A process to get non-union employees portions of the American Recovery Plan Act funds culminated in a close vote Thursday night at the DeWitt County Board meeting.

Board member Aaron Kammeyer believes a lot of other county employees have received hazard pay and feels the non-union employees were continuing to come into work and be front and center with the public during the pandemic.

The use of the funds was under question by other board members. Melonie Tilley questioned if the funding could be used for the purposes they were targeting and Travis Houser wondered how they arrived at $500 per employee when originally the proposal was for $2,000.

Board member Dan Matthews also wondered how long employees are going to be asking for hazard pay. He believes we continue to be in a situation where masking is required and with election season coming around this fall, they may end up in the same situation as before. 

The proposal narrowly passed 7-4 with Megan Myers, Buck Carter, Tilley, Board Chair Terry Ferguson, Jamie Prestergaard, Brian Riddle, and Kammeyer voting in favor while Travis Houser, Jay Wickenhauser, David Newberg, and Matthews voted against it.