Merrimack County commissioners on a regular meeting day approved several ARPA-funded purchases and a one-time grant to a local rescue service, and authorized proceeding with repairs to the nursing-home geothermal system.

The most immediate allocation approved was a one-time $50,000 ARPA grant to the county rescue service identified in the transcript variously as “Pennekook rescue,” “Penn and Cook Rescue” and “Pinnacle Rescue”; commissioners voted by voice to award the funds after staff and the rescue representative discussed reimbursement approaches. Sean, identified in the record as the rescue representative, said, “We appreciate it.”

Why it matters: commissioners said the award is a stopgap to help three towns that rely on the rescue service while staff pursue longer-term reimbursements or grant options. Staff reported roughly $200,000 remains in ARPA after the day’s agenda and that larger ARPA allocations are committed to the county’s solar project and other capital work.

Details of approvals: the board approved ARPA-funded procurements and contract awards by voice vote including:

- Blanket warming cabinets for the nursing home — Direct Supply low quote $4,697 each, six units, $28,182 total; approved as ARPA-funded.
- Secure-care testing equipment for anklet transmitters and door sensors — approved as ARPA-funded preventative-maintenance tooling.
- Synology network-attached storage (NAS) devices — purchase for seven departments to hold body-worn camera and investigative data; staff described initial capacity as about 24 terabytes and ability to expand via additional drives; approved as ARPA-funded.
- Laundry-dryer makeup-air project at the nursing home — Alliance Mechanical low bid $212,250; staff said this corrects a long-running design issue and recommended ARPA funding for the work.
- Equipment rigging contract for removal of three decommissioned boilers at the McLeod Building — recommended vendor Cody Rigging, $12,400; approved.

On geothermal repairs: commissioners returned to a new-business request to 'close the loop' on the nursing-home geothermal field and authorized staff to proceed with the repairs and installation work using the remainder of ARPA funds and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) resources as needed. Ross summarized the proposal as an attempt to decouple the open-loop wells from the building and install internal heat exchangers to form a closed internal loop. Dustin described the engineering approach and said the county is working with a geothermal firm named in the transcript as “WH Demands” to perform engineering and installation; the proposal’s approximate figure discussed in the record was roughly $550,000, to be finalized and limited to a 'not to exceed' amount.

What commissioners said: Ross opened the meeting’s departmental snapshot by announcing the county will soon begin site mobilization for its solar array. On the rescue funding he described several reimbursement options and recommended a one-time ARPA spend with grant-writing support for the rescue service going forward. Commissioner comments stressed that the rescue award was intended as a one-time, targeted ARPA use and noted that other counties reportedly do not make comparable impact payments.

Next steps and caveats: staff said remaining ARPA funds must be applied by the end of the fiscal year and that any final geothermal contract will include a not-to-exceed figure and split between ARPA and CIP where appropriate. The record shows vocal voice votes for all approvals; the transcript does not provide a full roll-call vote tally for each item.

Note on name inconsistencies: the rescue provider’s name appears with several variants in the transcript; the board motion and staff materials indicated a single local rescue service was being funded. The article uses the transcript’s wording and notes the inconsistent naming to avoid misidentifying the organization.