The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has a lot of money burning a hole in its pocket – over $100 million in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds – and the board also has a lot of local organizations, local governments and county departments that want to get some of it. On Friday morning, July 29, the Board of Commissioners heard a lot of requests for uses and now the board has scheduled another work session for Thursday, August 4, to hear more requests and, according to Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, start handing some of that money out.

“We should be in a position to vote for some of the requested items on Thursday at the work session,” Alston said this week.

County staff and the county commissioners have already done a lot of work this year processing requests and trying to decide the most effective ways to spend the money that’s part of massive federal payouts to local governments across the country for pandemic and economic relief.

The money can be used for everything from school nurses to broadband infrastructure to Foster Care programs and there are a lot of government departments and private agencies making the case to the board right now that the county should support their cause.

The August 4 work session is open to the public and will be held at 3 p.m. in the large conference room on the third floor of the Truist Bank Building in downtown Greensboro.

The official stated purpose of the work session is “to receive an update and discuss American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding ideas and submissions; and conduct any other necessary business.”

People can watch the meeting online with Zoom using a computer, tablet or smartphone, visiting https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1608310475 and completing the registration for the webinar.

The meeting will also be livestreamed on Guilford County’s Facebook page. Copies of the agenda for the work session will be available at https://guilford.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx for review before the meeting starts. People can contact Deputy Clerk Ariane Webb at awebb@guilfordcountync.gov if they have any questions.