The Marshall County Commissioners reviewed a resolution Monday morning that would put a plan into place to spend $8.9 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds. The county currently has half of the funds. The other half should be receipted to the county in 2023.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger noted that the resolution does not have specific values in it. It just meets the requirement of having a plan in place to spend the funds. The plan outlines lost revenue; water, sewage and broadband infrastructure projects; and recover not-for-profit loss revenue.
The commissioners approved the resolution with a unanimous vote. The resolution now goes to the Marshall County Council for approval.
Later in the meeting, Commission President Kevin Overmyer commented that preliminary figures have been put together for specific projects. He said Surf Air and Marshall County Fiber would each get $500,000 in order to expand broadband availability in the county, $2 million for the Regional Sewer District, $2 million for highway projects in 2023 and 2024, $1 million for highway equipment, $300,000 for not-for-profit lost revenue recovery, and $500,000 for the Clock Tower. That total is approximately $6.8 million which leaves about $2.1 million left for projects.
Commissioner Stan Klotz said he was in favor of the fiber appropriation, but wanted the remainder of the $2.1 million to go toward roads.
Commission President Kevin Overmyer responded by saying that the proposal was a good starting point and leaves a little bit of money in the fund. He noted that if the Regional Sewer District does not get approved by IDEM then that money would be available for further discussion on appropriation.
Overmyer commented that he would like to take the proposal of funding for broadband to the Marshall County Council to get the process started now.
Commissioner Michael Burroughs made a motion that the proposal be taken to the Marshall County Council in a future meeting for consideration for appropriation. The vote on the motion was unanimous.
