ASHLAND — Between June and December, the Ashland County Commissioners received and allocated more than $3.2 million in CARES Act Funding.
The money allowed the Commissioners to cover unanticipated expenses related to the pandemic and enter 2021 in a “good place” despite earlier concerns, according to Commissioner Mike Welch, who served as the board’s president in 2020.
The COVID-19 relief dollars came in four disbursements. The first round of CARES Act dollars provided the county with $769,388.91 in June. In September, Ashland County Commissioners received an additional $384,694.45.
Round 1: $769,388.91
Round 2: $384,694.45
Round 3: $1,927,336.00
Round 4: $174,940.52
Total: $3,256,359.88
The third round was the most significant, allowing the Commissioners an additional $1,927,336 in October, and the last disbursement of $174,940.52 in December brought the total to $3,256,359.88.
“It was difficult. I think we did a tremendous job, and I will defend every line item. We didn’t spend money on anything I thought wasn’t worth it,” Commissioner Denny Bittle said.
“But when they give you $1.9 million on Oct. 8, and you have to have it allocated by Nov. 20 and then spent by the end of the year, it’s just not fair to taxpayers.”
He recalled reaching out to County departments and the community upon receiving the first round of funding. After evaluating the need, he said he aimed to balance the short and long term benefits of each expense.
“We were really conscious and spent time considering, how do we help the health of the community with the virus and save taxpayer money down the road?” Bittle said.
The Commissioners spent the most money in two categories. They allowed $1.53 million to go towards payroll for public health and $1.2 million for other public health related expenses.
The $1.53 million was used to cover wage expenses for the Emergency Management Agency and Sheriff’s Department.
The most significant public health related expenses included $452,000 to digitize records, upgrade websites and more for the Probate Courts and Recorders Office and $330,000 for eight COVID-safe vehicles. Four vehicles were purchased for Ashland County’s Job and Family Services, and four were purchased for the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office.
“Digitizing records, that had to be done at some point, but in the short term, it really helped those offices, so people wouldn’t need to come in,” Bittle said. “I saw the vehicles the same way. It was much safer to have those COVID-ready vehicles, and long term it saved us money.”
Additionally, $43,000 was spent for a maintenance truck; $32,000 for touchless bathroom hardware; $17,000 for the jail’s visitation area, cleaning supplies and more; $13,000 for air mist and sanitizing cleaner for all County maintained buildings; $9,700 for HVAC at the Courthouse; $8,800 for a freezer and alarm to store the COVID-19 vaccine; and $7,000 for an air purification system at the County Building.
Other items included in this category are Lysol, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer and Plexiglass.
Personal Protective Equipment such as gloves, masks, coveralls and eye protection fell into a separate category. The cost of these items totaled $47,000.
“These dollars were crucial. They saved us from having to buy these things from the County general (fund),” Welch said.
Approximately $196,000 was spent to allow employees to work from home during the pandemic. The purchases categorized as “improving telework” included $101,000 for tablets, accessories and licensing; $65,000 for remote access servers and $30,000 for a phone system for Job and Family Services.
When employees needed to quarantine, but were able to do their job from home, these purchases made a difference, Welch said.
COVID-19 related unemployment costs came to $3,700, and COVID-19 testing cost the County about $2,600.
Outside of its own pandemic-related expenses, the county spent $276,000 of the CARES Act Funding on area nonprofits and other community-focused organizations.
The County gave $150,000 to the Council on Aging to reimburse excess meal and meal delivery costs during the pandemic; $63,000 to the Ashland County Cancer Association for PPE, cleaning supplies and a vehicle; $28,000 to Dale Roy for PPE, technology and cleaning supplies; and $14,000 to the Ashland Pregnancy Center for telehealth equipment, cleaning supplies and more.
The Senior Citizens Center, Ashland YMCA, Ashland Christian Health Center, Ashland Special Needs Ministry and the Clover Foundation also received lesser amounts.
Council on Aging: $150,000 for reimbursement for excess costs during pandemic for Meals on Wheels food and delivery
Ashland County Cancer Association: $63,000 for PPE, cleaning supplies and a vehicle
Dale Roy: $28,000 for PPE, technology and cleaning supplies
Ashland Pregnancy Center: $14,000 for telehealth equipment, disinfectant sprayer, PPE, cleaning supplies and workstation with dividers
Ashland YMCA: $10,367 for disinfectant sprayers, PPE, cleaning supplies, technology to support online streaming of events and virtual exercise classes
Ashland Christian Health Center: $4812 for telehealth equipment, disinfectant sprayer and PPE
Ashland Special Needs Ministry: $2157 for disinfectant sprayer, PPE
Senior Citizens Center: $1,000 for two air purifiers
Clover Foundation (4-H Affiliate): $600 for laptop
“With the nonprofits, it was the same thing for me. Short term and long term, how does it help the health of the community in the short term and then help those agencies down the road, too?” Bittle said.
He highlighted the money for the Council on Aging as especially important.
“It affected a lot of people, and we were trying to help people stay out of long-term care settings,” Bittle said.
The organizations that received funding from the County had to submit receipts and were reimbursed for the expenses.
The Commissioners did decline some requests. According to Bittle and Welch, they particularly did not support requests that could not be completed by the end of 2020 or those that did not appear pandemic-related.
“It had to fit the box. I would say, some counties spent money that did not fit our box, but we were conservative because we didn’t want to pay anything back,” Bittle said.
The Commissioners considered using its second or third rounds of funding to offer small business grants as the City of Ashland did with a portion of its relief dollars, he explained, but time was limited.
“We would have had thirty days to get that allocated, and it was a very short period of time to make that fit the box — our view of the box anyways,” Bittle said. “We didn’t have time to do it correctly.”
