How to use funds that Knox County received from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 will be determined by a task force that is being put together by the Knox County Board.
Board members approved the creation of the task force at their meeting Wednesday night that’ll see the 12-member task force created feature select board members and five members of the general public.
County Board Chair Jared Hawkinson says the task force would be focused on using the funds to invest in the community. He said that the county received $4,826,724 on May 24.
He said there were 151 pages of “heavy-handed” rules for how the money is to be used and called for the task force to be created to come up with ways to use the money, investing in the community.
“We need a lot of ideas for investing in the community. It’s not all going to be used for the county for its employees. That’s one of the rules, you are supposed to invest it in your community. And, that’s what this task force would hopefully come together and create some ideas.”
Due to the complexity of the funding, Hawkinson proposed that the task force be co-chaired by himself and County Board Vice Chair David Amor. Additionally, five members of the county board — one from each district — be on the task force, as well as five members of the general public.
Serving on the task force will be board members Darla Krejci, Robert Bondi, Pamela Davidson, Todd Olinger, and Jeff Link.
The five general members at large will be reviewed and selected by the task force from a pool of interested persons wanting to serve the community in such a capacity. Members of the public are encouraged to submit a letter of interest to the Knox County Clerk/Recorder in person or by email by June 9, 2021, at 4:30 pm.
Once the task force is up and running, a county-wide email address will be activated where members of the public can submit ideas to the task force so they can be reviewed. Hawkinson said that address would be: knoxarptaskforce@co.knox.il.us
The first workshop for the task force will be announced after board member and facility availability is reviewed.
