COVINGTON, Ga. — County public safety workers could receive $2,500 and other employees $2,000 each by Christmas from Newton's share of federal COVID-19 relief funds after county commissioners voted for the expenditure Tuesday.
The Newton County Board of Commissioners also heard requests from a medical clinic for uninsured patients and most of the county's constitutional officers for part of a $10.8 million first installment of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money the county received.
The Board is making the federal money available to compensate a range of agencies and individuals for economic losses from the COVID-19 pandemic and for infrastructure needed to support government and public agencies and those forced to work from home during the pandemic.
Commissioners voted to give the first distribution of the funding to county workers and public safety workers who were at greater risk of infection because of their interaction with the public.
Sheriff Ezell Brown told commissioners that "many essential workers continued working day in and day out" and some sheriff's deputies contracted COVID.
"They couldn't say no, couldn't stay at home," he said.
The Board's ARPA subcommittee gave a report Tuesday on its progress in devising a final plan for distribution of the remaining funds.
Committee members said they had devised a rough draft of a spending plan divided into spending categories required in federal law.
The categories include money for those directly suffering economic impacts from COVID or for response to the public health emergency; pay for essential workers; water, sewer and broadband improvements; and extra money to cover any staffing needed to manage the money or for any unforeseen overages.
The committee — created by the Board Nov. 1 — includes two commissioners, the county manager and county attorney.
They told the other commissioners they had researched use of the Salvation Army to assist in the effort and the nonprofit agreed to help.
County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter said he needed to "work out details" with Salvation Army officials for an agreement on distribution.
He told commissioners there were no federal guidelines on how to distribute the funding but warned against specifying amounts of money for different areas of the county because such needs as mortgage assistance "don't care about geography."
The action to approve the premium payments to county employees followed appeals from District Attorney Randy McGinley, Superior Court Clerk Linda Hays, Sheriff Ezell Brown, Probate Judge Melanie Bell and Jennifer Phillips of Willing Helpers Medical Clinic.
• Willing Helpers, which treats uninsured patients who could otherwise not afford medical care, requested $750,000 to provide two years of funding for costs of treating those who contracted COVID-19 and suffered more severely from it due to other underlying medical conditions like diabetes.
• Bell requested a total of $340,000 to expand a courtroom, lobby and space for firearms registrations.
She said her staff already was working with Probate Court space designed with less space than needed.
The pandemic forced public agencies to require social distancing — which cut in half the number of people who could safely be in the Probate courtroom, she said.
In addition, demand has increased this year compared to 2020 for such services as issuance of weapons permits, Bell said.
"This is a long term investment," she said.
• Hays requested $294,000 for expansion of the clerk’s office’s Historical Deeds and Plats program that will preserve property transaction records back to 1971 by making images of them and making them available online.
The program provides 24-hour access to the Clerk’s Office by having as many documents imaged as possible on the office’s website and the Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Cooperative Authority website, Hays said.
She said it reduces potential exposure to COVID-19 by providing online access to records rather than physical contact.
It will generate revenue for the Newton County government’s budget; reduce wear and tear on the permanent records; and preserve the historical books to reduce damage that costs about $800 each to repair, she said
It also will ensure the records remain secure in the event of natural or manmade disasters, Hays said.
• Brown appealed for the payments to public safety employees. He said one neighboring government was giving police officers up to $5,000 from its ARPA funds despite being given less money than Newton County.
• McGinley asked for $493,000 to fund new Investigator and Investigative Assistant positions for three years. The new positions would focus solely on cases involving violence and gangs, he said.
"Shootings, especially drive-bys, murders and gang crimes have many challenges and having positions focused on that would go a long way in combating these types of crimes, which continue to increase," McGinley said after the meeting.
"Further, having staff that understands, studies, and deals with gangs would allow us to work with the school system in the county to help teach young kids about the dangers of these violent street gangs," he said.
"I believe these positions are needed and having the first three years funded by federal grant money makes fiscal sense for the county."
The district attorney said he was "beyond grateful for the commissioners' vote (Tuesday) night to give money to all county employees, especially those in law enforcement and fire safety."
"But, I am hopeful that my request, even if not approved for this first round of ARPA funds, will be granted during the second phase in early 2022," McGinley said.
Newton County is slated to receive a $10.8 million final installment of ARPA funds around April 2022, officials said.
The county received the money in May but Kerr said he did not want to distribute the money until receiving final federal guidelines on its distribution.
Its delay prompted calls from some Newton residents for its distribution that grew increasingly louder in recent months and helped convince the Board’s Democratic majority not to renew Kerr’s contract which ends Jan. 1.
