Callaway County isn't flushing CARES Act funding down the drain - but round two of fund disbursement will prioritize making public restrooms safer, County Commissioner Gary Jungermann announced Tuesday.
"Round two is more of a mitigation-type effort focusing more on restroom areas," he explained during a virtual meeting.
Callaway County has set aside $1.5 million of the $5.2 million in federal funding it received for virus spread mitigation efforts. As with round one, small businesses (those employing fewer than 500 employees), nonprofits (including churches), schools and municipal governments are welcome to apply during this round of funding. Nonprofits must document their nonprofit status. Those who applied for round one of funding may apply for round two as well.
Expenses that may qualify include replacing hand dryers with touch-free towel dispensers, installing touch-free faucets, adding step plates so people don't have to touch door handles and so on. Spread-reduction efforts put into place in public spaces other than bathrooms - such as an air purifier in a classroom - will also be considered.
"Anything that leads toward mitigation at this point is going to be something we look at," Jungermann said.
Applicants should contact contractors to get an estimate of how much their planned improvements will cost. Those quotes should be included with the applications. Applications can be downloaded from CallawayChamber.net, the Callaway County Commission's office, Fulton City Hall, Auxvasse City Hall, Holts Summit City Hall, Kingdom City City Hall and New Bloomfield City Hall.
If an application is approved, the county will cover up to 80 percent of eligible expenses.
"The business needs to have some skin in the game," Jungermann said.
If materials are sourced locally and the contractor lives in Callaway County, the county will cover the full 80 percent. If not, the split will be 70-30. The Callaway Chamber of Commerce is working on assembling a list of in-county contractors.
"We're trying to promote people to shop locally, purchase things from Sutherland's, Ace Hardware," Chamber Executive Director Tamara Tateosian said. "We want to have some return back into Callaway County. At this time, it's extremely important we're supporting those businesses here locally."
Jungermann said there's no minimum or maximum amount of funding available to each applicant; each application will be viewed on a case-by-case basis.
The county plans to prioritize improvements in high-traffic locations - a business that has 150 people visiting its bathroom each day will be more likely to receive funding than one with only a handful of daily visitors, Jungermann explained.
This round of funding has two deadlines: July 15 and July 29. Applicants who submit before the July 15 deadline will learn whether or not they've been approved sooner than those that wait.
"The reason we've done that, we felt like we were going to get a lot of applications," Jungermann said. "We're going to start looking at early applications just after the 15th, because these things take time to go through."
For further information, contact the Callaway County Commission at 573-642-0737.
Jungermann said round three of funding will begin within a few weeks and will involve small-business grants.
"I know some small businesses that were shut down had rent and utility issues, so we're going to look at some grant opportunities," he said.
The county plans to dedicate $500,000 toward round three. More details will follow as they become available.
Previous efforts
Round one of funding focused on reimbursing eligible entities for extra expenses incurred during the COVID-19 public health emergency between March 1 and May 31. For example, if a business paid for extra cleaning supplies, that counted as an extra expense.
Requests for reimbursement of standard rent expenses, utilities or revenue loss did not.
Jungermann said the county received around 30 applications during round one, which closed June 15.
"It wasn't as many as I thought it was going to be," he said.
Commissioners finalized the approval of almost all the applications Monday morning. Only a few applications were ultimately rejected, and those that were can be adjusted and resubmitted, Jungermann said.
Of the $1.9 million set aside for round one, "we've only got about $420,000 going out," he added. People may continue applying for round one funding if they have eligible expenses, he said. Those who've previously applied may apply again if they've incurred eligible expenses from June 1 to the present.
The county also partnered with Central Missouri Community Action to provide $500,000 in utility assistance with part of the CARES Act funds.
Any household adversely affected by COVID-19 with an income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level can apply for assistance paying electric, water, sewer, gas, trash or internet arrears incurred between March 1 and June 30.
"We've already had 21 people go down and receive (utility) vouchers," Fulton Director of Administration Bill Johnson said. "We have at least 21 people out there who have a zero balance with us now. It's a great thing, guys."
CARES Act funding is also helping pay for thermal cameras at area school districts, COVID-19 testing and decontaminating devices that can be borrowed from the county's emergency management department.
"We're trying to do the best we can with this money and help as many people as we can," Jungermann said.
Any CARES Act funds not spent by the end of the year must be returned to the federal government.