The city of Arnold will receive $4,255,859 through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and will spend the majority of those funds on upgrades at Recreation Center.
City officials plan to spend $1,590,000 of those federal ARPA funds to repair or replace various equipment at the rec center.
The city also will use some of the funds to purchase equipment for the Arnold Police Department, complete a transition from paper files to computer-based files, remodel the Community Development office, rebuild two retaining walls, complete two stormwater projects and construct a washout pit at the Public Works yard.
ARPA funds must be committed to projects by Dec. 31, 2024, and all projects must be paid for by Dec. 31, 2026, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
City Administrator Bryan Richison said the city already has received half of the ARPA funds available to it, and Arnold expects to get the other half by September.
Richison presented the plan for the funds during a March 10 City Council work session, and the council members indicated they were comfortable with the plan and told Richison to proceed with lining up the projects.
“I like what has been done,” Ward 2 Councilman Brian McArthur said during the work session. “It is good to do as much as possible with this money.”
ARPA funds are divided into restricted and unrestricted categories. The restricted funds must be spent on pandemic-related issues, and unrestricted funds may be spent however the city wishes, such as making up for the lost fees collected at the rec center when it was closed because of the pandemic, Richison said.
Arnold will use its $650,000 of unrestricted funds to cover the cost of five projects at the rec center.
The city will replace the roof over the indoor pool for an estimated $245,000, replace the indoor pool’s slide tower and steps for about $224,000, repair the steel roof trusses over the pool for approximately $125,000, replace the wainscot walls in the indoor pool for about $42,500 and fix the ceiling deck at the indoor pool for an estimated $9,125. City officials haven’t made plans to spend the remaining $4,375 of the unrestricted funds.
Arnold will use money from the restricted funds at the rec center to replace two pool paks at the indoor pool for about $680,000, replace two pulse boilers for an estimated $175,000, replace a heat recovery unit for approximately $43,000, purchase an ultraviolet unit for about $36,875 and get 10 new 2-inch hot water valves for approximately $9,500.
“I would like to get the roof done this summer,” Richison said. “We probably want to replace the slide tower and steps quickly. Those are in bad shape and make the slide unusable.”
The council already has allocated $179,142 in ARPA funds for the Arnold Police and Community Development departments.
Richison said city officials will make sure the money is being spent on one-time projects that will not create recurring expenses for Arnold.
“We didn’t want to get into things that have a recurring cost with this one-time money,” he said. “The work at the rec center was going to be challenging to fund. While ARPA will not cover all of the expenses, it will cover a big chunk of it. I am not sure how we would get the work done otherwise. That has been a real help for us to get some of that work done.”
Arnold began spending ARPA money March 17 when council members voted unanimously to approve four purchases for the Arnold Police Department. Those purchases include $53,884.50 to Turn-Key Mobile for three license plate readers the department will use as part of its street patrols; $30,037.50 for 27 printers for patrol vehicles that will be used to print citations; $17,125 to Digital Ally for 27 body cameras to replace older ones; and $9,000 for a drone.
On March 7, the council voted unanimously to pay HITS Scanning Solutions of Hazelwood an estimated $58,000 to scan city documents into Arnold’s computer system to eliminate some paper files.
Council members voted unanimously April 21 to pay Airversity Drone Academy + Consultants of Cahokia, Ill., $11,095 for a drone, two extra batteries and flight and programming training for the Community Development Department.
The city also plans to spend about $100,000 to purchase a command center and off-road equipment hauler for the Arnold Police.
Arnold also anticipates spending $35,000 to remodel an office to create more space for the Community Development Department.
The city plans to fund some stormwater work and improvements at the Little Muddy Creek water shed for about $890,000 and at Christ Drive and Maple Meadows for an estimated $527,685. It also wants to use funds to rebuild retaining walls near Church Road and Arnold Tenbrook Road for an estimated cost of $711,000 and to construct a washout pit in the Public Works yard for about $204,000.
“The Christ Drive and Maple Meadows stormwater work and the Little Muddy Creek is a series of work along the creek. Those will take the longest to get done,” Richison said. “I doubt we will be able to do (work at Little Muddy Creek) all at one time and will need to phase that work out in chunks. The two retaining walls shouldn’t stretch until 2026.”
Richison said he believes the city will complete the projects by the December 2026 deadline.
“I do think it is doable given what we are spending the money on,” he said.