Louisville pulled a $40M grant after a controversial ethics case. Here's how the city now plans to spend it.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Metro Council committee has advanced a new plan on how to spend $40 million in federal grant funds stripped from a Louisville nonprofit at the center of a high-profile ethics case.

The plan submitted by Mayor Craig Greenberg had bounced around the Metro Council since late October and was amended this week to close a gap of more than $9 million, the difference between the amount local agencies wanted for workforce efforts and what the Greenberg administration initially wanted to spend. The package also includes funding for parks and library projects.

The council's budget committee heard the proposal Thursday afternoon for the first time since a November meeting revealed that organizations such as the Metro United Way, Louisville Urban League and AMPED asked for $24.9 million. Greenberg officials recommended $15.7 million. That prompted council members to ask for more money for those groups, budget chair Rick Blackwell (D-13th District) told WDRB News.

Those organizations already had been allocated money from the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, or CEOc, which received the $40 million in COVID-19 relief aid last year for a sweeping workforce training initiative. But Greenberg revoked the grant after the ethics verdict against Council member Anthony Piagentini, who backed the spending ordinance for the healthcare group and later took a job there.

The Greenberg administration then put forth a new plan, which was later negotiated to increase the amount of money for the groups doing workforce training.

With no one voting in opposition, the budget committee moved the new spending ordinance to the full council. It could be voted on there as early as next week.

The plan would increase previous monies set aside for parks maintenance by $10 million; put $9 million toward library work; and provide nearly $20 million for the workforce initiatives. The remaining $1 million would go to to CEOc to reimburse it for money already spent.

"You all asked for more information. You wanted to have more details, you wanted more input," Deputy Mayor Dana Mayton told the budget committee. "I think that this amendment is going to reflect that."

Blackwell said council members were asked to rank their priorities for maintenance work in an attempt to narrow down the parks projects that would be funded.

Council President Markus Winkler, D-17, said in an interview on Wednesday that he believes the new plan "puts us toward where the money is needed to improve quality of place in every corner of our community."

Kevin Trager, Greenberg's press secretary, said in a statement Thursday that the mayor's office has been working "to propose a robust workforce initiative within the limits of the available ARP funds to be reallocated." Administration officials "look forward to helping implement the results of the committee's and ultimately the full council's recommendations."

The Greenberg's administration initial proposal set aside $15.7 million for the workforce efforts and included an additional $10 million for city library projects and $13.3 million for overdue maintenance in Metro parks.

But Dave Christopher, the executive director of AMPED, which is planning a technology training center in the Russell neighborhood, told the council in mid-November that the proposal "basically made us battle for" the workforce money.

Metro government's Louisville Accelerator Team oversees the federal grant funds. Its director, Ken Hillebrand, said at that same meeting that the Greenberg administration's plan tried to remove duplicated programs and eliminated others that weren't directly related to job efforts.

"What we were trying to do was come up with $15 million -- what can we fit into the $15.75 million?" he said,

During debate within the council in November, some members expressed concerns that certain organizations didn't get their full requests for funding.

"With your partners, some of them – theirs has been cut in half," Council member Cindi Fowler (D-14) told Christopher. "That's a problem in my opinion. if we're going to do this, we need to do it and do it right."

Among the groups whose initial funding requests were cut was ElderServe, which would support adult day care services for family members of people enrolled in job training programs. It asked for $1.9 million and was given $750,000 in the initial plan from the Greenberg administration and the one that cleared the committee Thursday.

“It wouldn’t put us where we’d like to be, but it would be a start for us,” said Tim Findley Jr., ElderServe's CEO.

Here’s what the groups are proposing and the funding approved Thursday:

AMPED ($13 million). Besides creating the technology training center, AMPED would recruit and train 340 residents from western Louisville neighborhoods and place 213 students in healthcare technology jobs. It also would work to get 40 students into apprenticeships and another 40 into paid internships.

Metro United Way ($1.5 million). It aims to get 250 people into financial coaching, with 60% of them becoming more financially stable.

University of Louisville ($1.3 million). U of L plans to train 100 people who will in turn train others in digital literacy areas.

Louisville Urban League ($3.3 million). The Urban League would enroll up to to 200 people a year in career assessment programs for three years; give 600 people "barrier removal" services; and help 300 people land jobs.

ElderServe. ($750,000). Its goal includes hiring new employees to work in its adult day care program and expand its services. Findley said his organization will pursue other funding resources to make that happen.

The federal funds must be committed by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.