The Lewis County Courthouse
In the coming weeks, Lewis County officials will look toward obtaining more money by way of grants designed to assist with the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the county’s weekly Economic Recovery Forum on Wednesday, Washington state Department of Commerce Community Outreach Program Manager Stephen Dunk and Small Communities Initiative Program Project Manager Jon Galow addressed the Lewis County Board of Commissioners concerning the Commerce’s Community Development Block Grant, which will distribute about $7 million in funding received from the CARES Act to eligible cities, towns and counties.
According to Galow, the funds need to be used for what he referred to as CDBG public services, which includes utility, rent and mortgage payments, small business programs and the emergency response for public health.
“That total $7 million will go to about 200 jurisdictions,” Galow said. “We are going to combine the funds in each county, in Lewis County’s case, it’ll be Lewis County and all the cities and towns in Lewis County will start together … I can tell you the estimated amount is about $385,000”
He said from there, the funds would be divided to the various cities by the county either on its own, or with the help of a program like the Economic Development Council to distribute the funding.
For cities or towns that don’t want to apply for the grant under the umbrella of the county, an individual application can be submitted to the Department of Commerce directly, according to Galow. Due to the amount of the funding, though, he suggested the cities and towns all apply with the county.
“Some of the allotments are fairly small,” Galow said. “For example, the allotment for Vader is expected to be about $4,600. It’s not very much money for them to go down on their own, submit and application and be administered those funds.”
The application for the funds should be available at some point in the next couple of weeks, with a targeted, soft deadline at the end of August, according to Galow.
He said the time horizon for the funds is currently set through 2022, however, Commerce’s expectation is the money be spent as soon as possible.
“We will be processing applications as soon as they come in and people are ready,” Galow said.
Galow said he was “fairly certain” the funds from the CDBG are retroactive to expenatures dating back to March.
Lewis County Budget Manager Becky Butler asked about whether or not an application for the upcoming round of CDBG funding would keep Lewis County in line for any potential funding in the future. Galow confirmed that an application for this round wouldn’t have a positive effect on the county in the next round.
Although there were still questions as to how the second round of CDBG funds would be distributed, Butler and Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund confirmed the pool of money was $23 million.
In terms of the impact the funds would have on the county’s continued response to COVID-19, Fund believes the time between now and the application due date will provide more time to assess where the county can maximize the CDBG money.
“If there’s some things that we can’t cover through those other CARES grants, this grant can step in, in several different ways,” Fund said. “For us to say where it’s going to go at this point would be premature, but it’s going to help us fill in the gaps.”
