A win for pickleball

After months of discussion and pondering, the Adams County Council made decisions on the remaining ARPA fund requests that came from various governmental departments and local businesses. The lone approval went to the Decatur-Adams Parks and Recreation Department in the amount of $339,000, which will fund the repairs and renovations to various projects throughout the county (the covered bridge and Linn Grove were specifically mentioned) and with a designated $93,000 that will allow for the addition of pickleball courts to the Riverside Center.

A group consisting of Parks Superintendent Jeremy Gilbert and volunteers Bob Goulet and Brad Logan again expressed their plans to the Council, which include renovating existing courts at REV Sports

Complex and changing the Riverside Center sand volleyball pit into a new court. The group expressed the amount of waiting that local residents have to do because of the lack of courts and added that the number of players continues to increase.

Three remaining requests for ARPA funds were unanimously denied by the Council on Tuesday morning. Originally requests were made by PAWS of Adams County for $200,000 so that they could build a new building to take in more animals, along with $17,000 from the Library and $16,328 from the Health Department in requests for premium pay for their employees.

Both Council members Fred Valez and Cory Sprunger expressed concern in setting a precedent of granting premiums to both departments, worrying that the decision could lead to various other departments within the county government making requests for some of the remaining funds. As for PAWS, they acknowledged the work that is done by the nonprofit and their appreciation for their services, but decided that the money could best be used elsewhere.

Following these financial decisions, the county still has access to $2.5 million in ARPA funds, which must be planned for spending by the end of 2024 and completely spent by 2026. Sprunger brought up the idea that the county should use the money for anticipated county capital expenditures to take the pressure off the funds outlined in the budget. The next Adams County Council meeting will be Tuesday, February 14th at 8:30 a.m.