Elk Grove council on Wednesday will consider how and where to spend COVID relief funds
Elk Grove recently received the first half of its $22 million federal COVID relief package, and residents and a special task force have given city leaders a hefty to-do list:
Shore up funding for critical city services, revenue lost during the long pandemic. Boost sluggish broadband service in the city’s business parks, a loud complaint of Elk Grove’s business community. Lay down infrastructure to attract new businesses and the jobs they create. Develop a job training program to help workers who lost jobs during the pandemic to learn new skills.
Offer grants to small businesses hit the hardest by the pandemic to help them and their workers get back on their feet.
Similarly help Elk Grove’s nonprofit groups with grants to help them weather the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Fund ways to address homelessness in the city.
It’s a lot, and Elk Grove City Council will review it all Wednesday night as they consider how the city will spend the millions in American Rescue Plan Act money it is receiving, hear from residents and pore over the hundreds of responses they received from a recent survey of Elk Grove residents.
The council will meet in person for the Wednesday session, but rising COVID cases are keeping the council chambers at 8400 Laguna Palms Way closed to the public. People who want to participate in the meetings must register via Zoom.
The federal $1.9 trillion aid package signed by President Joe Biden in March was designed to help address the economic and public impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The city received a little more than $10.9 million in June, said city officials. A second equal payment will arrive in June 2022.
Elk Grove called for ideas from residents sending out the survey late last month and getting the word out about the city-wide questionnaire on social media, the city’s weekly emails and at its annual July 4 event. Elk Grove City Council convened a COVID-19 economic recovery task force earlier this year made up of business and civic representatives to develop ideas.
Elk Grove Water District sent in its own request, asking for more than $6.3 million in American Rescue Plan and state and local COVID recovery funds to address infrastructure needs and replace the utility’s aging water mains.
The district “has projects that are shovel-ready or nearly shovel-ready that will improve the reliability of water in our community,” said district general manager Bruce Kamilos in a letter to city officials requesting the funds.
Still others want to improve teen and youth outreach programs, enhance arts and entertainment options in the city and improve roads in a growing Elk Grove.
The council may also consider other categories that fall within the rescue plan’s guidelines.
The city can use its allocation for costs incurred through the end of 2024.
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