Just Under $2 Million Remaining to Spend in Dwindling But "Flexible" ARPA Funds, Following Select Board's Most Recent Allocation (UPDATED)

At its meeting on August 28th, Westwood’s Select Board dedicated the remainder of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) restricted funds allocated to the Town of Westwood, just over $1 million, to the cost of HVAC systems work at the new Pine Hill Elementary School, and applied another quarter of a million dollars of unrestricted ARPA funding to municipal building security systems, leaving the town with a total remaining sum of about $1.96 million in “flexible” ARPA funding to commit before December 2024.

Before Select Board's Monday meeting, the Town of Westwood had $1,027,249 remaining in restricted ARPA funds and $2,214,257 remaining in flexible, revenue loss/revenue replacement ARPA funding for a total of $3,241,506 in uncommitted ARPA funding. After Monday’s meeting, the town has $1,964,257 in flexible ARPA funding left to spend, largely as it chooses.

As explained by Assistant Town Administrator and Finance Director Stephanie McManus, there are two general categories of federal ARPA funding – “revenue loss or revenue replacement” funds which are "flexible" and intended to replace public sector revenue that was lost due to the pandemic, and “restricted” funds which have more limited application and must be directed to areas such as COVID related public health spending, water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. According to Ms. McManus, federal ARPA funds allocated to Westwood must be fully obligated by December 2024 and expended by December 2026.

Westwood Permanent Building Committee Chair John Cummings presented the first ARPA funding request of Monday night to the board. He requested that $1,027,249 of restricted funds be applied to the town’s new Pine Hill Elementary School. Under questioning from Select Board Clerk Robert Gotti, Mr. Cummings revealed that doing so would result in over $3 million in savings to the town.

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Mr. Cummings explained that the full cost of the school’s new HVAC system is about $12 million, of which $7 million is eligible for restricted ARPA funding. Applying the approximate $1 million of remaining restricted ARPA funds to the school’s HVAC system would mean that the same amount of funding will be freed up to apply elsewhere at the school. 

Mr. Cummings stated he intends to recommend to the Permanent Building Committee that the freed funds be applied to obtain ownership of the solar energy facility to be mounted on top of the school. Owning the solar facility means the school can use the electricity generated without having to purchase it, and Westwood will be able to immediately start collecting renewable energy credits, he said.

In contrast, if the town does not take ownership of the school’s solar facility, it will operate under a Power Purchase Agreement with the renewable energy developer, Ameresco. In this case, Ameresco would own the solar facility and Westwood would need to purchase back the electricity.

The difference between the two scenarios of ownership amounts to over $3 million, concurred Westwood’s Energy Manager Tom Philbin. Mr. Philbin noted that the move toward town ownership of the school's solar facility would be consistent with the town’s sustainability and long term plans. He called the choice “almost a no-brainer.”

Select Board Clerk Robert Gotti questioned whether other projects exist which will compete for such funding. Town Administrator Christopher Coleman confirmed Mr. Gotti’s understanding that no other project is being presented that would compete at this time. With that understanding and the arguments in favor presented, Select Board unanimously approved Mr. Cummings' request.

Select Board also unanimously approved a second request, presented by Mr. Coleman, for up to $250,000 in ARPA funding to improve "access control" and obtain “synergy” among the security systems of town buildings and cameras. Included in the project would be Carby Street, Town Hall, Islington Station (Fire Station 2), Westwood Main Library, Senior Center, Wentworth Hall, and the Police Station, said Mr. Coleman. School buildings were not included.

Mr. Coleman explained that the requested funding would allow remote access to control the access, or lock-down, of the municipal facilities by staff from Westwood's facilities division and dispatch/communications division. 

Although the applicant of this request was not explicitly named, given the discussion and the parties referenced, it appears that the request comes from Mr. Coleman, Facilities Director Jim McCarthy, the town’s IT director, and “representation from police and fire.” In answer to a question of whether the plan is supported by “the chiefs,” Mr. Coleman answered affirmatively.

In total, during the pandemic, Westwood was allocated federal government ARPA funds of $4,806,506, of which $2,567,249 was restricted and $2,239,257 was revenue loss funding. Previous to Monday's meeting, Select Board had approved allocation of $1,540,000 in restricted ARPA funding and $25,000 in flexible, revenue loss funding as follows:

Social Services increased program capacity - $150,000

Library HVAC - $100,000

Hanlon/Deerfield Project HVAC - $1,100,000

School Street Playground Improved Disability Access - $190,000

Town Wide Disability Audit - $25,000

Updated 8/30/2023 at 9:35 p.m.  In the previous version of this article, a typo resulted in incorrectly reporting that restricted ARPA funding, before Select Board made new funding commitments on August 28th, was $1,207,249. The correct number is $1,027,249, which is $180,000 less than originally reported.  As a result, the calculation of ARPA funds remaining after Select Board's Monday meeting was incorrectly tabulated in this article as $1,784,257. It should be $180,000 more. The the correct amount of total remaining ARPA funds following Monday's meeting is $1,964,257. Westwood Minute regrets the error and has made the corresponding corrections.

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