MINOT — Ward County Commissioners decided to have staff members create an online portal for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund applications rather than using services from a financial firm.
The commissioners had considered using the services of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA).
“They are just a database collector…. We can create a database, we do it all the time. We did after the 2011 flood for these types of things,” said Commissioner John Fjeldahl.
Commissioner Shelly Weppler countered, “This would relieve our staff members from the application process and put it into this portal… all in a centralized location.”
Weppler also expressed concerns that the workload, training, and man hours to create an online portal would not outweigh the benefits of CLA’s portal at an annual rate of $20,000 with an additional $5,000 onboard fee for the first year.
Commissioner John Pietsch said he “wasn’t overly thrilled” with the presentation of CLA’s portal and agreed with Fjeldahl and Commissioner Howard Anderson to decline collaboration with a third party at this time.
Updates on the online portal will be provided at the next commissioner meeting on Tuesday, March 1.
