WATERVILLE — The City Council on Monday will meet to consider spending more than $800,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funding to compensate city employees for their work during the pandemic, assist the homeless and support a police program that helps people addicted to opioids get treatment.

The meeting will be held remotely at 7:30 p.m. and those wanting to listen or take part in the session may do so by accessing a link on the city’s website.

City Manager Steve Daly said Thursday that the city is to receive $1.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding and has secured $847,000 of that total so far.

Compensation for city staff, totaling $160,000, would be distributed over city departments. The council may take only one vote Monday and would take a second, final vote at its next meeting Dec. 7, according to Daly.

“The mayor wants to do that now so the staff gets their checks before Christmas,” he said.

The council also will consider allocating $50,000 a year for the next five years to Operation HOPE, which is the police program that helps those with opioid addiction.

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“That’s to take the burden off Project HOPE for fundraising,” Daly said.

A second vote on that order also would be taken Dec. 7.

The council will consider giving $400,000 to the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter to be used for programs to help house people who are without shelter. Since it is an emergency order, only one vote is necessary, Daly said. He said Councilor Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, has been working on the proposal. Green heads up the city’s housing committee.

“The nature of the emergency is the imminent onset of winter,” Daly said.

Of that $400,000, $155,000 would be used for one year to help people experiencing some kind of housing crisis.

Of that money, $45,000 would be used for case management for 25 households, to provide services for people who receive funding through general assistance or other avenues for temporary housing.

Also, $200,000 of the $400,000 would be used for a program for “rapid rehousing and landlord engagement to provide 20 units of housing for two years,” according to a city document outlining the plan.

The council also will discuss how the city may identify a location to be used for a warming and cooling center.

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