St. Louis County representatives are pressing for a detailed breakdown of how and where federal funds were spent last year in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Council members want the information to help form a plan on future spending of more then $190 million in America Rescue Plan Act funding.
Members held a session to formulate a broad outline of their goals, but have not yet scheduled a meeting with Executive Sam Page's team.
Page
They are looking for more control and oversight of future spending, a change from last year when the council voted 4-3 to give Page and his officials authority to spend approximately $173 million in relief money.
"We do want a presentation on what we spent the money on, what worked and what did not work," council vice chair Mark Harder told the St. Louis Record. "We are trying to schedule that for later this month."
Harder added: "There was a portal detailing expenditure and there was some accountability but that was taken down to be replaced by more generalities.
"But we want to get into the weeds."
The public session hosted by the council identified 11 goals and prioritized five, including housing insecurity, public safety and economic development.
"That was the focus of the meeting, (to) get a flavor of what the council is thinking and want to narrow that down," said Harder, adding that they are looking for the data on previous spending and, further, "do not want any surprises" when it is audited later.
St. Louis County will get around $193 million, with Page previously stating he expects the money to pay for food distribution, vaccine infrastructure and “programs for the economic recovery.”
“We still have a large group of people in our community that are hesitant to accept the vaccine,” Page told St. Louis Public Radio. "And then we have a large section of our community that can’t just drive to a vaccination center."
"Council members will continue to refine their vision and identify specific strategies to meet these goals through research and communication within their districts," Harmer said. "They intend to hold more work sessions to select which programs get funded, assign responsibility for their implementation and receive feedback on their impact."