April Quorum Court: Judge Dodson Unveils ARP Spending Plan

Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson unveiled his vision for spending the County’s remaining unencumbered COVID relief funds at Tuesday night’s otherwise-routine Quorum Court meeting.

Unfortunately, audio on the livestream is hampered by some sort of low hum feedback, so some meeting details are unclear — a problem that has plagued the Quorum Court and committee meetings for years now.

With JP Nancy Graddy (D, Dist. 11) absent, JPs heard routine officer reports that included County Treasurer Scott Sanson presenting the March financials:

Sanson reported that March sales tax came in at $1,067,786, which is 9.34% above last March and 3.96% higher year-to-date, continuing an upward trend in place for many months now.

Chief Deputy Chad Wooley presented the Sheriff’s Department report for March.

After some confusion about the Ordinance number, the Quorum Court unanimously approved the March appropriations, Ordinance 23-11.

ARP Administrator/Road Procurement Officer Tom Anderson gave details on his monthly ARP fund reports, and then Anderson and Dodson discussed road work and traffic projects across the County:

Dodson’s ARP Plan

Discussing the County’s $24+ million in COVID relief funds, Dodson explained that we’ve “thus far allocated $13 million to various third-party needs across the County.” He then outlined his plan to “maximize the impact of the remaining (unencumbered) ARP funds,” which amount to $10 million.

As he had told the Courts & Public Safety Committee last week, Dodson’s plan includes:

$1 million – 911 PSAP Consolidation
$1 million – Courthouse / Justice Building maintenance & security upgrades
$1 million – Arkansas river levee improvement
$1.5 million – Build animal shelter at Springhill
$5.5 million – Detention center

Dodson explained “each one of these five projects … are going to mean a lot to Faulkner County, all of our children and grandchildren. These are big issues.” He said he expected JPs “to begin considering and developing your own thoughts” now that he’s gotten “a piece of paper in your hand that you can take away from here.”

Entire meeting is here:

Videos edited from original video on Faulkner County’s YouTube channel.)

Visit Faulkner County Reports on YouTube for more videos and video excerpts from this and other County meetings and events.

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