LA GRANDE — After a year of hard work by the city council, city staff and residents, the $3 million La Grande received from the American Rescue Plan Act has finally been allocated.

The council passed a resolution Wednesday, Oct. 5, to use the money entirely on road projects and the Union County Fairgrounds water and wastewater infrastructure project.

“I just want to express my appreciation for the work that the council put into trying to figure out the best way to use these dollars for the community,” La Grande City Manager Robert Strope said.

Councilors Gary Lillard, Nicole Howard, Mary Ann Miesner and Justin Rock voted in favor of the funding allocation. Councilors John Bozarth, David Glabe and Mayor Stephen Clements voted against the resolution.

Passed in 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act allocated $1.9 trillion to boost economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. The money must be committed to projects by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. When the funding was first released, there were several restrictions in place on how the money could be spent, severely limiting the types of work to sewer or water projects.

These restrictions have since been relaxed, allowing the city council to consider a wider range of plans for La Grande.

The top three priority projects going into the session were an eastside housing water and sewer line project, multiple road repairs and the Union County Fairgrounds water and wastewater infrastructure project.

Eastside housing project debatedThe eastside housing water and sewer line project became a point of debate for the city council. The $1.5 million proposed project would construct a trunk line — the primary distribution network required to bring water and sewer services to the border of potential housing developments.

Lillard opened with his opposition to the project. He was against the project receiving funding at the September town hall and said his position had only strengthened since then. Lillard said he believes the project is too much of a risk — with supply chain issues, labor shortages and high mortgage rates.

“My concern is this being a large amount of one-time money,” he said. “I think we need to use it on something that we can buy and it will stay bought. I still maintain that what is being proposed is highly speculative. We don’t know if people will pursue this opportunity or not.”

Howard said housing is something that needs to be addressed but agreed with Lillard this particular project benefited only a few people. She said the money would be better spent fixing the roads.

“I think we owe this money to the people who live here now who are suffering under the adverse conditions of our roads today,” she said.

Clements and Glabe were torn about whether to allocate funding to the eastside housing water and sewer project. Clements asked Strope if the city could fund the project in another manner.

The city could use general fund revenues for any purpose, Strope said, but he did not recommend this option. Another way to fund the project would be through the water and sewer reserves. Those reserves are also one-time dollars, which would need to be replenished through future rates. The city could create a local improvement district with the water and sewer reserve funds where the benefited property would be responsible to paying back that debt, an option, Strope said, that also comes with risks because the developer could default on the debt.

Rock said he did not necessarily support the eastside water and sewer project but sees the need for similar infrastructure projects to support housing.

“One thing to take into consideration too is where else are you going to build? There is no other open land for the city of La Grande,” he said. “If we don’t put money into projects like this, we’re kind of shooting ourselves in the foot for the future.”

The project had Bozarth’s full support. He said the current economic situation won’t last forever and the infrastructure project would be an investment in the future of La Grande.

“We now have a one-time shot at this to put that infrastructure in and I think it’s being very shortsighted not to go along with it,” he said.

Funded projects

The council reserved and allocated $250,000 for the Union County Fairgrounds water and wastewater project. The fairgrounds receiving ARPA funding is contingent on the outcome of the current state and federal funding requests for the project.

The remainder of the $3 million will go to fixing roads in La Grande. The multitude of road improvement projects proposed by public works received a lot of support from citizens and council members. Public works will immediately start work on road projects for 12th and 16th streets.

The remainder of the street projects will be put into a prioritized list for the city council to vote on during the November regular session.