VAN BUREN -- Crawford County employees may get another one-time additional payment for their services thanks to some federal covid-19 relief money.
The Crawford County American Rescue Plan Committee reviewed eight proposals from various entities in the county totaling more than $3.7 million at a meeting Tuesday.
Mark Shaffer, committee chairman, said the seven proposals the body passed will go before the Quorum Court for final approval of the use of these American Rescue Plan funds. The committee consists of six Quorum Court members.
The largest request of the evening came from County Judge Dennis Gilstrap and Beverly Pyle, county treasurer, who asked for $1.5 million to provide county employees premium pay.
Pyle said this premium pay would be given to full-time and part-time employees for hours they worked on-site for the county between May 1 through Nov. 30. The exact amounts each employee will receive will be determined at a later date, although elected officials won't be able to receive any of it.
The county probably won't use all the $1.5 million requested if the Quorum Court approves the allocation, according to Pyle. The committee previously approved allocating more than $1.08 million for employee premium pay last year.
The second largest request the committee approved Tuesday was $750,000 for the Cedarville Senior Center.
Elaine Hankins, executive director of the nonprofit Crawford County Senior Citizens Inc., said the funds would be used to build a new, larger facility for the senior center in a different location.
The committee also approved a $555,981 request from the county Sheriff's Office to upgrade the communications system for all public safety personnel across the county, as well as security fencing around the Sheriff's Office, the Coroner's Office and a planned new emergency communication center, according to Brad Wiley, chief deputy.
Other requests that were approved Tuesday included the following:
• $436,917 from the county Rural Fire Association to purchase and implement the Rover/Emergency Reporting platform for all fire departments in the county.
• $279,200 from the county to help restore the county courthouse in Van Buren. This includes painting and lead abatement for the courthouse, as well as restoring all the windows there at one time.
• $106,921 from the county Department of Emergency Management for upgrades to the county's mobile emergency operations center and a communications tower in the county, updating the emergency operations center in Van Buren and the purchase of two thermal drones.
• $43,742 from the Mulberry Community Food Pantry to purchase a backup generator along with an automatic transfer switch at the facility.
The committee also considered a $80,086 request from Cedarville to purchase two new vehicles with modifications for the city's Police Department. These would have replaced two existing older vehicles in the department. However, the request died due to a lack of a motion from the committee.
The committee will meet again Aug. 2 to review more proposals totaling more than $1 million, according to the county.
American Rescue Plan funds
Crawford County received an allocation of more than $6.1 million in American Rescue Plan funds in June. It received the same amount last year for a total of more than $12.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds. The first payment has all been allocated.
Source: Beverly Pyle, Crawford County treasurer