Bloomfield Township investigates, seeks input on how to spend American Rescue Plan Act funds

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Bloomfield Township was awarded $4.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to help alleviate some of the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is a nearly $2 trillion stimulus bill designed to speed up economic recovery for residents, businesses and governments in the wake of the pandemic. The federal government made the funds available to communities across the country to assist in recovery efforts.

Bloomfield Township Supervisor Dani Walsh said Michigan townships with a population of less than 50,000 were originally not entitled to ARPA funding. She said the money came with “extreme limitations” and was initially restricted to federal initiatives to expand broadband, and water and sewer services to underserved communities.

The limitations, she said, penalized communities like Bloomfield Township that already had access to those three fundamental areas, so the township joined other communities in lobbying federal officials for leniency and expansion of initiatives.

Recent adjustments allowed for larger townships, like Bloomfield, to receive funds by grouping the communities as “non-entitlement units.”

“Thankfully we waited, because the final rule was changed and now NEUs can use these funds to positively impact their individual community needs. Being patient and practical paid off and now we can focus on improving resources and services,” Walsh said in a statement.

On Sept. 6, the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees held its first study session to try to decide how to use the ARPA funds, with presentations from each department on their long-term capital needs and improving services.

Topics centered on the development of a strategic plan, and improvements to infrastructure, technology, equipment, work spaces, records management and programing.

Township Clerk Martin Brook said he counted around $42 million in potential projects from the presentations and suggested the township create a list of criteria to rank the projects.

“The community and the needs have outpaced some of the infrastructure. The buildings are aging, the maintenance has been deferred, upgrades have been deferred, and many, many of these things will need some action in the near future,” he said.

Walsh noted that the funding cannot be used to pay debt service or pensions, or to replenish any reserves.

The public meeting, she explained, was the first of “many discussions” on the topic.

“We were taking ideas from the departments, and we’ll take some ideas from the trustees and administration and start to narrow some things down so we know who we send on the hunt to see how much these (projects) will actually cost,” she said. “When we narrow it down to a certain list, then we are going to need to involve the public and say ‘these are what we are thinking are the top (needs), what do you guys think?’ — because it is technically their funds too. I’m guessing there are going to be at least two, possibly three more (meetings), plus a survey going out,” to every home in the township.

Trustee Michael Schostak said he’s glad the township is going to reach out for feedback from the community.

“The federal government, in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be beneficial for everyone to have this funding, so we better do something good with it,” he said.

The complete study session can be viewed on the township website’s video on demand page. The minutes of the study session can be found on the township website’s documents on demand section. For more information, visit bloomfieldtwp.org or call the township at (248) 433-7700.