City Council President Tony Dolce gives an update on American Rescue Plan Act funding for Jamestown. As the City Council approaches the two-thirds milestone of ARPA funding, Dolce emphasized the importance of impacting the community through wise spending practices. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

The City Council is closing in on allocating about two-thirds of Jamestown’s American Rescue Plan Act funding.

“If we pass all the resolutions that are coming up at the end of the month, we will be around just over $19 million of the $28 million,” Tony Dolce, City Council president, said. “We’re narrowing in on almost two-thirds of the money. There’s some areas still that we’re looking at.”

Dolce said the process of spending the ARPA money and determining which programs to fund has been difficult due to the daunting task of researching and comparing different programs. As the president of the City Council, he believes it is important for the city to carefully spend the money on programs that will most positively benefit the people of Jamestown, especially given the significant amount of money the city received from ARPA funding.

“All of those decisions we have to look at carefully, so that’s why we’ve kind of moved in a methodical manner to see what’s important,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the city to have that kind of money to spend. We want to make sure that we’re spending it wisely and we’re doing the right thing. We wanted to take our time and make sure that we are doing everything we can to make the right decisions.”

Dolce explained the city has used APRA funding to make improvements to public safety, such as upgrading the city’s fire stations, hiring more firefighters, and adding more police officers. Over $1.4 million has been allocated for fleet upgrades, $160,000 has been allocated for new police vehicles, over $1.6 million was approved to hire four new firefighters and over $1.5 million was approved to hire three additional police officers.

“We spent a lot of money on capital projects, which were very badly needed,” he said.

However, while the city has made notable improvements through capital projects, Dolce said the main focus of the funding has been on the community.

“It’s a lot of money and we’re trying to spend it wisely enough to have a positive impact on all areas of the community,” he said.

Dolce said he has been encouraged by the different housing projects the city has been able to fund through ARPA. Specifically, he mentioned the success of the senior citizen program, home owner projects, and the roofing and sewer lines rebate program. He has been pleased with the response by the community to take advantage of the opportunities.

“We wanted to give back to the community,” he said.”There’s been a huge push for that. We’re going to be allocating more funds to try to cover all those different things. We want to make sure that we get our best bang for the money and are spending it wisely and listening to the constituents and what they want and what they don’t want.”

Part of the difficulty for the council has been prioritizing the needs of the community. Dolce said there has to be give and take because certain programs might seem more important to some people and less important to others.

“It’s been difficult because everybody has their own priorities,” he said.

Nevertheless, Dolce said he is pleased with the current state of the city’s allocation of ARPA funding.

One area the city has not spent as much money on has been infrastructure. Dolce said the city has chosen not to do this because there are other opportunities for infrastructure funding.

“We’ve been holding back a little bit on infrastructure because of the Federal Infrastructure Bill and some of the other opportunities out there that we might have to spend on that,” he said.

However, the city has invested in several infrastructure projects, including network infrastructure ($36,075), building and property infrastructure improvements ($500,000) and West Third Street improvement ($500,000).

With about a third of the funding waiting to be allocated, Dolce said he would like to see more money invested into Jamestown’s neighborhoods, particularly in demolition and cleanup.

As the City Council determines the remaining funding, an emphasis will continue to be on impacting the community and public safety.

“We’re trying to touch and hit on each one of those areas, and there’s still more to follow,” Dolce said. “It touches on all areas- development, safety, housing and neighborhoods.”

In addition to these areas, the council is considering the possibility of funding recreational improvements for the city to increase the quality of living in Jamestown. Whether the city chooses to use ARPA funding to make improvements to the city’s parks and recreation or designate money from the general fund, Dolce believes there are simple and cost-effective solutions that would benefit residents.

“We’ll be looking at some things that don’t require a great deal of money but things that enhance the park system,” he said. “I know there’s some parks and recreational programs that may possibly pass, like the splash pad.”

Currently, the city has used ARPA funds to fund hand dryers for Jamestown’s parks ($14,000), parks signage ($30,000) and the Nordstrom playground ($180,000).

Another priority for Dolce is discussing the possibility of tax relief for the people of Jamestown. In light of the recent city audit that showed the largest general fund balance in years, he believes it is time to consider the option of lower taxes.

“Hopefully they’ll be some tax relief coming up for our constituents,” he said.

Regardless of how the city chooses to use the remaining ARPA funds, Dolce sees the funding as an opportunity for Jamestown to move forward in a meaningful way.

“It should, and it probably will, hopefully help this community move forward,” he said. “That was the intent and the purpose of it.”