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MOUNT VERNON — Several Knox Pages readers have asked how the county and its surrounding villages have used America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and what projects are on the horizon.
Knox County has received $12.105 million, with the last chunk of money arriving on June 16.
Gambier
With the CARES Act money already spent, Gambier Village Administrator R.C. Wise is focusing on the final round of ARPA funds and what to do with it.
Gambier received $135,000 in CARES Act funds that could only be spent on public health, preventive measures, telework capabilities and economic aid.
Gambier received roughly $260,000 in ARPA, according to Wise, with the first half arriving in 2021 and the later half coming by the middle of July.
According to Wise, Gambier council has approved upgrading the water-meter reading system for $80,000 to enable the meters to be read from the office. That will eliminate the need to drive around the village to obtain the readings.
The system includes detection devices that attach to the fire hydrants to install an array of ground mounted solar panels at the wastewater treatment plant to offset the village’s energy cost with green energy. It’s believed to have 96 panels.
Centerburg
For the first half, Centerburg received $117,053 in ARPA funds, only spending $1,976.25 in 2021 and $5,181.03 in 2022 so far, according to fiscal officer Shawna Humes.
“(We’re) still working on what we want to use the money for,” she said.
The nearly $7,000 was spent mostly on a survey to see what the money could be used for.
Knox County commissioners allocated $150,000 toward Centerburg, according to Village Administrator Jason Booth.
Fredericktown
Fredericktown has received $1,119,000 in ARPA funding with two projects in the works.
The first project is the village’s sewer separation project “phase 9-11” totaling $676,211. Once completed, rain water will be separated from the sanitary sewer system, Village Administrator Bruce Snell said.
The project’s contract was approved the third week of June.
The second expenditure was the High Street water tower rehab, at a total of $424,380.
Then Fredericktown will have $18,409 leftover for contingencies, Snell said.
Of the $1.9 million, Fredericktown received $855,000 from Knox County, Snell added.
Danville
The village has received roughly $53,000 in ARPA funds.
“It’s going toward adding a new backup generator for the wastewater treatment plant system,” Danville Mayor Joe Mazzari said.
This generator would start instantly after the power goes off, the mayor added, though he wishes the village could do more.
If there was more money, broken water lines could be fixed
Attempts to reach Brinkhaven officials were unsuccessful.
