With about $1.4 million left in American Rescue Plan Act funding, the Springfield City Council is considering divvying up the last of its COVID-19 economic relief money between renovations to Historic City Hall and improvements to the Cooper Park and Sports Complex.
A group of rental property tenants would rather see that funding, particularly the $905,502 recommended for Cooper Park, used for housing and homeless services, and made their appeal to the City Council at its March 11 meeting.
“We are proposing to put nearly a million dollars into sports facilities and tourism that have received millions already, instead of using those precious funds to help our own residents, and that's not right,” said Alice Barber, an organizer with the tenants union Springfield Tenants Unite.
The City Council will vote on the bill obligating the funds for City Hall and Cooper Park on March 25.
Additional ARPA funding could help complete projects
Of the $40.2 million the city was awarded in ARPA funding in 2021, about $1.4 million remains, and with a looming Dec. 31, 2024 deadline to obligate the funds, city staff and the ARPA Review Committee recommended they be allocated for City Hall and Cooper Park.
Originally budgeted at $10.4 million, the cost of renovations to City Hall — which include a new entryway, flexible office space and remodeled council chambers —- rose to $16.5 million as the scope of the project expanded.
With an additional $4.4 million in carryover funds secured for the renovations earlier in the same March 11 meeting, the $534,190 recommended from Springfield’s remaining ARPA dollars could fully fund the project.
“It's a very large project, a lot of funding sources, a lot of moving parts, but based on where we're at right now…we feel strongly that this will complete the project,” Deputy City Manager Collin Quigley told council members.
Likewise, the Cooper Park project — which includes new turf fields, an entry plaza, a parking lot and a host of additional amenities and upgrades to the park’s facilities and infrastructure — is also mostly funded, also through a variety of sources.
Of the $27.4 million budgeted for the $30 million project, the city previously allocated $7.3 million in ARPA funds, and awarded an additional $188,000 in carryover funds Monday night. While the $27.4 million will cover the first two phases of the project, Quigley said an additional $3 million is needed to “finish it to the scale we’d like to,” and the $905,502 allocation from the city’s remaining ARPA balance would help close that gap.
“So the good news is, when we bid out the first phase, it was really competitive and we were able to get some really good bids,” Quigley said. “So we're hopeful we build up phase two and this final phase three, that we can accomplish everything with this additional $900,000.”
Tenants ask City Council to table bill
For the second meeting in a row, tenants and advocates with Springfield Tenants Unite urged council members to prioritize housing. March 11, however, they spoke in direct opposition to a bill.
A pair of members of the tenants union spoke fondly of Cooper Park, a place they grew up playing at and continue to enjoy, but appealed for the remaining ARPA funds be used to address housing and homelessness. They asked council members to table a decision on how to spend the money until after a housing-focused retreat in April.
“I'm so glad that the city wants to invest in the park because I want it to be there for decades to come, but this ARPA proposal isn't just about putting a little bit of money into keeping our local park in good shape for local families,” Barber said. “This bill is about putting money into the sports complex at the park to attract people from out of town because tourists bring in business and generate tax revenue.”
Elvester Kennedy, a resident of Jenny Lind Hall — a government subsidized apartment building for qualified persons with disabilities or who are 62 and older — said “there are plenty of organizations working to end homelessness and keep people in safe and healthy homes who could use this money.”
Jenny Lind Hall, located at 711 S. Jefferson Ave., recently came under fire for having no working elevators, among other deteriorating conditions.
“I want you to think about what kind of message you're sending,” Kennedy said. “When you know people here in Springfield are living with broken windows, broken appliances, broken elevators, mold and bugs and you want to spend $900,000 on a sports complex. You don't have to send that message.”
In total, the City of Springfield has allocated about $14.9 million in ARPA funding for housing and homeless-related projects, including $9.6 million from the city’s original $40.2 million ARPA allocation, and $5.3 million from Community Development Block Grants, according to Quigley.
