Minutes of the ARPA Funds Working Group (Filed subject to approval)
February 10th 2022, by Zoom
Attending: Julia Pemberton, Mary Campbell, Brianna Carvalho, Karen Gifford, Wes Higgins, Mary Dale Lancaster, Chris Parkin, James Sanders
The meeting was called to order at 5.02 pm by Chair Higgins.
The minutes of the February 10th 2022 were reviewed and the motion to appoint W Higgins chair was amended to note W Mazzucco made the motion and was seconded by K Gifford.
The working group discussed the ARPA final rule and the differences between the lost revenue provision and the permitted uses of funds provision.
The members agreed on the need for a consistent application process that included an explanatory letter, a ‘Welcome Letter’, that described the review and approval process. A second document was also required – a template or series of templates that captured data on the projects provided by the applicants. Chair Higgins asked K. Gifford to draft a template for review at the next meeting.
Julia described the mailbox on the town’s website that is available to receive resident’s ideas, comments and proposals regarding the ARPA funds- ARP@townofreddingct.org . The group agreed to assist Julia in a thorough effort to inform the community of the existence of the ARPA funds and the opportunity of organizations to gain approval of compliant projects.
There was a consensus to prioritize the projects that involved a direct response to the challenges Covid created for individuals in the community. These projects would receive the first round of review with a goal of providing a report containing recommendations to the Board of Selectmen before the end of March, 2022.
The meeting was adjourned at 6.04 pm
Submitted by Wes Higgins