Barnstable County Commission, Assembly fight over ARPA COVID spending
Last week, two law firms gave each of Barnstable County’s two branches of government completely different opinions on the process the county should follow to distribute more than $41 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding.
On Wednesday, attorneys for the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners — the county’s executive branch — told commissioners that because American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars are defined by the federal government as grant funds, which are regularly distributed by commissioners without Assembly approval, commissioners have the ultimate power to determine how the money is spent.
“Local and county executive boards are authorized to accept and expend grant funds without an appropriation,” County Commissioner Mark Forest said in an email to the Times this week. “It happens all the time in local and county government. To subject all our incoming grants to a whole new and legally dubious process may very well put some of this grant funding in jeopardy and it could cost us a lot of money.”
Later that day, an attorney for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates — the county’s legislative branch — told delegates that ARPA funds are not typical grant funds earmarked for a specific purpose and so the county’s charter empowers both branches to propose and vote on ordinances that direct how the money are spent.
The ordinance process would give the Assembly a larger role in determining which projects get ARPA money than the process proposed by county commissioners last week.
At its Nov. 10 meeting, the county commission voted to prioritize spending ARPA money on water, sewer and broadband infrastructure projects that have regional impact, as well as public health systems and economic recovery from the pandemic, priorities delegates have not disagreed with.
Who decides how the money is spent?
Commissioners also approved of moving forward with a project review process that would involve soliciting recommendations on how to spend the money from members of the public, and vetting by county staff, an advisory board whose members have yet to be named, and commissioners.
More:Barnstable County to seek public comments on how to spend $41M in COVID relief money
Bob Troy, the assembly’s attorney, said spending should instead be guided by the ordinance process. In that process, as laid out in the county charter, representatives of both branches can propose a spending measure, but the ultimate power to veto ordinances lies with the Assembly. If the commissioners veto an ordinance, for example, the Assembly can override that veto with a two-thirds majority vote. If the commissioners don’t act on an ordinance, either by vetoing it or approving it, the ordinance would automatically go into effect after 10 days.
Members of both branches have emphasized that they want to find a mutually agreeable solution to the dispute because, without one, the subject could end in a court battle that would cost taxpayers money and potentially delay the distribution of needed aid money to Cape Cod.
County commissioners, who warned that the ordinance process would cause its own delays, voted unanimously on Wednesday…
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