By L. Parsons In the latest Navajo County Board of Supervisors meeting held last week, the board was advised of a vetting process for upcoming payments from the federal government in the form of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds, which was approved by the board. Navajo County Government Relations Director Rochelle Lacapa explained, “In March, legislation for ARPA was passed and in April, you as a board established guiding principles for how the county wants to invest these funds. Now we are at the point where we need to finalize a process.” The entire process is available on the county website at www.navajocounty.gov in the form of a slide show presentation. Lacapa added, “Departments or individuals that would like to request these funds for their projects must first be able to fall under the guiding principles of how these funds can be spent.” Her presentation outlined the vetting process the county will be using to determine funding eligibility. “First,” she said, “it will have to be determined if the proposed project meets what is allowable in the federal legislation. Essentially, this flow chart walks any person interested in requesting funds through all the questions they would have to answer. Does it meet guiding principles and improve our ability to serve our communities in the present and in generations to come? These funds will have to be paid back if not by us by our children and grandchildren so we need to make sure the proposed projects are sustainable. We also need to know if the project is directly linked to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” An example of a project that may qualify for federal ARPA funds in the county, is infrastructure or quality of life improvement, according to Lacapa. “Projects that the county may consider will fall in to one of six categories that are clearly defined by the ARPA legislation. Those are: the public health response, revenue loss, water and sewer infrastructure, premium pay, negative economic impacts, and broadband infrastructure.” It is not clear as of this time how much money the county is set to receive from this funding, however, Lacapa advised that any project that is approved should be sustainable on its own beyond ARPA funding. “The Treasurer’s Office has really discouraged investment in programming, or anything that would require federal funding beyond 2024 to sustain.” The board also heard a presentation on the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. According to Navajo County Finance Director Jason Vowell, the county has an unfunded pension liability in the amount just over $15 million as of June 2020 due to the liabilities exceeding the actual value of assets in the system. Vowell’s presentation outlined three possible options for financing the county’s debt and creating future savings: a pension bond to finance the liability, paying down the total debt from county reserves or continuing in the same manner with an annual employee contribution of $82,150 for the next 17 years. No action was taken by the board. In other business, the board: * Awarded a contract to Advanced Correctional Healthcare in the annual amount of $24,008 to provide health insurance coverage for incarcerated persons in the Navajo County Jail. This is a two-year contract with the option to renew up to three one-year extensions. * Made a presentation of recognition to Servier Begay of the Public Works department for his retirement after nearly 37 years with Navajo County. * Approved the sale of back tax land parcels sold over the counter in the amount of $21,959. * Approved the appropriation of county funds in the amount of $20,250 as the county’s share of the proposed budget for the contract of the University of Arizona Extension programs in the county. * Approved a letter of support addressed to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in support of Heber-Overgaard’s pursuit of federal grant funding for broadband infrastructure. * Approved a special event liquor license application for Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, located at 3048 Highway 277 in Overgaard for their annual festival to be held Aug. 21. * Approved a special event liquor license application for the Overgaard Ponderosa Lion’s Club for their casino night to be held Sept. 4 at All Season’s Barn, located at 2355 Bison Ranch in Overgaard. * Approved a legal advocate services agreement and guardianship and conservatorship indigent legal services agreement with Emery LaBarge. The primary duty of the legal advocate is to manage the County’s contracts for indigent defense including, monitoring compliance, performance management, reviewing fees for investigators and other professional services, and receiving and resolving client complaints regarding representation. Historically, these have been managed by the courts, but oversight of these contracts will now be performed by county administration. * Adopted the fiscal year property tax rates for all Navajo County Taxing Districts and school district tax rates for Navajo County. * Approved an agreement with WIC (Women Infants Children) for continuation of WIC services and breastfeeding peer counseling. The programs are federally funded. * Approved an amendment to an agreement between the Arizona Department of Health Services and Navajo County Public Health, supplying additional funding to expand activities to address vaccine equity across the county. The amendment provides an additional $1.1 million in funding. * Approved the COVID-19 Health Disparities contract between Navajo County Public Health Services and the Arizona Department of Health Services in the amount of approximately $1.8 million. The funding will allow the county to expand prevention, data collection and infrastructure support to advance health equity in Navajo County. * Awarded a contract to Hatch Construction and Paving, Inc. in the amount of just over $1.9 million for hot asphaltic concrete overlay on county roadways for this fiscal year. The contract is funded by the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF). * Approved an amendment to the contract for professional services with the Tomhave Group to advocate for the Little Colorado at Winslow Levee. Tomhave has lobbied and advocated for Navajo County as the non-federal sponsor of the project since 2018 and were recently successful in working with Senator Mark Kelly to request $3 million in congressional spending to initiate the pre-construction phase of the project. The contract amendment is a renewal that includes an increase in their monthly retainer to $18,000 until Feb. 28, 2022. * Appointed the following to the Redistricting Advisory Committee: May Gilene Begay, District I; Sadie Lister, District II; Ryan Stuart, District III; Rick Fernau, District IV; and Cline Lee Griggs, District V. The next meeting of the Navajo County Board of Supervisors will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 24, in the board meeting room, located at 100 E. Code Talkers Drive.
