By WHITNEE ICE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph City Council members will be reviewing requests from the community to allocate the approximate $38.7 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The city will receive the money in two separate installments. The first installment has been received in the amount of over $19 million.
Mayor Bill McMurray says allocated funds must meet one of four criteria.
“There are those four categories, three which are COVID related and then the fourth one which is water, sewer, and broadband,” McMurray tells St. Joseph Post.
McMurray says the funds are allocated to essential areas for the city, the remainder will go towards civic needs reviewed by a committee.
“You have an application that you’d like to file, get it in before the 20th so they can take a look at it, and then they’ll send it on to the council and the council will make the final decision,” says McMurray.
McMurray says the applicant for funds must meet the criteria.
“Households, small businesses, non-profits, impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality, so it’s a pretty wide range of eligible entities and individuals there,” says McMurray.
A special committee was formed to accept requests for funding and allocate the funds. The committee has chosen three criteria for funding: Invest in People, Create a Better Place, and Grow Prosperity.