The City of Colusa has remaining COVID-19 relief money and officials aren’t exactly itching to spend it until they have some direction from the public.
Sadie Ash, the city’s contracted public information officer, Colusa City Manager Jesse Cain, Councilwoman Denise Conrado, Finance Director Ishrat Aziz-Khan, and Grant Writer Fernanda Vanetta made themselves available for discussion and questions about the city’s $1.4 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act, but only one member of the public showed up for the early evening meeting at the public library on May 5.
Ash said another “Community Conversation” meeting is scheduled for 5:30 PM on May 24, inside the conference room across from council chambers at Colusa City Hall. Members of the public are invited to participate.
Colusa is also conducting an informal online survey, which will be open until June 3.
“I’m just trying to capture some information: their age range, if they are a city resident or a county resident, because it’s asking you what your priorities are: what you would spend money on.”
President Joe Biden signed the ARPA on March 11, 2021, which sent a substantial amount of taxpayer money to states to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The intended use of the funds is “to meet pandemic response needs and rebuild a more robust, more equitable economy as the country recovers.”
The city has received its first of two installments, with the City Council approving about $346,000 on premium pay for city employees who worked during the pandemic, two police vehicles, police radios, and broadband.
The remaining amount available is just under $1.2 million, although the city’s vehicle needs, software needs, and city hall repairs greatly exceed that, Cain said.
The police department has requested $300,000 for vehicle radios and a sewer upgrade; the fire department has requested $350,000 for a fire truck and equipment; and City Hall needs about $450,000 to replace accounting software, upgrade the sewer, upgrade communications networks, and make repairs to City Hall, a historic building.
City officials have not ruled out additional qualifying ideas, including small grants to nonprofits that lost fundraising but incurred expenses during the pandemic, although it was left off the survey, park projects, and community buildings.
ARPA funds could also be used to purchase the Colusa Theater, which is currently in property negotiations. The city began discussions on converting the theater to a community center in 2021.
Other eligible uses of ARPA funds would include a homeless shelter and after school programs, which officials said the city would not likely be able to address with limited staff and funds.
Ash said she and Cain will take the information they receive from the public to the City Council workshop on June 21. City officials said the public should remain engaged in these discussions.
The city must present a spending plan to the state by 2024, showing a detail of how all the money will be spent by December, 2026, Ash said. ■