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County Board Disagrees on ARPA
Funding
Final vote goes to the Jail Expansion
Project
[March 19, 2025]
On Tuesday, March 18th, the Logan County Board met
for their monthly meeting. All members were in attendance, with the
exception of Dale Nelson. This included Chairman JR Glenn, Kathy
Schmidt, Gil Turner, Bob Sanders, Keenan Leesman, Joseph Kuhlman,
Michael DeRoss, Lance Conahan, Hannah Fitzpatrick, and Jim
Wessbecher. Former Vice Chairman Julie Bobell recently stepped down
from the board at last week’s workshop meeting. For a full rundown
of this regular meeting, see LDN’s other article on the meeting to
be posted later this week.
The most contentious issue of the night was the
decision on what to do with the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA)
money, in the amount of $2 million, that was previously being
planned for the county wide broadband project. At the Workshop
meeting, it was discussed using this money for the jail expansion
instead, as the board was unsure of how they were going to find the
additional $1.4 million that was needed to fund the jail expansion.
Leesman mentioned that he had reached out to Christopher Carroll
from Bellwether Enterprises to ask for clarification on moving the
money from the broadband project to the jail expansion. Leesman’s
concern is the $6.8 million grant that the county has been awarded
to go toward the broadband project. It was discovered that, since a
contract had not been signed with any company, the $2 million ARPA
funds could be moved with no issue. Leesman was concerned that the
grant may legally constitute a contract. He was also concerned that
the federal government may take back the grant if the county moved
the ARPA funds.
According to Leesman, Bellwether suggested moving the ARPA funds to
the county’s general funds. This way, they would not have to worry
about losing the funds or having to set them aside for any
particular project right now. Leesman also argued that the county
had worked for two years to acquire the $6.8 million grant for the
broadband project, and it would be a waste to “squander” it. Leesman
also brought up that ten percent of any revenue made from any
companies on the county’s broadband would ultimately go back to the
county. While they would not get the $2 million in ARPA funds back
immediately, in the long term, this project would generate money for
the county. Leesman then suggested an amendment be made to the
motion, moving the ARPA funds to the general fund rather than the
jail project. This was seconded by DeRoss.
DeRoss then brought up that the county must work to improve
infrastructure outside of Lincoln, stressing the importance of the
broadband project. DeRoss argued that this could be good for
schools, especially in parts of the county where good internet
connections are harder to find.
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Schmidt then brought up the
importance of needing to fund the jail expansion. Schmidt
brought up the possibility of one of the officers working at the
jail getting hurt or worse. She then stated that if this were
going to occur, the board is going to wish that it had funded
the expansion. The ARPA funds, according to Schmidt, are the
quick and easy way to get the expansion done, leaving the board
not having to worry about it any further. Leesman shot back that
while it may be the quick way, it is not the smart way.
DeRoss then mentioned that the county needs to do both of the
projects. Chairman Glenn then clarified that Bellwether has not
clarified on whether the $6.8 million grant constitutes a
contract. DeRoss then stated that Bellwether confirmed the $2
million ARPA money will not be lost. This led to some back and
forth from several of the members on what exactly Bellwether
said to do in their email. Bradley Hauge, State’s Attorney, was
then asked if he could provide some insight into the content of
the email. After a lengthy discussion with Penny Thomas, the
Logan County Treasurer, Hauge confirmed that the money can be
used for the jail with no strings attached. If the money were to
be moved to the general fund, on the other hand, things would
get a bit more complicated. The short of it would be that the
county would need to keep a very close watch on how that money
was used and make sure that anything they used it for would be
worded in specific ways.
A vote was then made on the amended motion, that
being to move the ARPA funds to the general fund. The amended motion
failed in a vote of 4 to 6. The votes in favor of the amendment were
Leesman, Wessbecher, DeRoss, and Kuhlman. The votes against were
Sanders, Schmidt, Turner, Conahan, Fitzpatrick, and Glenn.
A vote was then taken on the original motion, that being to move the
ARPA funds to the jail expansion. The motion passed in a vote of 7
to 3. All of the board members voted the same way, with the no’s
from the previous vote voting yes, and vice-versa. The only
exception was Kuhlman, who voted in favor of this motion as well as
the amended motion.
[Matt Boutcher]
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