With time running out to allocate money from federal COVID relief funds, the El Cajon City Council has agreed to provide about $1.1 million to local projects, with the largest amount going toward rehabilitating a build it agreed to purchase last year. City Manager Graham Mitchell told the council at their Oct. 22 meeting that the city already had spent or allocated about $29.3 million of the $30.4 million it had received from the American Rescue Plan Act. The remaining ARPA money must be allocated by Dec. 31 and spent by Dec. 31, 2026, or will have to be returned, he said. The largest allocation is $609,950 for improvements and repairs to a building at 405 E. Lexington Ave., which the City Council agreed to buy from San Ysidro Health for about $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money last December. The Chaldean Community Council is the sole tenant in the building and has two $1 leases with the city to operate a small business incubator and provide social services and other programs. The allocation includes $554,500 for various repairs, with an additional $55,450 provided to the Chaldean Community Council for construction management, which Mitchell said will free up city staff members’ time and allow the tenants to get the work done. About $180,000 is needed in roof repairs, $150,000 will go toward HVAC improvements, $120,000 will be used to restore or correct un-permitted work and $55,000 will go toward improvements to the incubator, among other repairs. Unrelated, an additional $150,000 will be allocated to Newcomers Support & Development, another group that works with the Chaldean community in El Cajon. The money will go toward a four-door SUV and cameras, lenses and other equipment for the development of an “In Arabic Media Outreach” program to help Arab-speaking residents become better informed and connected with the city. Mitchell said in exchange, Newcomers Support & Development will provide monthly updates, introduce council members and some staff members to the community, create quarterly videos of city services and help the city communicate with Arab speakers during disasters and emergencies. Mohammed Tuama, director of Newcomers Support & Development, told council members the media project would be an extension of other outreach work the group has done with town halls over the past decade, and he said city staff members could use some of the equipment. In another allocation, at least $300,000 will go toward Downtown El Cajon Partners for various needs, which could include fencing and gates around a parking lot at Prescott Promenade, benches, tables, planter boxes, lighting, a storage structure and speakers along Main Street and Art Alley, pond rehabilitation and LED color-changing lights on Main Street. Another $68,000 for wellness equipment was allocated for the city’s four fire stations. Last December, City Council members agreed to buy the aging San Ysidro Health building at 405 E Lexington Ave., where the Chaldean Community Council already had been a tenant for about three years. Plans at the time included having the Chaldean Community Council operate an incubator for small businesses, which could be used by all residents in the city. The plan solidified in April when San Diego County provided a $500,000 grant to launch the incubator. Murtada Kamaluldeen, director of the El Cajon Small Business Incubator, said the recently allocated money from the City Council will be used to create office space for local entrepreneurs, who also will be connected with business professors from Grossmont College and given other assistance to help launch their ventures.