned on ARPA deposits and whether allocated amounts cover the planned scanning work. The motion was made by Jen Zwolff (board member) and seconded by Smith (board member); the board voted "aye" and the motion carried.
Participants discussed accounting details during the meeting. A staff member said the resolution document lists $2,111,227 as the ARPA award and noted that interest earned on the funds has increased the effective total. Another participant reported an internal tally of expenditures and allocations that initially summed to $2,164,643, and the group examined whether the apparent difference reflected interest credited after initial calculations.
Board members and staff reviewed line items and interest reporting. A staff member said the meeting's report did not break out interest by tranche and that a treasurer's report would be needed to show precise interest totals. At one point a staff member identified a total activity amount of $54,153 and described monthly interest receipts that had risen over time, including a peak month that approached $3,000.
The board discussed the scope and administration of the scanning project. Staff said scanning will cover records in both the recorder's office and the supervisor's office, including drainage supervisor books, transfer books and flat books. Once records are scanned, copies will be hosted on a public site with a link from the county website; staff said the vendor hires local workers to perform tagging and scanning and that there will be a recurring annual fee for hosting the scanned files.
Board members asked whether the scanning contract would need to be expanded. A member said the scanning cost appears to exceed the allocation and that interest proceeds would be split between the recorder's office and the supervisor's office to finish the project; any remaining shortfall would be covered from departmental budgets. A staff member noted the scanning arrangement is already under contract and that the vendor's work and annual hosting fees will be added to the recorder's and supervisors' budgets.
The board directed staff to continue with the scanning contract and to finalize accounting details showing how interest and ARPA allocations will be applied. No formal roll-call vote was recorded in the minutes; the motion carried on a voice vote.
The resolution and the discussion make clear the county plans to use ARPA funds and accrued interest to complete a records-scanning project shared between the recorder's office and the supervisor's office, with ongoing hosting and tagging services planned. The board did not set a firm public timeline during the discussion; staff said they would pull the treasurer's report to clarify interest amounts and finalize the expenditure accounting.
