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FUND DISBURSEMENT … Brad Peebles discusses COVID Relief funding with Council. (PHOTO BY BILL O’CONNELL, STAFF)
By Bill O’Connell
At the first August meeting of the Delta Village Council, Village Administrator Brad Peebles informed the Council of funds received from Ohio House Bill 481, legislation written to accept funding from the federal government through the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security).
The Village is set to receive $87,000 of the $1.4 million allotted to Fulton County and is allowed to spend the monies on things financially and negatively impacted by the pandemic.
The Council agreed that the disbursement process and recipients needed to be discussed in a Finance Committee meeting and would adhere to guidelines provided by the state. Mr. Peebles said he would discuss a meeting time with Finance Committee Chairperson Lynne Frank, who was not in attendance and advised expediency on the matter given that the funds must be spent by the end of October of 2020.
He also recommended where some of the funding might be best spent. “One of the things that is allowed, and I believe Council should give some consideration to, is you can use it to economically stimulate businesses within the Village that have been adversely affected by COVID,” said the Administrator.
“I think it would be a worthwhile gesture if a mechanism could be reviewed and evaluated for businesses that have been the most impacted. I’ll use the most apparent, restaurants, bars, businesses that depend on walk-in every-day traffic. They could be given a portion of theses funds to offset losses.”
Mr. Peebles went on to explain that part of his reasoning was that the tax revenue being received by the Village has rebounded to close to last year’s numbers after being down by as much as 24% in March. “With that in mind I thing we should give heartful consideration to looking at the businesses in town. If there is a thought process that agrees with that then we’ll have to come up with a formula and a mechanism in our process to do that,” he added.
Funds not used will be returned to the County for a possible second round of disbursement open to all County municipalities. The Village Services Committee called for a public hearing to discuss the proposed traffic flow modification of Monroe Street.
If the proposal is agreed to, Monroe Street would be changed to one-way heading north from Main Street to Palmwood. With a larger than normal crowd expected and a need to maintain social distancing, Mr. Peebles recommended holding the hearing in the auditorium of Pike-Delta-York High School sometime in September.
A third and final reading of Ordinance 20-08, authorizing the Village Administrator to dispose of certain real estate not needed for any municipal purpose was approved. Also passing was the first reading of Ordinance 20-16, authorizing the Village Administrator to execute an amendment to Contract 2017-67 with Fulton County Commissioners for the treatment of leachate from the former county landfill.
Earlier in the meeting, Becky Thatcher addressed the Council, announcing her candidacy for the position of Fulton County Commissioner. Ms. Thatcher is running as a non-partisan candidate for the spot being vacated by current commissioner Bill Rufenacht.
The next meeting will be held on August 17, 2020 at 5:30 PM in Memorial Hall. Pandemic safety guidelines will still be in effect.
Bill can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com