Although it did not garner unanimous support, the Great Bend City Council Tuesday night approved spending half of the city’s $2,271,654.71 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for a downtown rehabilitation project to assist in sprinkler system installation and other improvements to downtown lofts. The city will receive two equal ARPA installments, with the first direct payment coming by July 31. The second half will come about a year later. Great Bend Economic Development Inc. President Sara Hayden proposed using half of those funds to reimburse owners of multi-story buildings in the downtown district on an application basis. The council action granted this up to $1 million with half coming from each of the ARPA payments. “There are 18 buildings that want to move forward with this,” Hayden said.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
