The Cole County Commission is preparing to distribute federal funds to local entities to help them pay for expenditures incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission and county officials have been meeting with community leaders about how to best use Cole County's $9 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds received in May.
Last month, the commission hired BKD, a Springfield accounting firm, for $278,000 to assist the county in meeting its obligations under the CARES Act for purchases related to the pandemic.
BKD has developed an application for assistance, evaluating eligibility and risk assessments of entities that apply.
The commission Tuesday approved the first application phase, which will include $1.5 million for county schools - public and private. The minimum amount a school could receive is $10,000.
Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman and Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher voted in favor. Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle abstained due to conflicts of interest with three schools in the county.
Seventeen schools requested funding. Public schools included the Jefferson City, Blair Oaks, Cole R-5 (Eugene) and Cole R-1 (Russellville) districts. Private schools included Helias Catholic High School; Calvary Lutheran High School; Lighthouse Preparatory Academy; Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph Cathedral, St. Peter, St. Francis Xavier, St. Martin, St. Stanislaus and St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic schools; Trinity Lutheran and Immanuel Lutheran grade schools; and River Oak Christian Academy.
The applications for these funds will be sent to the schools via email.
Under CARES Act guidelines, the county can reimburse public schools; for private schools, the county will have to pay for items the schools are approved for.
All three commissioners approved $60,834 in CARES funds for Jefferson City for expenses incurred so far, but they have to meet CARES Act qualifications to get those funds.
The entire commission also approved $100,000 in CARES Act funds to reimburse the county for expenses incurred because of the pandemic.
The second application phase is scheduled to begin around Sept. 3. The commission is considering making $2 million available for applications in this phase, with $1.8 million in contingency. That still leaves $3.4 million in CARES Act funds that could be used for the ongoing application process.
The goal is to have funds earmarked by Nov. 30.
County Finance Officer Debbie Malzner said county officials will meet with BKD personnel weekly through the end of this year.
Instructions from the federal government indicated the money could go toward necessary expenditures incurred March 1 through Dec. 30. Funds that aren't spent by March 31, 2021, must be returned to the state. They cannot be used for replacement of lost revenue.
Contact tracing staff
The commission Tuesday approved hiring two part-time staff for the Cole County Health Department to assist with contact tracing for COVID-19 cases.
The two new staff members are retired nurses who will be on-call and work no more than 20 hours a week for $25 an hour. They will join two other part-time contact-tracing staff who were hired last month.
These positions will be funded through the county's federal CARES Act money.
Cole County Health Department Director Kristi Campbell said the department continues doing contact tracing on every positive case it is notified of in Cole County.
Contact tracing is a labor-intensive tool used by public health departments to prevent spread of infectious diseases like the coronavirus. It requires workers to interview people who test positive, track down people they might have had contact with and ask them to self-quarantine.
Cardiac monitors approved
Also Tuesday, the commission approved the purchase of 17 cardiac monitors for county ambulances.
EMS Chief Matt Lindewirth said these monitors will allow staff to send real-time data to hospitals so they can give exact moment care to critically ill patients, including those who might have COVID-19.
To pay for the new equipment, the county will use $78,000 the EMS service received in a grant from the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The remaining $391,000 will come from CARES Act funding.