Around 100 applications had been received for the Platte County small business grant program as of Monday morning, Platte County Presiding Commissioner Ron Schieber said in open session.
Schieber said the 100 applications represented requests amounting to about $4 million.
Platte County is in possession of $12 million in federal money through the CARES Act program for COVID-19 relief. County commissioners have said they wish to spend a majority of that on the business grant program. The program is designed to provide assistance in covering “costs of business interruptions due to COVID-19 related business closures and necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the COVID-19.”
It is expected the first round of grant awards will be made in a commission session to be held on July 17, Schieber said.
The applications are reviewed by a program administrator, then to a three-member advisory committee that makes recommendations to the county commission. The county commission has final determination on grant awards.
On Monday, commissioners approved language to go in a contract that must be signed by grant recipients.
The contract states, in part:
*Recipients shall provide a full accounting report to the county, including invoices and other documentation for all expenditures of grant funds, on or before March 1, 2021.
*All grant fund expenditures may be subject to audit by federal, state or county officials at any time in the future. Grant recipient shall cooperate with any federal, state or county requests for documentation or information.
*If a determination is made that the grant recipient has failed to disclose any material fact or had made a materially false or misleading representation the grant recipient shall immediately return all grant funds to Platte County.
*Grant funds are to be spent “to assist in covering costs of business interruptions due to COVID-19 related business closures and necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the COVID-19.
*Any grant funds expended by the recipient that are not expended on necessary expenditures during the applicable time limit or are expended for purposes that are not allowed under federal, state or county rules and regulations must be returned to Platte County on or before March 1, 2021.