The Grays Harbor Board of County Commissioners increased the pool of money available for CARES Act small business grants to $1.5 million Tuesday.
The deadline for grant applications was also extended to Sept. 15.
The county’s small business grant pledge to help businesses affected by COVID-19 grew to $1 million the first of June and now to $1.5 million out of the more than $4 million in reimbursable federal CARES Act funds awarded the county in early June.
“I can tell you I don’t know of another similar-size county that has allocated that much funding to small business grants,” said Commissioner Vickie Raines.
Commissioner Randy Ross made the motion to “add $500,000 to the pot of money,” and to extend the application deadline to Sept. 15, with all commissioners approving.
“I think we all agree it should be at least $2 million, but we are moving it up slowly so as we get the reimbursement (from the state Department of Commerce, which administers the federal funds) we have that money available,” said Commissioner Wes Cormier.
Ross said the commission’s initial $2 million pool was a loose number and from the start was intended to grow with the demand for grants.
County director of utilities and community development Mark Cox said about 80 to 100 grant applications remain to be reviewed out of about 150 total. Some of those have been sent back to the applicants for additional financial information, and about 15 applications as of Tuesday had been approved by the commissioners and checks were being processed. All those already approved by the commission have had contracts sent out to sign for payment.
Cox said later Tuesday the county’s .09 Committee, which is reviewing the applications, was set to meet for a third round of funding review. “I’m hoping to set up a special meeting later this week to have those approved,” said Cox. The committee is so named because it’s usual job is to allocate economic development spending from a .09 portion designated from sales tax.
Cormier made the initial suggestion to extend the application deadline. Raines asked Cox if applications were still coming in. “Yes, they are still trickling in,” said Cox. Raines then asked if the deadline should be changed on the application website to say applications would be accepted until funding is exhausted, and Cox said he felt that would be appropriate. Clerk of the Board Jenna Amsbury, however, pointed out that some hard deadline should be set because CARES Act funds have to be approved by Oct. 31 to qualify for reimbursement. Raines suggested Sept. 15.
“Since we put out this application nearly two months ago and there are still that many to go through and review, applications submitted by Sept. 15 still give the committee time to review and then pay out those dollars,” said Raines. “And any residual dollars would be used for expenses deemed as necessary.”
These are grants, not loans, of up to $10,000 for businesses in the county able to document losses created by COVID-19 regulations and restrictions. Raines said there has been some confusion among potential applicants as to whether the money awarded to business had to be repaid: it does not, she said. All three commissioners urged businesses who have not applied to do so. Applications are available online at http://www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us/news_detail_T16_R113.php.
Other CARES Act distributions
The commission Tuesday also approved several COVID-19 county expenditures that are eligible for reimbursement through the federal CARES Act.
The Sheriff’s Department requested $200,000 to purchase personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies to be stored by the county Department of Emergency Management for distribution to local health care providers, law enforcement, fire departments and non-profit organizations providing community services.
Cormier maintained his stance of not approving any CARES Act funding for government until all the business grant requests have been processed and paid. Since the $4 million in CARES Act funding for the county was announced, Cormier has maintained he believes all of it should be used for small business support.
Raines said she supported Cormier’s feelings on that concern, but offered, “Even if we were to pay every business that has applied at this point we will still have money left over, that we have to spend in a specific amount of time.”
Ross said he believed “The CARES Act can actually be used for several purposes. We need to stock up on personal protection equipment and sanitation supplies, so this just makes sense since we do have the money for this.”
Two other requests, one from the Facilities Department and another from the County Solid Waste Plan, included matching funds for FEMA grants, another acceptable use for CARES Act funds.
The Facilities Department requested $16,786.61 for the installation of Plexiglas and a screener at the Pearsall Building, custodial overtime and sanitizing, among other things. “This is not budgeted in our county budget so it’s a good opportunity to use those CARES Act funds in a useful manner.”
The Solid Waste request for $10,257 was to pay for some extra work in security at county buildings, installing barriers, masks, gloves and thermometers for county buildings. In the end, all three requests were approved, with Cormier voting no on all three.
