$1.6 million delayed for playgrounds upon recommendation from county auditor in regards to ARP funds…
Graylin Porter - Reporter
CLICK HERe and skip to 1:50:43 to watch the discussion
Last night the county council discussed a change in advertisement to the recently approved $1.6million to fund new playgrounds at Hayswood Park, Buffalo Trace, and Gresham Park.
The council reached a conclusion via a motion made by councilmember Kyle Nix. Nix moved to put aside the county’s remaining American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to cover budgetary shortfalls stating that "worst case scenario is that we decide to spend an expenditure out of the ARP funds and then it gets audited and they decide that it doesn't meet the criteria and then that's money we've lost that we were granted through the federal government."
The pivot was initiated by Harrison County auditor Chad Shireman who recommended making the change to avoid complications in the future. Councilmember Brad Wiseman responded to Shireman’s proposal stating that “if he’s telling us that we need to reconsider…we need to follow his lead in this. If you’re telling us that we need to make changes…because I’ve heard you mention audits and trouble down the road.”
Nix was absent at the July 25th meeting in which the $1.6 million was approved out of ARP. He agreed with Wiseman noting that “we haven’t had any consultant look at it. No offense, but we had our prosecutor and parks director tell us where the ARP money could and couldn’t be used. My fear is that we get to the point of an audit and they decide that that is not an actual expense that should have taken place and that’s a big chunk of ARP money.”
Wiseman outlined next steps for the Parks Department regarding the request:
“We need to have [Superintendent Shickles] go to the Parks Board and have a new motion made that the $1.6 come from riverboat. Then once the Parks Board approves it, it goes to the commissioners, they pass it on to us, and then for lack of a better term, reverse or decline or amend.”
Nix insisted that “the Parks will want $1.6 million from Harrison County whether it comes from ARP or it comes from the riverboart…they’re going to want 1.6 million for the project….upon researching this a bit further and seeing where we’re at, I think it’s just a cleaner aspect to do it out of riverboat…I mean, 1.6 million is 1.6 million.” However, before voting on the appropriation on July 25th, councilmember Holli Castetter made sure to reiterate that
“this is American Rescue Act money, this isn’t tax dollars, this is not out of county general or riverboat. Otherwise I would definitely say no to this, but this is one time money and it’s our chance to do something good with it.”
Whether or not this will affect the timeline for the playground project remains unclear at this time. Multiple councilmembers expressed their support for the playground project regardless of the funding source.