JPs delay action on funds for nonprofits

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County’s justices of the peace on Thursday delayed voting on an ordinance allocating federal covid-relief money to local nonprofits.

At its June meeting, the Quorum Court split evenly on an ordinance to provide about $598,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to a dozen nonprofit agencies.

The ordinance, which was on its first reading in June, needed 10 affirmative votes to advance to a second reading at that meeting. Minutes of the June meeting show the ordinance received six “yes” votes and six “no” votes, and it remained on the agenda for the Quorum Court’s July meeting for the ordinance’s second reading.

A motion to have the ordinance read for a third time failed at Thursday’s meeting with the justices of the peace again split evenly with six votes in favor and six votes against, and the ordinance will remain on the agenda for a third and final reading at the August meeting. Under Arkansas law, non-appropriation ordinances and non-emergency ordinances must be read three times before they are voted on.

The Quorum Court’s Finance & Budget Committee had voted 8-4 in favor of an ordinance appropriating $564,681 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the 11 organizations that had been deemed to be eligible for the money by the county. The justices of the peace also added $33,346 in funding for the Magdalene Serenity House to the original appropriation.

Some justices of the peace argued that providing money to the nonprofits was not a proper function of county government. Those justices of the peace said the county’s proposed emergency operations center should be a priority over the proposed funding.

The county announced at the end of August 2022 it would set aside about $2.3 million of the $46 million in relief money it got under the American Rescue Plan Act for local nonprofit organizations.

The county received 46 applications sent to the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District in Harrison to be reviewed to determine whether they met the federal guidelines and the county’s criteria for the money. The district found 11 applications met the guidelines.