Commissioners whittled down their list of projects to pay for with federal relief funds, cutting plans to help with an expansion to the Iola Senior Citizens Thrift Store and doing away with plans to give extra pay to employees who worked during the worst of the pandemic.
The county worked with Thrive Allen County and a committee to develop a “wish list” of projects they wanted to pay for using federal relief money from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Initially, the county received requests of more than double what was available — $4.8 million in requests for $2.4 million in ARPA money.
Thrive and its committee helped narrow that to a manageable amount, and organized the list by priority.
But when the county was awarded a $3 million grant, it came with nearly $1 million in matching funds. Commissioners want to find a way to pay those matching funds using ARPA money.
To do so, it would exceed their ARPA budget by $352,239.50.
That’s when commissioners took another look at their priority list, and made the cuts, totalling nearly $260,000.
If they don’t pay a premium to employees who worked during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ll save $159,955.25. That was always a controversial topic; commissioners struggled to decide which employees should qualify, as some were required to be at the courthouse and deal directly with customers, while others could work from home.
“In my mind, I’ve already scratched that off the list,” Commissioner David Lee said.
“I’m in favor of applying that money to other projects,” Commissioner Bruce Symes said.
The second item, though, brought a bit more debate.
Leaders of the Iola Senior Citizens Inc. Thrift Store at 223 N. State St. want to build an expansion because of tight quarters in their facility.
An estimate of $100,000 is probably on the low end and outdated, Commission Chairman Jerry Daniels said. He said he spoke with a contractor who talked about the challenges of adding on to the building, and the estimate doesn’t reflect current supply chain issues and lack of available contractors.
Plus, Daniels said, commissioners have prioritized county projects and the thrift store isn’t directly a county entity. Perhaps the county can help in a different way or in the future, he and other commissioners said.
