The city is accepting applications for sub-awards funded by the city’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds, which are federal COVID relief funds.

The city has been allocated $19.47 million in ARPA funds.

City officials have been discussing how to use their federal COVID funds in public meetings since May 2021.

The federal rules and guidance on the use of ARPA and CARES Act funds have changed over the months.

City still working on plans for use of $19.47 million in ARPA funds; process for community grants

Officials have yet to determine which city projects will be funded with the ARPA funds, which have different rules, but during their March 1 meeting, staff will ask commissioners to use some of the CARES Act funds to replenish specific city funds that suffered direct COVID-related revenue losses.

As part of the discussion regarding how to spend the ARPA funds, city officials have discussed a community grant program that would make some of the federal funds available to local organizations for COVID recovery efforts.

[Grant application is here]

“These programs may involve direct responses to the medical requirements of the pandemic, efforts to address the negative social impacts of the pandemic, or programs aiming to address disproportionately impacted populations,” according to a city release.

Since the City Commission has not yet determined the city projects they want to fund with those federal funds, they have not determined how much funding they are making available for the community grants.

City continuing discussion of use of $19.47 million in ARPA funds during Jan. 4 meeting

Tom Hazen, the city’s grant administrator, told The Electric that the commission “will consider amounts and projects from submitted applications in determining a final number. The applications will be reviewed and scored based upon the scoring criteria provided and ranked by a review committee comprised of city employees. The committee will then work with the City Manager’s office to create a list of recommended recipients that will then be presented to the City Commission for approval.”

During both their work sessions in January, City Commissioners discussed the city’s priority projects and the draft application for community entities to request some of the funding for eligible projects.

During the Jan. 18 meeting, commissioners spent considerable time discussing whether funding would be available for the community grants and what the city’s priority projects were.

City seeking feedback on ARPA fund application, potential grant process

In December, staff sent a memo to commissioners with a list of recommended city projects that are eligible for the ARPA funds totaling $19.1 million and leaving about $300,000 for project cost increases or for the public grant application program if the commission chooses to pursue that.

After that meeting, the federal rules changed again for the ARPA funds and staff was revising the priority list that has not yet been publicly presented to commissioners or discussed in a public meeting.

In January, several commissioners had said that they wanted to wait to open the community grant application process until they had determined the amount of funding that would be available for the program.

Under the grant application released by the city, to be eligible, all project expenses must be incurred between March 31, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2024. Projects must be completed and funds must be expended by Sept. 30, 2026.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. July 15.