So many groups and county departments have requested pieces of the new round of ARPA funding coming from the state, that the Park County government is preparing a list of all requests for commissioners to look at in early March as they begin the process of determining who should receive the money.

Commission chair Dossie Overfield mentioned that Steve Pomajzl in the finance department has been compiling a spreadsheet for such a purpose after hearing two more requests for some of the $6.5 million set to come the county’s way.

“We have a couple of requests, so we need to sort that out,” Overfield said.

The money is also far less restricted than previous COVID-19-era funds. When Overfield first announced the county would receive a total of $12 million in two installments, she rattled off a number of potential projects — including new HVAC for county buildings, road repairs and helping expand Cody’s sewer lagoons.

Since then, a number of other organizations have made requests. At the Feb. 21 commission meeting, County Engineer Brian Edwards requested $1.2 million to buy road materials at a reduced bulk rate that would keep the county covered for years.

“This would be a good use of that money,” Edwards said. “It would pay back over the next four, five years.”

A representative from the Cody Conservation District also requested $82,000, the bulk for the salary of an employee they need to replace, and $15,000 to do a mail ballot special election to try again to get voters to approve a 1 mill property tax levy to fund the district.

Overfield remarked that the Cody district’s request wasn’t a lot of money compared to many of the others, but the county’s first batch of money is $6.5 million “and you already have $7 million requested.”

Hence, the need for commissioners to go over a list of all the proposed projects and costs.