The City of East Wenatchee is moving forward with deciding how to distribute over $3 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding.

Community Development Director, Lori Barnett, says a basic division of the money has already been established.

“One-point-five million (dollars) would go out to the community and the remainder would stay in-house.”

The portion going to the community can be used to support non-profit organizations and certain small businesses, while the piece staying with the city will be used to defray the cost of jurisdictional expenses related to the pandemic.

Mayor Jerrilea Crawford says the city will have the final say in the process for determining how the community funding is spent.

“Going forward, this works like the planning commission or the events board committee, where the committee will meet to evaluate the applications and make a recommendation for their final approval by the (city) council – but if council disagrees, it gets kicked back to the committee.”

ARP funding must be designated for appropriation by the end of 2024 and used by December 31, 2026.

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