(Juneau) The Dodge County Board allocated another portion of their American Rescue Plan Act funding Tuesday night. The county received just over $17-million in Rescue Act dollars.
The money must be committed no later than 2024 and be expended by the end of 2026. The board already signed off on investing nearly $4.4-million dollars during previous meetings.
Of the projects approved, $20-thousand-dollars was distributed to purchase and install a new emergency siren with battery backup for the village of Lowell. Supervisor Jeff Caine says the community needs this equipment. He says the siren would do a lot for the village’s emergency preparedness.
The board also approved giving $380-thousand-dollars to the Beaver Dam Lake Improvement Association. That money will go towards a portion of a three-phase project that will see control weirs and ditch contouring in and around Rakes Bay to filter water before it enters Beaver Dam Lake.
Supervisor Randy VandeZande says he reached out to the Iowa DNR who recently completed a similar project on Lost Island Lake that saw positive results. He says it cleaned the water up greatly and reduced the carp population by about 90-percent.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office request for $34-thousand-dollars to purchase an officer safety robot for high-risk public safety situations was also approved. Supervisor Andrew Johnson, who sits on the committee that scores and then advances proposals for the full county board to vote on, says the project received one of their highest marks. He says he fully supports any effort to prevent injury or death of one of the county’s law enforcement officers.
A request by the Friends of Lomira Parks for $50-thousand-dollars to upgrade playground equipment failed to garner the three-fourths majority needed to pass.
