Richland County commissioners OK $359K in ARPA funds for sheriff’s projects
The Richland County commissioners Thursday formally allocated over $432,000 in non-restricted American Rescue Plan Act revenue replacement funds for a pair of requests by the sheriff’s office. The allocation included $359,436 for new cruisers, $73,280 for hardware and software related to the new cruisers, and a new $1 million computer aided dispatch (CAD) system for the county’s 911 operation.
Commissioners voted in December to allocate $1,085,821 in ARPA funds to pay for hardware, software license and service agreements with Tyler Technologies of Plano, Texas, to replace the current CAD system, which was last upgraded in 2014. County Business Manager Andrew Keller said the $73,280 allocation will cover contracts with three vendors for equipment and licensing not covered by the contract with Tyler.
“Tyler does not provide all of the necessary ancillary material and equipment including bar code scanners and printers, docking stations, licensing and miscellaneous necessities to accommodate the Tyler Enterprise safety project,” Keller said. “We were waiting on some of these because we had to properly underwrite some of these agreements in order to be compliant with the ARPA regulations.”
One allocation of $25,820 went to Chameleon HLP Incorporated of Littleton, Colorado, for software to link the dog warden’s office with the 911 upgrade; another $29,169 was allocated to Decision Point Systems Incorporated of Delray Beach, Florida, for laptop computers for the dog warden’s office and the new sheriff’s cruisers, and an $18,291 allocation was made to CDW-G of Vernon Hills, Illinois, for computer equipment for sheriff’s cruisers.
The bulk of the ARPA funds will go for the purchase of four Ford Police Interceptor Utility pursuit-rated SUVs and some of the accessories at the state pricing schedule from Statewide Ford-Lincoln of Van Wert. Keller said the purchase timing is critical because the sheriff’s office recently learned it finally will be receiving its 2022 order for four cruisers which also are being purchased with ARPA revenue loss funds as part of a vehicle replacement program.
“We still have another purchase coming for some additional accessories,” Keller said. “Today’s cruisers are pretty heavily outfitted.”
$13M in ARPA funds still to be spent
With Tuesday’s action, commissioners have formally allocated $2.7 million of the $10 million in ARPA funds that were designated in January 2022 as revenue loss funds out of the county’s $23.4 million total ARPA allocation. Revenue loss funds are less restrictive and can be used for services such as simple repairs, roads, buildings and other permanent improvements as well as day-to-day operations.
Keller said commissioners have designated some of the $7.3 million remaining in revenue loss funds for a number of projects but have not yet made expenditures. The county still has a little over $13 million left in ARPA funds, although Commissioner Tony Vero said requests on the restricted side exceed that figure.
“We’re not going to approve them all. We’re holding back some money for the Bellville sewer infrastructure upgrades. We haven’t approved anything but the engineering at this time,” Vero said.
According to federal ARPA requirements, all funds must be allocated by the end of 2024 and projects completed by the end of 2026.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Commissioners allocate $359K in ARPA funds for Sheriff's Office
