The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a work session for Tuesday, May 25 to receive a staff report on, and discuss the best ways to spend, the enormous amount of money the county is receiving as part of Guilford County’s allocation of the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said this week that he wants to hold another meeting with the county’s town and city mayors in order to continue coordinating the effort on the best way to spend the funds.

Alston said there are a lot of questions that remain as to exactly how the money can be used and this May 25  work session will answer some of those questions.

“We don’t know yet how we can spend this money,” Alston said.

He added that, after the county gets more guidance as to how the funds can be legally spent, there will be more clarity on how it can help the cities and towns in the county as well as the county itself.

“A lot of people have called about it.  They wanted to see if we’re doing business grants again,” Alston said.  “We don’t know as of yet.”

He said he tells everyone to “Stay tuned.”

“We’re not getting the whole $104 million this year – we’re only getting $52 million,” he added.

The coming Rescue Plan funds work session with his fellow commissioners and county staff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 25 in the Blue Room on the first floor of the Old Guilford County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro.

While the commissioners have begun letting people attend their regular Thursday night meetings in the large meeting room on the second floor, the work session will be open only virtually for those who want to watch.

In case there was any doubt, the meeting notice for the work session states in all caps, “THE MEETING ROOM WILL NOT BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.”

 

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