The Columbus Junction City Council approved further use of their American Rescue Plan funds during their recent meeting. 

Over the next two years, nearly $250,000 will be allocated to the city through the federal COVID-19 stimulus bill. Earlier this month, the council had approved the use of 80% of these funds to go towards the installation of an ultraviolet system to disinfect the water coming from the city to the Iowa River to meet new ammonia standards set by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The remaining funds will now go towards a one-time pay increase for employees in the Columbus Junction City Clerk’s office, police and public works departments. Mayor Mark Huston explains why the council made this decision, “During COVID our people continued to come to work everyday through all the pandemic last summer. City Hall was closed for maybe a week. Our people were still there but after that it opened back up and basically ran the whole time and obviously our police were out there the whole time [along] with our public works folks. One of the things you could use some of this money for was to give these people extra pay for hanging in there through that period of time.”

As a part of the COVID-19 stimulus bill, cities are allowed to allocate these funds in five different avenues with one of them being providing extra pay for essential workers. Huston thanks these city workers for their work through difficult times and that bonus checks will be signed and sent out as soon as possible.