The health districts in southeastern Connecticut are asking each of their member municipalities to give them 1% of their federal COVID-19 relief dollars from the American Rescue Plan, for activities such as expanding epidemiological capacity, public communications and adding staff.

Steve Mansfield, director of Ledge Light Health District, said Tuesday that North Stonington and Waterford have approved the 1% request, and that in conversations with other municipal leaders, all have been supportive.

Mansfield will be speaking at multiple municipal meetings about how the funding will be used. The request totals $628,157.56 across the district's nine cities and towns.

The Groton Town Council unanimously approved the district's $85,878.94 request Tuesday night, forwarding the measure to the Representative Town Meeting, which approved it Wednesday night.

In an Aug. 3 letter to Town Manager John Burt, Mansfield noted the American Rescue Plan doesn't contain a provision for direct funding to health districts. He is requesting funding from municipalities "because there is continued need to implement public health activities in response to the on-going pandemic and to prepare for future public health emergencies."

The other municipalities in Ledge Light Health District are East Lyme, Ledyard, Lyme, New London, Old Lyme and Stonington.

Uncas Health District — which covers Bozrah, Franklin, Griswold, Lebanon, Lisbon, Montville, Norwich, Salem, Sprague and Voluntown — is mirroring what Ledge Light requested, and Patrick McCormack sent out the 1% request on Aug. 5.

"I do think it was important that Ledge Light and Uncas have similar requests, because within the county, our work is very similar," McCormack said. He didn't have a total of how much money 1% from each municipality would be.

For Ledge Light, one use of the ARP funding would be to offset the cost of a third public health nurse, who is starting in September. Another would be to support community members who are isolating and quarantining.

Deputy Director Jennifer Muggeo said she's not sure yet how financial support to families in isolation or quarantine would work. But she said there is a need for resources to make it feasible for some family members to adhere to guidance, and the community resource coordinator contracts through the state to connect people with resources are ending.

Also in Ledge Light's budget are building improvements that Mansfield said are specific to the pandemic response. For example, he said the district has multiple vaccine refrigerators on site but doesn't have an emergency generator. He also would like to turn the storage room into a meeting area, since the meeting room had to be turned into several work stations as new people were hired during the pandemic.

Another item is a mass vaccination clinic vehicle, with Mansfield noting that if and when booster shots become available, Ledge Light expects to hold such clinics again. McCormack said he also talked to Mansfield about the potential for a dedicated mass vaccination clinic vehicle.

He said one of the challenges around vaccinations is the effort involved in putting necessary items — the vaccine kit, a table and chairs, signage, paperwork — in the vehicle and then putting everything into a trailer when someone else needs that vehicle.

Mansfield also pointed to Ledge Light's "My Why" video series about why people decided to get vaccinated. The health district doesn't internally have video production capabilities, so it paid for services from ReelE Media, which he thinks "is a real investment in our community."

"This isn't just us looking for all of the money we possibly can look for in order to have a lot of fancy new stuff," Muggeo said. "We've been underfunded, systemically, for years."

Mansfield also noted that Ledge Light reduced licensing fees for businesses by 25% in recognition that "a lot of the people that we regulate were either out of business or greatly reduced their operations," which resulted in $50,748.72 in lost revenue to Ledge Light.

Municipalities are in the process of allocating ARP dollars. In Stonington, the Board of Selectmen recommended to the Board of Finance that the town contribute $56,000, or 1%, of its funding to Ledge Light.

First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough said the contribution is warranted, as Ledge Light has been the town's No. 1 resource when it came to testing and other COVID-19 issues.

The finance board is expected next month to consider the Ledge Light funding as part of an overall plan about how to spend federal COVID-19 funding. Chesebrough said the town will hold a public hearing on the spending plan before residents vote on the plan, possibly in October.

In Norwich, City Manager John Salomone didn't include a direct allocation to Uncas Health District in the spending plan he presented July 6 for $9 million of the city's first-year grant of $14.6 million. But he said the request will be considered in the budget for the remaining $5 million.

e.moser@theday.com