WARD COUNTY — Members of the Ward County Commission met with a wealth management team on Monday to discuss American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
The ARPA fund committee, consulted with representatives from CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) Wealth Advisors, LLP to prepare options for allocating ARPA funds throughout the county.
CLA is a SEC registered investment advising firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Should they provide their services to Ward County, they would assist by ensuring accurate ARPA fund performance reporting, make sure proper criteria for projects are met, and would provide a streamline process for city and township applicants to apply for project funds.
The CLA representative said their fee for the first year would be “up to half of one percent of the total funds,” which would amount to approximately $65,000 (total ARPA funds being $13.2 million).
The ARPA committee and, ultimately, the county commissioners will still decide on whether to use the firm’s services. The ARPA committee agreed to add a project category for demolition of condemned buildings owned by the county that are considered liabilities.
The ARPA committee consists of Commissioner Shelly Weppler, Commissioner John Pietsch, County Engineer Dana Larsen, Auditor Marisa Haman, and the Director of Emergency Management Jennifer Wiechmann.
They are scheduled to present their recommendations before the board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 9 a.m.
The commissioners will then decide how to move forward in the process before scheduling a public hearing for comments and suggestions.
