Stoneham Has Millions To Spend — And Is Asking You How To Do It

STONEHAM, MA — There are more than 23,000 people who call Stoneham home. Three dozen of them have so far spoken up about what the town should do with a pile of money.

The town is sitting on more than $7 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act — or ARPA. A survey asking residents for suggestions on how the money should be spent had 36 responses as of Tuesday night's Select Board meeting.

Town Administrator Dennis Sheehan said some recent good news expanded what will be eligible expenses under ARPA, but it should still generally be used on one-time costs.

Some of what has been suggested so far are things like road and sidewalk improvements, but town officials would like to see more engagement before moving forward. Select Board Chair Heidi Bilbo said she was disappointed in how few people responded.

"This is the entire community's chance to kind of go in and say what it is that they would like to see these funds be spent on and obviously the word is not getting out there to really engage folks," Bilbo said.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Stoneham Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.