Westmoreland commissioners will convene a public hearing to gather recommendations on how the county should spend $105 million in American Rescue Plan funds. No date has been set.

Commissioners Doug Chew and Gina Cerilli Thrasher committed to hosting an information session after hearing from dozens of community members who spoke or submitted written comments during Thursday’s public board meeting. Commenters pressed county leaders to create and implement a plan to allocate the federal funds.

Nearly three dozen members of the Voice of Westmoreland called for commissioners to allocate money for mental health treatment programs, affordable housing and other social service initiatives.

“We need action and we need action now, ” said Christine Baldonieri of Latrobe. “We can’t wait for you to sit back and say we need this big plan, which I heard was coming maybe by the end of the year. The end of year is six months away.”

Commissioners received the first allocation — more than $52 million — this year, and expect a similar amount later this year. Early guidelines restrict the use of funds to coronavirus relief programs, water and sewer improvements and broadband enhancements.

Officials said the money must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent before Dec. 31, 2026.

Federal guidelines are being refined and commissioners said they expect more detailed instructions that could expand the uses for those funds.

“Once we know the federal restrictions are changing, then we’ll come up with a plan,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. “Obviously, sometime in 2022, we’ll get the money on the street.”

Voice of Westmoreland, a local grassroots group, surveyed county residents this summer and received more than 700 responses. A vast majority said they favored social services and housing assistance as their preferred use of the funds. Survey findings were being forwarded to commissioners, according to Voice of Westmoreland officials.

Thrasher said commissioners had preliminary internal discussions about the use of the funds, including upgrades to county facilities and construction of a backup 911 dispatch building.

Human services programs also could receive some of the funds, but some suggestions pitched on Thursday are not likely to be considered, such as adding staff for mental health programs, commissioners said.

“We can all agree mental health is an issue in the this county, this state and this country,” Thrasher said. “For the most part, we could buy a building for a mental health hospital or a doctor’s office but a lot of things the constituents are asking us to do is to increase salaries and we can’t do that with this money because this money has to be spent by 2024.”

Chew said a deliberative process is needed to ensure the money is used wisely.

“The best way to ensure wasteful spending is to spend it overnight,” Chew said.

Spending coronavirus relief funds has been a challenge for county officials.

Nearly $4 million was earmarked this spring for local restaurants and other hospitality businesses which suffered financial losses because of the coronavirus, but the county received about half of the number of applications it expected and doubled grant amounts to ensure the money was spent.

Meanwhile, rental assistance grants allocated as part of the multiple federal relief programs continue to lag. Finance Director Meghan McCandless said the county received more than $26 million for those programs, but only 1,200 residents submitted grant applications for rental assistance and affordable housing funds and just $2.29 million has been doled out.

“We can’t give away the money,” Thrasher said.

Meanwhile, community groups such as Voice of Westmoreland continue to press county leaders to push out American Rescue Plan funds.

“County commissioners have not come up with a spending plan or a plan for community engagement as to how they will spend this $105 million,” said Voice of Westmoreland organizer Sarah Skidmore. “It is required by the American Rescue Plan to solicit and gather public input and community engagement and they have not set the priorities and they have not been transparent on how they intend to spend this money.”

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