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The money’s all gone: Town assigns remaining ARPA funds to projects

The nearly $2 million the town received in American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2021 has now either been spent or committed to projects. Many of the projects completed in town over the past three years were paid for, at least in part, by ARPA money, including the design for the Devens water connection project and supplemental funding for the new senior center. The Select Board approved all expenditures from the ARPA funds.

In 2021, towns and cities across the country received ARPA funds to help them recover financially from the COVID-19 pandemic. Spending guidelines were flexible, and included recovering lost revenue in health, education, and public safety services, as well as investing in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. Funds had to be either spent or “obligated” to projects by Dec. 31, 2024.

The town of Harvard received $1,978,763. The largest amount spent on a single project was a little over $500,000 for the design of the Devens water connection project, currently under construction. The town obtained a low-interest loan from the Clean Water Trust to pay for the $7 million project, but the loan could not be used for design costs.

In 2022, ARPA funds came to the rescue when bids to renovate the former medical office building at 16 Lancaster County Road to create a new senior center came in almost $400,000 over budget. Also in 2022, the funds paid for the installation of a full-time chlorination system for the town’s two public water supply wells on Pond Road. Both wells tested positive for coliform bacteria in the summer of 2021, and one well was shut down completely for months as a result. The Department of Environmental Protection mandated that the town move to full-time chlorination.

Other big-ticket items paid for by ARPA funds included the schematic design for the Department of Public Works renovation, a project the town voted to approve last spring, as well as some of the expenses associated with closing the old landfill, required by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

ARPA funds are being used to help pay for the design of the Ayer Road reconstruction. The state is paying for the project itself, but the town must pick up the tab for design. This summer, a little more than $100,000 of ARPA money was spent on Bare Hill Pond for diver-assisted weeding and restoring the pumping equipment used for annual drawdowns.

Smaller items that the town has ARPA to thank for include an assessment that was commissioned by the Park and Recreation Commission to determine the feasibility of adding additional recreational facilities, including playing fields, at Harvard Park. And, a little over $22,000 paid for the costs associated with holding outdoor Town Meetings during the pandemic, including tent rentals.

The remaining ARPA funds have been committed over the past two months to avoid losing them as the Dec. 31 deadline looms. The DPW director’s vehicle, currently a Dodge Charger sedan given to the DPW by the Police Department, will be replaced by a pickup truck with a plow. New water meters, about 100 in all, will be purchased to replace the existing ones in town plus the additional ones needed for the Devens water connection project.

The town website will be updated and made more accessible, and Town Hall will get some much-needed outdoor security lighting with motion sensors. Town Administrator Dan Nason has expanded his office to make it large enough for a conference table, and ARPA money will pay for the furniture. In addition, ARPA funds will be spent on two large-screen monitors and hybrid meeting technology for both Nason’s office and the small meeting room upstairs in Town Hall. Several aging laptops and desktops in various town departments will also be replaced.

Finally, the smallest ARPA fund allocation, $750, will be used to pay for the framing of the Civil War marble tablets hanging on the wall outside the second-floor meeting room at Town Hall.

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