The Hastings Banner — Thursday, November 4, 2021 — Page 5Build your ‘cash’ account before
retiring
If you’re going to retire
in the next few years, you’ll
want to start thinking about
making some changes to your
investment portfolio. And one
area you may want to look at
is whatever type of cash ac-
count you might have – be-
cause, when you’re retired,
the amount of cash you have
readily available may be even
more important than when
you were working.
Your cash management
account could pay a slight-
ly higher rate than a typical
savings account, as well as
serving as a holding place for
funds that may eventually be
transferred to other invest-
ments. Furthermore, it can
provide you with these ben-
efits:- You can pay for emer-
gency expenses. You might
be retired, but life goes on –
and life is full of unexpected
expenses, such as a new fur-
nace or a costly auto repair.
It’s a good idea for retirees to
keep at least three months of
living expenses in a separate
cash account, which can help
pay for emergencies without
forcing you to dip into your
longer-term investments. - You can save for a short-
term goal. You may have
several short-term goals, such
as a long vacation or a kitch-
en remodeling project. If you
are trying to reach this type
of goal within a year or two,
you may want to start moving
funds into your cash manage-
ment account. For goals with
longer time frames, you may
want to consider using other
types of investments appro-
priate for the specific goal and
your risk tolerance.- You can protect some
money from market volatil-
ity. When you’re a long way
from retirement, you may
not be particularly bothered
when the financial markets
drop, leading to a decline in
the value of your investment
portfolio. However, once
you’re retired, those down-
turns might not be quite so
tolerable. As a retiree, you
may want to maintain one
year of expenses (adjusted
for outside income sources
such as Social Security) in a
cash management account for
spending purposes. Knowing
you have this cash set aside
may help you feel more com-
fortable when markets are
volatile. Nevertheless, hold-
ing too much cash has risks
of its own. Retirement can
last for more than 30 years, so
you’ll want to be invested in
enough equities and fixed-in-
come vehicles to provide your
portfolio with the balance and
growth potential necessary to
help you avoid outliving your
money.
As you can see, building
your cash management ac-
count can be helpful in sever-
al ways. So, in the years pre-
ceding your retirement, look
for opportunities to add to this
account. For example, you
could use some of the money
from a tax refund or a bonus
at work. And, if you haven’t
already done so, you might
direct your bank to move a
certain amount each month
from your checking or sav-
ings account into your cash
management. When you’re
retired, do what you can to re-
plenish your cash account as
much as possible.
Your cash management
account is important at every
point in your life, but it may
take on even greater meaning
when you’re retired – so do
whatever you can to keep it in
good shape.
This article was written by
Edward Jones for use by your
local Edward Jones Finan-
cial Advisor.
Edward Jones, Member
SIPCAndrew Cove, AAMS®
Financial Advisor
421 W. Woodlawn Ave.
Hastings, MI 49058
(269) 945-Financial FOCUS
Provided by the Barry County
offices of Edward JonesWendi Stratton
Financial Advisor
423 N. Main St.
Nashville, MI
(517)760-Member SIPCBarry County starts process to consider
project applicants vying for federal funds
Rebecca Pierce
Editor
Barry County’s American Rescue Plan Act
committee received 19 completed applica-
tions and one incomplete application, which
did not name the applying organization, for
the first round of funding.
“The committee reached out to the incom-
plete applicant and is encouraged by the
applicant’s desire to apply for the second
round of funding,” the committee noted in its
report.
The remaining applications were studied
according to the requirements from the U.S.
Department of Treasury rules to determine
eligibility.
Scorecards were developed based on the
requirement of the grants and used for each
applicant. A total of 55 points was available.
Each member of the committee reviewed
each application and provided a completed
scorecard.
Based on the submissions that were
received, this is how the applications were
ranked, in order of highest to lowest score.- Delton Water Tower, $1,332,900, was
requested by Barry Township Supervisor
Barry Bower to construct a 200,000-gallon
water tower in the Delton area to increase
the capability of the current water delivery
system. - Freeport Water supply and tower,
$839,000, was requested by Supervisor
Jamie Knight, Treasurer Alesse Crosse and
Clerk Sharon Olson, to rehabilitate the cur-
rent water tower and replace an undersized
1,560-foot water main. A replacement will
improve water quality and reliability to resi-
dents to help the village prepare for addition-
al industry and residents. - Barry County Central Dispatch/911 and
Barry County Emergency Management, $2.
