From Buck Collier, special correspondent
HERMANN – The first half of the federal government’s latest stimulus package landed in Gasconade County’s bank account, adding more than $ 1.4 million to cash on hand.
The district administrators face the same dilemma as the bulldog who finally caught the car he’s chased for all these years: now that you have it, what are you going to do with it?
District Treasurer Mike Feagan told the district commission last Thursday that the best advice given now on what to do with the sudden influx of money is to take a deep breath … and wait.
“Your best advice is not to rush,” he said, sharing information he received earlier this week during a workshop on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the program that gives the county half of the 2,852 US Dollars Sent – Millions are to be received to help the local economy recover from the effects of the coronavirus. The half-dozen towns in Gasconade County are getting their own slices of the ARPA cake instead of asking for county-distributed dollars like the CARES Act-provided dollars. (See related story for the allocation of the final batch of CARES Act funds.)
The advice to be patient was given by the Meramec Regional Planning Commission, the agency that administered the CARES Act funds for Gasconade County and six of the other seven counties in the Meramec region. The planning agency is preparing to take on the same role in relation to the ARPA money by adding staff to check the legitimacy of the spending.
But what the district will spend its vestibule on is unclear. Local government officials continue to await a number of federal – and state guidelines – regarding the available money that may be on its way to the counties.
“The state hasn’t issued a lot of guidelines for the money they have,” Feagan said.
Based on the information available, it appears that the money can be used in a number of ways – very few of which appear to have little or no connection to the coronavirus pandemic: small business loans; Housing programs; Perhaps funding for local schools, although the money is expected to go to the districts through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Feagan said counties are believed to be able to work with cities to fund certain projects such as water and sanitation modernization.
MRPC offered local officials attending the workshop a list of possible uses – the agency calls it “investments” – of the ARPA funds on both a local and regional basis. Some of the local uses could be fire departments, police, senior centers, hospitals and clinics, sheltered workshops, health departments, and childcare. Investments could include industrial parks, tourism and marketing measures, and the rehabilitation of polluted sites through brownfield programs.
There are also roads, bridges, paths, and sidewalks that could be built with some of the money, says MRPC.
A warning has been added at the end of the list of possible uses: “Some investments may require additional guidance !!”
MRPC is proposing that the Gasconade County government use the money to improve Public Water District 1, which serves the Peaceful Valley (the county’s only public water district), to maintain the courthouse and build a courthouse outbuilding.
The other half of the county’s allocation is expected to come in next year with money that is expected to be spent by December 31, 2026 or believed to be returned if not spent.
Chairman Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, endorses Associate Commissioners Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville and Jim Holland, R-Hermann on the $ 2.2 trillion ARPA. “I think it’s a bad idea what the (federal) government is doing, but since the money is here, someone else will do it if we don’t use it,” he said Thursday morning.
The county’s parishes and their ARPA funding amounts include Bland, $ 97,251; Gasconade, $ 39,600; Hermann, $ 431,367; Morrison, $ 23,944; Owensville, $ 477,046; Rosebud, $ 74,596.
For Hermann, MRPC suggests using the money to modernize the flood diversion route, develop a transportation museum, build a courtesy dock for visitors arriving by boat on the Missouri River, and purchase and demolish the Hagedorn property.
Owensville’s money could be used to build a realignment on Springfield Road and to upgrade the Gasconade County’s fairgrounds in Owensville Memorial Park.
The planning agency suggests Bland use his ARPA dollars on road improvements.
On other matters, the commission at Thursday’s meeting praised Emergency Management Agency director Clyde Zelch after the county received high marks for updating a community emergency notification plan related to a possible nuclear incident at the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant. Zelch focused his efforts on the most effective way to notify Morrison residents, who are not benefiting as much from a new telephone tower in the northern part of the county.
In a report to all four Callaway Works Zone counties, Gasconade and Osage received high marks, while the Callaway and Montgomery Counties were found to be flawed by US power plant officials.
“The plans for Osage and Gasconade were pretty detailed and included most of the documentation required,” the report said. “Callaway and Montgomery County documents contain no data other than access control points …” the report added.
The Commission has recognized the work done by Zelch. “Kudos to Clyde,” said Miskel.
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