Jefferson County has received 46 requests for funding in response to its “last call” requests for proposals for federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The requests total more than $3 million and include projects ranging from a new vehicle for Jefferson County Search and Rescue, the installation of a gray whale skeleton on Union Wharf in Port Townsend, to a new skate park in Quilcene.

County commissioners decided Monday to personally rank the requests, then gather again at their meeting Feb. 21 for a more in-depth discussion.

Jefferson County expects to receive more funding from the American Rescue Plan Act later this year. Initially, the county issued a request for proposals for funding, with a deadline of Feb. 10 for possible projects that would cost in the range of $20,000 to $100,000.

The requests submitted to the county come from local nonprofits, local governments, and other organizations.

At Monday’s meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Greg Brotherton suggested ranking the projects and the amount of funding each one would receive.

“If we each put in how much we would award to each of the applicants, then it would give us a much more concrete number that we could start the horse trading essentially to come up with the final awards,” he said.

Separate from the discussion of the complete list of proposals, County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour was intrigued by the Quilcene skate park proposal.

“I love skate parks. I’m reading through all of the proposals,” she added. 

“I was really kind of finding myself leaning toward things that we’re building; things permanent,” Eisenhour said. “I just love the idea of creating more activities and opportunities for young people in our community.”

“There’s a lot of really dynamic proposals, actually, on the list,” Brotherton added. “I’m excited to get into it.”

Brotherton said he thought using ranked-choice voting would get officials a bit closer to a final list.

County Commissioner Kate Dean acknowledged tough choices would have to be made: “I’m mostly dreading it. The thought of kind of picking winners and losers is...”

“No fun,” Brotherton finished her sentence.

According to a spreadsheet of “last call” proposals prepared for county commissioners, the biggest ticket item on the list is $608,626 from the Chimacum School District for the development of Chimacum Creek Primary Campus into a school playground and community sports field. The entire cost of the project is unknown.

Jefferson County Public Works is asking for $200,000 to spend on the stabilization of the embankment along Shine Road.

The list includes 10 requests for $100,000.

Those proposals include:

• An indoor bathroom and laundry facility at the Caswell-Brown homeless shelter, from Community Build (the project has a total cost of $156,000);

• Increased staffing, workshops, outreach, and other items, from the Economic Development Council Team Jefferson;

• Funding for Habitat for Humanity’s Mason Street project;

• A commercial kitchen at the fairgrounds, from Jefferson Healthcare;

• Student housing upgrades, from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding;

• Funding for Phase 1 of the Port of Port Townsend’s flood protection and waterwalk project;

•A commercial kitchen for the Quilcene Community Center;

• A skate park in Quilcene, from the Quilcene Community Center; and 

• Funding for an early learning center at 7th Haven, from the YMCA (the project is expected to cost $777,910).

Some of the other projects on the lower end of the request scale include $17,831 in funding for a heating improvement plan for the American Legion Post in Port Townsend; $20,000 for a winter welcoming shelter by the Jefferson Interfaith Action Coalition; $20,000 for the gray whale skeleton installation by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center; $50,000 for plans and permitting of a pump track at the county fairgrounds; and $68,000 for the Humane Society for a heavy duty truck to tow a veterinary surgical trailer, plus associated costs.

The county received its first tranche of funding — a total of $1.692 million — from the American Rescue Plan Act in October 2022. Another payout of $1.692 million is expected later this year.