Hill County Commission votes down ARPA funding for health department

At an unusual meeting of the Hill County Commission Thursday, a resolution to give the county Health Department access to up to $100,000 in ARPA funds for COVID-19 prevention failed 0-3 when the meeting resumed later in the day.

Most of Thursday's meeting took place at 10 a.m., the normally scheduled time for the commission's weekly business meeting, but after discussing a possible change to the resolution with county Public Health Director Kim Berg, Hill County Commissioners Mark Peterson and Jake Strissel said they wanted to wait for fellow commissioner Diane McLean, who was absent, to return so she could be apprised of the change and vote on it.

The commission reconvened the meeting around 2:40 p.m. and proceeded to discuss the resolution which Peterson said he thought was all but a done deal.

The Hill County Health Department has been looking to get access to COVID-19 funds for months now to pay for the extreme amount of work their employees have had to do amid the pandemic.

In September of last year, the commission voted to allocate up to $100,000 in ARPA money to the department so they could pay for that work, but Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said in a quarterly meeting of the Hill County Health Board Jan. 26 that he hadn't signed any documents authorizing the department to use the money the commission voted to allocate them last year.

Berg, also the county health officer, said in a Hill County Health Board meeting back in August of last year that her department received no funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which she said could have been used to bolster her department and keep it sustainable had the Hill County Commission allocated it.

She said she had reached out to the commission multiple times by email asking for funds to keep the department sustainable along with suggestions about holding public meetings on the subject, but received no reply.

When she saw in the Havre Daily News that the commission was talking about how to use the money, she said, she reached out again to ask why no funds were being allocated to public health given the fact that the pandemic was still ongoing but received no answer beyond that the commission's primary use for the funds was the Milk River Levee project.

After the commissioners voted to allocate the ARPA money to the department, she said at last month's meeting, she asked Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong what she would need to do to get access to that money, and was told to provide the necessary documents, which she did, but was later told that the commission wouldn't sign off on the money because they believed she already had enough money.

McLean denied that that wording had been used, but nearly all of her, and Peterson's, hesitance to give Berg's department access to the money was framed around recent budget adjustment and grants the department received, which they said calls into question whether the department needs the money.

Berg addressed these recent grants and budget adjustments and said they all pay for specific positions and programs, and none address the issues she needs the ARPA money for, namely paying her employees for their work.

She said these grants cannot be used to do that, and the department rarely uses all of the money provided in those grants because the department's pay scale isn't that high.

She said these grants only apply to new hires of contract tracers and case investigators, which she doesn't have, not for the people who have been working nonstop since the pandemic began and have had to be compensated with county general funds because she doesn't have the ARPA dollars necessary to pay them.

Berg said she's had to use county funds to pay for the work the department is doing, but there'd be no reason to if they had access to ARPA funds.

When Thursday's meeting reconvened McLean once again expressed concerns about giving this ARPA funding to the health department, with most of her objections revolving around a desire not to give discretion over those funds to the department.

She said there are things the county could spend this money on that may be more important so she wants to make sure they're spending it right.

"We've got all kinds of infrastructure, we've got our road department whining about fuel and repairs, and rightfully so, we've got a lot of things that would maybe rise to the top as a priority," she said.

Current rules around ARPA funding dictate that the county must have it spent by 2026 and allocated by the end of 2024, and McLean said with so many things the money could be used on, she's concerned about giving the full $100,000 to Berg.

"Are we going to have any say over what gets called COVID response in those later timeframes?" she said. "... Do we want to give that discretion to someone else?"

McLean insisted she wasn't accusing Berg of dishonesty, but said the term "COVID-19 prevention," which the money is designated for in the resolution, is open to interpretation.

"She's gonna call it what she's gonna call it to be able to spend," McLean said.

Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong said the commission should trust Berg, and that she has a hard time imagining any dishonesty on the part of her department, especially since the county would be getting monthly reports on how the money is spent.

She said trusting county department heads to know how best to spend money they're given is what the commission does on a regular basis when setting up budgets.

This was a point that Peterson brought up as well, saying that the commission can, at any time, question how the money can be spent, and that Berg had already provided a budget for how she intends to use the money.

"We've got a budget for the 100,000, and every month we will see what is spent and we can question that at any time," he said.

"Can we?" McLean asked.

"Yes we can." Peterson replied.

Peterson said Berg may well not need the entire amount and has committed to give the county back whatever she doesn't end up needing to be reallocated before the 2024 deadline.

Berg did say in last month's board of health meeting that she may not need all of the money, but it's very hard to predict what the pandemic is going to throw at them, and they need to be able to respond to it.

At Thursday's meeting Peterson also asked why, if McLean had these concerns, did she not bring all this up sooner.

"If we had those questions why was (the resolution) on the agenda?" he said. " ... It was my understanding that we were ready to go on this, that's why I tried to get this done."

McLean suggested breaking up the $100,000 into smaller chunks and approving it one year at a time, but Armstrong said she thinks they should just give Berg access to the funds they voted to allocate her department months ago, and add a stipulation that spending be reviewed each fiscal year.

Peterson tried to set up a meeting with Berg for today, and Armstrong suggested they call Berg right then and there to talk but McLean said she didn't see a need for that.

"I don't see this as being urgent, as something that needs to be done this week," she said.

The commission voted 0-3 and the motion failed.

The commissioners said they intend to bring the resolution up again at next week's meeting and will be reaching out to Berg for more conversations.

When asked about the results of the vote later that day Berg expressed shock and dismay.

"I am at a loss right now," she said in an email Thursday afternoon. "The fact that utilizing ARPA funds, which were made available to this county due to a global pandemic, which is a public health emergency, is not an option for the public health department is inexcusable.

"I manage eight budgets, seven grants and one county general fund budget, and have never been questioned this much in my 12 years of being at the department," she added.

She said she has provided the commission with every document they have requested and that morning Peterson and Strissel were fully supportive of the resolution, so it's interesting to see such a change in less than 12 hours.

Berg provided the commission with a breakdown of all her department's COVID-19-related expenses in the last six months earlier that day.

Berg said, regardless of whether the commissioners decide to support her department with ARPA funds or not, her department will keep doing their jobs, but will need to keep using county tax dollars instead of ARPA funds to pay for it.