Ottawa County to soon accept applications for its pot of COVID-19 relief money
WEST OLIVE — Ottawa County will soon kick off an application process for organizations interested in a piece of a $57 million pie after the county government tapped three local organizations to help.
Ottawa County received the money as part of the federal Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund program of the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 relief legislation in 2021.
The county, after study by a committee, determined it would spend the money in five priority areas, dubbed "buckets:" county initiatives, county-wide broadband, affordable housing, social/human services and business stabilization.
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Tuesday, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners hired "bucket managers" to manage the application process for the ARPA funds, vet projects that apply and make grant funding recommendations to the board later this year.
Lakeshore Advantage was hired on a $68,688 contract to manage the business stabilization grants, Housing Next was hired at $100,000 to manage affordable housing grants and Care Ottawa County at $45,000 to manage the social/human services grants.
Ottawa County staff will manage the project selection process for the county initiatives and county-wide broadband categories. County initiatives are internal projects in county government and the broadband initiative is being led by the county's Department of Strategic Impact.
Applications for funding are expected to open this summer and the "bucket managers" will present the recommended projects for funding to the ARPA committee, the county finance and administrative committee and the board this fall for final approval.
Ottawa County Administrator John Shay said the county does not expect to spend all $57 million in one round and the county expects there will be multiple rounds of ARPA funding.
The projects must meet eligibility requirements. Beyond the basic eligibility requirements, the ARPA committee has also set some "lenses of focus" or characteristics they want to see in projects that are funded with ARPA money, including that the project addresses "a known and demonstrated need" and "eliminates disparities and gaps in opportunities for underserved and underrepresented populations."
The county is looking for "transformational" projects, Shay noted, that can sustain themselves long-term after receiving grant funding from the ARPA buckets.
— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa County to begin application process for ARPA money
