Nueces County 

Initial Recovery Plan 

Performance Report American Rescue Plan 

State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds

August 31, 2021
2021 Recovery Plan 2 | COUNTY OF NUECES

Table of Contents 

General Overview .................................................................................................................... 3

I. Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 3

II. Use of Funds ............................................................................................................................. 3

III. Promoting Equitable Outcomes ............................................................................................ 5

IV. Community Engagement....................................................................................................... 5

V. Labor Practices ........................................................................................................................ 5

VI. Use of Evidence ...................................................................................................................... 6

VII. Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category .................................................................... 6

Project Inventory ..................................................................................................................... 6

Performance Report ................................................................................................................ 7

Performance Indicators and Programmatic Data .................................................................. 7
2021 Recovery Plan | COUNTY OF NUECES 3

 

General Overview 

I. Executive Summary 

On May 19, 2021, Nueces County, Texas (County) received 50% of its allocation ($35,185,681.00) from 

the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act 

Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF). The County is taking a methodical, 

forward-thinking approach by creating a Strategic Fiscal Recovery Plan that is designed to maximize the 

impact of ARP funds on its COVID-19 economic recovery. This Plan supports the County’s ongoing efforts 

to stabilize their communities, stimulate economic growth, and enable an inclusive recovery from the 

COVID-19 public health emergency.

The Strategic Fiscal Recovery Plan describes the key proactive steps that County leaders can take to 

create a deliberately planned and comprehensive spending framework. This strategic plan is divided into 

three phases: 

• Internal Needs Assessment: Nueces County incurred large deficits in 2020. To remedy this, an 

internal needs assessment was conducted by meeting with County leaders to identify funding 

priorities for the use of Fiscal Recovery Funds. The County’s priorities will be organized into a 

preliminary spending framework and used to guide engagement with community stakeholders.

• Community Engagement: County leaders recognize the importance of engaging with the 

community to collect feedback on the identified funding priorities and to explore how the funding 

can best align with local priorities. Nueces County aims to pursue community engagement in a 

variety of ways, including posting an online survey, meeting with local government officials and 

business and nonprofit leaders, holding public workshops, and hosting a community event. 

Feedback gathered during these events will help guide the development of an equitable and 

informed spending framework.

• Final Eligibility and Compliance Review: The projects identified by County leaders and 

community stakeholders will be reviewed to assess whether they meet the eligibility standards set 

forth in the FRF reporting and compliance guidance provided by Treasury. 

II. Uses of Funds 

This Initial Recovery Plan covers the period ending July 31, 2021. Therefore, this document includes highlevel descriptions of the proposed uses based on conversations and meetings to date that have been 

held with County Commissioners Court and other County leadership as part of the Initial Needs 

Assessment. A more specific, detailed plan will be shared with the Treasury after completion of the next 

two phases that involve community engagement and a final vote by the County’s governing body, the 

Commissioners Court. In preliminary discussions regarding funding priorities, it is the intent of the County 

to utilize CSLFRF under all eligible expenditure categories.
2021 Recovery Plan | COUNTY OF NUECES 4

• Public Health/Negative Economic Impacts: The County continues to support the public health 

response to COVID-19, especially as the number of deaths and hospitalizations increase locally. 

With the recent surge, it is expected that the County will be performing vaccinations, including 

booster doses, for the foreseeable future. Medical staffing has been a particular challenge locally, 

as it has been an issue nationwide.

• Revenue Replacement: Recovering lost revenue is of particular interest to the Commissioners 

Court as the pandemic continues to affect the housing market and tourism in the area; this can 

certainly assist the County in temporarily offsetting some general government services costs so 

that the focus can remain on the COVID-19 response. Adding staff to our County and District 

Attorney offices can greatly assist in providing much needed legal services to minimize any 

backlog of cases caused by the inability to conduct civil and criminal trials due to the pandemic. 

• Premium Pay: The County Commissioners Court recognizes the hard work and dedication of its 

employees throughout this unprecedented time. These employees continue to support the 

community as the public health emergency continues. The Court is currently working to identify

eligible employees.

• Services to Disproportionally Impacted Communities: Implementing mental health programs 

to alleviate the current burden in both the justice system and law enforcement/jail agencies is an 

additional priority. The County Jail frequently experiences overcrowding, which becomes a public 

health hazard as well, so the County is seeking jail diversion options for those who need mental 

health services rather than incarceration. Risk assessment staff in the County Jail can also greatly 

reduce the jail population issue. Due to the diverse population of the County, social determinants 

of health are another potential priority for the final recovery plan. 

• Water, Sewer, and Broadband Infrastructure: The County Commissioners Court also has a 

great interest in necessary investments to water and sewer infrastructure. Recent rain events have 

highlighted the increased needs for such improvements and the County has been awarded grant 

funds to conduct a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional drainage/hydrology study that will assist in 

identifying priority projects. Broadband infrastructure is also a priority as the County has many 

underserved areas, as evidenced by recent rain events and the need for internet access when 

remote learning began. 

