The Allegan Township Board held a special meeting to address the assignment of ARPA funds ahead of a pending 12/31 deadline.

Many Miner Lake residents were in attendance to express their perspective on the Township’s decision to redirect the ARPA funding. It was an exceptionally civil meeting, and at just over an hour, much shorter than it could have been.

While we didn’t succeed in preserving the full ARPA funds for the Miner Lake effort, there was significant agreement on how we can move forward as a community.

Brief, but important, background:

The ARPA Program was originally announced in 2021 and included direct aid to municipalities across the country. Within Michigan, the program provided $1.80B to 49 Michigan cities and townships. Allegan Township received approximately $493,000 and the original guidance provided a very narrow range of allowable uses.

After considering these restrictions and multiple alternatives, the Board made commitments to apply the ARPA funds to the effort to implement a sewer system at Miner Lake. An engineering firm was identified and contracted to begin the process of submitting a preliminary application for a USDA-RD.

Progress on the sewer design and grant application was stalled for more than eighteen months while the City of Allegan and Allegan Township renegotiated a fundamental sewer and water agreement. Work had resumed on the engineering and as recently as the September meeting, the Board approved two resolutions to advance this effort, with the primary goal of providing Miner Lake residents with a clear understanding of the scope and costs of a potential project.

There were unspent ARPA funds, but the Township was provided a plan, with associated contracts, that allowed for the funds to be secured ahead of the 12/31 deadline and not be returned to the federal government. They elected to not pursue that and chose an option that put the commitment to the Miner Lake effort at significant risk.

Resolution

Resolution #1 for December 19, 2024
To meet and discuss and approve the Resolution and use of ARPA funds and any other business that might arise.

This resolution provided the Township the ability to convert the remaining funds (approximately $460,000) to the general fund as reimbursement for projects the Township previously approved/completed within the ARPA window. This is only possible due to loosened restrictions on the spending guidelines in recent months.

The Township Board voted 4-1 to approve the resolution.

Once executed, this will return approximately $460,000 to the general fund which can be used at the discretion of the Board.

What is Next

The Miner Lake leadership explained that making an informed decision on a sewer project involves more than knowing the initial project cost estimates. Those estimates do not account for any of the likely funding mechanisms, grants, or other state and federal support that is available once a completed plan is in place.

That is why we had been relying on the partnership from Allegan Township and the ARPA funds to get us to a well-designed plan, that fit our specific needs and could then be run through the process of funding and grant process. Without that, our residents would be presented with a cost estimate that likely didn’t reflect our end state.

The Board seemed to better understand this and was open to discussing what work remained to get the project to the point where Miner Lake residents could make a fully informed decision.

The Miner Lake Sewer Task Force will be meeting in Early January to confirm the next steps. We will update the community as well as the Allegan Township Board and work to get a clear resolution to this as soon as possible.