City officials looking into ARPA spending

City of Jacksboro officials and council members are looking into ways to spend just over $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

City Manager Mike Smith said the first half of the funds or $543,146 arrived last month, with the second payment in the same amount expected to arrive in August 2022. The monies can be spent on helping businesses, replacing lost revenue due to COVID-19 among other things, Smith explained during the Sept. 13 council meeting. The funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2024.

Smith said the two clarifiers at the water treatment plant need to be replaced and the money is already budgeted for that at a cost of $292,000. The actual cost will be somewhat under that as the gear drive in the east clarifier had to be replaced earlier this summer.

Smith gave a number of ideas, in no particular order, of what the city needs. The city is looking into automatic meter readers, which the council had a presentation on, at a cost of between $330,000 and $430,000.

Other ideas would be:

• Sandblasting and repainting the water tower on Belknap for an estimated cost of $250,000;

• Replace a 6-inch water pipe with an 8-inch pipe in Sewell Park at a cost of $180,000;

• Replace the roof on the Twin Lakes Activity Center for an estimated cost of $100,000;

• or work on increasing water pressure on the south side of town (estimated cost of $60,000).

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Sept. 22 edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.