million requested by Central Dispatch
Director Stephanie Lehman and Emergency
Management Coordinator Jim Yarger for the
buildout of one 800 MHz communications
tower site in the county to increase load
capacity, coverage and provide increased
interoperability and a safer communications
platform. - Cloverdale Drain, $500,000 was
requested by Drain Commissioner Jim Dull
to offset the cost of the drain project. - Watson Drain, $2 million, was request-
ed by the drain commissioner to offset the
cost of that drain project. - Barry-Eaton District Health Department,
$100,000 for financial assistance to repair
failed septic systems in the county, was
requested by Sarah Surna. - Barry County Parks & Recreation
Commission proposed the Paul Henry Trail
4.5-mile paving project at a cost of $1,237,500,
which was requested by Director Dan Patton. - Little Thornapple River Intercounty
Drain, $2 million was requested by Barry
County Drain Commissioner Jim Dull for
road crossings on the Little Thornapple River
Intercounty Drain. The total cost of the proj-
ect is $4 million; this request would cover
half the cost – with $500,000 to pay for a
crossing on Brown Road, $500,000 to pay
for the crossing at Jordan Road and $1 mil-
lion for the North Broadway crossing. - Activate Barry County, $107,620 for
Community Center Food Planning Project,
was requested by Allison Troyer Wiswell. - Barry County Road Commission
requested in $923,327 for revenue replace-
ment. - Algonquin Lake Sewer and Broadband
asked for $14,000, requested by James
Blake, Sandra Drummond and Tom Mohler,
for a plan to reduce pollution and improve
the quality of drinking water and provide a
viable plan to move forward with broad-
band. - Watson Drain District assessment
proposed $368,433, requested by Prairieville
Supervisor Jim Stoneburner, who wrote:
“The Watson Drain District has been a seri-
ous health issue for a part of our Prairieville
Township residents.” The township is being
assessed $799,049 to pay for its portion of
the work. - Starting Over for Success –
Transportation for Employment, $68,
was requested by Joyce Snow for financial
assistance in providing the ex-offender pop-
ulation transportation to and from work, as
well as the cost of vehicle maintenance and
operating costs. - Barry County Community Mental
Health Authority requested $132,664 to
increase agency staffing, offer sign-on
bonuses, cellular hotspots, iPads, and other
benefits. - Barry County Parks lost public sector
revenue due to the 2020 pandemic that cost
$79,189, from reduced rentals, no special
events, no in-person educational programs. - Barry County Administration request-
ed $2,956,038 in revenue replacement to
make up for what the county lost during the
COVID-19 pandemic. - Charlton Park restroom accessibility
and sanitary improvement, at a cost of
$94,600, was requested by Director Dan
Patton. - Barry County Animal Shelter
Workers’ Hazard/Essential Worker Premium
Pay totaling $54,440 was requested by
Director Kenneth Kirsch Jr. for five shelter
workers who continued to work during the
pandemic, never took a day off and handled
the animals of deceased residents. - Indexing land records at a cost of
$400,000 was submitted by the Barry
County Register of Deeds Barbara Hurless.
“Funds would allow us to contract this
work out and get it done in less than a
year’s time.”
ARPA committee’s progress thus far
provides ‘checkpoint,’ no decisions
Rebecca Pierce
Editor
Nineteen requests for federal funds coming
to Barry County through the American Rescue
Plan Act have been assessed and scored by the
county’s appointed panel, volunteers with
experience in a variety of economic and com-
munity sectors.
Bonnie Gettys, president and CEO of the
Barry Community Foundation, presented the
panel findings to the county board of commis-
sioners Tuesday while committee members
listened in the audience.
The commissioners’ response to her presen-
tation made it clear that more must be done
before the county closes in on committing the
money to any particular purpose.
The foundation, Barry County United Way
and the Chamber of Commerce and Economic
Development Alliance developed this coalition;
a task force led by Gettys and involving Lani
Forbes, CEO of United Way; Jennifer Heinzman,
who heads up BCCEDA; Greg Moore, commu-
nity affairs manager at Consumers Energy;
Cindy Vujea, retired economic development
coordinator at the Alliance; Carla Neil, retired
chief operating officer at Spectrum Health
Pennock; Craig Jenkins, Delton Kellogg Board
of Education member; and Robert Geyer, retired
partner from Crowe LLC.
“Every municipality received all the infor-
mation,” Gettys said. “We sent out several
emails. And then if we didn’t hear back from
them, we called the municipalities to make sure
that they were OK, if they wanted help or
didn’t want help.