• Administrative: A disaster recovery consulting firm has been engaged to support the County’s 

efforts in for initial planning, assistance with community engagement, and development of the 

Strategic Fiscal Recovery Plan. Once the plan is finalized, the County intends to release a 

solicitation for competitive bids for program management and performance reporting to assist the 

County in the completion of the projects included in the final recovery plan. In addition, the County 

Auditor will be seeking a third-party certified accountant/accounting firm to ensure compliance 

and proper management of CSLFRF.
2021 Recovery Plan | COUNTY OF NUECES 5

III. Promoting Equitable Outcomes 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating to all, but it has not impacted Nueces County residents 

equally. Instead, it has exacerbated long-standing inequities. This is evidenced in the April 2021 report 

conducted by the Texas Health Institute titled “Advancing Health Equity in Nueces County: Amid and 

Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic” (Health Equity report). With this equity framework, the County will 

ensure an equity lens is applied to investments made possible by CSLFRF. The availability of these funds 

provides an unprecedented opportunity to invest in and improve broader social, economic and health 

circumstances across the County, particularly for those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. In 

doing so, County leaders will work to ensure the equitable distribution of funds and opportunities across 

communities and organizations. The need for more equitable distribution of funds was a recurring theme 

voiced by several stakeholders within the Health Equity report. 

IV. Community Engagement 

The County serves a diverse population, and therefore it is in the best interest of the citizens to ensure 

that all community input activities are performed in an inclusive and mindful manner and capture the 

needs of all populations served. Such engagement requires extensive planning and translation, which is 

currently being developed at the submission of this initial recovery plan. As part of the second phase of 

the Strategic Fiscal Recovery Plan, the County is adopting a multifaceted approach to direct community 

engagement that will include an online survey, meetings with local government officials, businesses, and 

nonprofits, public workshops, and a local community event. This approach will allow a broad reach into 

the community while building intercommunity partnerships to allow current and future recovery needs to 

be addressed. 

V. Labor Practices 

Whenever federal funds are involved in construction projects, it is standard practice for the County to 

incorporate 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Appendix II to Part 200, which includes, but is not limited 

to, the Davis-Bacon Act, Contact Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, Clean Air Act, and Byrd AntiLobbying Amendment. The inclusion of such contract provisions in the County’s competitive bid 

documents promote effective and efficient delivery of high-quality construction projects while also 

supporting the economic recovery through strong employment opportunities for workers. 
2021 Recovery Plan | COUNTY OF NUECES 6

VI. Use of Evidence 

The County has invested time, materials, effort, and dollars in recent years to identify significant gaps in 

services and to also identify certain needs that had not been previously addressed. In September 2020, 

the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute released the “Nueces County Comprehensive Behavioral 

Health Community Needs Assessment” (Meadows Foundation report). The report emphasized the need 

for improvement in the jail diversion workflow, which is being considered as a proposed use for ARP 

funds. Such improvements would have a variety of benefits such as providing much needed mental health 

services to those who need it, reducing rapidly growing jail population, and alleviating the backlog within 

the criminal justice system. In April 2021, as previously mentioned, the Texas Health Institute completed 

the Health Equity report. This report revealed the fact that the pandemic has left low-income and 

communities of color facing a disproportionate burden of disease, death, and loss. Finally, in May 2021, 

the County finalized the Capital Improvement Plan, which outlines a five (5) year plan of methodically 

selected projects that must be completed for the betterment of the community. 

VII. Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category 

Expenditure Category Vendor

Cumulative 

Expenditures to 

Date ($)

Amount Spent 

Since Last Recovery 

Plan

1 7.2 Evaluation and Data Analysis Hagerty Consulting $VERIFYING AMOUNT $0

Project Overview

To support the County’s efforts, the County has enlisted the assistance of Hagerty Consulting, an 

emergency management consulting firm. Hagerty Consulting was procured through competitive bid for 

disaster recovery management. A subsequent work authorization was issued under said contract for initial 

planning, assistance with community engagement, and development of a strategic framework for the use 

of funds for a not-to-exceed amount of $174,951.00. This is the only expense the County has obligated 

as of July 31, 2021. 

Project Inventory 

As of July 31, 2021, the County has not made final determinations on intended or proposed projects 

under CSLFRF. This will be updated upon final adoption of a strategic framework/plan adopted by the 

County Commissioners Court. 
2021 Recovery Plan | COUNTY OF NUECES 7

Performance Report 

A strategic approach will be embedded throughout the lifecycle of each ARP-funded project and across 

the full ARP program as follows:

• Capacity Building: Identify resources to provide training and technical assistance on program 

development to support ARP working groups, relevant department staff, and project 

administrators. 

• Project Development: All project proposals will incorporate responses received during Phase 2:

Community Engagement. 

• Project Selection: After Phase 3 completion, the County Commissioners Court will be tasked 

with voting on the funding priorities. 

• Project Monitoring & Evaluation: Once funding priorities are identified, the County will seek a 

consultant(s)/consulting firm(s) for related project/program management to ensure consistency 

with the original project intent and identify opportunities for improvement. 

• Program Evaluation & Accountability: Program-wide financial analyses will be conducted by 

the County Auditor and/or related outside auditing firm(s) to determine ARP funding impact on 

targeted populations and geographies, where feasible. Reporting on investment relative to social 

vulnerability, reporting on investment by race, ethnicity, gender, and/or other specific populations 

where available, and/or other program-level equity analyses will be provided to Commissioners 

Court as information is made available. 

Performance Indicators and Programmatic Data 

The County will employ the following strategies when developing, selecting, and delivering ARP 

programs.

• Include community representatives of groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic 

throughout program development, delivery, and evaluation. 

• Target resources and strategies to minimize incremental burdens on groups most affected by the 

pandemic while maximizing their access to relief. 

• Evaluate the performance of projects through defined metrics and provide opportunities for 

reflection, creating space for continual improvement throughout implementation. 

• Publish transparent program results via a publicly available website and other outlets, ensuring 

performance information reaches disproportionately impacted groups.