'They got nothing:' Distribution of COVID hazard pay to city workers raises objections | ClarksvilleNow.com | By The Perfect Enemy

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Mike Ramey retired last year as a City of Clarksville employee during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he retired a few months too early, before what was later announced as the cutoff date for city workers to receive hazard pay for working during the pandemic.

“I got hoodwinked out of it,” he said. “I texted (Mayor Joe Pitts) about (the situation) and all I got was the runaround.”

As frustrated as he is about that, he’s angry the family situation for two city employees who died before the cutoff date. “What made me mad was my friend who worked at city Gas and Water … died of COVID-19. He left behind his wife and four children. They could have used that money for clothes or something.”

Many others are apparently in similar situations, having missed out on the payments of up to $7,500 each because they were no longer city employees on the cutoff date.

“COVID was a scary time. People took great risk to go to work,” Ramey said.

Councilperson presents resolution

The money, also called premium pay, comes from the distribution of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. Now a City Council member is pushing the city to revisit how those funds were distributed.

Councilperson Wanda Allen told Clarksville Now that several former city employees contacted her about the COVID hazard pay. “A group of former city employees that worked for our city got in touch with me, they met with me, and they asked me, ‘How is it that we got nothing?’”

Allen said she was given a list of more than 600 employees or former employees who may have qualified for ARPA funds. “July 2021, (city officials) decided we could pay city employees out of the (American Rescue Plan Act funding),” Allen explained, noting that to qualify for COVID-19 hazard pay, employees had to work for the city from March 1, 2020, to March 1, 2022.

The resolution, which was presented at the council meeting on Aug. 25, requests that the Finance Committee review the process and criteria regarding employees who received hazard pay.

“I didn’t want to come in here with an ordinance or a budget amendment or anything like that just trying to change it. I wanted people to look at it and see what we could do,” Allen said at the meeting.

Councilperson Travis Holleman, who is a member of the Finance Committee, noted that because the council as a whole doesn’t have the authority to tell a council committee what to do.

“There is absolutely nothing that says, ‘Hey you guys have to do that.’ You can still pass this and the Finance Committee could just not do it.”

City Attorney Lance Baker confirmed that the Finance Committee would have the say in whether it takes up the matter.

Distribution of ARPA funds

The City of Clarksville received $25.5 million in funding from the ARPA in 2021. Approximately $11.8 million of that has been paid to 1,574 employees, according to city Chief Financial Officer Laurie Matta. The rest of the funds have been earmarked for several other projects, such as broadband internet.

<img data-attachment-id="406627" data-permalink="https://clarksvillenow.com/local/they-got-nothing-distribution-of-covid-hazard-pay-to-city-workers-raises-objections/arpa-spending-plan/" data-orig-file="https://clarksvillenow.sagacom.com/files/2022/08/ARPA-SPENDING-PLAN-e1661892109703.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,483" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta=""aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"" data-image-title="ARPA SPENDING PLAN" data-image-description data-image-caption="

The ARPA spending plan integrated into the 2022-23 city budget. (Contributed)

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Allen is also upset that city department heads received less than the $7,500 each that other employees received.

“The department heads only received $1,500 a piece due to the fact their salaries were more than regular workers,” Allen said. “I don’t think that was fair.”

Was this done correctly?

Allen said it bothers her that the City Council was never involved in the details of how the funding would be spent.

“The mayor and his team decided it; it never came before the council, and it was my understanding it should have,” Allen told Clarksville Now.

Matta said the funds were already appropriated as part of the annual city budget and therefore could be spent.

“All funds including ARPA funds are required to be appropriated by council, which they were. Specific projects to spend the funds on do not require council approval,” Matta told Clarksville Now.

The funds were included in the city’s budget during the annual budget process earlier this year, and that budget was approved by the council.

John Dunn, director of communications for the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office, gave Clarksville Now a statement on the proper procedure for distribution of the ARPA funds.

“Any spending by a government requires the governing body’s approval. This would be done either through the budget process, a budget amendment, or a separate resolution/ordinance. In other words, the City Council would have to sign off on a plan to provide premium pay to Clarksville employees using ARPA money,” he added.

Since the funds were appropriated by the council in the budget process, they could be paid out, as noted by Matta.

Dunn also said that a person receiving funds doesn’t have to be an employee of the city.

“The final rule clarified that all public employees of recipient governments, such as Clarksville, are eligible to receive premium pay. The mayor could also designate other critical non-public sector workers as eligible if they were performing essential work during the pandemic,” Dunn said.

What’s next?

Allen told Clarksville Now she plans to amend the resolution to have the City Council as a whole to conduct a study.

Council members will have a chance to hear and vote on the amended version at their next meeting on Thursday, 6 p.m., at 1 Public Square.

Chris Smith contributed to this report.

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Published on The Perfect Enemy at https://bit.ly/3RtEeD7.