Newspaper Page Text
The True Citizen, Wednesday, May 26, 2021 — Page 11A
(back to front) City Clerk Meschery Pollard and Mayor Linda Wilkes said ARP funds could
help resolve Keysville paying $500 per month in fines to the Environmental Protection Division.
LU
X
CO
PANDEMIC FUNDS
Burke County Retired Educators Association
Keysville possible answer
The 2021 Georgia Retired Educators Association Leadership Award was presented to President
Belle Dent, left, for outstanding leadership to Burke County REA. The Volunteer Service Award
went to Treasurer Emanuel Larkin, Jr., right, for outstanding volunteer community service ren
dered to non-profit organizations and Christian Education.
to EPD predicament
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Surrounding cities are
scrambling to understand the
rules for receiving more than
$500,000 collectively in Amer
ican Rescue Plan Act funds.
The ARP Coronavirus Lo
cal Fiscal Recovery Fund will
deliver more than $1.4 billion
in funds directly to all cities in
Georgia.
According to the Geor
gia Municipal Association
(GMA) Estimated Alloca
tion spreadsheet, the cities
may receive the following
amounts: Girard $46,629.58,
Keysville $104,601.49, Mid-
ville $80,026.44, Sardis
$302,462.13 and Vidette
$33,711.92.
The Federal Treasury has
stipulated how the money
can be used. Approved uses
include assistance to impacted
households, small businesses
and nonprofits, premium pay to
essential workers, provision of
government services that lost
revenue due to the pandemic,
and/or investments in water,
sewer or broadband.
Eligible uses do not include
deposits into pension funds and
offsetting a reduction in net tax
revenue.
Sardis Mayor Carol Ed
monds credited her city clerk
Jennie Johnson with staying
on top of things. Johnson knew
the city had funds coming by
keeping up with GMA emails.
After submitting the proper
paperwork, Johnson signed
up for a webinar explaining
more about how the funds can
be used.
“I probably couldn’t make it
as mayor if I didn’t have her,”
Edmonds said jokingly. The
mayor said she would like to
see the money used to assist
essential workers and applied
toward water and sewer issues.
Keysville City Administrator
Meschery Pollard submitted
the city’s application May 13.
“It was fairly easy,” Pollard
said of the 2-page application
process. “Mainly, just submit
the city information like ad
dress and account number.”
Mayor Linda Wilkes hopes
the money will help solve a
situation Keysville is in with
the Environmental Protection
Division. State regulations re
quire a back-up well. SPLOST
funds have not been able to
cover the cost of meeting that
requirement because they are
allotted per month. Meanwhile,
the city is paying $500 a month
in fines. Although, there are
other ways the money could
be spent, the mayor believes
meeting the EPD’s require
ments should be the city’s
priority because the state has
threatened to double the fine.
“We have to get a second
well,” Wilkes said. “The only
thing we want to do with this
money now is try to get this
well done because we are
getting fined by EPD every
month.”
Wilkes said she inherited the
situation when she took office
in 2013.
“The city doesn’t really have
the money to get that back-up
well,” she said. “We don’t have
money like other cities just sit
ting around, we just get enough
basically to operate.”
Wilkes believes it will be a
blessing to remedy the water
issue, especially since that is
not the only inherited issue pre
venting the city from solving
the well dilemma. The city has
been unable to apply for grants
through the Georgia Depart
ment of Community Affairs
due to years of unorganized
record keeping.
Pollard said the city had to
find a certified public accoun
tant, willing to perform audits
beginning with 2012.
“When we came in, the
audit just completely stopped
at 2012-2013,” she said. “So,
the mayor and I had to catch
up on it and there was no pa
perwork.”
The city had to contact sev
eral firms before they finally
found one willing to deal with
the city’s history of bad checks
and bad relationships. No
record keeping existed on
computers. City officials had
to sort out paper records, much
of which was missing.
“They didn’t want to deal
with us,” Wilkes said. “We had
to really struggle to get where
we are now. We had so much
internal cleaning to do.”
Currently, the city has com
pleted the yearly audits through
2017. Thomson-based firm
Barmore Hammond took on
the task.
“You may not be able to
see it on the outside, but on
the inside, we have had to do
so much to get where we are
today,” Wilkes said.
Girard City Clerk Kim Red
dick is still in the process of
gathering information, accord
ing to a May 20 email. Mayor
William Cox would like to see
some of the funding applied to
essential workers and the water
department.
Some surrounding cities are
not sure they need the money.
City Clerk Sara Cook said
May 21 that Midville Mayor
Sam Cummings hasn’t de
cided if he wants to apply for
the funds. He wants to discuss
it with an auditor first and
conduct some research before
making that decision.
Vidette Mayor Rosemary
Baughman initially said her
city had no need for the fund
ing and she did not intend to fill
out the application. She said
the city’s water issues are being
addressed with SPLOST funds.
“We haven’t lost anything
because of the pandemic,” she
said. She later indicated that
she would look into the ARP
funding since it can be applied
to certain water issues.
President Joe Biden signed
the $1.9 billion ARP act March
11. The bill includes $65.1
billion for cities throughout
the U.S. Cities with a popula
tion below 50,000 will receive
funds via a pass-through to the
State of Georgia, and funds
should be available as soon as
early June 2021.
Funds must be spent by De
cember 31,2024.
The deadline for all cities
to submit completed vendor
forms is May 28.
The U.S. Dept of Treasury
may release allocation amounts
any day and the Governor’s Of
fice of Planning and Budget is
preparing to announce the full
application process May 26
according to an email May 21.
Waynesboro will receive
approximately$ 1,689,692.07.
Wrongful DeathP Get the Group!
827 liberty St, Waynesboro 1706.444.4444
HAWKLAWGROUP.COM
225 Old Millen Highway
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
www.tayloroutdoorequipment.com
(706)551-5094
Zero Turn Mowers & Repair Services!
Gravely, Husqvarna, Spartan, Echo,
Ego, Generac & DR Power
Equipment, Four Wheelers
@Hawk
LAW GROUP
Reid Sanders
]
Vic Hawk
Shawn Merzlak
Criminal Division
Chace Hawk
Oon’t Settle.
SERVING WAYNESBORO
FOR OVER 30 YEARS