Washington denies excluded worker request

WASHINGTON — City council members reached an impasse Tuesday night over proposals to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) on direct payments for workers who were excluded from federal stimulus checks, most of them immigrants.

"Many did not receive stimulus checks from the government,“ Washington resident and excluded worker Nila Cruz Garcia said. ”Escucha Mi Voz is asking you for $200,000 to be put in a fund for excluded workers … in Washington. We helped this city, we helped the economy of this city. Now I ask you to please help us, because that is the right thing to do.“

The four council members who voted to deny the request — Illa Earnest, Steve Gault, Elaine Moore and Fran Stigers — had several reasons that fell into two broader arguments. The first held that workers excluded from stimulus payments were not the city’s responsibility.

”I don’t disagree that they need the support … I truly believe it is certainly a prime directive from Jesus that we support local needy people through our churches and I certainly support that,“ Earnest said. ”A government entity is not the correct people to be dealing with this problem.“

Moore had a similar opinion, saying the federal government should take action instead.

“I do believe this is a loophole that our government created, and I do believe that the excluded workers are very important to our economy and I understand where they’re coming from, and the need for this,” she said. “But again, we did not, as a city, create the problem, the government created the problem. And it is up to the government, our federal government, to fix the problem.”

Proponents disagreed. Council Member Millie Youngquist said city action was the only realistic solution.

“I know we’re not used to giving money to individuals, and this is terribly unusual, but the government did allow this money to be used in this way,” she said. “Just to say, ‘The government created this problem, let them fix it,’ well, we know that is not going to happen. We have the opportunity … this is a chance to put some of this money, (about) 20%, that we could use, to our citizens. People living and working here that really need it the most.”

Youngquist said she had heard overwhelmingly positive feedback about the proposal from voters.

“I have been contacted by many people, and the response of local citizens is 10:1 in favor of this request,” she said. “These are people that I know personally, and they’re longtime residents of Washington, they vary widely in age and experience and backgrounds … I’ve talked to people who say they would be happy to serve on a committee or to help cohere all of these applications so it’s not a burden on our city staff.”

Opponents also held that one-time ARPA funds needed to focus on infrastructure, after the city has spent several years fixing aging water mains, sewers and roads.

“This is money that was sent to us to help the city,” said Stigers. “Since I’ve been sitting on this council, we’ve been playing catch-up … I know that people don’t like the word infrastructure, but if we don’t have infrastructure, we don’t have a community. You don’t have sewer, you don’t have water, you’re not nothing.”

Gault fell into the same camp.

“I’ve been on the council … seven years, and in that seven years we’ve been continuously chasing our sewer problems and water problems,” he said. “We’re still playing catch-up, and we’re going to be playing catch-up for the next 10-15 years … if we don’t have the infrastructure, we don’t have a town to begin with. It’s one of those situations where you’re kind of damned if you do and damned if you don’t, but we’ve got to continue to build a city.”

Council Member Bethany Vittetoe Glinsmann — jumping into the discussion quickly at her first meeting on the council — said investments in people were equally important.

“We have spent about 75% of our ARPA fund allocation on infrastructure projects, so just like we’ve prioritized investments in our most vulnerable infrastructure, I think this is an opportunity to invest in the more vulnerable members of our community,” she said. “The federal government gave us this money as an opportunity to help plug that hole from the federal government package.

“Their request is just under 20% of our total ARPA fund allocation. That amount of money is enough to make a huge difference in their lives … my background is in economics, and the research is clear that when we give direct payments to low-income families, that is a really effective way to raise them out of poverty.”

Glinsmann also pitched the policy as a boost to the rest of the city.

“The money would not just help them, I think it would help the rest of our economy,” she said. “They’re going to spend the money locally on gas, rent, other essentials that they purchase in the community. My opinion is that this is a meaningful request from them, and I think we could do a lot of good here with this money.”

After the 4-2 motion to deny the request, the measure cannot be brought before council again unless one of the four council members who voted no changes their mind, a course Mayor Jaron Rosien said was unlikely after council members were unswayed by the option of a lower dollar amount.

“I often seek to find compromise, and where the compromise is on this request is harder to find,” he said. “I want to support the population that is here, I want to support the misplaced workers, and I want to show care (and) community … finding a way to do that with this request is harder.”

Advocates said they were frustrated with the outcome.

"We are going to remember the names of the four councilors who believe wastewater is more important than human life,“ said Benito Herrera Sosa, a Washington resident and an Escucha Mi Voz member who spoke during the public forum. ”We are going to keep organizing until the next election.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com