Three years after they learned they would receive a record-setting $52 million in federal funding, Saginaw City Council members still have not decided how to allocate all of the dollars.
Closeout action on ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act, again was delayed last Friday to begin the new year, after 2023 was consumed by a pair of six-month tabling motions on a final sum of more than $2.49 million. The latest postponement came during the council’s annual long-range planning session, where such matters normally are addressed more in-depth.
Councilwoman Monique Lamar Silvia attempted to propose line items for the remaining dollars, but the other eight members — including Reggie Williams II and Priscilla Garcia, who were supposed to join her on a review committee — indicated they were not familiar with the proposal and need time for consideration. To view that portion, click here.
A tabling motion stopped Silvia in her tracks after she began with a motion to provide nearly $200,000 to the Saginaw African Cultural Festival. We asked her the obvious question, which was what other agencies did she intend to support? She responded she would share such a list afterward, but it has not been received.
The next meeting, back to regular agendas, is Monday, Jan. 22. Also delayed until then is a report on investing ARPA funds for a major urban food co-op or supermarket, but this was because of Friday’s oncoming storm, not due to lack of communication.
Overall discussion closed in early afternoon, three hours prior to the snowfall, even after Mayor Brenda Moore repeatedly asked at the end whether members wished to continue any other planning concerns.
ARPA was approved nationally for $1.9 trillion as a first big move after President Biden’s inauguration in 2021, with Democrats still controlling all of Congress, intended as stimulus to help communities cope with COVID-19’s damage.
Saginaw’s big first-year decision was to balance the cash-strapped general budget, although Fed rules did not allow adding money for more police and other basics. The regulations are mainly a result of Democrats in D.C. insisting on more control than earlier times, when general revenue sharing was the main source of federal monies, with far fewer rules and restrictions.
Thus arrived the earmarked ARPA in 2021, while overall no-strings revenue sharing was not offered, which leads to the council still seeking a 7.5-mill public safety property tax renewal in the Feb. 27 election. Absentee ballot applications arrived this past week in city mailboxes.
To patch local spending with no more layoffs took roughly half of the $52 million. During the second year, the pace became slower, which city leaders believe was for good reasons. One was creation of a citizens’ advisory panel, and then a portal for proposals and suggestions. Council members generally set aside their own ARPA involvement during these months.
In January 2023, more millions were designated for infrastructure, shoring up City Hall, Ojibway, Hoyt and the cemeteries. The long-term Medical Diamond project, aiming for 1,000 new jobs by 2029, received its $5 million share.
A sum of $10 million remained for block grant-type programs, many which have received smaller sums, if any, through the years of CDBG and before that, Model Cities, and this is where the current snag emerges, including oversight of more than $8 million already allocated, along with the $1 million-plus on ice.
Silvia was Mayor Brenda Moore’s choice to focus on human services, geared to programs for young people, as her “bucket,” with her experience with the block grant-supported former New Alternatives Youth Services Center in the old YWCA, now Wolverine Baptist. The mayor designated other buckets for other members, based on their areas of interest and experience.
The delay with Silvia’s bucket began a year ago. To view the starting point from a meeting Jan. 23, 2023, click here.
Slow is becoming slower in oversight for the array of third-party grants within the $10 million, while figuring out what to do with the unspent monies. Silvia first offered a plan last summer, but she was rejected, and Moore named Williams and Garcia to join her “bucket” for further study, which led to the latest six-month delay.
In the third year, the council is back near square one in the community agencies aspect. The latest outlook is that Silvia, Williams and Garcia will aim to meet before Jan. 22 and report back to the full governing body with a plan. (A main purpose of three-member committees is that they can legally meet in private. But still, the full council must approve any action in public.)
On the council, Mayor Pro-Tem Annie Boensch has been a main advocate of priority for capital building projects like the Medical Diamond that hopefully will endure for years, while seeking more traditional sources for agencies that require constant monitoring and funding for staff operations. The third-party arrangements have led to more costs for the Guidehouse consultants, who indicated Friday their fees soon will exceed the original $850,000 approved in 2021 from the top of the ARPA outlay. The main reason is oversight of the $10 million community programming share of the $52 million.
A summary of Friday’s ARPA review is that City Manager Tim Morales recommended consultant experts, as did most municipalities, because the bare-bones city staff lacks capacity alone to properly manage a sudden $52 million influx, even while taking on added duties. And then the consultants have found similar challenges with the third-party contractors that lack fiduciary experts at such a high level in managing money from the federal bureaucracy.
Annual CDBG block grants, in the also-substantial range of $2.5 million per year, do not encounter similar problems. Federal ARPA oversight is coming mainly from the Treasury instead of HUD, which means the process with the feds is new for localities across the nation. The next rule on the radar is to finish allocating by the end of this year, with spending to conclude in 2026.
More on the agenda
Two items — the Medical Diamond for the long haul, and Memorial Cup hockey that will be here and gone by summer — are dominant on the local economic scene. Nothing new was forthcoming on either matter.
However, there was “breaking news” on the housing front in the manner of statistics provided by Cassi Zimmerman, director of planning and economic development. She noted that the city’s housing, built for larger families in past generations, now contains 61,000 bedrooms for 44,000 residents. This stat never before has been presented in regards to housing. New structures always are desired, but that’s a lot of unused space in the existing housing stock, even with thousands of demolitions through the decades. To view her presentation, click here.
In another development, it already has been reported that the abandoned fairgrounds are slated for a cleanup this summer, but new info is that down the road along East Genesee, the former Chevy Manufacturing Plant also is on the schedule.
Councilman Michael Balls asked about converting vacated but still viable schools for affordable housing, and Councilman Bill Ostash noted that vagrants have taken shelter at Central Middle near his Cathedral District home. A liaison group with delegates from the council and school board, along with the county board, is to meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at board headquarters on Warren at Millard.
