ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second 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 the remaining ARPA balance. A final story will talk about other plans for the money.
Having approved more than $425,000 in funding for projects for its Road and Bridge, fire and EMS departments, Seward County commissioners next moved to spending nearly $92,000 in money the county received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act at their Dec. 30, 2024, special meeting.
Administrator April Warden said while much of the talk centered around thermostats in county buildings, she said there is much more that goes into making facilities energy efficient. She added with little time remaining to earmark ARPA money for projects, as the county had until Dec. 31, 2024, to finalize plans for the funding, she too believed there was not enough funding to do the work needed.
“I think it’s going to be a bigger project down the road for us,” she said.
Warden said much of the money already spent by the county went to pay the consulting firms, Kirkham Michael & Associates and Professional Engineering Consultants, for work on putting together a plan to help replace the Massoni Bridge.
“We haven’t paid PEC yet,” she said. “We’re under contract with PEC for the geotechnical work. Also, what you’ve paid Union Pacific Railroad, all of that has come out of your Road and Bridge Special Highway Fund.”
Warden said she spoke with officials from the county’s ARPA consultant, iParametrics, and she said it would be possible to do a transfer back to the Special Highway Fund and pay the remaining balance from ARPA money.
Nearly $330,000 has been spent on bleachers at the rodeo arena at the Seward County Fairgrounds, with $500,000 initially earmarked for the project.
At the Dec. 30 meeting, Warden presented commissioners with a change order on the bleachers, this time for regrading a road in the parking area outside of the arena for proper drainage.
“That’s putting it at the proper slope and draining it towards the drainage ditch at the Activity Center,” she said. “That’s the reason the cost of that is $9,775.”
Warden said money included in the rodeo arena is to help anchor the existing bleachers, and she said the original cost has decreased.
“That is already included in your rodeo arena,” she said. “We had originally put $500,000 in the amount obligated. I’ve lowered that to $483,547.15. That includes the change orders that are in front of you.”
County Contract Consultant Neil Coffey said the change order on the bleachers is to put railroad ties below the runners, level them and put down corner ties to keep them from blowing in the wind.
Coffey likewise said drainage issues at the fairgrounds would be somewhat solved with the change order.
“That flow out towards the existing road would lower the crown of the road enough to allow that water to transgress across the road and into that drainage ditch that runs north and south,” he said. “We carry those waters away rather than let them pond up around the handicap parking.”
Coffey said once the grading portion of the project is done, if gravel is needed, it would be brought in by Road and Bridge workers.
In another meeting with iParametrics, Warden said because the county used not-to-exceed amounts with some items, there is a possiblity some of these items could come in under budget.
“I asked them do we just lose those funds,” she said. “They said treasury is going to have a webinar sometime after the first of the year. They are waiting on the treasury to give details as to how you can reallocate those funds and would paperwork would be necessary. You have a copy of all of the binding documents we need, and we’re taking formal action in this meeting.”
Commissioner Presephoni Fuller praised the work of county officials and what has been done and will be done with the ARPA money.
“In the grand scheme of things, when you look at this list, a lot of things have been accomplished,” she said.
Warden said Kirkham Michael had been paid $89,250, Union Pacific Railroad had been paid $14,190.92, and PEC had been paid $9,980 from the ARPA meeting. She added the county is still under contract with Kirkham Michael.
A total of $192,760 was earmarked for consulting fees, and as of Dec. 30, there was a remaining balance of $176,540.75. Warden said before she presented the final numbers to commissioners, consulting fees were not touched due to ongoing agreements.
“When we contracted with them in 2021, they thought that’s what it would cost to oversee our projects,” she said.
Warden said the cost of the rodeo arena project could be left at $500,000, but she said there are not any more anticipated costs tied up in the rodeo arena, so she freed up some money from that project.
Fuller said this and other areas of the ARPA budget could leave some wiggle room for other suggestions.
“You overestimated some of the cost, and if we are able to allocate that to areas where we’ve depleted funding, I think that would be the smart thing to do,” she said.
With the Massoni Bridge still a few years from completion, Fuller said an immediate need is the Road and Bridge department.
Commission Vice Chair Tammy Sutherland-Abbott said she would like to see some of the remaining money given to county staff.
“Can it be used for salaries?” she said.
Commission Chairman Scott Carr, however, said the county needs to be cautious with this direction, as some employees were given a cost of living adjustment in 2024 that covers this year.
“We were going to wait until December to see how much carryover we had,” he said. “We could make a longevity payment.”
Commissioner C.J. Wettstein said commissioners had been discussing for many years addressing parking lots at the Activity Center and the Ag Building.
“Would we be able to add those two projects?” he said. “That’s a project we could sure get finished by 2026.”
With the urgent need to finalize a plan, though, Warden advised against that direction.
“The only thing is I do have to have a binding document, and I would have to see if somebody could get us pricing by tomorrow,” she said.
Warden said the suggested $50,000 for employee bonuses would need to be examined as to how to be distributed between the county’s full-time and part-time employees. Sutherland-Abbott said the actual number was $48,700, and the distribution would be made with $200 bonuses going to full-time workers and $100 bonuses going to part-time help.
“To me, our employees are our greatest asset,” Sutherland-Abbott said. “I wasn’t trying to be frivolous and go overboard with it, but share with them something so they know they’re appreciated.”
Warden said an accurate number was not yet available as to how much carryover was currently in the county’s budget.
“I do know at budget work session, you guys had said when we get past the the 13th month, we’ll take a look at things and see where we are,” she said. “It does scare me if you would be able to sustain a raise being where we are in the budget. I would feel more comfortable seeing where we are after the 13th month, and then you would determine if you could do another longevity. In 2021, you guys did a longevity bonus, and it came to $200,000. That’s the very first item you did with the ARPA money in 2021.”
Warden said closing remarks are expected to be heard soon in a case involving the Arkalon Energy ethanol plant.
“Those closing remarks are done in February, so we will know something then,” she said. “We really don’t know where we’re going to be until after we know where the mill levy’s going to be.”
Wettstein said giving bonuses rather than raises, which the commission later approved in the meeting, was the right direction to go.
“If we do a raise, we’re locked into a certain amount of money, and if we do a bonus, they’ve got a bonus, and it can be looked at next year,” he said. “I think if we’re going to do something, we should do a bonus and not a raise.”
Commissioner Steve Helm said recent budget numbers had shown the county had about $12 million to $13 million in carryover in its budget. Warden, though, said those numbers were only as of November 2024.
“You still don’t have December,” she said. “The 13th month usually is not done until the end of February.”
