To invest up to $5 million in remaining ARPA dollars, should the City Council:
- Focus on building projects, a.k.a. capital or infrastructure, that are the most basic and simple to achieve?
- Continue supporting agencies that offer staffing to address human needs, from health care to community centers, which can be more difficult to oversee and maintain because they require annual operating budgets and more accounting?
Council members are sticking with programs along with buildings. In favor of keeping the approach are Michael Balls, Bill Ostash, Michael Flores, Monique Lamar Silvia and Priscilla Garcia. On the opposite side, supporting infrastructure for the closeout, are Mayor Brenda Moore and Pro-Tem Annie Boensch. Absent again this week were Reggie Williams II and George Copeland, both for the second time for the three latest revived sessions regarding ARPA, the federal American Rescue Plan Act, aimed to assist communities in COVID-19-related economic and social recovery.
But whether bricks for buildings or bodies for services, the council has come no closer, after three years, to making final decisions in either category for the record-setting ARPA grant of $52 million, which is Saginaw’s share of $1.9 trillion allocated in 2021, covid’s peak, back when the new Biden Administration had Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate.
The deadline for spending decisions is the end of this year, with disbursements by December 2026, but elected leaders are discovering that they must act prior to Dec. 31 so that all the paperwork and accounting can be ready. Flores said the goal should be for final votes within the next several meetings. There’s a three-week break until the next session Monday, July 8. Past councils conducted business weekly.
Moore and Boensch have become frustrated with snags involving third-party agencies, for example the newly-formed YEARN, Youth Employment And Recreation Network, an effort to revive de-funded summer jobs, led by clergy Hurley Coleman Jr. and Larry Camel, because the city general fund, according to Guidehouse, may have to reimburse the feds for $400,000 deemed unaccounted in summer job salaries for young workers.
The $850,000 contract for oversight by Guidehouse consultants, employed by communities across the nation for ARPA expertise, expires this summer. The mayor and the pro-tem say infrastructure is the most cost-effective way to wrap up the budget without incurring higher Guidehouse fees.
Silvia and Balls said it would be “not fair” to exclude outreach agencies and operations staffing, because the original request for proposals in 2022 did not state buildings-only.
Flores and Balls support $740,000 for “Come Out, Stay Out,” a project to combat prison recidivism, although Balls notes he cannot vote because he is an employee. This led to Moore taking her turn with a “not fair” stand, because the proposal was not among initial submissions two summers ago. This led to back-and-forth debate on allowing new ideas beyond the so-called original “portal,” with Flores asserting that exclusion of new agency projects would “handcuff” the council’s options.
However, a recent unanimous decision involved a new program, the Saginaw African Cultural Festival’s three summer Freedom Schools. SACF was in the portal but Freedom Schools — named for both legendary educator Charles McNair and for Mississippi’s 1964 summer in civil rights — were not. The amount is $50,000, an example of the council being more decisive on some comparatively smaller sums that “simply made sense,” regardless of capital versus program or of portal versus new.
One group among original portal applicants that never received a response is the PartnerShift Network, formerly Saginaw Business and Education Network, represented by five speakers who pursued redress of the overlook. The Mission in the City Park at Sixth and Janes raised a similar concern last year. In spite of their differences otherwise, council members generally agree that not all applicants were given full consideration from the start.
Balls and Flores joined Silvia’s past criticism of $5 million for the $100 million downtown Medical Diamond facility, aimed for the old farmer’s market site at Millard and Washington, saying they fail to see action. However, June 17 was the same meeting as the council invested the first $1.372 million for site preparation, as health care continues to supplant manufacturing as Saginaw’s top employer.
About $1 million remains from the original $52 million, while another $4 million is interest on unspent monies like with the Medical Diamond, along with accounts that naturally have moved more slowly, like work at City Hall, Hoyt Park, Ojibway Island and the cemeteries, or for that matter, home repair projects
As for buildings versus programming, two grantees — Women of Colors and the Mexican American Council — won ARPA funds for both, but then received approval to switch operations to capital when facility needs became top priority. WOC received $275,000 for a structure at 3057 Davenport, and founder Evelyn McGovern reported that another $150,000 is requested for fixups, mainly a leaky roof.
As for maybe cutting Guidehouse ties, Ostash said he understands the displeasure but asked, “Who are we going to hire in the middle of the program?”
Debate peaked at the close of the half-hour discussion when raised voices between Balls and Moore led to “point of order” calls from other members. Also, Moore said statements from Flores indicated he has not read the 400-page proposal book issued in 2022, which he vehemently denied. Silvia claimed Moore and Boensch want to “claw back” monies already approved for program operations, which neither has proposed.
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