NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
A7
Extension granted on COVID relief program
Commissioners
hear update
during public
hearing
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Aside
from the raucous gathering
outside the Wallowa County
Courthouse to protest Gov.
Kate Brown’s mandate
on vaccinations for public
employees, the county com-
missioners had a quiet meet-
ing Wednesday, Sept. 1.
In fact, the regular agenda
was largely overshadowed
by an also-quiet public hear-
ing immediately after the
meeting on the Wallowa
County Emergency Small
Business Microenterprise
Assistance Grant Program.
The commissioners heard
an update on the program
from Lisa Dawson, execu-
tive director of the North-
east Oregon Economic
Development District, the
sole attendee at the hearing.
“The purpose of this
hearing is to take public
comment and I seem to be
the only one who has public
comment so I can at least tell
you where we’re at with it,”
Dawson said. “The county,
last year, received $150,000
to pass through the North-
east Oregon Economic
Development District to
make grant awards to busi-
nesses that were aff ected by
COVID. … The other fund-
ing that came through, even
though it had an applica-
tion process, was much eas-
ier to access. We have only
made a few grants through
this fund so far and have
requested an additional six
months to continue to try to
fi nd appropriate applicants
for the funding.”
The
commissioners
approved the six-month
extension.
Help so far
“At this point, the funds
have assisted 14 people as
funds are either made avail-
able to a business owner who
qualifi es as low to moderate
income in their household or
whose employees qualify as
low to moderate income,”
Dawson said. “The funds
cannot be duplicative of any
other fund from any other
source that a business may
have received.”
She said the NEOEDD
has had to turn down one
business applicant.
“Their losses associ-
ated with COVID, look-
ing at year over year reve-
nues, were not greater than
the amount of other funding
they had received,” she said.
“Most of the businesses that
applied, once we requested
additional documentation
that’s needed to get through
the application process just
aren’t willing to provide that
information or they fi gure
they won’t qualify at that
point.”
Dawson said she has
plans to continue to help
applicants get through the
diffi cult process.
“Going forward, we will
have another application
workshop/webinar to see if
we can explain the program
again and get out there to
those people who have not
applied for another source
that’s probably the best
match at this point,” she
said.
Commissioner
Todd
Nash appeared to under-
stand the diffi culty Dawson
and applicants face.
“So, in general, who
would this fi t or is it an act
of futility?” he asked.
“At some level, it’s an
act of futility,” Dawson said.
“But it would fi t, let’s say, if
there was a retail business
that didn’t apply for PPP
(Paycheck Protection Pro-
gram) and had a decrease
in revenue year over year,
and they have put in barriers
between their counter and
the people who were coming
in to them. We could include
that cost of the physical bar-
rier that they have put in,
plus the decrease in revenue
that they had experienced
year over year, that would
be the kind of business that
would fi t as long as they also
had employees who were
making under $31,000 a
year, which is possible for a
retail business to be paying
wages in that level. Or the
business owners themselves
are in that income level.”
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Lisa Dawson, executive director of the Northeast Oregon Economic Development District, speaks during a public hearing
before the Wallowa County commissioners on receiving government grant money for businesses Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021.
Dawson was the only person who spoke and said most businesses found the application process diffi cult. Commssioner Susan
Roberts listens at left.
“MOST OF THE BUSINESSES I TALKED
TO DIDN’T SEE A HUGE DECLINE
(BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC).”
— John Hillock, Wallowa County commissioner
Success so far
She reported limited
success.
“So far, we have made
grants to two restaurants
that qualifi ed based on their
employees on their staff and
two other entrepreneurs who
had increased costs or had to
fi gure out a diff erent way of
doing business, a new busi-
ness model,” she said.
Commissioner
Susan
Roberts also comprehended
the diffi culty of the applica-
tion process.
“This was a very diffi -
cult one to get through,” she
said.
Commissioner John Hill-
ock, a business owner him-
self, has been in touch with
other merchants.
“Most of the businesses
I talked to didn’t see a huge
decline” because of the pan-
demic, he said.
Dawson agreed.
“The retail sector has
generally done better than
usual in the last couple of
years,” she said. “I think if
there were people from the
public here, they would say
this is a very diffi cult pro-
gram to access … and a
couple would be very happy
that they got the funding.”
During the commis-
sioners’ regular meeting,
Paige Sully, county coun-
sel, said the Oregon Legis-
lature recently identifi ed all
elected offi cials as those to
be included among those
who are required to report
abuse of children and vul-
nerable adults. By law, those
offi cials are now required
to undergo the mandatory
reporting training on such
abuse. The commissioners
authorized Sully to set up
the training.
chase the Wishart property
adjacent to the fairgrounds.
The instructions included
paying $5,000 to be able to
exercise an option to pur-
chase the property and were
based on a discussion in
executive session.
• Hired Wes Garth as a
new deputy with the Wal-
lowa County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce.
• Accepted the resigna-
tion of Hailey Collier as a
911 dispatcher.
• Accepted the resigna-
tion of Amy Stangel from
the Department of Youth
Services.
• Approved a step
increase in pay for Katy
Nesbitt.
Other business
Also Wednesday, the
commissioners:
• Instructed Sully to go
ahead with plans to pur-
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