WARREN — Mecca trustees are seeking $175,000 of Trumbull County’s remaining American Rescue Plan funds to provide the final amount needed to build a town hall and community center that will provide preschool services for its youngest residents as well as medical and social services for its retired residents.

Trustee Christen Clemson said during Tuesday’s weekly commissioners workshop that the new town hall will double the amount of child care available from 20 children to 40. The new facility also will be a place where older residents may be able to go for vaccines and other medical needs.

“We are hoping to have welfare checks and to use it as a safe facility should we have bad weather,” she said. “We are hoping to have an educational facility.”

Clemson pointed out that once the facility is built, it will be cheaper to operate than the current town hall because the building and the equipment within it will be modern and up-to-date.

“We will rent out a portion of it, so it will bring in money,” she said.

While sympathetic to the passion that Clemson showed when making the request, Commissioner Tony Bernard said the county has virtually no ARP funds remaining, and there are other projects the board is looking to fund with the remaining amount.

“My problem is if we give you $175,000 out of the ARP funds and then we need that for our projects, then I will have to borrow $175,000,” he said. “I don’t think it will sit well.”

Bernard asked if the township could cut back the scope of its project or just do less.

“Can you borrow the $175,000 and then pay it back?” he asked Clemson.

“My township does not have the capacity to borrow that level of money,” she responded. “We just don’t.”

“By the time Commissioner Rick Hernandez and I joined the board, nearly 90% of the ARP money had been spent.” Bernard said. “There are some projects that have come in under budget, and we’re trying to move the coroner and hopefully use some of it on the 911 equipment and emergency management.”

Bernard questioned what the county is supposed to do if it does not have the money to provide Mecca.

“Without this money, we will not be able to build this,” she said. “This will improve the quality of life for my people.”

Commissioner Denny Malloy, who served on the board two years before the other commissioners, argued they should provide the funds being requested.

He noted Mecca trustees did not ask for the county’s ARP funds as other communities had.

“If they had, we likely would have given it to them,” Malloy said. “They are asking for an amount lower than other communities. Why give them the short straw?”

Malloy said if Mecca officials are willing to work with the county, he’ll fight until his last day as a commissioner to get them the money they need to complete the community center.

Clemson said the township previously received some funds, but, over time, the price for the project increased. The community previously raised $540,000 for the community center, but the total project cost is now projected to be $715,000.

Mecca has a town hall attached to its fire department that houses about 40 people standing close together, she said.

A portion of the money already raised for this project is ARP funds that were given directly to the township.

“The purpose of the ARP money was to benefit the community,” Clemson said. “We saw this as a huge need for our community. Child care is probably one of the top things in the state of Ohio that we need and our community is no different.”

Another portion of the funds came from an Ohio Capital Improvement grant, she said.

The effort is to complete the building project by the end of 2026.

Shara Taylor, a county commissioner employee, questioned if the township could reduce the amount required from the county to $100,000 instead of $175,000.

Clemson agreed to go back to the township’s architect to determine what could be done to lower costs. However, she added, the town hall being planned already is bare-boned, without any extras that add to its costs.

“We can discuss it,” she said. “I will make that phone call.”