WARREN — Bazetta trustee Mike Hovis and Bob McBride asked Trumbull County commissioners on Friday to reconsider an American Rescue Plan road paving request the township made last year that was rejected because of what was then believed were rules the county needed to follow.

The township requested $300,000 for the repaving of McCleary-Jacoby Road. That request was rejected by the commissioners based on their understanding of the federal requirements for the ARP fund distributions.

Once that request was rejected, Bazetta requested and was approved to receive $200,000 to purchase an ambulance for its fire department.

However, earlier this month, Vernon Township, which also was rejected for a road project, continued pushing for its request.

Vernon trustees approached the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office to sponsor the $408,069 road project at Bushnell Campbell Road that was rejected in October. Vernon’s request was initially ruled ineligible because, in part, it did not have any county involvement, according to Commissioner Denny Malloy.

Engineer Randy Smith said his office agreed to work with Vernon trustees on the request. If the project is approved, Smith said his office would complete the work and essentially become the vehicle for use of the ARP funds. He said his office would be open to doing other projects as well.

The law firm working with the commissioners in reviewing ARP requests indicated the rules would allow such a partnership.

Hovis, on Friday, asked what is the next step they can do to obtain at least $100,000 to partially finance the repaving of McCleary-Jacoby Road. The trustees said they may be able to get the remaining funds needed for the project.

Malloy noted that early in the commissioners’ discussions about providing ARP funds to townships, at least two commissioners committed to providing between $250,000 and $300,000 to each of the townships.

“Some were able to come up with project, others were not,” Malloy noted

The commissioner noted Bazetta still has $100,000 available to it if trustees can get the road project approved.

“It is no slam dunk,” he said. “Vernon still has a lot of things to sign off on.”

Auditor Martha Yoder advised trustees to act quickly because the county has until the end of the year to have all of the ARP encumbrances identified.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa added the county has limited ARP funding still available to use and some other important projects to consider for funding.

When questioned earlier about the use of ARP funding for road projects, Cantalamessa said the commissioners need to be very careful about its allocations. He suggested the county needs to have a cutoff on accepting new requests.

“I think we need to be very careful when it comes to road projects as that would be coming from the county’s revenue loss fund,” Cantalamessa said. “The projects from the highway engineers office have never involved funding from the county commissioners general fund and would set a dangerous and costly precedent.”

“We haven’t even scratched the surface on broadband accessibility and expansion,” Cantalamessa continued. “The investment opportunity highlighted by the Fund for Warren’s Future will require a great deal of public investment and improved infrastructure. Accessibility to green space, mixed-use shopping facilities and modern housing solutions will be needed to accommodate the individuals employed by Ultium Cells, Foxconn, Kimberly Clark and other future investment.”

Malloy reminded Cantalamessa that Bazetta’s request is not new and the commissioners have already set aside or froze that money for a potential project.

Commissioner Niki Frenchko, in response to an interview prior to Friday’s meeting about funding road projects with ARP funds, suggested being an early proponent for this use of the funds.

“Last year, I moved to set aside $6 million for townships, and the others voted no,” she said. “I don’t want townships to get shorted, so I suggest those who had road projects come in for reconsideration. My suggestion remains to look at the balance of the requests for priority and to stop accepting late applicants.”

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