By Taylor Boyd
With more than $2.2 million in federal funds remaining, and a year-end deadline to use or return the money, Patrick officials continue to explore projects to help position the county for the future.
“We were unprepared for the pandemic,” County Administrator Geri Hazelwood said. “We’re trying to be prepared for the future the best we can.”
Donna Shough, the county’s finance officer, said that so far, the locality has used most of the federal funds for payroll.
“The Board of Supervisors approved giving retroactive $4 an hour hazard pay to sworn officers, EMS workers, anyone who is responding to a public health emergency, and social workers and building inspectors when they have to go into a home,” she said.
According to the latest expense report, that expense totaled $294,212.97.
Shough said the county allocated $257,100 to the Town of Stuart for economic support.
“The amount was based on the town’s population,” she said.
Town Manager Terry Tilley said Stuart Town Council used some of the funds to purchase an equipment part for the wastewater treatment plant and a retroactive $4 an hour hazard pay for town employees.
“We’re trying to spend our money, and there are several things we are considering it for,” he said.
The county’s second largest use of funds has been small business assistance, Shough said, and added $150,900 was allocated for the project that was developed by Bryce Simmons, director of Economic Development.
“Bryce developed the assistance plan to help small businesses that have lost revenue and been impacted by the virus,” Shough said.
The county spent $21,927.29 to buy personal protection gear for county facilities and employees.
“We spent the money on masks, hand sanitizer, sanitation stations throughout the buildings, face shields, and isolation gowns,” Shough said.
An additional $14,782.65 was spent on public health expenses, Shough said, and added most of the money has been spent for “equipment the emergency services requested, like generators and things to put on the ambulances.” She said the money spent on emergency services is a list of “little things that add up.”
CARES funds also were spent on providing transport vehicles for inmates, as requested by the Patrick County Sheriff’s Office, and in the form of grants to volunteer fire and rescue.
“The care packages for county residents, which we are giving out, also fall under this category,” Shough said.
Hazelwood said $13,243.71 has been spent for telework.
“We were unprepared for people to work from home, so we spent that money to purchase things people needed to do so, like laptop computers,” she said.
Shough added funds also were spent on “several Zoom subscriptions” that were needed while working remotely.
A total of $10,682.58 was spent to disinfect facilities, Hazelwood said. “This includes all the county facilities, and we have a lot of property including the administration building, community centers, courthouse, and the jail. We have people coming by to spray and disinfect several times a day.”
The combined efforts are to ensure the county is taking all of the preventable measures it can, she added.
The county has spent $4,719.47 of the fund in unemployment benefits. Hazelwood said.
“That’s all we’ve had to use of it (to pay) unemployment benefits, which is great. We’re really proud of it,” she said.
Shough said $2,943.65 has been spent for special programs, primarily for the camp-in-a-box, which “was an effort by the Extension Office” in lieu of a 4-H summer camp.
“The boxes were sent out to the children in the county,” Shough said, adding a T-shirt, crafts, and other camp related items and activities were included in each box.
The county also spent $2,544.70 in COVID-19 testing of employees, Shough said.
Hazelwood said the county has had “a couple of repeat tests, and some of them recently.”
In addition, $623.30 was spent primarily for election-related items to help “make it safe for people to go and vote. The county bought plexiglass, masking tape, and isolation gowns,” Shough said.
The $49 cost for administrative expenses was for “advertising the public hearing to amend the CARES fund budget.”
As the deadline nears for the federal funds to either be spent or returned, Hazelwood said “we’re going to have more requests coming in. That one last push to get some things the departments need.”
The committee charged with spending the CARES funds also is waiting on several financial quotes before it presents more items to the board for approval, Shough said, and added one of those quotes is for website updates for the county.
“Our website is hard to navigate, and we plan to update it to have more information regarding changes to hours of operation, COVID-19 and other information,” she said.
Shough said the committee the website update would cost $24,000, with $18,000 for the county part and $6,000 for the economic development section.
She said the committee is also examining costs for changes to the buildings.
“We’re looking at restroom updates to make everything automatic,” Shough said, adding those updates would cost around $11,000.
“We have some issues with the carpet with mold and mildew, so we are looking to get new floors. The lowest quote we have is $100,000 for new floors,” she said.
Hazelwood said the committee also expects to spend $250,000 for the Non-profit and Agricultural Grant Program, also created by the Economic Development Authority.
The Patrick County Cares Committee met recently to discuss ways to spend the remaining CARES Act funds, which totaled more than $2.2 million as of October 31.
Hazelwood said she is hopeful the requests that are approved will help the county be in a better position to mitigate and continue to deal with COVID-19.
