The Marshall County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Committee members met Tuesday morning to consider funding requests for the Fund the Essentials 2 campaign, as well as start-up costs for the Marshall County Regional Sewer District.
Commission President Stan Klotz called the meeting to order with fellow members Council President Jesse Bohannon and Councilwoman Nicole Cox in attendance. Councilwoman Deb Johnson was occupying the seat in the absence of member Councilman Tim Harman.
Marshall County United Way Development Manager Brian Teall and Marshall County Community Foundation and United Way Executive Director Linda Yoder discussed a request for $150,000 to assist with helping residents with food bank and utility assistance programs. The funding is part of a goal to raise $350,000 that would go with a potential Indiana United Ways grant of up to $75,000 for resident assistance. Teall said there are entities in the county that have indicated that they would also provide funds toward the effort.
The county previously used ARPA funds to establish the first Fund the Essentials campaign at the height of the pandemic that benefited the same type of cause.
Klotz commented that he would like to see the whole of the request go toward food assistance, whether it be mobile food distribution or patron visits to the county’s food pantries. He noted that Township Trustees can help residents with utility or other types of authorized assistance. The other committee members agreed. Klotz additionally asked for accountability with funding reports.
Bohannon made a motion to make a recommendation to the Marshall County Commissioners to approve $150,000 for the United Way to be earmarked for food assistance. A plan for spending will be provided to the ARPA Committee and to the commissioners as part of this effort. The motion was unanimously approved.
Additionally, Marshall County Regional Sewer District Chairman Tom McFadden presented a request of up to $125,000 to assist with start-up costs with the retention of an engineer, financial advisor, and legal expert in the field in order to give the Sewer District Board of Directors a direction. He stated that he has been in contact with officials in this type of field and it was recommended that these were the types of people to have in place to help initiate the District.
Initially, he appeared before the Marshall County Commissioners Monday morning with a request to start with $100,000, but the commissioners recommended $125,000 in order to take care of some outstanding costs obtained in the preliminary work prior to IDEM’s approval of the District in December. That cost is $16,925. The commissioners agreed to send McFadden to the ARPA Committee so the committee members could consider the request.
Bohannon stated that part of the discussion when creating the Regional Sewer District was that no taxpayer funds should be used for the District and it would be supported by user fees by those who utilize the service. Cox agreed.
Klotz said that a request could come before the commissioners and council for no interest loan reimbursement of specific funds from the county’s Rainy Day Fund, but Auditor Angie Birchmeier said she would contact the State Board of Accounts to research that aspect. McFadden said he would also speak to the legal advisor about that option.
The committee members did not officially vote on the request, but encouraged McFadden to call the committee members together to officially form to have ground floor discussions to initiate the District.
