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WARREN -- Trumbull County has about $800,000 left of the approximately $38 million it received from the American Rescue Plan funds to allocate for projects.
Commissioners already have allocated or spent $26.1 million of the ARP funds for a variety of community projects around the county, as well as county infrastructure projects.
There are 37 proposed projects commissioners have allocated or are considering providing ARP money for, if they meet all federal requirements. Each project proposal being considered for funding will be reviewed by an attorney from the Canton-based law firm of Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley & Matthews, which was hired to make sure the proposals fulfill all federal requirements.
Commissioners agreed to use $250,000 of the ARP funds to pay for the law firm to review all of the project proposals.
Commissioner Niki Frenchko said her preference was to handle legal and administrative services in house as opposed to outside counsel. She said a "good county administrator" could have handled compliance issues.
Commissioner Denny Malloy said the county is moving on schedule to have its funds allocated by the end of the year. The awardees of the ARP grants have until 2026 to use all the awarded funds.
"The estimated $800,000 balance is based on all of the projects the commissioners agreed should be considered for funding are approved," Malloy said.
"Some have not. We likely will have more than $800,000 to provide once all of the 'yes' and 'maybe' awards have been vetted and approved."
Malloy said his goal has been to make sure every corner of the county received some portion of the ARP funds.
DENIED OR UNDER REVIEW
So far, six requests have been denied funding -- a Hubbard Township salt storage facility, a Kinsman sign request, a McCleary Jacoby Road paving project, the restoration of Bushnell Campbell Road and remodeling projects at the Johnson Community Center in Warren Township and Mesopotamia Township Hall.
Communities and organizations that have been denied funding have been contacted either to revise their original requests, which may enable them to later be approved, or they could provide the county with a different request for assistance.
As of last week, the law firm is reviewing requests for a Leavittsburg Train Station Gallery restoration and modernization, $147,700; a Coalburg Lake Dam study being requested by the Kilar Foundation, $297,778; a Veterans Outreach project to restore the building's facade, replace windows and address stormwater damage, $90,000; the purchase of an ambulance for Bristol Township Fire Department, $175,000; the purchase of a generator for Kinsman, $30,338; Hubbard Historical Society, $24,998; the purchase of an outdoor LED sign for Johnston Township, $22,169; and a sign for Kinsman, $4,165.
There are 22 additional projects commissioners have approved funding for, but the projects have not been reviewed to ensure they are qualified. The combined amount being considered for these requests is $2.9 million.
Frenchko said the county would have been "upside down financially" without the ARP funds.
"The absence of financial planning, capital budgeting, poor budget controls and general mismanagement over last decades, demonstrated by 911 and the sheriff department being over budget by millions, and structural emergencies, like buildings caving in and blowing off, put the county in a position where the ARP funds essentially put a Band-Aid on the mismanagement hemorrhage," Frenchko stated in an email.
County Auditor Martha Yoder said there are 28 requests for funding, valued at $12.4 million, that were placed on a "maybe list" to be considered.
Based on the fact there is about $800,000 remaining if all of the requests on the yes list are approved, the county likely will not get to most on the maybe list, Yoder said.
APPROVED PROJECTS
Of the projects already approved for funding, 11 have been water and sanitary sewer related projects, which received $4.6 million.
"The ARP funds were able to plug the holes in underfunded water and sewer projects, finally addressing consent decrees and providing services to residents who needed it, getting the county out and (Band-Aid) the hemorrhaging due to the absence of financial planning, proper operational and capital budgeting and general mismanagement of the last decade," Frenchko stated.
In the majority of the cases, the ARP funds approved only provided a portion of what was needed to do the projects. The remainder of the funds needed to complete the projects come from state loans and grants, as well as the county's budget.
"Providing clean water and the safe handling and removal of sewage is the purest form of mitigating COVID, which is why these funds are being provided," Malloy said. "It is essential."
Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said the ARP funds have allowed the county to address sanitary sewer and water projects it normally would not have been able to fund. Also, the funding made some of the projects affordable to residents needing to hook up to the sewers.
The county has provided $27.2 million to improvement projects related to its court buildings, including adding chillers and coolers for the Trumbull County Family Court and the Common Pleas Court buildings; windows for Judge Ronald Rice's courtroom; a boiler for the family court building; as well as digital radios and a transfer switch for the county's family court building.
Public safety projects throughout the county received $2.6 million of the ARP funds, including $754,142 to purchase ambulances for fire departments in Bazetta, Braceville, Champion and Girard. Commissioners are considering providing ARP funds for two additional fire departments -- Bristol and Southington.
Other public safety projects that received ARP funding include $25,551 to provide MARCs radios for Vienna, $875,000 for a MARCs tower; $588,821 for MARCs radios for Trumbull County 911; $26,000 for Johnston EMS; and $58,620 for an EMA vehicle.
The county used $2.9 million of ARP's revenue loss funding to balance the sheriff's office's budget in 2022. The county had the ability to use $10 million of it $38 million on revenue loss.
Under revenue loss, the county could use a portion of the ARP funds to replace lost public sector revenue.
Other projects provided funds from the revenue loss category included using $934,415 for vehicles and equipment in the sheriff's office; $558,495 for the Board of Elections roof replacement; $37,609 to purchase digital radios for the county's family court building; $23,399 for the Board of Elections roof stacks; $132,255 for Trumbull 911 phone stations; $430,000 for the Planning Commission building's roof replacement; $350,000 for the county's law library steps replacement; and $1 million for a mobile command post.
The county provided more than $5.3 million of the ARP funds for community-based projects, including $350,000 to the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County; $370,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank; $250,000 to ACTION for a food truck; $65,000 to Mesopotamia Museum; $94,000 to the Bloomfield Community Commons; $35,000 to Cortland Community Foundation; $25,000 to Healthy Hearts and Paws; $27,099 to Johnston for a greenspace; $264,000 to Braceville Community Foundation to help create an African American museum; $58,829 to the Harriet Upton Taylor Association; $63,000 for the Niles Historical Society; and $60,000 for the Vienna Historical Society.
Malloy said many community organizations, museums and parks that depend on residents going to them suffered during the pandemic, so providing some help from the ARP funds was important to their survival and important to their communities.
Cantalamessa wants much of the remaining available ARP funds to be preserved for broadband expansion.
"Both broadband availability and affordability have yet to be adequately addressed, in my opinion," Cantalamessa said.
Frenchko said she wants to make sure the county has enough budgeted for change orders that may arise at the Trumbull County Fair 4-H building, which she said she "worked hard to qualify," to address stormwater management and remaining township requests.