Westmoreland residents seek input on spending $105M in pandemic funds

Calling $105.3 million in federal funds a potential game changer for Westmore­land County residents, a local grassroots group is preparing to take a lengthy wish list to county commissioners.

Diana Steck said the Voice of Westmore­land has scheduled meetings with Commissioners Doug Chew and Gina Cerilli Thrasher to present the results of a countywide survey that collected responses from 744 people who offered recommendations about how officials should invest money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Commissioners Chair Sean Kertes has yet to respond to a request to meet with the group. He has been hesitant to discuss spending plans beyond offering a broad outline in which he suggested capital projects such as renovations to the courthouse and Westmoreland Manor as well as the expansion or replacement of the county 911 center might be among projects considered.

VOW survey respondents identified affordable health care, housing, mental health services and child care among residents’ top priorities.

Kertes said he fears the money won’t be available for either human services or capital projects unless the federal government loosens restrictions on spending.

Half of Westmoreland’s cash — more than $50 million — was deposited into the county’s bank account in June. The award, the county’s largest-ever single infusion of public cash, is still sitting there.

The second infusion is expected early next year. All of the money must be committed by December 2024 and spent by December 2026.

Steck’s group worries that commissioners have overlooked recommendations from Washington that local governments engage with the public before settling on a spending plan. Without such input, VOW leaders say, the county could be overlooking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to better the lives of residents.

A Brookings Institution paper this year examined the potential for positive change with the large infusions of public cash. The authors suggested officials use the money to stabilize government operations that were impacted by the pandemic, strategize the best possible uses of remaining money and organize around disbursing it to those ends.

Across Pennsylvania, officials have taken various approaches to soliciting public input about the money, and some have committed to specific spending priorities.

Pittsburgh, which recently adopted a plan to spend $335 million in ARPA funds, held two public hearings. Erie County, which received $52 million, has released a preliminary spending plan and vowed to make all information and spending publicly available on its website. Montgomery County, a sprawling suburban county on the outskirts of Philadelphia, established a Recovery Office and launched a website to solicit input on the use of $161 million in ARPA funds.

“By listening to our residents, community partners, researching best practices and leveraging other resources, we will create impactful initiatives, investments and infrastructure improvements that will have long-term, measurable and sustainable impact,” Montgomery County Commissioners Chair Val Arkoosh said.

VOW launched its survey this summer in the absence of such efforts in Westmoreland County, Steck said.

“We have $100 million to be distributed that a lot of folks weren’t aware of. We have the power to do a lot of good with $100 million, a lot of good that will make a lot of lives better,” VOW member Sara Deegan of Greensburg said during an online town hall last week during which survey results were made public.

The survey included responses from residents across the county, from Ligonier to New Kensington. More than 9 in 10 of those who responded — 93% — said they had heard nothing about how the money will be spent.

Steck, a retired nurse from North Huntingdon, said survey respondents were concerned that needs in outlying communities are too often overlooked in the county seat.

Aaron Moore is a community activist from New Kensington and VOW member who grew up in public housing. He now works in that field and said his community is struggling with crumbling public housing where residents lack access to mental health or children’s programs.

“If you have mental health or substance abuse services, you can lift people up and put them on the road to homeownership,” Moore said. “This money could help lift people up.”

Others cited the lack of outpatient mental health services across the county as well as Westmoreland’s slow response to the covid-19 pandemic and lack of public health services.

Preliminary final guidance from the federal government suggests ARPA funds could be used for such services. It also suggests that the money could be used to restore staffing levels at local government agencies that were reduced because of the pandemic. Water, sewer and broadband projects specifically are included among permissible uses, as is assistance to small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic.

Pittsburgh designated funds to fill positions left open during a pandemic hiring freeze, provide 3% raises to the city’s nonunion workers, provide grants to nonprofits that worked overtime to fill pandemic needs and provide millions to projects to spur improvements in minority communities.

Greensburg, which received the first half of a $1.4 million ARPA grant this summer, quickly allocated that money toward the construction of a new public works building to replace one destroyed in a fire, to buy a street sweeper and to fill three positions left vacant by retirements during the pandemic.

Westmoreland tapped $31.5 million from the federal CARES Act last year to issue grants to small businesses, nonprofit agencies and municipalities and to cover pandemic-related costs incurred by the county, including for personal protective equipment, new technology and premium pay to essential employees.

Although spending discussions on this new infusion of federal money have been limited in recent public forums in Westmoreland, Cerilli Thrasher said she would favor it going toward broadband expansion and blight removal.

“I want this money to go out on the street where the majority of individuals will actually see the benefit,” she said. “Restrictions are still too strict. However, if (restrictions are) lifted, I would like to see it used in our county parks, public safety, broadband and a large chunk used for blighted properties in downtown areas.”

Chew said he wants to see final guidelines on spending restrictions from the federal government. He said he will meet with VOW representatives but added it appears that the VOW survey did not follow professional survey standards and may provide a slanted view of residents’ preferences.

“This is a historic time in our nation, and my colleagues and I have to spend this money with the best interests of the taxpayers in mind. We should prioritize areas that will have the greatest return on investment for our county,” he said. “We need to focus on infrastructure improvements to water, sewage and broadband. We need to be ready for any future pandemics.”

The commissioners said they hope to have a spending plan in place by the end of the year.