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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 14, 2020)
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River Road 541-942-4664 We’ll make sure your system is running eff ectively and effi ciently. Call for details and an appointment today, and beat the spring rush! the fi rst fi ve minutes or the last fi ve minutes of that window doesn’t make a diff erence,” said Meyers. “All applications come in, they’re verifi ed as to whether they’re eligible … and those that [are qual- ifi ed] are put forward to receive loans.” According to the draft in its current form, if the total amount requested by businesses is less than the fund, all eligible applicants will receive loans. If the total requested amount far exceeds the fund, the pro- posal suggests awarding by lottery. “We’re trying to make it fair and equal for every- one to have a chance to be funded,” said Meyers, “not being put at a disadvan- tage because they may be a really small business and they just don’t have the staff to do the application and do the work.” Th e loan program is tar- geting businesses in Cot- tage Grove which have 20 employees or less and, in light of the frequency with which the area has seen states of emergency since last year, it also asks busi- nesses to create an emer- gency resilience plan as a prerequisite to qualify. Awardees would pay no interest for the fi rst six months and a “very low interest” following that, which would cover the costs for Community Lending Works to run the program, thus ensuring an unbiased third party over- sees awards and funding operations. Ideally, loans which are paid back will return to the pool and will allow the city to use the funding again in case of any future emer- gencies. City councilors were supportive in Monday’s meeting, but added some points of concern to be ad- dressed as the plan moves forward. “As a cautionary tale, there may be some de- faults,” said Councilor Mike Fleck. “In our last ex- periment, we did have one default that pretty much wiped out the program. Th at was, of course, one big loan as opposed to a lot of small ones. Th at said … I think it’s a very good use of funds and I absolutely support it.” Decades ago, the city attempted to set up a sim- ilar loan program, but the strategy allowed for some high-risk loans which up- set the process, said Mey- ers. Councilor Jake Boone raised the point that the program’s language could potentially benefi t cor- porate chains which have Cottage Grove branches. “I’d like to see something [in the plan] about that be- cause I don’t necessarily want to see all of our mon- ey going off to Chevron corporate headquarters or something,” he said. “Th at isn’t really what we’re try- ing to do, I think.” During the Monday dis- cussion, councilors Fleck, Greg Ervin and Candace Solesbee declared confl icts of interest as their organi- zations or businesses could hypothetically qualify for the loan program. Th ough Fleck said he had no in- tention of applying for the program, Solesbee said her businesses would. City Attorney Carrie Connelly weighed in: “I actually believe that Coun- cilor Solesbee has a ‘po- tential’ confl ict of interest because even if she’s plan- Complete Heating & Cooling System Service Reasonable Rates All Work Guaranteed | MAY 14, 2020 ning to apply, there’s no guarantee that she would be awarded. Th erefore, I believe that it’s fi ne that she’s participating,” she said. “And I believe that everyone, under these cir- cumstances, is able to con- tinue in the discussion.” Matching Grant In a related develop- ment, Business Oregon, the state’s economic de- velopment agency, an- nounced the fi rst round of a grant program that will match funding for com- munities which are giving loans or grants for their local businesses. Should the city make a successful bid to join this program, it would add another $100,000 into the Cottage Grove pool. In a conference call with the agency on Tues- day, however, Meyers said there appear to be issues to hammer out before the city goes for the matching grant. “I was hoping going into it that the two programs could run parallel so we could have our require- ments associated with what we want it to be in the city and then be able to get the grant funding from the state that would then have their requirements,” he said. “But, no.” In order to be consid- ered, the Cottage Grove program would fi rst have to match the state agency’s criteria. Among stipulations, the state grant requires that “historically disadvan- taged business owners” are given fi rst opportunity to apply for the loans, which the agency defi nes as Asian, black, Native Amer- ican, Hispanic and women business owners. While Meyers said there are some business own- ers in Cottage Grove who would benefi t from this, fulfi lling this requirement adds another step to a | 9A process which is already up against a tight deadline the city may not be able to make. Th e state grant time- frame calls for applications to be submitted by May 18, awardees chosen by May 30 and aid distributed by mid-June. “Th at’s pretty fast,” said Meyers. “Plus you have to demonstrate a huge marketing program to show that you’ve tried to get all the businesses that you could possibly get in there.” In contrast to the city’s plan to run a two- or three- week application window, the state’s timeline could curb the city’s attempt to maximize the amount and range of applicants. In addition to time- frame concerns, the state program exempts any business which has re- ceived aid from the federal CARES Act — an exemp- tion the Cottage Grove program does not make. If enough local business- es have been awarded the federal money, attaching to the state program may not be an attractive option for the city. Because the Business Oregon matching grant will come in four rounds total, the city is also con- sidering moving ahead with its own program to get the process started and apply to the second or third round of state fund- ing later. “What we’d prefer to do is move forward with our program, but get it match- ing as close as possible the state requirements,” Mey- ers said. To properly assess which path to take, Meyers said the city may soon conduct a business survey. While the city irons out the details in the next week and decides on a path for- ward, certain aspects of the proposed program may be subject to change. Delve into YOUR past at Brent Bitner, DDS our library, located in the Dentistry with Family in Mind Community Center! Cottage Grove www.jamesheating.com 115 Lawrence St., Eugene, OR 97401 CCB# 47396 • 542-461-2101 C ALL U S T ODAY ! 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