County calls special meeting to discuss remaining ARPA funds

The Putnam County Board of Commissioners

The Putnam County Board of Commissioners still has $3.7 million in coronavirus-relief funds to distribute and plans to discuss dispersal of the remaining funds at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The board will meet at the Putnam County Government Complex, 2509 Crill Ave., Suite 100, in Palatka.

As part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, local municipalities and the county governing body received millions of dollars to help communities bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. The county board received $14,474,830 and allocated more than $10 million during a January meeting.

Among the projects set to receive funding are a new communications system for first responders, a water upgrade for a volunteer fire department and the first phase of a water expansion system.

Commissioners have, in previous meetings, thrown around ideas of splitting the rest of the federal funds among local nonprofit organizations that benefit residents of Putnam County. As of this week, a decision on the direction of those funds had not been made.