BENNINGTON — The Select Board has approved using American Rescue Plan Act funding toward a new Willow Park playground area and for a premium pay and benefits package for town employees for working during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assistant Town Manager and Planning Director Daniel Monks also updated the board on a list of top priority projects that town staff are evaluating for readiness, suitability for use of some of the $3.9 million in ARPA funding the town is expected to receive from the federal program and other factors used in setting priorities.
Monks said using federal funds to assist in the redevelopment of the former Bennington High School building on Main Street, to replace the playground area, for creation of a skate park, for sewer line upgrades in the County Street-Benmont Avenue area and stormwater runoff control upgrades along South Street are considered the top priorities based on staff research thus far.
Monks said the second phase of the Putnam Block redevelopment project, a proposed nonprofit grocery store/market on West Main Street and ARPA funding toward the town’s revolving loan fund for businesses were removed from the top priority list, based on differing factors.
Adding to the business loan fund would have involved “complicated [loan] eligibility issues” regarding ARPA-use guidelines, Monks said.
In the case of the Putnam Block’s second phase and the downtown market, he said the possibility of other funding sources — one of the evaluation criteria for town ARPA funding — was a factor in their removal from the list.
Monks said the Putnam project is a possible candidate for a tax increment financing project to bond for infrastructure work to benefit the redevelopment, and a fundraising effort is in progress to benefit the downtown market effort.
Monks said a presentation on use of ARPA funds to assist the redevelopment of the historic former high school will be given at a future Select Board meeting, as will a presentation on a proposed skate park/outdoor staking rink.
PLAYGROUND PLAN
Town Director of Facilities Paul Dansereau updated the board this week on the playground project. He said the firm Play By Design, of Ithaca, N.Y., submitted the proposal that was selected from among six received.
He said the firm will present three designs next month for review by the board and the public, which will be asked for input. The project is budgeted not to exceed $500,000, with the town using ARPA funding to replace the deteriorated Willow Park playground installed in 1999.
Dansereau said selection of a final playground design is expected by the end of April, and construction could begin in June.
The playground materials, he said, will be plastic and aluminum.
Town Communications Coordinator Jonah Spivak said a public outreach effort will seek input on the playground design and related topics, and information will be posted on the town website.
PAY/BENEFITS PACKAGE
In addition to approving the next steps on the playground plan, the board OK’d a plan presented by Town Manager Stuart Hurd to provide extra pay and additional benefits for one year to thank town workers for their efforts during the pandemic, specifically from March 2020 to March 2021, when COVID-19 vaccines weren’t yet available.
The proposal, which was approved by the board, will provide extra pay for hours worked during that period — determined in three tiers based on the level of risk the employees were likely to have faced.
Hurd said police would receive an extra $1 per hour for the hours they worked; Public Works employees and dispatchers 50 cents more than hour, and office workers 25 cents more per hour — to be paid in lump sums.
The total cost will be $86,610 from ARPA funding.
In addition, Hurd proposed and the board approved $88,100 to provide dental and vision insurance coverage for town employees for a one-year period.
He noted that most similar towns provide such coverage. Whether dental and vision plans should continue afterward will be a subject for upcoming contract negotiations with town employee unions, he said.
Board member Tom Haley said such COVID-19-related compensation was among the intended uses for ARPA funding when the act was approved by Congress and President Biden.
Board member Jim Carroll said not providing benefits most similar communities do offer could put the town at a disadvantage in filling job vacancies.
Hurd noted that municipal and state employees were not eligible for similar funding provided by federal and state COVID-19 relief funding available to workers in the private sector impacted by the pandemic.
OTHER PRIORITIES
Referring to other proposals on the ARPA priority list, Monks said needed sewer line upgrades on County Street and Benmont Avenue, and stormwater control upgrades along South Street are likely eligible for funding from other sources.
He said the current plan is to do preliminary design work on those projects using ARPA funding in advance of the town seeking further design or construction funding.
The Select Board previously approved using up to $185,000 of ARPA funds to digitize Bennington land records.
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