The White Salmon City Council voted earlier this week to allocate the majority of CARES Act funding received by the City in the form of direct grants to resident families and businesses.
Much of the funding, $40,000 of the $78,300 originally allocated to city, will be dedicated towards the White Salmon Community Relief Fund, which city officials are pondering whether to implement it through the city or to partner with a local non-profit organization. Households making up to 200 percent AMI are eligible for direct payments of up to $500 per household if they can demonstrate how the impacts of the COVID-19 disease and shutdown has affected them. The resolution cites certain criteria, such as reduced work hours, unemployment, change in commuting needs, additional costs related to at home learning requirements, childcare expenses, and lack of distance learning electronics to be eligible for the grant.
Thirty percent of the payments in the White Salmon Community Relief Fund are dedicated to Hispanic, Latino, Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Asian families, according to the resolution.
Councilor Jim Ransier asked what the Adjusted Median Income was, to which Mayor Marla Keethler clarified the numbers the city is using comes from the 2018 American Community Survey, which uses census data and annual sampling data to project demographic estimates.
The 2018 AMI in White Salmon is $55,677 for a family of four, according to the 2018 ACS five-year estimate.
Another $22,500 from the CARES funding allocation will be available in the form of grants of up to $1,500 for businesses to ensure they comply with operating guidelines under COVID-19. Businesses could apply for the procurement of masks or media to communicate COVID-19 guidelines.
A business is eligible for the grant funding if they are SBA (Small Business Administration) eligible recipients, and if they have not already received COVID-19 funding for such purchases. The funding cannot be used to cover payroll expenses.
The resolution authorizes the mayor to work with staff or a local nonprofit organization to implement the White Salmon Community Relief Fund and the White Salmon Welcoming Customers Business grants, including the development of an application process for both the available funds.
“As we expend the money, we’ll be submitting vouchers for reimbursement,” City Clerk/Treasurer Jan Brending said.
“I want to be clear to the city council, this resolution does give the mayor some fairly broad authorization here, so you need to be comfortable with that knowing that, I think, she has the best interest of the city citizens at this instance,” Brending said.
“What I was trying to bring forward was really so you had a strong sense of the philosophical approach to how we want use this funding, and to have that concept to sign off on,” said Mayor Marla Keethler, explaining that the next step upon approval would be to implement the grant structure. The city still has to decide whether they want to partner with a local organization to dole out the cash assistance or to do it themselves.
“I do expect that we probably will want to enlist an organization locally to help us just to make sure that we can, one, have broad outreach, but also faster turnaround and faster execution of the grant,” Keethler continued.
The rest of the CARES funding has been set aside to procure laptops for city employees, face masks, city parklets, and additional expenses, which the resolution authorizes the mayor to do.
The motion passed unanimously, with Councilor Jason Hartmann making the motion, and Councilor Joe Turkiewicz seconding.
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