ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of three stories regarding a special meeting hosted by the Seward County Commission to finalize a plan for money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act. This story talks about items planned for, but not approved for funding. Future stories will talk about spending the remaining ARPA balance, as well as other plans for the money.
Seward County officials have finalized a plan for spending more than $4.16 million in money the county received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
County leaders had until Dec. 31, 2024, to earmark the funds for projects, and commissioners met with Administrator April Warden and other department heads in a special meeting Dec. 30 to come up with a plan for the money.
Warden handed out a paper with a table displaying the money the county had spent, what had been obligated, the remaining balance and the projects the money was suggested or being used for under the plan.
To date, the county had spent nearly $2.5 million of the ARPA money, with money being used for employee compensation, continuing education for nurses, consulting fees, broadband acceleration, remodeling projects, ladder trucks and software conversions.
Warden’s table likewise showed several suggested projects commissioners had not yet approved for spending, and she first reviewed those projects.
Up first was a quote for a salt spreader for Road and Bridge for $11,288.80 and a server room in the Seward County Courthouse.
“As we’ve gone through the remodel over there and they’ve put all of the equipment into a server room, it is necessary for that room to remain a certain temperature because of all the equipment in there,” she said. “This is the price to put the necessary unit in there to keep the temperature where it needs to be for the equipment.”
A third item was a new ambulance due to come into the county’s EMS department this month. Warden said the remaining balance of $77,401 on that would be paid for from the ARPA funding.
Next, rather than lease purchasing breathing apparatuses for the Seward County Fire Department, a little more than $200,000 would be used to buy new apparatuses. Warden said the number used for this item was a worst case scenario.
“We are still waiting on a payoff,” she said. “We requested that from the bank last week. I guess because of the holidays, we still didn’t have an answer coming into the meeting, so I used the worst case scenario for that – $216,385.86.”
The next items revisited the EMS department.
“You have the bay floor to redo in the EMS shop, putting carpet and flooring throughout the EMS building, the needed shelving for the EMS bay area and painting of the inside of the EMS building,” Warden said. “If we go back to the bay floor, that would be $12,500. The carpet and flooring throughout would be $7,270. The needed shelving in the bay area would be $3,465, and the painting of the complete inside of the EMS building is $15,535.”
The grandstands at the Seward County Fairgrounds were next on the list, starting with the roof. Warden said she met with Planning and Zoning officials, as well as interim Road and Bridge Supervisor Brock Theiner and fairground staff. She said initially, roofing experts quoted work to coat and put new fasteners on the existing roof.
“The roofers who did look at it said they really were not comfortable with that solution,” Warden said. “They would do it if that’s what you wanted, but they did say they felt a full replacement of the roof was necessary. The recommendation of our Planning and Zoning department is to use 24-gauge metal. That would come to a total of $75,898.”
Warden said $1,800 would cover concrete work at the grandstands and painting the edge of the stairs and the handicap areas at the fairgrounds.
“The guys went through with Planning and Zoning to get the material they felt was needed to do the repairs to the concrete, but we did not figure in paint when they asked me if we wanted to paint the edges of the stairs and the handicap spots,” she said. “I do believe we want to do that, so I’m asking for an amount not to exceed $1,800.”
Commission Vice Chair Tammy Sutherland-Abbott had several questions about this item.
“Does that make the wall safe?” she said. “Does it include that, or is it just the flooring and the steps? Is the wall all squared or not crumbling?”
“They looked at the wall, but it was all concrete within the grandstands is what I was told,” Warden said.
“It was my understanding when they looked at the concrete, the pillars and supports, if you dig into that, it’s going to become more of a project with concrete,” Theiner said. “What they were looking to do is repair it with an epoxy instead of digging too deep into it and having to just tear it all out and start over.”
With these items approved, the remaining ARPA balance would be $91,416.73, and commissioners would later discuss and approve those funds for use.
