County officials and council members forged a secret agreement on how to spend $66 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, without public hearing or vote, and then quietly lined up projects for their “lists,” according to documents we obtained.
Miller also had already set up a meeting with Baldwin Wallace University, for whose drone program he later requested community grant funding.
Miller has approved projects funded through the community grants model, and in a recent interview with, he supported the program, saying that it forces the county to fund more than just downtown projects. But the council emails show Miller was more critical behind the scenes, where he sought, sometimes successfully, to organize the process.
Miller was successful, however, in persuading Council President Jones to create a standardized application for all groups seeking ARPA community grant funding, Miller said in a May 9 email to a constituent. Representatives from multiple groups, such as the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, St. Martin De Porres High School, Senior Transportation Connection and University Heights all emailed council, befuddled at the application process.
Despite calling around and seeking a form specifically for District 9 funding, an arts nonprofit struggled to get direction on how to apply for community grant money, they said in a June 15 email. The crisis center remained in contact with county officials and submitted a formal application for Miller’s $6 million in ARPA community grants. On June 14, an official with the crisis center asked for more information on how to apply to other districts’ grant funding, noting that no other deadlines had been announced. County staff responded the next day, saying the crisis center needed to contact individual council members, as each has his or her own process.
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