How would you like to see Warren invest over $3 million in COVID relief money? The Town of Warren wants to know your thoughts, and has gone live with a survey to establish public priorities for money they expect to receive from the American Rescue Plan, which was signed by President Biden in March.

In total, the town expects to receive $3,141,808 from the federal government, spread out over four payments between July and August of 2021 and 2022.

“We’re in the process of putting together an action plan, and an important part of that plan is going to be to gather public input,” said Town Manager Kate Michaud in a recent interview. “There’s strict limits on what we can spend the money on…We have to be very careful about how we spend it. Our plan is to propose a number of different projects and then ask the public for their priorities.”

The town has outlined 10 initiatives that qualify for funding, including:

• Expand plans for a new fire station to incorporate regional training space, flexible spaces for testing, vaccinations, and other health response needs
• Assistance with data analytics
• Storefront Improvement Program in Qualified Census Tract (QCT) — which refers to areas where 50 percent of households report incomes below 60 percent of the Area Median Gross Income or have a poverty rate of 25 percent or more
• Communicate project plans regarding the American Rescue Plan Act to the community
• Provide seed funding for affordable housing trust fund
• Compensate for town revenues lost due to COVID-19
• Improving broadband infrastructure to underserved areas of town
• Address Health Equity Zone (HEZ) concerns in conjunction with East Bay Community Action Program
• Address transportation issues for employers
• Improve food security for children in grades K – 12
  
  

A survey is available on the town website for members of the public to rank those initiatives from most important to least important, as well as provide additional thoughts on how the money should be spent. Further discussion and a review of the survey results will be held at the Oct. 12 meeting of the Town Council.