The St. Louis County Board detailed how the county allotted the $54.5 million in funding it received for pandemic relief. Much of it went to infrastructure such as roads, broadband access and a section of landfill. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

DULUTH – The largest chunk from the millions of dollars St. Louis County received in pandemic-relief aid went toward infrastructure — specifically a mixed-solid-waste landfill described by administrator Kevin Gray as the “marquee project” during a recent county board meeting.

“It’s a project that is state of the art and cutting edge and is going to address forever chemicals,” Gray said of the county’s $12.5 million landfill project in Virginia, Minn. “That was a high priority, critical investment.”

St. Louis County received $54.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, divided between 2021 and 2022. The unique allotment was meant to boost the county as COVID-19 waned — and all of it had to be allocated to specific county projects, within guidelines set by the U.S. Treasury, by Dec. 31, 2024. About half the money went toward infrastructure, including road improvements, expanded broadband access, and upgraded water systems. In total, more than 100 projects received funding, according to the county.

“We put together a plan that has really benefited each and every person in St. Louis County,” County Commissioner Paul McDonald said during the meeting.

At the landfill: A 10-acre cell has added coils and a geothermal liner that will collect heat from the garbage to be used at a leachate wastewater-treatment plant planned for nearby. The water will be stripped of contaminants, including PFAS. It is the first of its kind in the state, though it is expected to be a blueprint for the future.

Among the road improvements was a $3.5 million dollar project to upgrade the route between Cook and Tower, Minn., on county highways 115 and 77 — which would have taken three to five years longer without the funding, Gray said in a recent presentation about how the ARPA funds were spent.

Rural communities received $2.76 million for broadband access.

Projects with connections to kids got more than $10 million, including a Check & Connect program that pairs students and mentors for school-related check-ins. Improvements were made to schools and to recreation centers like the Boys & Girls Club in Hibbing, Minn., and the skate park at the Gary New Duluth Recreation Area, and investments were made in expanding child care. Gray estimated that 25 to 30 communities benefited from the funding.

About $7 million went toward housing, including transitional housing in Virginia, a Hibbing shelter nicknamed “Home on the Range,” and Plover Place in Duluth.

Just less than $5 million went toward pandemic costs for public health resources and operational costs. The county allotted more than $4 million toward community development — including money for certain nonprofits and small businesses, and upgrades to fairgrounds.