Latest news with #ARPA-funded
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Joseph to offer Civic Center Park balusters to the public
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Local residents will get the chance to make a new home for balusters that were recently removed from Civic Center Park. Kim Schutte, St. Joseph historic preservation planner, with the support of the St. Joseph Landmark Commission, will be coordinating interest from those wishing to have one of the balusters reclaimed as part of a renovation at Civic Center Park. St. Joseph residents who are current on their taxes can contact Schutte at kschutte@ or 816-271-5349 by May 31 to be placed on a list to receive balusters. Those receiving balusters will be announced at the Landmark Commission meeting on June 3. The deteriorating and damaged balustrade was removed from the west side of Civic Center Park as part of a $494,000 ARPA-funded project to renovate the exterior of City Hall ahead of its centennial in 2027. The project will see construction of a new concrete stairwell complemented by natural stone veneer posts, caps, and wall panels. The cost of a complete balustrade replacement was estimated to be $2.5 million and was one of several options considered by City Council. The structure was damaged multiple times over the years due to car accidents, while the stairwell also had significant damage due to its age. In addition to renovating the Pony Express Monument and planning widespread sidewalk repairs to Civic Center Park, the balustrade project is one of several renovations planned in preparation for City Hall's centennial celebration in 2027. A separate balustrade that adorns City Hall will remain in place and is currently undergoing a deep cleaning and repair process. New lighting is also expected to be installed throughout the park and at City Hall to mimic the classic-period lighting found throughout much of Downtown, a separate project. Civic Center Park's fountain is also in line for significant repairs.
Chicago Tribune
12-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Kane County Board approves reallocation of federal pandemic relief funding, as deadline to spend it nears
The Kane County Board on Tuesday voted to approve just under $500,000 in 'reprogramming' federal pandemic relief funding to various county projects in advance of a spending deadline in 2026. In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act, commonly called ARPA, authorized the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, which delivered $350 billion to state, territorial, local and Tribal governments, according to the United States Treasury Department. The funds were intended to help these government entities and their residents recover from the effects of the pandemic, and could be used to respond to public health and economic impacts of the pandemic, invest in water and broadband internet infrastructure, provide 'premium pay' for essential workers and more. Kane County received just over $100 million in total, and used the money over the past few years on COVID-19 contact tracing, grants for area nonprofit organizations, public safety projects, payroll reimbursements and infrastructure projects and expenses. In July, the county issued its 2024 report with updates on the county's use of these funds. Local entities nationwide had until the end of 2024 to allocate the ARPA funds they received, according to the Treasury Department. The funds can be spent through the end of 2026, but can only go toward projects or services authorized before Dec. 31, 2024. Tuesday's board approval means some of the funds set to expire next year in Kane County will be transferred from one ARPA-funded project to another. Several of the reallocations were voted on at the county's Executive Committee meeting last week and were then passed unanimously during Tuesday's County Board meeting, but three of the larger sums of money were passed Tuesday in split votes. The resolutions which passed with split votes include three separate reallocations from the Kane County Circuit Clerk's microfilm archiving project, which set out to digitize court records to improve remote access, with the money going to a kitchen and laundry area improvement project at the Kane County Justice Center for just over $300,000, the county's administrative cost projection project in the amount of $120,000 and a technology improvement project at the 16th Judicial Circuit Court for roughly $17,500. The reallocations passed unanimously as part of Tuesday's consent agenda at the meeting included, for example, reprogramming funds between several ARPA projects in the Kane County Environmental and Water Resources department, and a transfer of just under $10,000 to a pipe improvement project at the Kane County jail from the Kane County 16th Judicial Circuit Court Services' Probation Victim Services and Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists projects. In all, just under $500,000 in ARPA funding was reprogrammed to various projects on Tuesday, according to figures from the meeting agenda. At Tuesday's board meeting, District 14 County Board member Jon Gripe said he was voting against the reallocations of funding because he thought that other board members and county entities outside the county's ARPA Committee – such as the Circuit Clerk's Office – were not sufficiently involved in the discussion of these measures. 'The people that the money is being removed from, if that's the case, need to be involved before the day of the meeting where we vote on this,' Gripe said on Tuesday. Going forward, the County Board could authorize similar reprogramming of ARPA funding before the 2026 deadline to spend the money, a county spokesperson said. But these reallocations of ARPA funding and future ones cannot go toward new projects, only those authorized before Dec. 31, 2024. In the years since the county began receiving the federal pandemic funding, it has pursued a variety of programs and capital projects. It gave out $755,000 in grants to food-growing businesses and organizations, with a focus on small farms and those addressing food insecurity, funded HVAC replacements in the county's jail and sheriff's office and proposed the construction of a new public health building, although the latter plan ultimately was shot down by the board. But, with no more funds to allocate and a limited amount of time to spend what's left, the county continues to face financial challenges as it anticipates using up its reserve funds by 2027 or 2028 if revenue or expenses don't change before then. The board has previously said that pandemic-era funds were used to pay for some salaries in the county, as well as other programs and projects. The board has been holding town halls about its sales tax referendum on the April 1 ballot, which has been touted as a possible solution to the county's future budget woes.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State's top elected officials address Wyoming municipalities
