Sometime in January, Brookfield Township should receive its second and final installment of American
Rescue Plan funds, which will give the township a total of $869,013, township officials said.

Unlike with the CARES Act funding the township received in 2021, which had to be spent quickly,
trustees will have eight years to spend the ARP funds, Trustee Dan Suttles said Sept. 13, although the
trustees must set a plan for use of the money in 2022.

promoBoth the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan were federal programs that provided money to states and local governments.

In the coming months, the trustees will sit down in public session and discuss how to spend that money, although Suttles said officials need specific guidance as to what the money can be spent on. He noted that while the money can be used for infrastructure, “Infrastructure, to me, also means roads, but under this plan it only means roads if we can show a shortage in our budget because of COVID. But, it does include
water projects such as storm water. Those are things we have some issues in Brookfield, you all know.”

Suttles said the trustees will ask the department heads for ideas, but also want to hear what residents think
the money should be spent on.

“We know of things that are important but there might be things that you as a public think are important
that we haven’t really looked at,” he said