OCRA Funding Could Help Local Businesses With Employee Retention
April 15, 2020 at 12:56 a.m.
OCRA Funding Could Help Local Businesses With Employee Retention
By David [email protected]
That included Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. CEO Alan Tio’s request for the county to apply for Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) loan funds and a new policy on what the county will do if an employee in the courthouse gets the coronavirus.
Tio explained, “The Office of Community and Rural Affairs put out a call for communities that would like to apply for OCRA funding to be used for loans to local businesses to support job retention. And this is unique in that they’re making dollars they would typically have available for much larger projects ... but they’re making these dollars available for us to help with rapid response and encourage companies in the area to retain employees.”
The maximum that can be applied for is $250,000, and Tio recommended the county go for the maximum because of the industries in the county.
The loans need to be made at 0% interest and can be somewhat forgiveable on a case-by-case basis. Tio said they’d have to work with OCRA to figure out whether to make the funds forgiveable.
“And, yes, it’s for job retention specifically, and it’s supposed to be geared more toward low- to moderate-income individuals. You’re talking people that are perhaps up to 80% of our county average income,” Tio said.
KEDCo already has a revolving loan fund program in place, with Lake City Bank processing the loans for KEDCo, he said.
Tio asked the county to apply for the funding, with KEDCo serving as the subrecipient of the dollars to loan them out.
“These are dollars with no requirement of a local match. We already have a program in place, and we would serve, again, as the end-user subrecipient of the program,” he said.
Commissioner Bob Conley said there are some federal loans being made to businesses that don’t have to be repaid. He asked if the OCRA loan funds were part of that. Commissioner Brad Jackson said they were separate things, and Tio agreed.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked Tio what he thought the chances were of getting the funding.
“Well, I don’t know. We’ve had some good success in the past. Myself, my team, work with OCRA. ... I think OCRA will see the kind of options we have in a rural county with a pretty good industry base here to make an impact,” Tio said.
He said since KEDCo has worked with OCRA in the past, and KEDCo already has a revolving loan fund program in place, “I feel great about the application, about our odds of being successful.”
Groninger made a motion to approve Tio’s request, which was unanimously approved.
Jackson then announced the commissioners needed to put a procedure in place “if we get somebody that works in the courthouse that tests positive for COVID.”
He said County Administrator Marsha McSherry has reached out to a professional cleaning company. If somebody does test positive, one thing the county will do will have that company come in and clean that office space so it’s “safe to return to work.”
Conley said he thought the procedure was “comprehensive,” and thanked McSherry for formulating the procedure with the Kosciusko County Health Department. Conley made the motion to approve the procedure to follow if a county employee tests positive for COVID-19, and his motion was unanimously approved.
Jackson then reminded everyone that if Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb doesn’t extend his stay-at-home order past April 20, the county will be open that week to county employees only and closed to the public. The following week, the county offices will then be open to the public. If Holcomb does extend his order another two weeks, “then we just basically push it back two more weeks.”
Groninger said right now, the county is open to the public, but by appointment only. If anyone from the public needs something, he said they can still call the offices.
“We’re still trying to take care of business as much as we can,” he said.
County Auditor Michelle Puckett presented the commissioners with policy updates regarding county employee vacation extensions and “leave bank” availability.
“In the last two weeks, in reference to the previous policy that was emailed to all the departments on the order that they could use their available leave banks, that created quite a few issues when we are processing payroll and trying to police that everybody use them in a certain order. And each individual employee has different circumstances: Some people have sick bank that they wanted to use or other comp time to use,” she said.
Given that, Puckett said county attorney Chad Miner wrote up a resolution specifically for that, which says that “if somebody who is staying safe at home currently and getting paid two-thirds of their pay, if they wish to supplement the one-third, they can use whatever leave banks that they’ve earned. So if they’ve earned vacation, if they’ve earned comp, if they’ve earned sick bank, it kind of takes regulations off of what we currently have and this empowers the employees to use their time that they’ve earned in the order that they choose to, so that we don’t have to try to police that when processing payroll.”
The second question that arose addressed by a policy Puckett presented was, “if an employee has a vacation that is set to expire, and they can not use it because we are in the middle of the COVID-19,” could the vacation deadline be extended to Dec. 31?
Puckett said the leave bank availability would just be during the stay-at-home order, while the vacation extension would be through Dec. 31. The commissioners approved both policies she presented.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• A request by Maggie Brauer, Community Corrections, to apply for a $500,000 Adult Drug Court & Veterans Treatment Court Discretionary Grant. The grant would be over three years and the county would have to provide a 25% cash or in-kind match. The grant is through the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance. While Drug Court participants are responsible to pay for many services through the program, many are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic and the grant would help alleviate the stress on them, she said.
• Superior Court I Judge David Cates’ request to tweak the 2019-20 Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative grant, which ends at the end of June.
“The expenditures need to be modified a little bit, given the current circumstances,” Cates said. “This is a use-it-or-lose-it grant.”
He reminded the commissioners that he previously told them that from 2017 to 2019, the county saved about $55,000 per year by reducing the detention expenses. “So I think the (JDAI) program is working,” Cates said.
He said there’s no dollar amount change within the grant, the dollars were just moving around.
• Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Shane Bucher’s request to purchase a new patrol pickup truck for the patrol division. He said he reached out to numerous dealerships, who advised him that because of the coronavirus pandemic, all the plants are closed down. It is uncertain when production on pickup trucks will start back. The KCSO found a brand new 2019 Dodge Ram at the John Jones car lot for $30,145.
• The proposal presented by McSherry for a booster for the phone system in the Justice Building basement. The cost from Cottage Watchmen Security Systems is for $7,749.
