Krista Steenbergen, a grant consultant for Barren County Government, listens to magistrates as American Rescue Plan Act funding is discussed at the Barren County Fiscal Court meeting held Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
GLASGOW — A committee designated by the Barren Fiscal Court last month to review American Rescue Plan Act funding updated an agreement Tuesday describing pay planned for area volunteer fire departments and local EMS staff.
The court designated an ARPA committee, which now oversees the disbursal of the county’s ARPA funding. Barren County has received $8,594,850 in funding.
The court passed a resolution last December detailing incentive pay for employees of the Barren County Government. The court faced a rough road before final passage of the resolution due to confusion with deadlines and specificities.
A portion of December’s agreement allocated $20,000 to each volunteer fire department in Barren County. There are eight of them.
As of Tuesday, the court had not forwarded information to Barren-Metcalfe EMS regarding its cut of the ARPA funding, according to EMS Director Joe Middleton.
The court’s action Tuesday opened the departments’ use of the funding. It was changed to enable funding to cover supplies and repair costs along with updating reporting procedures.
The court originally created rigid spending guidelines, which could only cover equipment purchases and required the departments to request the money when needed. The updated agreement enables the department’s to spend their allocation without court approval.
The committee plans to provide money to the healthcare sector next. Education outreach and non-profit organizations are next, said Magistrate Trent Riddle, the committee’s chairperson.
“We’re going to try and take this over in sectors, and I know people are going to have these knee jerk reactions to send us information,” Riddle said.
The funding seeks to mitigate shortfalls and losses caused by the pandemic.
Those interested in petitioning the committee for a portion of the county’s ARPA funding should submit information to Trent Riddle or Krista Steenbergen.
Emails for submission are triddleco94@yahoo.com and swaggerkrista@gmail.com. A written letter may also be submitted to the judge executive’s office with special attention to Krista Steenbergen. The address is 117 N. Public Square in Glasgow.
The ARPA committee is expected to meet Feb. 22 at 7:45 a.m. inside the fiscal courtroom at the Barren County Government Center. The committee expects to discuss payments to the county’s healthcare sector.
