County Board Submits Requests For American Rescue Plan Act Allocations
The Madison County Board met on August 18 under the leadership of chair pro-tem Mike Walters.
The meeting started with a moment of silence for Lucille Yarborough, 91, who served as a cook in the jail and State’s Attorney and State Senator Bill Haine, 77.
A request for Three Guys LLC d/b/a Foundry Public House, which already has a location on Main St. in Edwardsville was approved to open another location in the clubhouse building at Holiday Shores which formerly housed Beacon Hill and Gingerz. The Holiday Shore location will serve the same menu as the Main St. location with the addition of kid friendly items, soft serve ice cream, and box friendly lunches for the beach and boat during the summer.
A contract was awarded to Jen Mechanical for $105,255 to replace the rooftop air conditioner/furnace at the Madison County Annex Building.
A grant for $8,112 was approved from the Illinois Supreme Court Commission Access to Justice for a Self-Represented Litigant Coordinator program. The purpose of the program is creating and overseeing domestic violence services related to drafting plenary orders at the Order of Protection and Stalking No Contact dockets and outreach programs and another $20,000 to oversee an eviction meditation program.
Requests for how to spend the $25,539,031 first installment of American Rescue Plan Act funding was approved to send to the U.S. Treasury. Requests were grouped into the following categories and will be approved by the county board following the Madison County Purchasing Policy:
•ARP Administration $ 560,845
•Broadband $2,213,743
•Cyber Security $557,905
•Infrastructure $6,552,678
•Law Enforcement $2,220,201
•Pandemic Response $94,148
•Sewer $4,427,486
•Storm Water $7,701,336
•Tourism $110,688
•Voting $1,100,000
The board approved the annual application for the Community Services Block Grant for 2022 in the amount of $656,372.
A cost of living adjustment for public defenders was approved, increasing each employee’s salary to $165,090.76, from $161,064.02.
Alton, Bethalto, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Granite City, Highland, Madison, Pontoon Beach, Troy, Venice and Wood River the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and SIU Edwardsville will each receive a share of $755,820 from the Madison County 911 Emergency Telephone System Board for 911 calls received from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021.
During new business, student athletes were acknowledged by their respective county board member for their championships at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. The Highland softball team, Triad soccer team, Peyton Ballridge, a graduate of East Alton Wood River High School for her discus and shot put championship titles, and Brandon Battle from Edwardsville High School for winning the state title for all three distances of track sprints.
All of the teams and athletes will receive proclamation plaques at the next meeting at the County Administration building on September 15 at 5 p.m.