The next commissioners meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 28.
That included Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. CEO Alan Tio’s request for the county to apply for Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) loan funds and a new policy on what the county will do if an employee in the courthouse gets the coronavirus.
Tio explained, “The Office of Community and Rural Affairs put out a call for communities that would like to apply for OCRA funding to be used for loans to local businesses to support job retention. And this is unique in that they’re making dollars they would typically have available for much larger projects ... but they’re making these dollars available for us to help with rapid response and encourage companies in the area to retain employees.”
The maximum that can be applied for is $250,000, and Tio recommended the county go for the maximum because of the industries in the county.
The loans need to be made at 0% interest and can be somewhat forgiveable on a case-by-case basis. Tio said they’d have to work with OCRA to figure out whether to make the funds forgiveable.
“And, yes, it’s for job retention specifically, and it’s supposed to be geared more toward low- to moderate-income individuals. You’re talking people that are perhaps up to 80% of our county average income,” Tio said.
KEDCo already has a revolving loan fund program in place, with Lake City Bank processing the loans for KEDCo, he said.
Tio asked the county to apply for the funding, with KEDCo serving as the subrecipient of the dollars to loan them out.
“These are dollars with no requirement of a local match. We already have a program in place, and we would serve, again, as the end-user subrecipient of the program,” he said.
Commissioner Bob Conley said there are some federal loans being made to businesses that don’t have to be repaid. He asked if the OCRA loan funds were part of that. Commissioner Brad Jackson said they were separate things, and Tio agreed.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked Tio what he thought the chances were of getting the funding.
“Well, I don’t know. We’ve had some good success in the past. Myself, my team, work with OCRA. ... I think OCRA will see the kind of options we have in a rural county with a pretty good industry base here to make an impact,” Tio said.
He said since KEDCo has worked with OCRA in the past, and KEDCo already has a revolving loan fund program in place, “I feel great about the application, about our odds of being successful.”
Groninger made a motion to approve Tio’s request, which was unanimously approved.
Jackson then announced the commissioners needed to put a procedure in place “if we get somebody that works in the courthouse that tests positive for COVID.”
He said County Administrator Marsha McSherry has reached out to a professional cleaning company. If somebody does test positive, one thing the county will do will have that company come in and clean that office space so it’s “safe to return to work.”
Conley said he thought the procedure was “comprehensive,” and thanked McSherry for formulating the procedure with the Kosciusko County Health Department. Conley made the motion to approve the procedure to follow if a county employee tests positive for COVID-19, and his motion was unanimously approved.
Jackson then reminded everyone that if Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb doesn’t extend his stay-at-home order past April 20, the county will be open that week to county employees only and closed to the public. The following week, the county offices will then be open to the public. If Holcomb does extend his order another two weeks, “then we just basically push it back two more weeks.”
Groninger said right now, the county is open to the public, but by appointment only. If anyone from the public needs something, he said they can still call the offices.
“We’re still trying to take care of business as much as we can,” he said.
County Auditor Michelle Puckett presented the commissioners with policy updates regarding county employee vacation extensions and “leave bank” availability.
“In the last two weeks, in reference to the previous policy that was emailed to all the departments on the order that they could use their available leave banks, that created quite a few issues when we are processing payroll and trying to police that everybody use them in a certain order. And each individual employee has different circumstances: Some people have sick bank that they wanted to use or other comp time to use,” she said.
Given that, Puckett said county attorney Chad Miner wrote up a resolution specifically for that, which says that “if somebody who is staying safe at home currently and getting paid two-thirds of their pay, if they wish to supplement the one-third, they can use whatever leave banks that they’ve earned. So if they’ve earned vacation, if they’ve earned comp, if they’ve earned sick bank, it kind of takes regulations off of what we currently have and this empowers the employees to use their time that they’ve earned in the order that they choose to, so that we don’t have to try to police that when processing payroll.”
The second question that arose addressed by a policy Puckett presented was, “if an employee has a vacation that is set to expire, and they can not use it because we are in the middle of the COVID-19,” could the vacation deadline be extended to Dec. 31?
Puckett said the leave bank availability would just be during the stay-at-home order, while the vacation extension would be through Dec. 31. The commissioners approved both policies she presented.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• A request by Maggie Brauer, Community Corrections, to apply for a $500,000 Adult Drug Court & Veterans Treatment Court Discretionary Grant. The grant would be over three years and the county would have to provide a 25% cash or in-kind match. The grant is through the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance. While Drug Court participants are responsible to pay for many services through the program, many are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic and the grant would help alleviate the stress on them, she said.
• Superior Court I Judge David Cates’ request to tweak the 2019-20 Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative grant, which ends at the end of June.
“The expenditures need to be modified a little bit, given the current circumstances,” Cates said. “This is a use-it-or-lose-it grant.”
He reminded the commissioners that he previously told them that from 2017 to 2019, the county saved about $55,000 per year by reducing the detention expenses. “So I think the (JDAI) program is working,” Cates said.
He said there’s no dollar amount change within the grant, the dollars were just moving around.
• Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Shane Bucher’s request to purchase a new patrol pickup truck for the patrol division. He said he reached out to numerous dealerships, who advised him that because of the coronavirus pandemic, all the plants are closed down. It is uncertain when production on pickup trucks will start back. The KCSO found a brand new 2019 Dodge Ram at the John Jones car lot for $30,145.
• The proposal presented by McSherry for a booster for the phone system in the Justice Building basement. The cost from Cottage Watchmen Security Systems is for $7,749.
The next commissioners meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 28.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092