June 10, 2022

OSWEGO COUNTY – The Oswego County Legislature passed a resolution at its June meeting to award funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In addition to health care facilities, services and programs, approved projects include small businesses, nonprofit organizations and community development and infrastructure initiatives.

“Over the last year, there have been many discussions across the state and the country about what types of projects would be eligible to be funded through this initiative,” said Oswego County Legislature Chairman, James Weatherup, District 9. “We have been very careful in our deliberations, not only to determine the best investments for our County’s future, but because if an audit determines that the project was ineligible, we would have to pay those funds back – defeating the whole purpose of this opportunity.”

Meetings between Chairman Weatherup, County Administrator Phil Church, Community Development, Tourism and Planning Director Dave Turner, leaders from various sectors of the business community, locally elected mayors and town supervisors, human service providers, representatives from local school districts and emergency service agencies, and other county legislators resulted in the development of a basic blueprint of how the County would move forward with the evaluation process.

“We created the Office of Strategic Initiatives and asked Dave Turner be its director to help ensure compliance,” Weatherup continued. “We also assembled a task force – purposefully designed to be independent of any political or peer pressures – to review the proposals. It remains vital to us to ensure that this process remain as fair and unbiased as possible.”

Proposals are filtered through a computer software program specially designed to assess ARPA projects. They are then discussed, questioned and rated by Director Turner and the task force before being presented to the appropriate Legislature committee for further examination and debate. Ultimately, they are brought before the full Legislature for a final analysis and vote.

“This is a unique opportunity to shape the economic future of Oswego County in a really impactful way,” said Turner. “Under this lens, we are committed to allocating these funds using a thorough and thoughtful process. We are taking our time – meticulously researching each of these proposals – and making systematic decisions; not only about their eligibility for the funding and but also for their ability to enhance and strengthen Oswego County’s economy.”

This resolution approved at the June Legislature meeting represents the first round of awarded proposals. Oswego County continues to accept project applications for ARPA funding.

Applications can be found online at: https://www.oswegocounty.com/government/county_legislature/american_rescue_plan.php or by contacting a local legislator.

For more information about ARPA funding, contact the Oswego County Office of Strategic Initiatives at OSI@oswegocounty.com or 315-349-8260.