Usually, nothing much happens in Guilford County government in July.

The Board of Commissioners passes a county budget in June and then most top county officials go on vacation for a while.  This year, however, has been a completely different story. The commissioners have been in long regular meetings, committee meetings, work sessions, closed sessions and they have conducted interviews with job candidates.  And now, right before the board’s annual “vacation” month closes out, the board will meet to discuss how to spend over $100 million in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) money.

The Board of Commissioners has scheduled a work session for Friday, July 29, at 9 a.m.– a very unusual time for the board to meet. They will meet in the Carolyn Q. Coleman Conference Room, formerly the Blue Room, on the first floor of the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro.

The purpose of the work session is to receive reports on, and discuss funding ideas for, funds from ARP.

The county commissioners have been inundated with ideas as to how to best use the money and the county’s legal department has been working hard in recent months to determine which project proposals legally qualify and which ones do not.

Those questions are often very complicated since the legislation is new and was written quickly, leaving a lot of questions up in the air.

Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston has been asking for ideas for over a year from all corners of the county as to how to use the money which amounts to more than $100 million.

At the late July work session, the board plans to move forward with funding for some ARP projects.

The meeting room will be open to the public for anyone wants to attend.

People can watch over Zoom at https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1615037014.

The meeting will also be livestreamed on Guilford County’s Facebook page.