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11/05/2024 03:04 PMAt a meeting on Oct. 16, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) and Board of Finance (BOF) approved a final list of seven projects using American Rescue Plan Act (APRA) funding. The projects go to a town meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in town hall for final approval.
ARPA was designed two years ago to provide federal money to municipalities for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Westbrook received $2,032,884.58 in funding. Since then, the BOS and BOF have been tasked with developing a list of projects that could use the money. Due to federal regulations, the money must be allocated by Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024.
At a joint meeting on Oct. 16, the boards both approved a final list of six projects related to the Visiting Nurses, the Social Services department, the Town Clerk’s office, paving, the landfill, and sidewalks. The BOF further approved another project for Safe Harbor Marina. The total cost for all the projects comes to $814,534.02
The projects include:
An appropriation of $5,000 to the Visiting Nurses for isolation equipment
An appropriation of $25,000 to the Social Services Department for resident needs
An appropriation of $2,400 to the Town Clerk for early voting
An appropriation of $434,500 for paving
An apportion of $150,000 for a scale and site work at the transfer station
An appropriation of $179,256.02 for sidewalk replacement on Fishing Brook and West Pond Meadow
A sum not to exceed $18,378 appropriated for Safe Harbor to install a drinking water chlorine feed pump
Speaking after the meeting, BOF chairman Paul Winch said this would be the last round of APRA approvals.
“We wanted to do it now so we could go to the BOS and then town meeting and get everything done by the deadlines so we weren’t waiting to December,” Winch said.
Originally, the money was going to be used to help with a downtown wastewater treatment plan. However, that project is far from certain, and in addition to the money being obligated by December, APRA guidelines require projects using ARPA money to be completed by December 2026. Even if the wastewater project is approved it is unlikely to be completed in that time frame.
“That project is still a priority. If it’s approved, we will revisit funding it on the town side using capital project appropriations or bonding. We weren’t going to be able to fund it by the deadlines, though,” Winch said.
Winch said the projects the two boards approved at the meeting were “investment in the town” that he was proud of.
“The Safe Harbor project is a good one. Chris Ehlert and the Board of Directors there do a great job. And the increased paving and sidewalks I was proud of. I was really pleased to see those projects funded. Truly I think all of them are great,” Winch said.
Reflecting on the work the BOF did over the last two years to make sure the ARPA funds were all properly spent according to the extensive APRA guidelines, Winch credited the partnership between the BOF and BOS.
“I thought we handled it very well. We immediately put money aside for social services to use and made sure that money was chipped away. I think having joint BOS and BOF meetings was smart. We were all able to give ideas back and forth and reach a consensus,” Winch said.