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06/23/2021 08:25 AMAfter receiving a final confirmation of more than $5.3 million in grants from the federal American Rescue Plan, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) at a special meeting on June 14 began what promises to be lengthy discussions over how to spend the significant money intended to help the town address COVID recovery across a broad spectrum of industries and areas.
Starting with a list of $100,000 worth of investments in things First Selectman Peggy Lyons (D) characterized as relatively uncontroversial and smaller-scale needs, the town will look to put a long-term plan together before October, working in conjunction with other town employees and stakeholders.
“We’re going to be very cautious about how we spend this money, and hopefully over the next couple months there will be more detailed information coming out from the U.S. Treasury about making sure that what we’re doing is going to be approved,” Lyons said.
Those initial items that were proposed include public safety costs around upcoming celebrations of the Fourth of July in town, meeting room upgrades, beach maintenance, and trash collection, among other things, and Lyons said these items are almost certainly qualified based on conversations with other towns and regional government organizations.
But Lyons admitted that there will be “challenges” around both prioritizing items as well as meeting the restrictions placed on the monies by the federal government.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” she said. “Every state and town is trying to figure this out.”
Madison is supposed to receive the grant in two parts, half later this month and then the rest 12 months from now, in the summer of 2022, according to Lyons.
A longer-term plan including much bigger projects is intended to grow out of the Long Term Recovery Committee (LTRC), a disparate body including elected officials, non-profit leaders, educators, and representatives from faith-based and other community organizations. Lyons convened that committee in November 2020, and it has already engaged in discussions even before Madison knew about the specific grants or amounts.
As of now, there are only very broad guidelines as far as what does or does not qualify as COVID expenses, according to Lyons. Infrastructure and economic development and even certain types of maintenance—to the town’s beaches, for instance—will likely be allowed, Lyons said.
In response to questions about the potential process from Selectman Bruce Wilson (R), Lyons said the town wouldn’t commit to any larger-scale projects until they had more specific guidance, for fear that Madison might be left with a large bill for taxpayers to cover if the federal government decided it did not qualify for the grants.
How the town approves the money is also still being figured out, with the Board of Finance almost certainly needing to sign off on plans and projects as well, though how the public will weigh in is not clear.
Lyons described a scenario that would see the public have a chance to respond to a draft plan, with the potential of other public hearings or town meetings depending on how Madison has to fit the grants into its other long-term planning, including the Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
“This is unprecedented, so we want to make sure that we set up something that works well,” she said.
Things like helping pay for public safety for the fireworks display will almost definitely qualify because they have to do with lost revenue during COVID, which is explicitly allowed by the grants, she said.
Conflict
A new temporary, part-time position in the Health Department ended up sparking controversy along party lines, despite Lyons and Health Director Trent Joseph describing it as one of the more urgent needs, as well as very clearly COVID-related.
That specific position, which would be funded at about $24,000 for only two years through the grant, was placed on hold over objections from both Wilson and fellow Republican Erin Duques, whose arguments seemed to be that the BOS should gather additional information before adding a new position that technically could become a permanent part of the budget in a couple years.
“We crafted a budget...that had COVID front and center on our minds, and this position wasn’t in it,” Wilson said. “I get we have some free money. I just want to understand better how the pieces all fit together.”
“I just feel like this is a bigger issue, and it just feels very operational and I feel like maybe it should be looked at within that context,” Duques said.
Lyons pushed back, saying that the pressure to keep taxes down was what resulted in the position not being considered during the last budget process, but that the $5.3 million seemed perfectly designed to address this kind of need.
“I get you are concerned about [the position continuing] past year two, but that’s a conversation we would have in our budget deliberations two years from now,” she said. “I think that we need the assistance for the Health Department soon.”
Lyons also pointed out the BOS had not long ago approved a temporary Health Department position to deal with contract tracing during the pandemic without controversy.
Joseph also spoke out strongly at the meeting, urging the BOS to reconsider tabling consideration of the position, which technically wouldn’t even be a new hire, instead replacing a person who was absorbed by another department due to an unexpected retirement. A temporary worker will be departing on June 30, he said, potentially leaving the Health Department even more short-staffed after bearing the brunt of an overwhelming pandemic workload.
“I know that we need this position, and this has been something that has been standing on the table,” he said. “Bruce, from my understanding I didn’t think this was the first time you’d seen or heard about it. We tend to forget very easily how this whole thing started...In 2020 we were under water at the Health Department.”
“Quite frankly I’m shocked that this is not an easy approval,” he added. “I’m taking another loss [with] this after a pandemic.”
In the end, though, Wilson was unmoved, and the BOS moved on without approving the position.
“I appreciate you lobbying passionately for this,” Wilson said. “I guess I would say, what were you going to do if there were no [grant money]? What was your plan if this money didn’t come?”
Lyons said she would try to help Wilson and Duques get whatever questions they had answered as soon as possible before reconvening the board to consider that position, though likely that would be delayed further as Joseph was out of the office for a week.