MRPC To Disburse County’s Rescue Plan Funds

Crawford County commissions voted Sept. 14 to have the Meramec Regional Planning Commission disburse $4.6 million in funds from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA).

MRPC asked the county in August to handle disbursement, but no action was taken until last week.

ARPA was signed into law March 11.

Funds are appropriated by population size.

Organizations seeking the county’s portion of the funds must go through MRPC.

Crawford County set up its own committee to distribute CARES Act funds in 2020. The five-member committee of Lesa Mizell, Jared Boast, Bill Lange, Darrell Layman and Leo Sanders administered $2.8 million.

Of the eight counties that belong to MRPC, Crawford County was the only one that went at it alone.