Council Hears BPW Presentation and Request For ARPA Funds

As reported in last week’s Image, the Holden City Council met for its regular monthly meeting February 8. On February 9, the Image requested the City send notes from that meeting, however, we did not receive the city clerk’s notes until the evening of Friday, February 18, nine business days after the meeting.

As the Image explained to City Hall, we believe it’s imperative that we be given the notes in a timely manner, so the citizens of Holden can be made aware of the actions of their elected officials soon after the scheduled meeting, especially when there are funds involved in council’s business.

The date of this week’s Image print date is February 24, and we can now report on the city council meeting, more than two weeks after the meeting took place.

As reported last week, the Holden Board of Public Works (BPW) gave a presentation to council members explaining the immediate need for funding for the City’s utilities.

Water Superintendent Tony Lerda, speaking on behalf of the BPW due to the technical nature of the presentation, addressed council and the Mayor as to the urgent issues the BPW has identified with regard to Holden’s infrastructure and repairs and improvements that are a top priority of the board.

The BPW is charged with managing Holden’s water, wastewater and storm water utilities, with the future and best interest of Holden citizens always a priority of the board.

The BPW presentation was an in-depth look at problems with the City’s infrastructure, and a request for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which the City received from the federal government as part of the COVID pandemic recovery assistance.

According to research done by the Image, the following are the guidelines for which the ARPA funds can be used:…

See This Week’s Image for Full Story…