Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp apparently didn’t see the hornet’s nest he was about to run into when he suggested the county reallocate 4.2% of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money the county was awarded in 2021.
In last Wednesday’s Hamilton County Commission agenda meeting, he suggested the county take $3 million of the $53 million that had been allocated to the county Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA) from the federal funds (and subsequent grants) and use it for more pressing projects.
The $3 million, Wamp suggested, was for a WWTA project that was far in the future, would not interfere with WWTA’s ability to end all sewer moratoriums in place and ultimately could be done cheaper with county money without federal strings attached.
He laid out a group of projects the $3 million would be divided among, including $500,000 for a 40/40/40 community development program that would primarily benefit the Black community; $500,000 for La Paz, an organization that assists the Hispanic community; $500,000 for lights for the East Hamilton High baseball and softball fields; $500,000 for highway reflector markers for dark roads across the county; and $250,000 for Clinica Medicos, a medical clinic serving the Hispanic community.
Wamp said it would be a chance to fill immediate needs versus a project long in the future.