Saginaw County Commissioners Hear ARPA Fund Requests
Saginaw county commissioners met to hear proposals from different county agencies looking to receive ARPA funds.
County Controller Robert Belleman says 15 different groups, ranging from County agencies, like the commission on aging and county health department, to external organizations, like Saginaw Future or the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, are currently vying for a chunk of the $37 million being granted to the area.
Improvements ranging from road funding, suggested by the public works department, to mobility upgrades for county parks suggested by the Parks and recreation department, to a small business restart grant program presented by Saginaw Future were presented at this week’s Committee of the whole session.
Other county agencies put a spotlight on improving aging infrastructure or areas inaccessible to the mobility challenged, financial bonuses and pay increases for medical personnel following the pandemic, as well as bettering broadband access or online services.
County Clerk Vanessa Guerra also took a moment to speak on the possibility of using funds to help improve low income housing conditions and form a housing stability program, form an online campaign finance database, and digitize county documents- like wedding and divorce papers, Military honorable discharge documents, death certificates, and more.
Applicable groups who may have missed the deadline to speak at this week’s meeting can still submit presentation requests to go before commissioners ahead of the next round of funding.
Sag Commish ARPA WRAP3 8-31-21 raq
Saginaw County commissioners heard from 15 different internal and external groups looking to access the 37 million dollars in American rescue plan act funds being granted to the area. Officials from the county health department, commission on aging, public works, and other county agencies made a focus on improving aging infrastructure or areas inaccessible to the mobility challenged, as well as bettering Broadband access or online services. One of three separate suggestions made by County clerk Vanessa Guerra included modernizing and securing county documents by digitizing them instead of solely relying on paper copies.
