ROCHEPORT, Mo — Justin Aldred, the Boone County commissioner for District 1, which includes Rocheport, Missouri, presided over the third of nine Community Information and Listening Sessions regarding the release of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding which was signed into federal law on March 11, 2021. Boone County is now taking applications for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program, which is a part of ARPA.

The SLFRF information and listening session is called to order

The SLFRF information and listening session was formal with the use of the gavel, three calls for questions and three calls for comments. The seventeen people in attendance listened as Aldred reviewed the application process, timeline and disbursement schedule for the first round of the $15 million SLFRF funding for businesses and organizations. The application process is open until March 31, 2023, and the approval of applications for the first round of funding will be on June 23, 2023.

Aldred noted that the Board of Commissioners is not partial to the awarding of the funds and is not prioritizing it at this time. He stated the current goal is to process and assess all the applications through the legal, procurement, and board channels after the application deadline before the commission considers any approval and awarding of funds. Further, he stated the commission does not have any public priorities or goals in the awarding of the funds. The commission is encouraging the county organizations and businesses to participate and not be restrained by any ideas of what the commissioners may or may not want.

SLFRF contains over a hundred pages of regulations and rules

As with any public funds, there is a tremendous amount of information, rules and regulations that must be followed to determine its use. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued the final rules for the SLFRF program, which is a part of ARPA. Boone County was allocated a total of $35 million in ARPA funds. The release of these funds will be staggered with a second release planned for Boone County at the end of 2023. If Boone County is not approved in the first round, they can apply again.

The Boone County website lists other sites and times for session meetings as well as the application and other documentation for the program.

Local leaders have town project proposals in mind for funding

After the meeting, I was able to speak with Rocheport’s Mayor John Zondca regarding any plans for the board of Rocheport to submit requests for funding. He mentioned a few notable items for health and safety improvements that are up for consideration:

• Install storm water drains along 3rd Street/Hwy BB and surface it with a sidewalk.

This stretch of road where Highway BB becomes 3rd Street as it cuts through Rocheport is dangerous to pedestrians and limits the walking opportunities of our town’s visitors. Furthermore, the stretch of road can become inundated with heavy water flows which can cause flash flooding runoff.

• Complete the activation of the long unused 180-foot cell tower originally built for AT&T service that is located on the northeast side of town.

The cell tower, dubbed the “Rocheport Sky Stick” by locals, is equipped with emergency radio antennas alongside cellular antennas. Zondca explained the pertinence of moving forward with its completion. When our local fire station operations are called out, they lose radio communications while traveling Highway BB. Additionally, water rescues on the Missouri River could be hindered because of the lack of radio communications in certain areas.

• Procuring reusable flood partitions for the city which can be deployed in case of a flood.

During the comments portion of the session, Rocheport Alderman Conrad Yates petitioned Aldred to consider Rocheport’s flood prevention and recovery efforts in the decision-making of the funds. Yates stated the cost of procuring reusable flood partitions would equal the cost of deploying 100,000 sandbags, which happens during each flood. So, this one-time investment could potentially save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars over several future floods.