American Rescue Plan

CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – The Cibola County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting on Tuesday, July 6. The majority of the meeting was used to discuss the American Rescue Plan and how it applies to Cibola County and the individual parts that it encompasses. For those watching from home, there was no audio for the entirety of the meeting, but the ARP presentation slides could be seen in the video, accessible on the Cibola County Commission Facebook page.

The first slide of the presentation provided this background information: “On May 10, the U.S. Department of Treasury released an interim final rule, FAQs and a fact sheet for a portion of the $362 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, established under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) signed into law on March 11 by President Biden.”

According to another slide of the presentation, there are $8.26 million available in the ARP funds for this area, and it will be divided among the three government entities. The City of Grants will receive $2.2 million, the Village of Milan will receive $907,841, and Cibola County will receive $5.17 million.

The presentation also reported what has been done so far regarding these funds. Meetings have been conducted between the county, city, and village to discuss potential projects and how those projects measure up to the rules and regulations set the by the U.S. Department of Treasury. From there, projects were either eliminated or added to the list of considerations, depending on how they fit the federal parameters.

These parameters basically outline how each area and entity can and cannot use the ARP funds. As listed in the presentation, the rules specified that funds can be used for supporting public health expenditures, addressing negative economic impacts, replacing lost public sector revenue, providing premium pay for essential workers, and investing in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.

Specifications were also listed for what the ARP funds cannot be used for. The funds cannot be used for pension funds, reducing net tax revenue, rainy day funds or reserves, general infrastructure outside of water, sewer, and broadband (meaning no roads or bridges), legal settlements or judgements, funding debt services, or non-federal match programs.

The presentation went further to explain how projects will be selected based on how well they fit the regulations and also how they would benefit the most people in all three communities. The presentation also reassured the board that the projects do not need to be identified and chosen right away because the ARP funds will be disbursed throughout the next few years, not all at once.

Some of the potential projects listed for Cibola County included partnering with RedBolt Broadband, Elkins Road Drainage, Business Boot Camps and Pop-Up Business Trainings, and the Text My Gov program.

Potential City of Grants projects include an Upgrade/Upsize of Water Service in Southside of I-40, Wastewater Treatment Plant Blower Building (which has since been approved as an emergency preventative action of the plant almost going septic), Repairs/Replacement and Surge Protection, Environmentally Friendly Sludge Management System, and Text My Gov.

The Village of Milan’s potential projects consist of Water Meter Replacements, Lift Station Repairs and Replacement, Well B-35 Diagnostics and Repairs, and Text My Gov. The costs and benefits of each of these potential projects were also reviewed.

Following the presentation, no final decisions were made. Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher and her team are mainly focused on giving each governmental entity some things to consider moving forward. Cibola County Planning Coordinator Anna Larson, City of Grants Projects Coordinator Donald Jaramillo, and Village of Milan Accounts Payable Clerk Candi Williams are all working together to move these plans forward slowly but surely, ensuring that these funds are used in the most beneficial way possible for the area.

The next regular commission meeting will be held on Thursday, July 22, at 5 p.m.