Grays Harbor County commissioners are working this week to finalize plans to distribute more than $4 million in federal CARES Act money for COVID 19-related expenses, with anywhere from half to all of that amount providing relief for small businesses that suffered losses during the statewide stay-at-home order.

Each commissioner brought their vision for allocation to Monday’s special meeting. Commissioner Randy Ross suggested $2 million in small business grants, Commissioner Vickie Raines $2.5 million. Commissioner Wes Cormier said he thinks all of it should go toward small business support.

Board clerk Jenna Amsbury told commissioners the state Department of Commerce, which is administering the federal funds, has said that, generally speaking, small businesses seeking grants would have to be able to document losses during the pandemic and specify what the funds would be used for.

“Really, the only strings attached for businesses is to show COVID-19-related expenses,” she said.

Monday, Ross described his proposal for the $4,078,800 the county would receive.

“I see allocating about $2 million, half of the funds, for business economic support,” he said.

Commissioner Wes Cormier said he continues to recommend that all of the $4 million plus goes to business support. He has been working on a draft application for small business grants, which commissioners will discuss Monday. The hope of the commissioners is to get the application out as soon as possible.

Cormier’s application has a three-tiered process for deciding who gets priority. “If a business was closed during Phase 1 of the stay at home order, we’d put them in the top tier,” he said. “The second tier is if your business was partly open during Phase 1, and the third tier is if your business remained open but you incurred a financial loss in the COVID-19 pandemic.”

There was discussion among the commissioners about the definition of a small business. The draft application states that to qualify, a business can have up to 25 employees; Ross said he was concerned a company with 26 or 27 employees may be hesitant to apply. This will be discussed until a final number is agreed upon by the commissioners, along with details like whether applicants in unincorporated areas of the county may get preferential consideration over businesses in municipal areas where city grants may be available.

“I do think that unincorporated areas should be given a priority look, at least for the first blush,” said Raines. “The reason I say that is oftentimes if you look at areas of the county — just like comparing ourself (the county), we get the bottom of the bucket compared to other counties — a lot of times unincorporated areas get pushed by the wayside.”

Preparedness fund

Raines, saying the numbers were still rough, said along with $2.5 million in business grants she also looked at $500,000 for COVID-19 related county expenses and $500,000 for emergency preparedness in case there is a surge in cases: “so we’re prepared. Kind of a preparedness fund. Put a little skin in the game to make sure we are taking care of ourselves and our constituents in an emergency.”

That leaves about $580,000 Raines thinks “could be utilized to fill in gaps when we see them.”

Ross provided a chart showing his breakdown, using Commerce guidance for allowable expenditures: Ross recommended $320,000 for medical expenditures, $775,000 for public health, $485,000 for payroll expenses, $398,800 for COVID-19 related public health, the $2 million for small business support, and $100,000 in miscellaneous COVID-19 related expenses.

In a detailed breakdown of what he allocated was $500,000 for the acquisition and distribution of medical and protective supplies. Also included in his proposal was $250,000 for temporary public health facilities to increase COVID-19 testing. Raines asked Ross about this line item.

“I’m thinking if we need to set up a test site again,” said Ross. He said he and others are “anticipating we’re going to have a fall surge and we may not even have a response until that point in time, so again, trying to be prepared.”

All three commissioners agreed that if additional funds were not needed for other expenses, another round of business grants could be made available. That will all depend on whatever final version of the commissioners’ plan is agreed upon, and COVID-19 county expenses in the coming month.

Raines asked Deputy Director of Emergency Management Hannah Cleverly about the current supply of personal protective gear and what would be needed for an adequate stockpile in light of a possible fall surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Right now we are working on trying to get a par level of what supplies would be needed when a surge happens again,” said Cleverly. She explained that donations of personal protection gear made it possible for the county to get through the first month of the pandemic, and many of those donations came from places like dental offices and Grays Harbor College “to supplement some of the shortcomings in the supply chain.”

Cleverly said she is preparing over the next several weeks to define what amount of personal protective gear is needed to prepare for a potential surge.

“We’re going to assess and get a level we would like to have so when it starts surging again we are prepared to supply our local first responders and health care workers,” said Cleverly.

As far as equipment storage, Cleverly said the county has partnered with Grays Harbor Fire District 2 to use space in one of the district’s fire stations for storage and is working on continuing that partnership.

‘Reimbursable funds’

The CARES Act funds are reimbursable, as Amsbury said Monday, meaning the commission needs to discuss where initial funds will be drawn from before reimbursement. In other words, the county isn’t getting a check for $4,078,800; the county will have to provide the initial outlay of funding from its own resources and then be reimbursed by Commerce.

“We have to be able to expend the $4 million from someplace and then request reimbursement,” said Raines. It’s not financially possible for the county to outlay the entire amount at once, commissioners agreed. Raines said one idea is to use an interdepartmental loan, or to do some sort of distribution out of general funds.

“Say we started the process of (business grant) applications with $500,000,” said Raines. “We satisfy those, ask for reimbursement, then use it again to repay it.”

This, like other aspects of the proposals, are still under discussion at this time. All three commissioners said they were willing to work together to get the funds available as soon as possible.