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WARREN -- West Farmington Mayor Shirley McIntosh on Wednesday asked Trumbull County commissioners if they will establish an application and ranking process for entities to submit projects for consideration to receive American Rescue Plan funding.
"We've been lead to believe that for months now," McIntosh said of the application and ranking. "Are you going to move forward with that, yes or no?"
Trumbull County received a $38 million slice of some $250 million in ARP funding allotted to the Mahoning Valley. A ranking system for proposed projects from communities within the county previously has been discussed during commissioners' meetings but has not been finalized.
Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said an application and ranking system is not yet in place.
"The one thing we don't want to do is rush something through that we aren't going to feel comfortable with later on," Cantalamessa told McIntosh, who called into the meeting by phone.
McIntosh said after discussion at the commissioners' Sept. 15 meeting, she believed an item regarding the application would be placed on the agenda. At that time, Cantalamessa said he would introduce a proposal at the workshop meeting before the regular meeting.
Cantalamessa said part of the delay in establishing an application and ranking system was that people in the office had been out, including himself, and now Commissioner Niki Frenchko.
Frenchko was absent from Wednesday's meeting. Cantalamessa and Commissioner Frank Fuda said they did not know why.
McIntosh said communities should "have some input as to how this should be handled," seemingly taking issue with the county sanitary sewer and water projects previously proposed by Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough.
Newbrough previously said the county projects needed for the sanitary sewer and water district should not be in competition with other government entities that received their own ARP allocations.
McIntosh said Newbrough is not an elected official.
"I don't believe he should be allowed to call all the shots, and some of the answers I've gotten so far have led me to believe he he would like me to just go away," McIntosh said.
Cantalamessa said those county sanitary sewer and water district projects only should account for a portion of the county's ARP funds, estimating that at "$10 (million) or $20 million," and implied the remaining funding would be available to help other communities' projects.
"These take precedent because you're our shovel-ready projects, and the ARP funding that came to Trumbull County should be used for this first," Cantalamessa said.
He added the money does not just have to be used for sewer, water and broadband, and the county has to "determine how much we want to put back into the community."
ARP funds also can be used to support public health response by funding COVID-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses and behavioral health care, among some other uses, according to the National Association of Counties.
Cantalamessa assured McIntosh a ranking system for projects will be put in place.