Helena leadership advances $2 million in ARPA requests

Nolan Lister

The Helena City Commission directed its city manager to draft resolutions allocating more than $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to three local nonprofits and the fire department.

The commissioners reached a consensus on funding proposals from Tri-County Fire Safe Working Group, Helena Food Share and the Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church housing project during its administrative meeting Wednesday evening. The commission will deliberate and make a final decision on the resolutions at a future meeting.

Tri-County Fire Safe Working Group requested $143,000 from the city’s pot of savings generated by the influx of federal money to fund a Helena homeowners wildfire risk assessment and education program.

City Commissioner Sean Logan said it was not until he reached a management position in the fire department that he began considering community risk.

People are also reading…

“One of the things I found in assessing community risk is the greatest potential risk that we have as a community is the wildfire that comes to town and becomes and urban conflagration and that’s a serious problem,” Logan said.

He said he would send his crew out into the neighborhoods to asses risk

View Source