WAUPUN — The Waupun City Council met last Tuesday, March 28th, to discuss how to proceed with the ARPA funds. After a discussion on the items considered for ARPA funding, the Council decided to have a proposal drafted which will be voted on at the next meeting.
Also discussed at the March 28th meeting were a variety of community development projects, including the new Senior Center facility project.
The City of Waupun received $1.17 million in ARPA funding—but that funding comes with a catch: it must be used to benefit industries or branches of government impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prompted by the emergency grant, the City identified over $20 million in community needs that the Council had to decide which to prioritize.
The Waupun City Council previously convened on January 31st for the ARPA workshop meeting, a session dedicated for city leadership to discuss priorities of what to do with the ARPA funding. The ARPA workshop allowed the Council to sort their priorities, which resulted with Public Safety and Public Works being the primary priorities of the ARPA funding, followed by Waupun Utilities, community childcare, and finally parks and sports.
For the Public Safety category, the primary objectives were replacing or repairing the Fire Department ladder truck and putting more funding towards the police officer hiring process.
With the Fire Department ladder truck at the end of its lifespan, the city is left with the option to either patch repair the truck, which could extend the lifespan for up to eight more years, or replace the truck entirely which would last twenty or thirty years.
Each option has its benefits and drawbacks. Replacing the truck would give the Fire Department a state of the art fire truck, but would cost the city approximately $2 million, too much for the ARPA funds to cover entirely. On the other hand, the patch job would cost approximately $400k, but the Council questions whether that eight more years is worth that much. Another problem with the ladder truck being considered for purchase is that it’s larger than the current Safety Building garage, requiring yet another expansion to the building.
Under Public Works were a variety of projects, including repairs to the Waupun Safety Building. The building has suffered from a variety of problems including a leaking roof, as well as a need for other facility upgrades. The Council was in agreement on repairing the Safety Building roof as it left severe water damage in the garage.
Along with the Safety Building, other cities properties are also in need of attention including the Waupun Heritage Museum, Senior Center and Recreation Department, and Waupun City Hall. City Hall’s list of maintenance includes replacing the boiler system, which would cost an estimated $1.1 million. Also discussed were plans on the Shaler Drive extension.
While childcare is an important part of a community, the City Council acknowledged, they were unsure of what they could immediately do to remedy the shortage in Waupun with the limited resources and personnel. Council also desires to set up a new daycare facility but requests better estimates for the costs.
The Council also discussed security upgrades to the Waupun Utilities facility, due to the rising concerns of energy grid sabotage nationwide.
The City Council briefly discussed funding for parks and sports, but did not express priority towards the Waupun Hockey Association or Waupun Baseball Complex. Two of the largest sporting organizations in the Waupun community, both Waupun Hockey and Waupun Little League approached the City Council about receiving funding to upgrade or maintain the facilities.
The City Clerk and Mayor will present the allocation proposal at the next City Council meeting, Tuesday, April 18th. The proposal will be considered by the Council and voted for approval.
Updated 4/10/23: a previous version of this article listed the date for the Council meeting as Tuesday the 11th, which was postponed to the next week due to being just after the Easter holiday.
