The Sun and News, Saturday, September 10, 2022/ Page 5Kent County provides survey results on community
priorities for distributing ARPA funds
James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
According to Kent County
officials, community groups
and internal departments
submitted 333 proposals for
how the county should dis-
tribute its $127.6 million
allocation of federal stimulus
funds from the American
Rescue Plan Act.
The 319 community pro-
posals combined with 14
internal county department
proposals would bring the
cumulative cost of all the
requested projects to more
than $2 billion. But the
ARPA allocation was only
$127.6 million. So, the wish
list is $1.87 billion more than
Kent County will be able to
distribute. Now it is up to the
county commission’s inter-
nal review committee and its
external consultant,
Guidehouse, to choose which
projects to fund.
“We have a significant
challenge ahead of us to find
those projects that we can,
essentially, agree upon for
funding,” county board of
commissioners chairman
Stan Stek said in a phone
interview.
So far, the county has ded-
icated $10.7 million of its
ARPA money to various
projects. Subtracting that
amount from its $127.6 mil-
lion total allocation, that
means the county has $117.
million left to distribute. Stek
said some of the $10.7 mil-
lion allocated so far was for a
“critical infrastructure need”
at Knapp’s Crossing.
Breaking it down further, a
portion of that amount also is
being used to pay the nation-
al consultant. And the county
board of commissioners is
using $1.2 million in ARPA
funds to waive food license
fees for county restaurants in
2022-23.
In addition, some funds
were allocated to a broad-
band-mapping project to help
identify areas in the county
with inadequate broadband
internet service. And some
ARPA money was applied to
a healthcare project.
Congress passed ARPA in
March 2021 to help munici-
palities across the country
offset losses suffered during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each governmental unit was
allocated a specific amount of
stimulus funding based on its
total population, as estimated
by the 2020 U.S. Census.
Municipalities have until
December 2024 to declare
how they intend to use their
ARPA funds and until
December 2026 to spend the
money. The U.S. Treasury
Department is allowing
municipalities to use their
ARPA funds for investments
in water, sewer, broadband
and other types of infrastruc-
ture, as well as other projectsdeemed to be transforma-
tional in scope.
Kent County leaders held
three community forums this
past spring to garner public
input on how to spend the
funds.
The third forum of the
summer was held at the
Gaines Charter Township
Hall on June 8.
In addition, a link to an
online survey asking how the
ARPA funds should be dis-
persed was emailed to 90,
county residents in May.
They had until June 24 to
respond. Stakeholders,
including residents, agencies
and organizations, were able
to submit proposals for trans-
formational projects via a
portal on that same website.
The county announced on
Sept. 2 it had received 3,
responses, and community
health emerged as the top
priority cited by the respon-
dents. More than 1,545 proj-
ect ideas were submitted.
Beginning Sept. 12, the digi-
tal catalog of ideas and rank-ings will be posted at https://
kentcountyarpa.com.
“Because we are county
commissioners, first we have
to identify the responsibili-
ties we have as fiduciaries to
the county operations and the
county services,” Stek said.
“And then, after deference to
those needs and require-
ments, identify what we can
in the community. And we
really want to find projects
that are going to make a dif-
ference out there.”
Stek and Kent County
Administrator Al Vanderberg
led the community forum
discussions. Vanderberg said
the county will not use a
strict grading system when
evaluating the various pro-
posals submitted, but take
into account their viability
and whether they will work
in conjunction with other
projects. The review process
will begin early this fall.
“It is our objective to have
the decisions on funding, at
least, preliminarily resolved
before the end of the year,”
Stek said. “I don’t want to go
into the next year with a new
set of commissioners
(post-election). It’s not like
they’re not capable, but I
want to use the same set of
folks who started with this
process.”Guidehouse will deter-
mine whether each project
meets all the federal eligibil-
ity requirements for funding.
The project ideas were
placed into five categories
that county commissioners
created based on what they
viewed as the community’s
core values and biggest
needs. Those categories
include community health,
quality of life, infrastructure,
economic innovations/work-
force development and
improving government oper-
ations such as buildings and
technologies.
Stek and Vanderberg said
at the Gaines Township
forum in June the county
potentially could work with
other communities to lever-
age ARPA funds for invest-
ment in larger-scale projects.
“We’re hoping it will
reverberate. That it will be a
spend where the value grows
and grows into the future.
That would be the best bar
for a project submittal,”
Vanderberg said.
Kent CountyCommissioner Emily Brieve
said after the Gaines forum
that she would like to see the
county ARPA funds be
invested in a couple of large-
scale community projects.
“These are one-time dol-
lars,” she said. “We’re not
going to be getting this in the
future. We want to be wise
about spending these; that
we don’t incur additional
massive costs.”
Stek said the county likely
will not be allocating ARPA
dollars for a proposed $
million waste-to-energy plant
in Byron Township. Multiple
municipalities are collaborat-
ing on that. The plant would
anchor a Sustainable Business
Park adjacent to the South
Kent Landfill and extend
south from 100th Street into
Allegan County’s Dorr
Township.
“The Sustainable Business
Park is such a significant,
complex project that requires
so many parts to fall in place,
that it really is not – in our
judgment – suitable for
ARPA funding,” Stek said.Hanging a shingle
As one of two forthcoming cannabis retailers that will set up shop in
Middleville, Crafted Leaf Cannabis now has a public-facing presence. A couple
weeks ago, crews got to work installing the new sign at the store’s location at
314 Arlington St.
Crafted Leaf Cannabis will be joined by The Botanical Co. as the only two
dispensaries in Middleville.
Grand opening dates for both establishments have yet to be announced.The public ranked community health the highest
amongst a list of priorities for spending Kent County
ARPA funds. (Source: kentcountyarpa.com/dash-
board/)Kent County Administrator Al Vanderberg discusses ARPA funding in a forum
at Gaines Township Hall. Seated: Kent County Board of Commissioners Chairman
Stan Stek and District 2 Commissioner Emily Brieve. (Photo by James Gemmell)