County Completes ARPA Award Funding

Crawford County commissioners on Tuesday doled out the remaining first round of American Rescue Plan Act funds by making awards to the cities of Bourbon, Cuba, Steelville and Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital.

Each entity received $300,000.

Commissioners were able to award more than $2.3 million of funds to every applicant during the first round. 

The second round of funding likely won’t begin until later this year. District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast said the county hasn’t set a course for how they will spend those funds, but are considering funding their own road and bridge projects.

Commissioners learned in January that ARPA funds could be used for infrastructure projects.

By making $300,000 awards to the aforementioned recipients, the county was left short by $51,000, which will come out of the next round of funding. 

Some of the $2.3 million must go back to the Meramec Regional Planning Commission, which has handled the administration.

MRPC has guided the commission’s award amounts.

The city of Bourbon will use the $300,000 as part of the $1 million investment in a new UV disinfectant for the wastewater system.

Cuba and Steelville also will use the money for their own public works projects.

Missouri Baptist will use the money for Year 1 of a three-year project that seeks to educate the public about how to better use hospital resources.

Boast said the goal is to prevent patients from using the emergency room for non-life threatening medical issues, like preventative care.

“It’s a very ambitious program,” Boast said.

MRPC suggested $350,000 for Bourbon, $300,000 for Cuba, $450,000 for Steelville and $288,000 for Missouri Baptist.

The commission evened it out to $300,000 across the board.

The biggest recipient was Practical POCUS (point-of-care ultrasound). The commission awarded the company $300,000 for rehabbing a building that will serve as its headquarters in Cuba.

Another $240,000 was committed to one year of training for medical professionals in Crawford County. Up to 240 recipients can receive the training.

Boast credited Practical POCUS for “getting the ball rolling.”

“Had it not been for them, we wouldn’t have applied (for ARPA funding),” he said. At the time, Boast said there were no funding possibilities for the county, which would have deterred them from seeking the money out.

Other ARPA recipients were the village of Leasburg, the Bourbon Fire Protection District and All Aboard Learning Center in Cuba.

Leasburg received around $360,000 for rehabbing its water storage tank.

Bourbon Fire received $108,000 for 20 self-contained breathing apparatuses. 

Leasburg matched 15% of the funds and Bourbon Fire 10%.

Boast abstained from voting on both of those awards.

All Aboard Learning Center received $60,000 to expand its staff.