The Logan County Board of County Commissioners will soon decide on how to spend $9.3M for the county. The large amount of funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
An authorized distribution of $19.53 billion in grants to states to distribute to tens of thousands of local governments serving populations less than 50,000. These smaller governments are referred to by the U.S. Treasury Department as “non-entitlement units of local government,” or NEUs.
For Logan County, $4.65M has been deposited and will receive an additional $4.65M in May 2022.
The funds must be encumbered no later than December 2024 and expended by December 2026.
Elected county officers and department heads met March 10 to discuss draft projects and available funds. At the BOCC meeting on March 15, District 1 Commissioner Marven Goodman, who represented the three member BOCC at the March 10 meeting, shared the project suggestions with District 2 Commissioner Kody Ellis and District 3 Commissioner Monty Piearcy.
The bulk of the funding — $6M — would go toward the renovation of what is commonly known as the “Six Story Building” which is located across the street from the Logan County Courthouse.
The former Masonic nursing home was constructed in the late 1920’s and was eventually donated to Logan County in the 1990’s. Despite the age, county officials have been told the building remains to be in good condition, structurally.
For many years, the building has set empty except to hold storage for the County.
The BOCC has shown interest in remodeling the building for adding county offices to help alleviate crowded space inside the courthouse.
The next allocation of $1.5M would go to the county commissioner road districts for roads and bridges. The fund would be split three ways for each district.
The Logan County Sheriff’s Office would receive $750,000 to help with the jail’s roof and provide a patrol vehicle refresh.
An allocation of $500,000 would go into the courthouse to add and update security features, including adding badge identification to gain access to the courthouses and annexes.
County employees would share $300,000 “Premium Pay.” This portion of the ARPA funding was established to ensure essential workers that supported the community throughout the public health emergency. Employees from the county health department would be excluded as they received $500 premium pay from the state.
The final $250,000 would go to the Logan County Health Department. The funds would allow an add-on structure to their existing building for a drive-thru station to allow citizens to drive thru and be tested for viruses.
The BOCC is expected to take a formal vote on March 31 to begin allocating funds for the ARPA projects.
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