Mayor Steve Noble said this week that he expects to unveil a plan for spending $17 million in pandemic recovery funds by the end of the month. But the mayor also said he’s still concerned that the city doesn’t have enough qualified staff to properly administer the influx of federal aid.

The $17 million represents Kingston’s share of $350 billion in aid to local governments included in the American Rescue Plan Act signed into law by President Joe Biden last year. Federal guidelines allow the funds to be used for a variety of projects and programs to help mitigate impacts of the ongoing pandemic, or make up losses suffered by public and private-sector entities due to Covid-19. The funds can also go towards sewer and water infrastructure projects and broadband internet access.

In August, the Common Council authorized Noble’s request to spend $105,000 to hire Albany-based consulting firm Laberge Group to conduct public outreach and develop a series of projects to be funded using the ARPA money. Throughout the fall the consultants conducted public meetings, put out online surveys and carried out targeted outreach to various Kingston stakeholder groups.

Noble said he believes the public outreach efforts validated his decision to take a more methodical approach to developing a spending plan rather than follow the lead of many communities which allocated the money quickly through an in-house process.

“We were able to get a ton of public comment and feedback that has really helped us shape what Kingston is looking for with this $17 million,” said Noble. “We won’t check off everybody’s box but it’s a good start in terms of what folks are looking to have help with.”

Noble said that certain key themes had emerged from the public discussion including addressing housing issues, improving parks and recreation infrastructure and supporting local small businesses and business districts. The mayor declined to go into specifics of projects under development, but he said Laberge Group consultants were going over recently promulgated final guidelines from the federal government and should have the plan ready to present to the Common Council by the end of January.

Noble added that some of the projects would be ready to roll out immediately while others would require time to plan and design. But, he noted, all of the funded projects would be subject to a five-year timeline for completion contained in the ARPA rules.

Noble has repeatedly expressed concern about the city’s ability to manage the $17 million funding package — which is subject to stringent reporting and other requirements — with current city staff.

Noble said that the city’s project management capacity was already stretched thin overseeing a portfolio of grant-funded projects that has greatly expanded since he took office in 2016. Other project managers, he said, are committed to certain projects under grant guidelines.

But the Common Council turned down Noble’s request in his 2022 budget proposal to fund an $80,000-a-year chief of staff position to, among other duties, coordinate the ARPA funds’ allocation.

Noble said that he planned to return to the council soon with another request for additional project support staff.

“Part of the discussion with the Common Council is that we have to have the staffing in place to really be able to run with this plan.”