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Members of Wheeling City Council will likely find a path to fund remaining requests for the last of the city's federal pandemic relief funds, as final allocations for American Rescue Plan Act money are being considered.
The city had around $29 million in ARPA funding to distribute to the community, and a myriad of eligible projects -- from infrastructure improvements to childcare center assistance, park upgrades and other investments -- were approved by city council to receive chunks from this one-time windfall.
With funds dwindling and some outstanding requests still unfulfilled, city officials have been anticipating tough decisions about how to best spend the remaining ARPA funds. While entities may not receive all of the funding that has been requested, city leaders are expected to distribute significant sums of funding to prioritized projects that have remained on the radar.
Members of the Finance Committee of Council met recently to discuss funding for two big remaining ARPA requests -- improvements at Centre Market and the purchase of a mobile stage for events.
"A lot of things that need to be done at the market are things that are beyond my general budget," Centre Market Manager Brooke Stull told city officials.
Stull said some of the top priorities from a considerable wish list of needed improvements include an updated security system, as well as restroom upgrades and outdoor improvements, including updated outdoor seating and lighting.
One vacant space in the upper market house could use a vent hood, which a number of potential tenants requested. Additional signage, sound system improvements and flood lights for security, as well as decorative string lights above the streets, were also discussed.
City Manager Robert Herron noted that a federal earmark in the amount of $150,000 had already been secured for Centre Market improvements, and the city has to match this amount. That money will go to the long-awaited replacement of the roof on the lower market house, officials indicated.
Stull noted that tractor trailers actually drive down the streets around the market house to make deliveries, so there has to be enough clearance allowed for hanging lights. Owners of properties across the streets would also have to consent to the lights, officials indicated.
Some city leaders had leaned toward putting the purchase of the mobile stage on hold, but money left in the city's ARPA pool will likely allow them to fund two additional requests.
Ordinances authorizing the expenditure of $420,000 for Centre Market improvements and $221,000 with Apex Stages of Pittsburg, Kansas, are up for first readings during tonight's meeting of Wheeling City Council, which begins at 5:30 p.m.
Palmer noted that the stage being considered is big enough to fit the entire Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. It can collapse for storage and can be moved to Heritage Port, Centre Market, to parks all around town or anywhere else a stage is needed.
Instead of festival organizers having to rent a stage, the city could provide the mobile stage to them at a discounted rate, which would also allow the city to recoup some of the costs for the unit.
"I know we're close to or at the end of our ARPA pool," Mayor Glenn Elliott said. "I know there are at least two other things we had talked about at one point for ARPA consideration -- one was The Life Hub in some amount. I know there is still some uncertainty as to what we're going to do on that."
The mayor said there was another outstanding request for child care at the Dream Center in North Wheeling from Bishop Darrell Cummings.
Herron said there was approximately $690,000 remaining in the city's lost revenue fund and just under $218,000 in ARPA eligible funding before the latest round of requests are considered. If the Centre Market improvements and the mobile stage are approved, it would leave $208,000 -- with allocations targeted for The Life Hub and the Dream Center, officials noted.