It was standing room only in the offices of the Bates County Commission this morning as local residents demanded answers regarding a lack of required reporting for $3.14 million the county received in ARPA funds since 2020.
Note the discernment is not that the funds were abused or misallocated, but necessary reporting to the Treasury was not completed by the Bates County Commission and included are over 90 emails regarding the reports that went unanswered by the Commission.
It was also revealed that the failure to do the reports has resulted in Bates county not being eligible for other grants in the meantime however, according to information revealed today the county could be 'on the hook' to repay a large portion of the money due to the lack of required documentation.
Many in the room repeatedly asked Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley to resign immediately citing incompetence on his behalf to which he stated that he would like stay until Wednesday to resolve the issue, if possible.
As the discussion ensued, it was agreed also by Wheatley, that action will be taken by a group of citizens along with Northern Commissioner John Gray to contact the Treasury to see if any lenience can be given regarding the circumstances and determine if a time extension may be given to provide the missing reports.
With that, the Bates County Sheriff's Office is working to find an outside agency to conduct an investigation for the purpose to recover receipts for expenditures made by the receiving entities which would aid in the documentation process.The situation will be revisited this Wednesday, March 5th in the commission chambers with time to be announced as the meeting agenda is yet to be published.
The meeting will be open to the public.
