A Valparaiso City Council member's efforts to redirect federal COVID money to infrastructure upgrades have fallen short.
More than $1.8 million of the city's American Rescue Plan money hadn't been spent by the end of 2022. Since it wasn't in the budget, the city council's approval was needed to spend it in 2023.
Much of that money is planned to go toward the demolition of the former Whispering Pines nursing home in anticipation of a new senior center. But council member Robert Cotton says there's still a lot of work to do before plans are finalized.
In the meantime, he'd like that money to be used on a project that appears to be further along: a $23 million waterworks improvement. "I think that there's a bigger issue here with respect to the continued pursuit of a want with emergency relief funds, when we are assessing taxpayers with further insult to the existing injuries, all around," Cotton said during Monday's council meeting.
But City Attorney Patrick Lyp said discussions about the senior center may be further along than Cotton realized. "They have not been finalized, although working with city engineering, there is a bid proposal for the demolition," Lyp explained.
Council members voted six-to-one to re-appropriate the remaining ARPA funds, with Cotton opposing. No action was taken to amend the ARPA plan to offset the cost of the water upgrades.
