Like every municipality in the state, the City of Rushford is in the midst of determining needs for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds and how best to apply them.
“It’s less solid and factual, but more of a moving target about where and when it can be used,” explained Mayor Terri Benson at the August 10 council meeting.
The city received more than 20 pages of guidelines of restrictions, but those restrictions are noticeably vague, leaving more than just one city scratching their heads. City Clerk Kathy Zacher presented the council with a two-page summary. “Some is left up to the governing body about if there’s a need related to COVID. You can’t unilaterally spend it, saying funds for all. It must be a specific loss or extra cost that was incurred,” noted Zacher.
Expenses must satisfy three pieces of criteria to qualify. First, they must be necessary expenditures due to the public health emergency. Second, they must be expenses not accounted for previously. Lastly, the expenses must have been incurred between March 1 and November 15, 2020. From there, the guidelines are broken down into categories including medical expenses, public health, payroll expenses, public health measures, or economic support. “Any other COVID-19 related expenses reasonably necessary to the function of government that satisfy the fund’s eligibility criteria,” are covered in a miscellaneous category.
Ineligible costs are defined and include, “Replacement of lost revenue, including property tax relief, payroll or benefits for employees who work duties are not dedicated to mitigating or responding to COVID-19 public health emergency, expenses that have been or will be reimbursed under any federal program, reimbursement to donors, workforce bonuses (other than hazard pay or overtime), severance pay or damages covered by insurance, and per capita payment without an assessment of individual need,” according to the summary.
“There’s a lot of information to consume here,” said City Administrator Tony Chladek. “I think if we were to look at an actionable step here, one would be to come back with an actual grant application and bring it back for council consideration.” He went on to note the application would be for businesses and nonprofit organizations. The city has received approximately $133,000 in CARES Act funds.
Zacher stressed that the expenses funds are applied for must be reasonable and applicants must have documentation of those needs. However, if recurring dollars are being spent monthly, in relation to pandemic needs, projected costs can be applied for. Those applying for funds must also document any other funds utilized or received to ensure there isn’t federal overlap.
“We can have a cap and then, if there’s more money to go, great. But, we don’t want to give it to the first few people and then not have enough for everyone else,” added Zacher. Councilor Sally Ryman suggested there could be multiple rounds of funding. Any unused funds must be returned to the county by November 15. Zacher will compose an application to be approved at the next council meeting. From there, the council will act on application dates and limits.
In other news, the city has approved a resolution declaring public right-of-way (ROW) and prescriptive easement for Bluffview Road, which winds through the trailer/camping park between Highways 16 and 30. According to Zacher, the lack of both documented ROW and easement were discovered by the city engineer as prep work was being done for the upcoming Highway 30 project.
“We began checking into 1970s maps and I even dug out old minutes,” noted Zacher. “The intent was there that it be a road. It was just never made an actual road.” There is a sewer main and lift station in the easement. Repairs to the connections were previously done by lot owner, H-Boys. Street maintenance needs to be completed once the resolution is filed with the county officially declaring it a city street.
“We’re just taking ownership of something we always had,” clarified Councilor Jim O’Donnell.
The council also approved sizable donations from the Southeast Minnesota Hog Chapter, Harley Davidson of Rochester, and MiEnergy from a recent cycle ride, fundraising event. The $1,690 benefits the Rushford Ambulance service and was one of several donations from the group to area cities. “I’m sure our ambulance crew really appreciates it,” said Benson.
Two areas of savings for the citizens of Rushford were discussed during notices/communications and the consent agenda. One includes roughly $51,000 in savings over the course of 15 years through a bond refinance. “It’s roughly $4,000 less that we have to levy on the citizens,” noted Zacher. “It’s just another tool we use to cut back on some of the costs.”
The second is a savings of $70,000 under the contractor’s bid amount for the 2019 street project, which just concluded. “Engineering costs remain, but we spent less than we thought we would spend because it went really well,” said Zacher. Lamplighter Lane was in the project, but not in the cost of the bond. Instead, that portion, almost $90,000, was paid out of Capital Projects. “We could put these savings back into Capital Projects if something else comes up that’s too small to bond for or for the Highway 30 project. It fills in the gaps in money that’s going out on a new project.” Furthermore, the funds could potentially be used for any deficit in Local Government Aid should it get defunded by the state.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Monday, August 24, at 6:30 p.m., at city hall via Zoom. Those interested in attending the meeting should contact city hall.
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