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Date: 1/24/2022
LUDLOW – The Ludlow Board of Selectmen spent much of their Jan. 18 meeting discussing the eligibility of using the town’s over $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for projects with its consultant Tom Zidelis.
As of the meeting, the town already budgeted over $700,000 of the funds between HVAC and IT improvements in the public safety complex and COVID-19 tests for the Board of Health.
To start the discussion, Board of Selectmen Chair William Rosenblum said much of the work so far has been generating ideas for the potential use of the funds.
“At every meeting we pretty much have a little section where we talk about the ARPA funding and any updating. At this point all that we are really doing is taking suggestions from the community and other departments in town, and we wanted to make sure we crossed out T’s and dotted our I’s because we know there are a lot of strings attached to it,” he said.
Despite new guidance, Zidelis said the initial six areas for use still stand.
“This is new to everybody, initially the treasury came out with interim guidelines back in May of 2021, just last week they published their final guidelines. The criteria which was prerequisite in the original rules are still in effect, the six high level activities being public health, revenue loss, water and sewer, negative economic impacts, the premium pay and broadband are still the underpinnings of the regulations,” he said.
Zidelis added the town has a lengthy process ahead of itself to make sure the projects fall under the new guidance.
“There is an extensive reporting requirement, and I am going to put a caveat on it, depending on the activity the town chooses the prerequisite information that has to be filed with the service will be dictated by the activity,” he said. “There are actually 435 pages of new regulations as it relates to ARPA and what you do not see is the information that has to be gathered to be in compliance with each and every regulation.”
During the meeting, Town Accountant Kim Collins ran through a list of some of the suggested projects for Zidelis to discuss their eligibility for the ARPA funds, including renovations to Whitney Park.
“They were looking at a clubhouse rehabilitation to include bathrooms, there is a press box and bleachers over there for about $250,000 that needs to be replaced and they were looking at tennis upgrades, pickleball and an outdoor pavilion,” she said.
Zidelis said many of the improvements to Whitney Park would be eligible for ARPA funding.
“The only one that would not count is the press box, everything you described is enhancements so people could avail themselves to outdoor recreation.
Under the global overarching original regulations that we spoke to, improvements to outdoor facilities counts. Doing improvements that are assisting people in accessing outdoor facilities generally are permissible expenses,” he said.
Along with the repairs to Whitney Park, board member Derek DeBarge said another area that needs improvement is the track and football field behind Ludlow High School.
“There is also a loss of revenue to this too, with our track team needing to be bused to away events all the time rather than being able to host. The area is in such disrepair that we cannot host tournaments, we are not able to use the baseball field for varsity games and the track is closed to everyone,” he said.
While improving the field for recreational use would be eligible, repairing it for events might meet the requirements.
“In terms of the regulations, getting people outside and doing passive recreation is what the intent is of the legislation. Independent of that to host an event is an added benefit, but the primary reason for doing that improvement has to be to improve the outdoor recreational capabilities for the residents of town,” he said.
Rosenblum said he would like to at least check if the ARPA funds were eligible for the repairs at the track.
“We have tests, and I would say if we can look at Vet’s Park, if we can look at Whitney Park with the bleachers – at least to this point and then maybe more – and I know that track and field is an interest too. It is at least worth asking and seeing what it comes up with because I know the Boys and Girls Club uses it, the jail uses it and it is available to the general public,” he said.
Board member Manuel Silva said he was also in favor of using the funds for renovating the parks.
“Vet’s Park is priority number one for me because if we do not do anything with these funds now and we let it go down the road, the taxpayers are going to have to pay for it and that is a big penny from some of the estimates we have gotten just to demolish the building, never mind to redo everything,” he said. “Other than the funds we have already allocated and everything we need; we should put everything into doing these projects because quite honestly our fields are atrocious.”
While the board agreed on a direction for the potential use of the funds, the board did not formally make a motion on the use of the funds pending some further information, including the results of the Harris Brook Elementary School audit.
The Ludlow Board of Selectmen next meets on Feb. 1 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the Feb. 10 edition of The Reminder.