Sharing from my friend Will:
I was in attendance at this Bonner County Commissioners meeting yesterday and was working on a public write up, however, this morning I received this email from Will that sums things up perfectly:
Yesterday, the topic of ARPA was on the agenda at the Bonner County Commissioner meeting. I was able to attend, and just wanted provide a quick write-up of what happened.
When I arrived at 9:00am at the start of the meeting the room was packed out of the door. The local community was called to attend the BOCC meeting because Asia Williams drafted a resolution for Commissioner Steve Bradshaw that would move ARPA money designated for the EMS department back to the County's treasury, and would also halt allocation of ARPA money.
There was a lot of thoughtful public comment, and dialogue between the county legal representative and BOCC if you're interested in watching the entirety of the YouTube broadcast. For your convenience, I've highlighted 3 things and linked to the YouTube clips.
1. The Bonner County Treasurer, Cheryl Piehl, made an informal request to send her department's ARPA grant money back to the Bonner ARPA treasury. She will likely make a formal resolution soon (2 minutes) https://youtu.be/XLKg4dJ3Q6o?t=1931
2. The only public comment you need to hear about ARPA (3 minutes) https://youtu.be/XLKg4dJ3Q6o?t=3149
3. Resolution passed to halt all ARPA allocation. Notice there is zero applause. There is unanimous desire to go further... and just send the ARPA money back to the U.S. Treasury (10 seconds) https://youtu.be/XLKg4dJ3Q6o?t=3877