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Columbia City Council Vexed By Lack Of CARES Help From County

The Boone County Commission’s failure to distribute any of the $21.2 million in federal money for COVID-19 relief it received from the state in May has members of the Columbia City Council frustrated.

The money comes through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, a program meant to alleviate the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government doled it out to the states, which in turn distributed it to county commissions to provide funding to government agencies, businesses and nonprofits that have suffered economic losses as a result of the pandemic. The county commission continues to sit on the money while it waits for a software vendor, Carahsoft, to create an online portal to accept and evaluate applications.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services was among 50 public health agencies in Missouri that have received no money through the CARES Act.

The topic came up at the Monday night meeting of the Columbia City Council when Housing Programs Division Manager Randy Cole sought permission from the council to apply to the county for $750,000 that would be used to help struggling small businesses. Cole said it would make sense for the city to administer assistance to rural businesses because it already has a system in place to do so and would eliminate the need for the county to duplicate that.

Columbia Mayor Brian Treece pushed back. He acknowledged the need Cole’s idea would address but said “there needs to be a global settlement of all issues with the county with respect to that CARES Act funding.”

“This council sent a letter in June to the county commission asking them to consider a pro-rated, per-capita distribution of that money, like many other first class counties have done,” Treece said. “We’ve received no response.”

The letter to which Treece referred asked the commission for $14.4 million of the $21.2 million it received. Council members agreed that their Aug. 13 work session on the fiscal 2021 budget should begin with a conversation about the economic impact of COVID-19 on the city. Aside from the expenses incurred by the Health Department, the city also has lost revenue by suspending parking fees and utility disconnections.

First Ward Councilwoman Pat Fowler said the budget conversation must address whether CARES money can be used to help the unsheltered homeless. That need, she said, has intensified since the pandemic began.

City Manager John Glascock said he could provide a full accounting of COVID-19’s impact on the city in time for the work session, which is scheduled as an all-day affair.

The city will be on a tight timeline to spend any money it gets. Treece said he doubts the county will be ready to distribute any money until the end of September. The city’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1, and it probably won’t know during its budget talks how much funding to expect from the county.

“We have born the brunt of these expenses,” Treece said, noting that 85% of the county’s population lives in Columbia.

The council did introduce an ordinance Monday night authorizing an agreement with the county through which the Health Department would receive $1.8 million to hire more contract tracers. That ordinance will be up for for a final vote at the council’s Aug. 17 meeting. The county commission gave it preliminary approval Thursday and will take a final vote Tuesday.

Federal and state guidelines offer the county commission little guidance on how the money should be spent, except that it needs to be directly related to COVID-19 and must be spent by the end of the year.

“That’s not a lot of time to spend a lot of money that should have been distributed back in June,” Treece said.

Fifth Ward Councilman Matt Pitzer shared Treece’s frustration. “But what else can we do?” he asked.

“Protest,” Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala said.

County commissioners Thursday chalked up the delay to wariness over what the federal government will allow them to use the money for and developing a fair method for deciding who gets it.

“Has it been fast?” asked Northern District County Commissioner Janet Thompson. “No. Would it have been nice for it to have been faster? Yes.”

Thompson said acquiring the Carahsoft software takes time, but it’s important because it will allow equitable distribution of the money.

Southern District Commissioner Fred Parry said that “early on, the goalpost kept moving on this funding about what you could and couldn’t do. There was just a lot of questions about what would and wouldn’t qualify.”

The county is subject to an audit to ensure it uses the money appropriately. Parry said that’s why it has taken a “better-safe-than-sorry position.”

Parry said Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill is the one in charge of distributing the money. He has been asking why it’s taking so long, but said he doesn’t have enough information to say whether he would do it faster.

“The presiding commissioner’s name is on the line,” he said. “My sense is that he just wants to make sure all our I’s are dotted and T’s our crossed.”

Money for the contact tracers and for school districts to provide students with Wi-Fi hotspots were considered emergencies that couldn’t wait.