Jill Schramm/MDN Ward County Commissioner John Pietsch, right, speaks, during a special commission meeting Tuesday as Commission Chairman Jim Rostad listens at left.

Ward County commissioners began shifting through $5.8 million in department requests for a share of the county’s federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars Tuesday.

A large share of the requests came from the Ward County Highway Department, which is looking to recoup about $1.8 million in lost revenue from gas tax due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highway Engineer Dana Larsen said the department proposes to restock its gravel and pipe inventory and apply much of the money to construction and maintenance projects. He told commissioners the specific projects and purchases haven’t been determined because the department continues to look at its plans and costs. Projects eventually would come to the commission for approval, though.

The highway requests also include new buildings for equipment and materials storage.

Among the proposed spending, the commission reviewed requests for election-related equipment, Courthouse improvements and various technology and security upgrades, including new and additional cameras at the jail and livestreaming capabilities in lower level meeting rooms in the administration building.

Commissioners agreed to earmark $220,000 to replace the bookmobile after subtracting $80,000 in a bookmobile replacement account from the purchase request. Any ARPA spending also could be reduced if the Ward County Library is able to obtain grants toward the purchase. The library is preparing to call for bids and estimates it could be a year before a new bookmobile comes on line.

Called “overkill” by Commission Chairman Jim Rostad, a proposal to spend $6,500 for library book sanitizers was rejected for now. Currently, book exteriors are handwiped as part of a process predating COVID-19. A sanitizer would provide UV disinfection of book exteriors and pages.

Ward County has been allocated about $13 million in ARPA funds. Commissioners will be taking final action on internal use of some of the ARPA funds at a later date and also will be considering external requests from cities, townships and other eligible programs.