Platte County Commission and other county elected officeholders met on Monday, May 10 and discussed potential spending projects for the latest round of federal funds.
Platte County is expected to receive about $20 million in federal aid. The county commission circulated a draft of guiding principles to be followed for evaluating projects and spending the money.
“Platte County government may be able to reduce the effects of COVID in our buildings with this federal money. Our county elected officials will play a crucial role in identifying needs and coming up with solutions,” said Joe Vanover, second district commissioner. “The county commission values their input and involvement.”
Since March, Platte County government has been working to develop possible projects for the newest federal COVID response money. The county commission met with the heads of the various county departments before the officeholder meeting and asked them to start funneling their ideas to a combined list.
Monday afternoon, the federal government released 151 pages of guidance for ways to spend the money.
“After a quick read, it looks like Christmas morning for the liberal elected officials across America,” Vanover commented. “It authorizes spending the money on many big-government social programs to address perceived inequities.”
Vanover added that the county government will examine the federal restrictions closely in order to find ways to spend the money on needed projects that do not create new bureaucracies.
“We have been doing the advance work since early March so that Platte County could be ready when the federal guidance was issued. Now we should be able to push forward with creating more concrete plans,” Vanover said. “I am optimistic we will be able to find ways to spend the money on capital investments in public facilities to meet pandemic operational needs without an expansion of social programs run by the county government.”
The county commission will meet in a work session on Monday, May 17 and will discuss the COVID response plans further.
