A City That Received $41 Million Allowed a COVID-Stricken Police Officer to Go Unprotected

The City of Mount Vernon received approximately $41 million in federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act. Those funds were explicitly intended to address the public health harms of COVID-19, including protecting frontline workers and stabilizing essential services. Yet Mount Vernon’s own actions demonstrate that the Mayor failed to use ARPA funds to secure COVID-related healthcare and benefits for police officers. The case of Derek Williams—a 19-year veteran who contracted COVID-19 on duty and later suffered catastrophic long-term illness—stands as direct evidence of that failure. When a city receives historic pandemic relief yet allows a COVID-stricken officer to lose access to healthcare, the issue is not administrative oversight. It is misallocation. That misallocation now warrants a federal audit of Mount Vernon’s ARPA spending.

That funding was not discretionary stimulus money. It was governed by ARPA §9901 and implemented through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Final Rule, codified at 31 C.F.R. Part 35, with a defined purpose: to address the public health harms of COVID-19 and stabilize governments facing extraordinary pandemic-related costs.

Treasury’s rule is explicit. ARPA funds may be used to “respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts.” The rule defines eligible workers as those who perform essential, in-person work and explicitly includes public safety employees.

Most critically, Treasury recognizes that COVID-19 does not end with initial infection. Covered public health expenditures include medical expenses for COVID-19 treatment, including long-term care, rehabilitation, and therapy for post-COVID conditions.

This language is regulatory, not optional.

At the state level, New York General Municipal Law §207-c imposes a mandatory obligation on municipalities to maintain pay and medical coverage for police officers injured or taken ill in the performance of duty. A police officer who contracts COVID-19 while actively serving during a declared public health emergency meets that standard.

These two frameworks were designed to work together. ARPA exists to reinforce existing obligations when extraordinary events strain municipal systems—not to excuse failure.

The Derek Williams case is a contradiction.

Officer Williams served throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic while much of the municipal government operated remotely. He contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty. He later developed severe, long-term medical complications, including kidney failure requiring dialysis—precisely the type of post-COVID condition Treasury explicitly recognizes as an eligible public-health expense.

Yet despite the existence of both federal relief funding and a clear state-law duty to maintain medical coverage, Officer Williams was placed in a position where his healthcare, employment status, and financial stability were put at risk rather than automatically protected.

The City’s own public statements make several facts unavoidable. Healthcare protection was not automatic. Coverage was restored only temporarily and only after public pressure intervened. Relief was framed as an act of grace rather than the fulfillment of a legal obligation. Responsibility was shifted from exposure and duty status to paperwork. And throughout the City’s explanation, ARPA funds—specifically designed to address COVID-related public health harms—were never mentioned, cited, or explained.

This outcome cannot be reconciled with the governing law.

Other Cities Used ARPA to Address COVID-Related Illness Among First Responders

Mount Vernon’s handling of a COVID-injured officer is not representative of how ARPA was applied nationwide.

In San Francisco, ARPA funds were used to offset COVID-related personnel costs tied to public safety employees, including medical leave, health-related absences, and continuity of benefits for first responders affected by the virus. COVID exposure and illness among police and firefighters were treated as compensable public-health impacts of the pandemic.

In the Greater Cleveland region surrounding Cleveland, counties and municipalities used ARPA funds to cover COVID-related payroll and benefits for police officers who became ill or were quarantined due to exposure, citing pandemic-related workforce disruption and medical impacts.

In Cumberland, ARPA allocations were used to address COVID-related health impacts on public-safety personnel, including accommodations tied to illness, isolation, and recovery, to maintain continuity of essential services during the public-health emergency.

Across several municipalities in Connecticut, ARPA spending plans included provisions addressing COVID-related illness among first responders, including medical leave, exposure response, and workforce stabilization resulting directly from COVID infections.

National surveys conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors further show that cities such as Austin, Charlotte, Oakland, and Arlington identified COVID-related illness, medical leave, and benefit continuity for first responders as eligible ARPA uses under the public health response and essential worker protection categories.

These examples demonstrate a consistent national understanding: ARPA was a tool to address COVID-related illness among first responders, including long-term health impacts and benefit continuity.

Against that backdrop, Mount Vernon’s failure to use ARPA funds to secure healthcare and benefits for a police officer who contracted COVID-19 on duty is not the result of unclear law or limited authority.

It is a deviation from established practice.

Why a Federal Audit Is Warranted

When law, funding, and outcomes point in opposite directions, accountability is no longer optional.

A federal audit is warranted to determine how ARPA funds were allocated in Mount Vernon, what portion—if any—was directed toward COVID-related healthcare protection for first responders, why existing §207-c obligations were not reinforced with federal relief, and who made the decisions that allowed pandemic risk to be borne by an individual officer instead of the institution.

Statutes do not enforce themselves. Institutions choose whether to honor them. When a city can receive $41 million in emergency public-health funding while a frontline officer who caught COVID-19 on duty is left unprotected, the question is no longer rhetorical.

It is evidentiary.

Where did the ARPA money go—and why wasn’t it used where the law most clearly required it to go?

References

United States Congress.
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 117-2, §9901, 135 Stat. 4 (2021).
— Establishes the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) and defines the statutory purpose of ARPA funds as responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative economic impacts.
U.S. Department of the Treasury.
State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Final Rule, 31 C.F.R. Part 35.
— Treasury’s binding interpretation of ARPA, defining eligible uses of funds, eligible workers (including first responders), healthcare-related expenditures, and compliance requirements.
Federal Register.
Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds; Final Rule, published January 27, 2022.
— Official publication giving legal force to Treasury’s ARPA rules and interpretive guidance.
U.S. Department of the Treasury.
SLFRF Compliance and Reporting Guidance.
— Defines how municipalities must document, justify, and report ARPA expenditures, including public health and workforce-related costs.
U.S. Department of the Treasury.
SLFRF Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
— Clarifies eligible uses of ARPA funds, including public safety payroll, healthcare continuity, and COVID-related workforce impacts.
New York State Legislature.
New York General Municipal Law §207-c.
— Requires municipalities to provide salary and medical coverage to police officers injured or taken ill in the performance of duty.
New York State Comptroller.
Local Government Management Guides and Opinions on §207-c.
— Interprets municipal obligations regarding line-of-duty injury and illness benefits.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19: Long-Term Health Effects.
— Documents long-term and organ-related health impacts following COVID-19 infection.
U.S. Department of Labor.
COVID-19 and Worker Safety Guidance for First Responders.
— Federal recognition of heightened exposure risks for public safety workers during the pandemic.
Treasury Office of Inspector General.
Oversight of State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.
— Provides audit and enforcement standards for ARPA compliance and misus