Chiefland Makes Needed Purchases Using Federal COVID Relief Money

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Chiefland City Commissioners Monday gave their city manager the green light to purchase $311,000 of equipment, mostly vehicles, using American Rescue Plan Act federal money.

The ARPA money was provided to local governments by Congress to assist in recovering economically from the coronavirus shutdown of the American economy.

Commissioners authorized the police department to purchase one patrol car equipped with a police package using $50,000 of ARPA money and $23,500 of USDA grant money.

The board also gave City Manager Laura Cain permission to purchase a Caterpillar backhoe for $133,000 using ARPA money. The backhoe is primarily used by the street department for water and sewer line work. The current backhoe is 31 years old.

Board members told Cain she could purchase a $34,000 pickup truck for the recreation department and a $62,500 squad truck for the fire department using ARPA money.

The commission also agreed to purchase a $42,000 three-quarter-ton pickup truck for the wastewater department.

The prices cited are based on quotes obtained by Cain.

Department heads submitted their list of equipment needs and ranked them in order. Commissioners purchased their top-ranked item on each department’s priority list.

Congress sent the city $547,000 as the first installment of the ARPA money this spring. The city spent a portion of the money on emergency items like a new phone system for city hall and the police department and for emergency repairs on a water line.

When the latest list of items is purchased, there will be about $60,000 of ARPA funds left over from this pot of money, but the city will receive a second installment of $547,000 of ARPA money in the fall.

Commissioners authorized the $311,000 in purchases on a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Rollin Hudson was absent.