As 2022 rolls in the Adams County Commissioners are in the position of having a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend about $20 million in federal funds provided to them by the federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) that was signed into law by President Biden in March.
According to County Manager Steve Nevada the county has already received about $10 million and expects to receive the rest of the money in 2022.
The money can be used for a variety of Covid and non-Covid related projects, including revenue replacement, household and business assistance, premium pay for essential workers, and infrastructure investments.
Although the county does not need to decide on the use of the funds until 2024 and has until 2026 to spend the money, the commissioners are already considering their options.
County Manager Steve Nevada said it was too early to commit to any numbers. “The commissioners want to move forward to get the money used to its most effective means. We don’t have the final guidance,” he said.
Nevada said there were other sources of funding available and that the county would try to be flexible to get the most use out of them.
The county has created a citizen-led task force to study improving the county’s broadband infrastructure, but Nevada said it was not certain any of the ARP funds would be used for broadband because there were other funds in the pipeline that might be used instead.
Procedures for which the decisions will be made and how the public might have input have not yet been specified.
Gettysburg Connection will be following this story closely and would love to hear your input. How should the county make decisions? How should the public be involved? And what priorities do you find important?
Please leave your comments in the area below.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.
Community pool would be a great healthy addition
I completely agree about the need for a community pool. Maybe this could just be done by supporting the YMCA to purchase or staff the one on Rt 30. I don’t know the details on why that pool was closed. Another possibility could be an ice rink at the Rec Park.
Adams County needs a women’s safe house for those trying to escape domestic violence. We need one in Adams County so that women do not have to make a choice between safety and keeping their children in the same school district by going to a facility out of the county.
Money for the new library project would be great!
Attract more specialty Doctors and Dentists to Adams County to reduce wait times. In the next 10 years there will be 2,000 new homes and near 4,000 new residents over the age of 55. Moving into the Amblebrook community near Hunterstown. The Healthcare infrastructure is already overtaxed with only 150-175 homes occupied.
I agree with Laurel, we need a community pool; we have the ideal place for it in the rec park!
Adams Co needs an outdoor Community Pool! Indeed, Gettysburg needs an outdoor Community Pool and the perfect location would be the Rec Park, where there are already plans for a Splash Park. We need only look around us to discover we are the only community without an outdoor pool. Emmitsburg, Littlestown, Chambersburg, even Boiling Springs, all have outdoor Community pools. A pool definitely fits the criteria of “recreation” necessary to be part of the Rec Park. Now’s the time to “take the plunge” and use some of that Covid money for the children and families of our community and give… Read more »
Great idea!