By Andreas Yilma Citizen’s News
PROSPECT — The town’s American Rescue Plan Act Funds Subcommittee has received hundreds of responses from its resident survey for possible uses of COVID-19 relief funds and will present that data during a public information session Thursday at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
Subcommittee Chairwoman Theresa C. Graveline said as of Wednesday, the group had received 583 online responses and 50 to 60 paper responses. There will be additional surveys for residents to fill out at the meeting.
“On the night of meeting, we’ll have some surveys there,” Graveline said. “If people haven’t filled it out, they can.”
The responses show a lot of support for improving the air quality in town buildings, as well as some supporting more outdoor recreational spaces, Graveline noted.
The town received $1.4 million of its total $2.8 million ARPA funds in June 2021. Federal guidelines for spending the money include supporting public health expenditures, addressing negative economic impacts caused by the pandemic, replacing lost public revenue, providing premium pay for essential workers, and investing in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury website.
“Once we bring our initial report of the response to the (Town Council), then we’ll develop more of an exact charge for the subcommittee going forward,” Graveline said.
She said the subcommittee has a program to quantify and graph all of the online responses while members key in the paper responses.
Many of the responses contained commentary, Graveline said.
“There’s quite a lot of special commentary, which is helpful,” she added.
Graveline described the responses as a tremendous turnout in public participation.
