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County administration presented a final summary of how St. Louis County used $54.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, describing investments in solid waste infrastructure, roads, broadband and social services meant to address pandemic impacts.
Administrator Gray told the board the county received ARPA funds in two tranches in 2021 and 2022 and that staff worked to meet complex U.S. Treasury reporting and compliance deadlines. Gray said the board intentionally focused funding on four areas: pandemic response/recovery, economic impacts, support for service delivery, and infrastructure (roads, water/sewer and broadband).
Key allocations described by administration included roughly $12.5 million for upgrades to the county’s large solid waste landfill to address forever chemicals; about $7.25 million for roads (including a roughly $3.5 million reclaim-and-overlay project to complete County Highways 115 and 77 between Cook and Tower, with widened paved shoulders for pedestrians and cyclists); broadband investments in communities that lacked service; and investments in county buildings and transfer stations.
Administration also cited investments in youth and recreation projects that benefited 25–30 communities countywide, including $830,000 for childcare expansion in partnership with the Northland Foundation (Administration described roughly $750,000 of that as contributed by the foundation), and a range transitional housing project in Virginia and Hibbing still under way. Other ARPA-supported projects included behavioral health urgent care in Duluth in partnership with the Human Development Corporation (HDC), fairgrounds improvements and a solar expansion project in Mount Iron.
Administrators said roughly half of the ARPA allocation went to infrastructure, highlighted pandemic-related staff costs and outreach that were supported without drawing on levy dollars, and noted that more than 100 unique projects or investment categories were advanced. Board members repeatedly praised county staff for project management and compliance; several commissioners also recognized former deputy administrator Brian Fritzinger and audit staff for their roles in tracking projects.