After denying requests for County ARPA funds by Alta Vista, Lawler, Ionia and North Washington, Chickasaw County Supervisors were taken to task about their actions.
That’s North Washington Mayor David Geerts, who addressed the Board during their regular meeting Monday (08.14), along with representatives from Alta Vista, Lawler, and Ionia.
Also at issue is the recent approval to give Nashua $50,000 in County ARPA funds to help in paying to evaluate the health of the dam that creates Cedar Lake, although Supervisor Chair Matt Kuhn noted that how the City would use the money was not officially established.
Kurt Croell, on behalf of the City of Lawler, questioned that lack of clarity, but mostly, the lack of equality in ARPA money distribution.
Kuhn and Supervisor Steven Breitbach voted yes each time to ARPA requests by Alta Vista, Ionia, Lawler and North Washington. Supervisors Jacob Hackman, Scott Cerwinske and Travis Suckow all voted no to each request.
Suckow said he voted no because he was “tired of everybody wanting these ARPA funds. Hackman replied he felt Nashua’s request was an emergency situation, while the requests from other towns were maintenance issues.
Meeting attendee Terry Johnson suggested politics might be at play.
Johnson added that Supervisors should consider rescinding or, at least, revisiting the approval of Nashua’s ARPA request. The Board could take no action since the issues were presented during the public comments segment of the meeting.
