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Opal Center would like to
thank our friends.
This is just an intermission.
The curtain will rise again soon.
—————:—————
OPAL CENTER FOR ARTS & EDUCATION
513 E. Main St. Cottage Grove
For more info, call 541-623-0513
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541-942-4664
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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-
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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.
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700 Gibbs Ave.
P.O. Box 388
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
541-942-9570
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MACHINE SHOP SERVICES
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Phone: 541-942-2521
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