From 2020 to 2022, Centralina Regional Council supported the City of Albemarle’s Council, Administration and staff in developing a three-year Strategic Plan. The Strategic Planning process was a natural next step in the City of Albemarle’s organizational growth and development. City Manager Michael Ferris commented that, “The City of Albemarle is a complex operation and like any governmental unit we have more needs than we can address at once.”

Centralina Regional Council held a Centralina Learns session on Wednesday, August 17 about American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) spending for allocations under $10 million. We had a great turnout and participation as our session provided an overview of the updated guidance the U.S. Treasury released on July 27 as well as considerations for spending approaches and following good governance. If you missed the session, here are six points that you need to know.

As part of women’s history month, we’d like to highlight some of the women in government leadership positions in the Centralina region.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring women around the region, including Centralina staff, local government leaders and other community trailblazers, in honor of women’s history month. We want to recognize the achievements of female leaders and support their continued efforts to break barriers. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #BreaktheBias, encouraging us to move away from prejudice and towards gender equality.

The Government Affairs & Member Engagement team at Centralina provides a range of specialized technical services to support our local member governments. Recently we have been travelling across our region, actively working with our members to facilitate board retreats. Unlike regular board meetings, retreats create time for strategic planning, guided discussions and decision-making. A successful board retreat comes with direction, agenda objectives and goals to accomplish.

The Centralina Regional Managers group is one of several peer networking opportunities we offer to communities in our nine-county region. Comprised of town, city and county managers, assistant managers and clerks, the group meets monthly to receive federal and state updates, discuss regional issues and share best practices. The group’s December meeting focused on this topic and featured a mix of guest speakers, Centralina service profiles and interactive exercises.

Signed into law on March 11, 2021 by President Biden, The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), provides COVID-19 funding relief for eligible state, local, territorial and tribal governments. The purpose of ARPA is to support the public health response to COVID-19, address negative economic impacts, replace experienced revenue loss, implement premium pay for essential employees and make vital broadband and water/sewer infrastructure improvements.

Given the complexity of the guidelines and opportunities for creative solutions, Centralina is launching a series of peer to peer chats to facilitate exchange among local governments on approaches to spending plan development and implementation of projects in the eligible use categories. Share your ideas, learn from others and ask questions in these quick, 30 min virtual chats.

On May 26, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed House Bill 947, a legislative bill allocating $750 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding toward statewide broadband growth.