Cheney sets out to help small businesses

CHENEY – What the City Council did for people delinquent with their utility bills they now plan to do for small businesses.

The city has set up the CARES Small Business Assistance Grant Program which, like the utility bill program established at the council’s July 14 meeting, will provide money received from the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in April. Washington received $2.95 billion in CARES funding, sending $300 million of that to cities and counties with individual allocations based upon 2019 population estimates from the Office of Financial Management.

Cheney is slated to receive $372,300 in CARES funding, which is a reimbursement grant administered by the state Department of Commerce, with some portion going to the city to help it recover COVID-19 related costs. The council approved $25,000 at the July 14 meeting to help residents delinquent with their utility bills, and set aside another $25,000 at the July 30 meeting to help small businesses with COVID-19 related expenses.

In presenting the resolution at the July 28 meeting, City Administrator Mark Schuller said many businesses have struggled with aspects of the stay-at-home measures enacted to slow the spread of the virus. The economic impacts have “hit everybody hard,” with outcomes ranging from losing jobs to reduced hours to “businesses shutting down for a time and then coming back in some limited fashion.”

“There are a lot of folks out there who need help,” he added.

Under the city’s program, businesses with 30 employees or less may apply for up to $1,500 in assistance for COVID-19 related expenses. The funding can only be used for COVID-19 related bills generated after March 1 and before Oct. 31, 2020. Awards are made on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Businesses wishing to apply should contact the Mayor’s Office to obtain an application. The application must be completed and returned with receipts documenting the specific COVID-19 expenses.

“If they wanted to use to buy PPE, or pay wages to employees they had to hire as part of a change in their operations such as providing to-go services, things like that,” Schuller said.

Schuller said the city needed to keep an on the future with regards to the small business assistance, noting that further big changes were coming to the local economy.

“Keep in mind Eastern is going to be on line this fall, meaning there’s going to be a lot less students and faculty and staff in town so our businesses who weather the storm in the summer months anyways are going to have to weather the storm that much longer,” he said. “Any assistance we can provide them is a great thing.”

In approving the resolution, the council also established a committee composes of Schuller, Finance Director Cindy Niemeier and a council member from the Finance Committee to review the applications.

:It’s a great program so I’m glad we’re doing this,” Mayor Chris Grover said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].