To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: N/A
Prepared By:
prepared
Michelle Halstead, director, commissioners’ office
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presenter
Presenter: Michelle Halstead, director, commissioners’ office
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Subject:
title
2:30 PM *ARPA Funding Follow-Up Discussion
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purpose of this study session is to consider initial requests for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to support County operational needs.
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Background and Discussion: The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill signed into law March 2021. The goal of ARPA is to support public health response, address negative economic impacts resulting from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 public health emergency, replace public sector revenue loss, address premium pay for essential workers, and invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. The legislation builds on the CARES Act funding from last year, which provided Arapahoe County $114 million in one-time funding.
Earlier this year, the Board updated its Response & Recovery Plan Goals and Objectives and expanded its list of initial programmatic areas for potential funding consideration. The Board also held 14 stakeholder outreach meetings to understand community needs and solicit funding proposals. Based on U.S. Treasury Guidance and stakeholder input, an interdisciplinary staff team presented an allocation approach as well as evaluation criteria matrix to help inform future Board decision-making. This information was presented at a Sept. 21, 2021, study session and received Board approval to move forward.
There are four initial proposals within the County operational bucket that staff is seeking Board direction on to utilize ARPA funds. These include:
- Request from the District Attorney for temporary staff to address the backlog of cases as a result of COVID-19 ($1.358M).
- Request from the Sheriff’s Office for temporary third-party contract support to provide detention center meals in lieu of deputies as COVID-19 impacts the number of available inmate workers ($1M/annually).
- Request from Community Resources to allocate a portion of business service staff salaries that are working on COVID-19-related business programs and services ($200,000/annual).
- Request from HR and Finance for temporary grant funded staff to help support additional workload as a result of COVID-19 ($227,000/annual).
Staff also would like to discuss the Board’s desired approach to consider additional investments within programmatic areas and timeline for such work. Staff will finalize their initial eligibility review of potential investments in alignment with the final rule and begin scoring submittals based on approved evaluation criteria.
Fiscal Impact: $2,785,000
Alternatives: The Board could decline not to move forward with these requests as presented.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☒Be fiscally sustainable
☐Provide essential and mandated service
☒Be community focused
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends funding these investments with ARPA funds.
Concurrence: County Attorney’s Office, Finance Department, Human Resources Department, Community Resources Department, Sheriff’s Office