Wheeling City Councilman Dave Palmer presides over a Finance Committee of Council meeting on Wednesday night, when city officials discussed the remaining pool of Wheeling’s American Rescue Plan Act funding. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING — Officials in the city of Wheeling took action Wednesday night to drain a dwindling pool of pandemic relief money down to about a quarter of a million dollars.

Time ran out before the money did after an hour-long Finance Committee meeting had to adjourn in order to start the regularly scheduled meeting of Wheeling City Council on time. The committee members did their best to prioritize the remaining requests for American Rescue Plan Act funds and recommend various projects for council approval.

While a total of about $257,929 in ARPA money was left by the end of the committee meeting, city leaders said there was still about a half a million dollars worth of outstanding requests for funding. Officials said they planned to resume discussions about expenditure of the remaining ARPA funds during next month’s Finance Committee of Council meeting.

Originally, Wheeling’s ARPA funds totaled around $28.2 million. Over the past several months, council members have taken action to distribute the pandemic relief fund to various projects to help the community recover from the economic impacts COVID-19 health restrictions brought.

Among the latest ARPA projects to be recommended for approval was a Plaza Playground investment of up to $201,071. This venture will help the Vineyard Church move forward with renovations of the vacant building at 1000 Main St. to address child care needs in the area.

“Of all of the projects on this list, I would say that this project here absolutely is the most impactful to our community,” Councilman Ben Seidler said.

“I know dozens of people at this point who struggle to find child care. That’s a huge issue.

“I just want to throw my support behind this.”

Under the proposal, the city would provide the funding and a chunk of Market Plaza for development of a new playground in green space that would be used during daytime hours by the adjacent day care center and be open to the public outside those hours.

Vice Mayor Chad Thalman requested to skip through the list of remaining ARPA proposals to bring a discussion about the Plaza Playground project to the front burner before the pandemic relief funds ran out.

“This is a project that I’m passionate about,” Thalman said. “This isn’t just a playground, this is a way to give a much-needed service here in the city – which is child care.”

Thalman said that child care was something that council members identified as being a critical need early on in the ARPA fund allocation process.

“This project sticks out on this list as something that is worthy of discussion,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve already committed to supporting, and it’s a project that I fully support.”

Pastor Chris Figaretti of the Vineyard Church was on hand during the meeting and explained that they are currently in the design and fund raising phase for the development of the child care center, which is expected to cost between $5 million and $6.5 million and house 35 to 50 full-time employees.

“We’re designing the space for 236 child care spaces, which will add 28% to the overall capacity of Wheeling’s child care capacity,” Figaretti said. “There has to be outdoor green space for children to the tune of, I believe it’s 75 square feet per child. We can do that on a rotating basis, so we don’t need 75 square feet for every child in the building, but at least for about an hour a day. This space does accommodate that for us. And without that space, we can’t move forward with the project.”

Some child care providers in the area have waiting lists of up to about 18 months, and in the state of West Virginia, average wait lists are even longer as the child care shortage has been deemed a crisis, officials noted. Federal rules on ARPA spending identify child care as a priority.

Figaretti said the property needed in the plaza looks larger on paper, noting that it will not take up a big chunk of the public facility. In fact, it will help enhance it and offer new opportunities to a “largely underutilized space” in the plaza for members of the public, particularly new residents who will be moving into the Doris on Main and Historic Wheeling-Pitt Lofts apartments in the future.

Finance Committee members, after lengthy discussion, also recommended approval of nearly $750,000 in ARPA funds for the design and installation of new splash pads at Heritage Port and at the Warwood pool. An ARPA fund swap with previously awarded Community Development Block Grant money in the amount of $250,000 was approved for a contribution to the Wheeling YWCA’s $16.8 million renovation. Another swap — in essence — will allow the city to use a portion of permitted police and fire credits with ARPA money to fund what has become known as the Victorian Home Improvement Program with $500,000.

The use of ARPA money for the purchase of three one-ton dump trucks for the city’s Operations Department, one dump truck for the Sanitation Department and one Bobcat loader for the city was also recommended for approval.

Among the requests yet to be addressed are the purchase of a new ambulance and the purchase of a mobile stage for city sponsored events.

In other action Wednesday night, city council members heard a lengthy live video presentation during the mayor’s report by Aaron Finley, senior consultant with Thomas P. Miller & Associates of Columbus. Finley presented an overview of a comprehensive Remote Worker Feasibility Study regarding Wheeling’s ability to attract and support remote workers to the area.