CHEYENNE — In an address to the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, Gov. Mark Gordon said Friday he is optimistic for the future of the state's towns and municipalities, but they must also be willing to stand up and fight for themselves in addition to support from the state. 'I'd love to tell you that there's rainbows and unicorns in the future, but I don't believe that at all,' he said. 'I think our communities are going to have to stand a lot more on their own, and we'll certainly fight for you, but we're only one piece of it.' Gordon, along with the four other top elected officials in the state, held a panel discussion Friday in the state Capitol to answer questions from WAM about the role the state plays in supporting Wyoming's 99 towns and municipalities. The opening question from panel moderator and WAM Interim President Carter Napier of Casper referenced Gillette Republican and Freedom Caucus member Rep. John Bear's 2024 comment pondering if small towns in Wyoming should even exist if they rely on state funds to stay afloat. Napier asked what the panelists thought of the role the state plays in supporting infrastructure development and maintenance for WAM localities. Gordon was joined on the panel by State Auditor Kristi Racines, State Treasurer Curt Meier, Secretary of State Chuck Gray and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder. All five panelists make up the State Loan and Investment Board, which manages the state's permanent land funds and administers grant and loan programs to municipalities. Most panelists referenced the state's Mineral Royalty Grants program, which offers funds to alleviate an emergency situation that poses a direct and immediate threat to public health, safety or welfare; to comply with federal or state mandates; or to provide an essential public service. Racines acknowledged municipalities cannot operate with a negative budget without assistance from the state, and Meier said the role of government is to invest in things that people can't do by themselves. 'Those are the things like building roads, building infrastructure in the water systems. Those things are going to continue to have to be looked at,' he said. Gray said that it is important municipalities take action on seeking those MRG grants immediately, and that he is optimistic about the future of Wyoming under the second term of President Donald Trump. He also said he believes the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is leading the work on supporting rural communities. 'Just look at the fact that the (Wyoming) Freedom Caucus is the number one group in the Legislature protecting our core industries, whereas a lot of other folks seem to want to move off our core industries,' Gray said. ARPA funding and capacity Napier said it is clear that there are capacity issues across the state as it pertains to professional services, like engineering, to complete construction of ARPA-funded projects. He asked the panel if the state government has a role in supporting understaffed municipalities that may lack capacity to meet federal deadlines for these funding applications and construction timelines. The panelists acknowledged that it can be more difficult for small municipalities to apply for funds through the federal government, as there is often less leniency than when applying for state funds. Racines said the requirements are 'non-negotiable, non-vending and robust' on the federal level, and that 2020 was the first time a lot of municipalities had access to federal funds. She said the state will try to support them, but that they have a limited bandwidth. Gordon said the state also needs more accountability for consultants like contractors and engineers on the quality of their work. Degenfelder added that these capacity issues are also related to workforce issues, segueing into Napier's next question. Workforce and attainable housing An interim committee bill that would have made state land adjacent to corporate boundaries available for long-term lease for the person who has the development recently failed. Napier said this bill had excited many communities as an opportunity to partner state and private developers. He asked the panelists if this idea had merit, and if the use of state lands could be part of the solution for the state's housing crisis. Degenfelder said it is important to consider that the state has a constitutional fiduciary duty to maximize revenue from these lands. 'It's not our business plan to provide cheap land for these kind of (developments),' she said. Racines said that there are some pieces of land that currently generate little to no revenue. Meier referenced the possibility of looking into relocating 3D-printed housing to Wyoming to alleviate some housing concerns, noting that the technology is in its infancy, but could be cheaper in the future. Gray and Degenfelder both acknowledged the need to focus on education to grow and maintain a trades workforce in Wyoming that help grow infrastructure for a larger workforce to find housing in Wyoming. 'The bottom line is there isn't enough supply, and that's because we lack enough of these trades,' Gray said. Where Wyoming is headed To conclude the meeting, Napier asked the panelists what their biggest concerns are for Wyoming going forward and inquired about what they think is going well. Degenfelder and Gray both said they view the diminishing of the state's fossil fuel industries as the biggest threat to the state. 'While we see a success in President Trump coming into office, that is something we can't be complacent on,' Degenfelder said. 'And as we saw with the Biden administration, just how detrimental that can be to us, and recognizing at the end of the day that the mineral industry pays the lion's share of the revenue in the state.' Degenfelder also expressed concern with the aging population in the state, noting that there aren't enough young people choosing to live in Wyoming. She said Wyoming should consider creating an integrated medical system for those retiring here. Gordon said he is optimistic about Wyoming's investment in the uranium industry, and the potential of developing technologies like enhanced oil recovery and investing in carbon fiber. He also said he'd like to see towns and cities near Wyoming's borders become more attractive so that residents can keep business and residents within Wyoming and attract people to the Cowboy State. 'It's going to take a lot of work ... but by God, that's what this state ought to be doing.'
