CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With more than $670 million in federal funding going directly to West Virginia’s cities and counties from the American Rescue Plan, the plans on how to spend it were part of the discussions at the West Virginia Association of Counties annual meetings.
The gathering of county leaders from clerks to sheriffs and commissioners began Sunday and runs through Tuesday at the Charleston Embassy Suites.
Mercer County Commissioner Greg Puckett, who is also on the board of directors for the National Association of Counties, said on Monday his national organization fought for more funding to come to the local levels. $65.1 billion is provided in direct aid to counties in the American Rescue Plan and an additional $1.5 billion for public land counties.
“We really reached out to our congressional members and said look ‘this money needs to go local and if it doesn’t go local, we don’t get much control of where it needs to go,'” Puckett said.
Puckett, who is also the chairman for the Rural Action Caucus, said his county’s focus will be on broadband, partnering with state monies, working across county lines, infrastructure on water and sewer projects, and micro-projects.
He told MetroNews about his plans for getting water and sewer over major interstate exits including Exit 1 to the industrial park, Exit 9 past Princeton, Exit 14 to Concord, and Exit 20 Camp Creek. He said if the county can develop lands and have those projects ready, it would bring in business.
The money is meant to be spent on water/sewer infrastructure, broadband, lost revenue, and hero-type pay. State Auditor J.B. McCuskey’s office, along with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s office, have traveled the state and designed a plan to make sure the money is spent effectively, legally, and transparently.
“When this money started coming out and he (McCuskey) knew that counties were going to get it, I think the major thing was how are we going to be accountable for the money,” Puckett said. “We don’t want to run into an issue where the feds come back to us in three or four years and say ‘you shouldn’t have spent it that way.'”
Puckett also preached patience with the money, as it doesn’t have to be spent until the end of 2024. Working with other counties on major projects can be done in that time frame, he said, including broadband. He said he is working with the Region 1 Planning and Development Council on broadband.
“We think we can create a broadband loop that will bring in about seven counties into that system and expand out opportunities in southern West Virginia,” Puckett said.
In Greenbrier County, Commissioner Tammy Tincher is also preaching patience.
“We are not receiving all the funds at one time. We want to look at the best ways to be able to help the largest number of people in the county,” she told MetroNews.
When discussing the pandemic, Tincher said part of her focus will be to work with the health department on an expansion. She said they have employees at the county health department that do not have offices and funding from the American Rescue Plan can be used for a remodel of the building.
“Currently we have nurses who do not have offices and do not have working space. We do not have storage space,” she said.
Greenbrier County is receiving over $6.7 million from the latest COVID relief plan while Mercer County is getting over $11.4 million.