TONASKET- The Tonasket City Council convened for a special meeting, Monday, Dec. 30, to officially allocate funds from the American Recovery Act.

The session, held at city hall council chambers, focused on a plan to address projected needs.

“We have a few things to wrap up before the new year,” said Alisa Weddle, Mayor Pro-Tem.

Alice Attwood, City Clerk said, “according to the U.S. Department of Treasury, the American Recovery Acts Funds need to be formally obligated by the end of the year.

A resolution and a budget do not fill that obligation.

The American Recovery Act, a federal initiative aimed at revitalizing communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, has provided a significant financial boost to cities across the nation.

Attwood said the committee met and reviewed RFQ ’s (Request for Quotation) and has determined that Architects West would be the best choice for the Tonasket City Hall/Library Redesign/Extension Project.

“We looked at three proposals that were submitted, all of them were very good, but Architects West, to me, stood out,” said Councilmember Jeff McMillan.

Marcus Valentine of Architects West was present for the meeting to answer questions for the council.

“What we would be doing is reviewing your programs, your existing space utilization, your projected needs going forward into the future and examining a couple of different ways we might approach expanding the facility or reconfiguring the spaces within to give you that accommodation for that growth” said Valentine.

Valentine said these plans would be “pretty conceptual in nature.” A rough estimate would be attached with those options to give some information to work with in building a capital project.

“We would start, basically, when we have that agreement signed, right after the first of the year we would get going,” said Valentine, adding, the anticipated delivery date would be no later than April 1.

Councilmember Teagan Levine made a motion to approve and authorize the Mayor Pro-Tem to sign the agreement with Architects West in the amount of $25,000. McMillan seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously.

The council previously approved a change order in the amount of $154,000 obligating the ARPA funds for the demolition of the old Tonasket Police Department building. Attwood gave an overview and said it is imperative the funds be legally obligated to Selland Construction for demolition. The council moved and approved for the change order to reflect the change order to fulfill the requirement.

Attwood said the amount of funds that still need to be legally obligated by the end of the year are approximately $163,909.35.

The council approved Resolution 2024-12 authorizing the expenditures for the American Recovery Act funds provided to Tonasket to respond to the COVID-19 emergency.