State Auditor makes recent Greenfield stop

GREENFIELD — State Auditor Rob Sand visited last Friday afternoon, touching base with local citizens about what his office does and how it impacts their daily lives.

Sand spoke to a small group on the Adair County Courthouse lawn for about an hour.

“Lots of people at the local level have questions of us about what we’re up to in our office, and at the end of the day, I think it’s our job to get out here and answer them,” Sand told the newspaper after his conversation time. “Sometimes people are busy, so if I come to you, it’s a little easier than you figuring out a way to reach out to us.”

One large topic breached was how the process works for American Rescue Plan dollars to be spent on a local level.

“If you’ve got an idea of something you think would be good for Greenfield, go tell your county, go tell your county. At the end of the day there’s not a restriction on the county spending money in Greenfield or the county spending money in the school district,” Sand said. “If you’ve got an older high school and are concerned about air quality indoors, that can be a qualifying use. One of your qualifying things is reducing the risk of spread (of COVID).”

Sand said his office cannot tell a local body that one proposed plan to spend the ARP money is better than another, but it can advise citizens with ideas whether or not they would qualify as a project for the money to be used .

“My general advice is killing two or three birds with one stone with this money. That’s great. If you’ve got things that would qualify that would be additional amenities for your community a long time after we’re talking about COVID, great,” Sand said. “Every little amenity you can add is one more reason for people to stick around [small communities].”

Sand said two aspects of his office he’ll remain focused on are accountability in state government and promoting efficiency.

“Everybody in state office should be a little worried about our office. Good news, they are,” Sand said.