Next Up: Davis County $1.7

Because it's Jeff Shipley's District

Wow. I am really, really glad I checked his Iowa Legis page because this? Money cannot buy the kind of joy reading his “occupation” hath brought unto me this day:

Contact Jeff Shipley here and of course here.

• State level allocations - have fun! Poke around! See how much sweet, sweet federal bailout money your county is getting. (US Treasury)

• How the money is delivered from the federal government per the American Rescue Plan (HashtagNeverForget: Not a single Iowa Republican - Hinson, Miller-Meeks or Feenstra - voted for all this federal taxpayer bailout we all desperately need - Axne? Yes, she did vote to help you, Iowa)

  • Coronavirus relief funds are delivered from the federal government in two tranches, the first was in May 2021 and the second payment scheduled to come approximately 12 months later.  

Moving on. Today let’s take a look at Shipley’s district shall we? I had high hopes of doing three counties today but actual paying work got in the way of my ongoing public service announcements.

So far Davis County (in line for $1.7 million in Federal ARP funding) information is hard to come by. Meeting minutes are missing in some cases and there is only one agenda available with no archive. I don’t think any of this is nefarious necessarily but transparency - as in erring heavily on the side of more - should be paramount when it comes to public officials spending our money.

Booooo!

By contrast Woodbury County was an open book. I weeded through piles of documents, watched really painful county board meetings (while I fundamentally disagree with the way the Woodbury County board voted to allocate the $15.6 MM in ARP funds it is clear from watching hours of public hearings it was rough on everyone in the room, community).

So that’s it for today - Jefferson County up next and it seems it could be a doozy (is that how you spell that?)

From Andy Hallman at the Southeast Iowa Union (June 7)