“The committee actually went and met with
several of the townships and really sat down
and talked to them about the process and think-
ing about long term, not just spending money,
but truly investing it for future economic pur-
poses.
“And not necessarily just about economic
purposes, but about residents and their ability
to just thrive and survive.”
They developed metrics around the ques-
tions; every application could receive up to 55
points. The application itself was actually cre-
ated from the federal requirements for report-
ing back to the federal government “to make
sure that the applications really reflected what
the the federal government wanted to hear back
in would approve,” Gettys said.
“We don’t want anyone to have to return any
dollars that they get from this process. And we
need to make sure that everything is correct.”
Getty reviewed the individual projects and
how they were scored.
Commission Catherine Getty praised the
committee’s approach. “They did the research,”
she said. “The document that Bonnie is referring
to that provided guidance was 110 pages long.”
Plus, she pointed out, they specifically
designed the application to ensure that the
money will be spent correctly and that there
won’t be problems down the road.
“That’s really critical in our confidence to be
able to make these decisions that we’re spend-
ing the money correctly,” she added.
“Nationwide, communities are struggling with
this. And our committee I think has just done a
phenomenal job of distilling that information,
helping the community spell it out, and then
bringing confidence to our board to be able to
confidently award that money and invest that
money in our community.”
“I’m not confident,” Commissioner Vivian
Conner interjected, saying she wanted to see
more background and documentation.
“I thought there was going to be a meeting
where we would get to see the applications
and not just their recommendations.”
Chairman Ben Geiger clarified that no one
was going to be voting now.
“This is a presentation of the tasks they were
assigned to do,” Geiger said. “And now we get
to discuss how we would like to go forward.”
“We’re going to be transparent,” he added.
“And we’re going to select projects that benefit
the most people. So we’re on the same page.
“This is a new process that no board of com-
missioners has gone through before.”
Commissioner Howard Gibson praised the
committee’s work. “I trust their judgment – and
I’d like to move forward. I don’t think they’re
going to come up with anything different than
what we’re seeing here today.”
Commissioner Bruce Campbell said he
appreciated all the work. “But I also agree with
Vivian,” he added, saying that he would like to
see the applications to develop a better under-
standing of how these projects are evaluated.
“If I might add one thing..., as I’ve gone to
my township meetings, there’s a lot of fear out
there that they’re going to do the wrong thing...
If there was some way that this committee – I
know, we asked an awful lot of you already –
but if there was some way to attend a township
meeting or contact the supervisor directly,
they’re just, I mean, the fear out there is unbe-
lievable.
“They’re afraid you’re going to get put in jail
(if they err in some way). So it would be nice to
coach them on this complicated process.”
“The fear is not of what to do, it’s more are
we going to do it wrong?” Gettys asked/
“That’s what I’m saying,” Campbell replied.
Commissioner Jon Smelker agreed that he
would like more depth, including seeing the
applications.
Getty replied, “I think I speak for the com-
mittee in saying that we’d be happy to sit down
with you and answer questions about each
individual application... and really for you to
understand the process we went through to
make these decisions. So whatever it needs to
be, we’re happy to do that.
Conner said, “I want to say it seemed like a
good point to segue in with the confidence
thing from Catherine’s remark. But I think the
committee, you know, that was a lot of work to
get the applications.
“I think you did a great job, but when this
was the only thing I saw in the packet ...I
wasn’t confident. So I agree with what you just
said, because that’s what I thought...when we
approved this was that we were going to get a
chance to sit down and go through the applica-
tions. So I’m happy moving on.”
Geiger called it Tuesday’s review a “check-
point” where we pause and decide what we do
next.
“It feels like the consensus of the board is
let’s continue moving forward... These recom-
mendations are based on the guidance that’s
been given us through the Treasury Department.
So we’re not willy-nilly investing $6 million....
There’s very specific guidelines out there.”Bonnie Gettys, president and CEO of the Barry Community Foundation, addresses
county commissioners Tuesday to review the ARPA committee process in analyzing the
applications that were received for the first round of funding. (Photo by Rebecca Pierce)Barry County Commissioners, from left, Howard Gibson, Jon Smelker and Catherine Getty discuss the process. (Photo by
Rebecca Pierce)Barry County Commissioner Vivian Conner asks to see the applications and find out
more about the process that was followed in scoring the project. (Photo by Rebecca
Pierce)