The Osakis City Council moved to accept $184,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds at its regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 13.

City Clerk/Treasurer Angela Jacobson said the first half of the money will come this month, and the second will come a year from now.

The resolution passed by the council did not say how the money was going to be spent, only that ARPA's guidelines will be followed.

ARPA provides stimulus to individuals, businesses, and government entities to assist in their respective COVID-19 responses. Among the eligible uses for the funds are loans or grants to mitigate financial hardship, assistance to implement COVID prevention or mitigation tactics, and revenue replacement for the provision of government services.

Mayor Dan Wessel said he would like to know how many businesses there are in Osakis and whether they could have access to the funds.

"The hard thing for the businesses is they're supposed to demonstrate the need for it," Jacobson said. "There is an allowance in there to give money to every resident in your community, but they don't need to demonstrate it. So it's kind of two different things."

Jacobson said she would do some research and present it to the council later.

Water tower design

The council also chose a design to be painted on the city's water tower.

Last month the council had been presented with 27 possibilities, which they narrowed down to seven.

The design they ultimately chose on Monday features the name of the town over a blue wave.