The Seymour City Council has taken the first steps in a process that will likely see a group of non-profits including food pantries, churches and other entities and one business operating in the city to receive about 20% of the $4.16 million in American Rescue Plan funding the city has to spend by the end of 2026.

During their meeting Monday night at city hall, councilmen considered 12 separate ordinances totaling $827,545.68 in funding requests from those entities.

Those requesting federal funds and the amounts requested were: Seymour Museum Center, $200,000; Boys and Girls Club of Seymour, $56,607; Trinity United Methodist Church, $16,749.13; Central Christian Church, $50,000; Seymour Main Street, $50,000; Southern Indiana Sports Mall, $25,000; Project Lifesaver, $30,000; Moose Lodge 418, $42,182.37; Jackson County Learning Center, $8,160; Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Pantry, $273,994.89; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeast Indiana, $72,204; and the Community Diner, $2,648.29.

A public hearing was held for each ordinance, and representatives with each entity spoke about their requests.

All of the ordinances passed on first reading unanimously with two exceptions. Councilman Dave Earley abstained from voting on the ordinance for Central Christian Church since he is a member there, and Councilman Drew Storey abstained from voting for Seymour Main Street’s request because he is a member of that organization’s board.

Two organizations that had their request funding amounts adjusted were Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Trinity United Methodist Church.

Councilman Jerry Hackney, who serves on the council’s finance committee with Councilman Seth Davidson and Earley, said Anchor House initially requested $400,000 in ARP funding, but the approved amount was $273,994.89. The finance committee reviewed applications for funding before sending them on to the council.

Hackney said the committee came up with $273,994.89 for Anchor House because $73,994.89 would account for Anchor House’s losses due to COVID-19, and $200,000 would go toward their capital plan.

Trinity United Methodist Church requested $105,000 in ARP funding, but that was lowered to $16,749.13.

Hackney said the final figure was only the amount of money the church lost due to COVID-19. The church was hoping to use ARP funding to hire a full-time pastor, replace a central air conditioning unit and paint. A child care center that could accommodate up to 15 kids was also included in the initial request, Hackney said.

During that discussion, Councilman Bret Cunningham made a motion to allocate an additional $25,000 to the church because that is the cost for the new child care center.

He said it was “well-noted” to him that when the council awarded $200,000 in ARP funding to Child Care Network during a council meeting in April, it was because child care was a need for the city.

The additional funds were approved in a unanimous 7-0 vote.

Adjusting for the additional funds to Trinity United Methodist Church, $852,545.68 was the total of ARP funding requested in this round.

Cunningham also questioned the selection process since the city’s ARP plan, governed by state and federal law, calls for all requests to be accorded a public hearing.

He said the council’s thoroughfare and drainage committee of which he is a member had three applications that were submitted by the deadline but weren’t given a public hearing.

Mayor Matt Nicholson said ARP requests from city departments wouldn’t be considered until after the second deadline for applications on Oct. 1.

“They’ve been directed to bring (requests) to you to review after your two deadlines are clear,” he said. “Why? Because why should they be competing with nonprofits and businesses?”

Cunningham also asked why two out-of-bounds applicants for ARP funding were not read at the meeting, and Hackney said they were outside city limits and had unfavorable recommendations.

City attorney Chris Engleking said awarding funds to any agency outside of city limits would be illegal.

Cunningham cited the city’s adopted ARP plan that says, “All applications shall be routed to the finance committee for review. The finance committee will forward requests in the form of an ordinance to the council with either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation.”

Earley said the finance committee’s thought process was those projects wouldn’t qualify for funding, so the applications weren’t brought before the council.

He said since there’s a second deadline to get requests in, the council could still review the unfavorable applications.

Cunningham said he would be interested in tabling the second reading for all ARP ordinances until after the second deadline so all applications that were submitted could be read by the council before appropriating funds.

Seymour Clerk-Treasurer Darrin Boas said the council could not table anything to a specific date, but they could table something to the next council meeting if they wanted to.

The council meets again at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 in the council chambers at Seymour City Hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St.