Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1464360
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 13 - 19, 2022 UCW 11 City Council members unanimously put their support behind a preliminary plan Monday to use federal dollars to fund local businesses, housing and infrastructure. e funds are from the $1.9 trillion American Res- cue Plan Act passed by Congress in March 2021, from which the city of Fayetteville will receive more than $40 million. e city will receive the funding in two sets. e first arrived last May, and the next round will come next month, according to the city. e council accepted a preliminary plan for the first set of dollars at Monday's agenda session. Once city officials finalize details for the federal funding, a detailed report will be presented to the council. ARPA can be used on initiatives involving response to COVID-19, local income loss due to the pandemic and investments in water, sewer or broadband infra- structure. According to federal guidelines, ARPA funds must be earmarked for a specific purpose by the end of 2024, and the dollars must be spent by the close of 2026. Where the money will go Each focus area — business, housing and infra- structure — will get $5 million from the first batch of $20 million from ARPA. e other $5 million will be used for administrative purposes. Plans for the business portion include loans and grants for businesses and child care assistance. e $5 million for housing would go to nonprofit agencies that service low- to moderate-income households. A portion of the housing dollars would also go to a housing trust fund that would, among other things, fund the construction of housing for households earning 80% of the area median income or less. Councilmember D.J. Haire asked that city officials focus on housing near Amazon's new plant currently under construction. e online retail powerhouse is projected to create up to 500 jobs by the time operation begins, Carolina Public Press previously reported. Infrastructure funds would be used as contribu- tions to existing construction associated with storm- water mitigation and renovations to public buildings, among other projects. Some of the dollars would be used as matching funds with other federal programs, which would al- low for increased investment, Assistant City Manager Adam Lindsay said. "We are facing an opportunity to make a major, ma- jor advancement ahead in those projects if we spend the dollars in a strategic way," Lindsay said. "We can take those same dollars and turn them into a match, which means that leverages those dol- lars into a potential 5-to-1 ratio." Cumberland County Board talks construction of multi-purpose event center Cumberland County came one step closer on Mon- day to getting construction on a multi-purpose event center started. e Board of Commissioners voted in the form of a resolution to establish a capital project budget for the center, and in an affiliated motion to hire a firm to represent the county in all its duties and responsibili- ties in getting the more than $80 million center built. e county voted to contract with MBP Carolinas for "owner's representative services" for $2.2 million. A Board of Commissioners' committee earlier this year recommended contracting with MBP Carolinas for owner's representation services, but the county wanted to strengthen some of the agreements within the proposed contract before voting to accept the contract at today's meeting. County Manager Amy Cannon told the board that having an owner's representative is a new approach to government construction and should speed up the construction of the facility. She made those com- ments after Commissioner Michael Boose com- plained that government construction projects take too long to complete. e multi-event center is due for completion in the fall of 2025. As an owner's representative, MBP Carolinas will develop a budget for the project, update the board and the public on the project, hire a construction manager, and conduct site analysis, basically working with the county from inception to completion of the facility, Cannon said. In other action, the board agreed to sell a number of county-owned properties, some of which were acquired through foreclosure sales. e board approved the sale of ten parcels for a total of $36,369.85. However, some board members balked after realizing that the sales were well be- low the actual tax value, which totaled $86,001. e county attorney said the offers and acceptances are in keeping with current county policy. Board member Jimmy Keefe, however, convinced his fellow board members to take off the agenda for approval one parcel of the property consisting of 12 acres adjacent to the Cape Fear River until county staff and board members can more thoroughly review and familiarize themselves with the surplus property sale policy. e proposed sale of the property was for $14,368.98 and had a tax value of $62,000. Hope Mills Mayor says YMCA raised close to $2M to build aquatic center Partnerships with Cumberland County and the YMCA will make an aquatic center possible in Hope Mills, according to the town's board of commission- ers. Hope Mills Commissioners met with the Cumberland County financial committee members, county commissioners, and the Cumberland County Board of Education to discuss and approve a part- nership to build the aquatic center. All of the com- missioners and committee members unanimously approved the partnership to help bring the aquatic center to Hope Mills. "e YMCA as of today raised close to 2 million dollars to build a structure," said Mayor Jackie War- ner. "So it's on, and we're looking at about 18 months from when we can break ground. We can't break ground until we raise about 2.5 to 3 million dollars, but it's looking like that's going to happen." e majority of the meeting was spent in closed session to hear reports on "investigations of alleged criminal conduct." Fort Bragg's General Kurilla takes over at U.S. Central Command Army Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, the commander of XVII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, took over the leadership of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Friday, April 1 in Tampa. Kurilla served as the CENTCOM chief of staff from August 2018 to September 2019. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, with gradu- ate degrees from Regis University in Denver and the National War College in Washington, D.C. He has earned two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star during his military career. Kurilla was nominated by President Joe Biden in January and was confirmed to take over CENTCOM by Senate in early February. CENTCOM oversees military missions in 21 countries throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia. For the past 20 years, it has covered the focus of U.S. operations overseas in Af- ghanistan and Iraq. Kurilla replaces the outgoing CENTCOM leader, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie Jr. McKenzie was responsible for managing the U.S. military exit from Afghanistan. "I can't think of anybody better qualified to lead Centcom's next chapter than Eric Kurilla," McKenzie said. "He's no stranger to the Centcom AOR. He's no stranger to the headquarters." Kurilla will lead more than 44,000 military service and family members overseas and roughly 5,000 per- sonnel in Tampa at headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in ongoing operations to deter threats from Iran and defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue was sworn in as the new commander of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg while in Europe earlier in March. Maj. Gen. Christopher Laneve will take over the command of the 82nd Airborne Division. Fayetteville to split $20M from ARPA among housing, infrastructure, biz funding by BEN SESSOMS, JASON BRADY & JESSICA MAY NEWS DIGEST