The Marshall County Commissioners conducted two public hearings Monday morning for two different COVID-19 Response grant fund rounds.
Ginny Munroe from The Troyer Group explained that a public hearing was held last fall for a grant application for $250,000 for a micro-loan program through the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation to assist small businesses with COVID-19 relief. She said when public hearings were conducted in the fall, proper publication was not performed. She explained that the Office of Community and Rural Affairs requires certain language in public hearing advertisements and it was learned that the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation did not follow that procedure.
As a result, the commissioners held a public hearing, with the proper legal notices, for the second phase of COVID-19 Response grant funds Monday to correct any issues.
No public comments were given during the hearing. The funds will be released once OCRA reviews the amended paperwork.
A procurement process will also need to be done.
Munroe said the small business applications for the second phase were previously approved. There were several applications that were not fulfilled and there were some where the entire requested grant amount could not be awarded.
That’s where the third COVID-19 Response Grant round application comes into play.
Munroe commented during the second public hearing that the third phase of grant funding could cover those mirco-loan grant requests, totaling roughly $58,000, and officials from the United Way of Marshall County would like to use $192,000 to distribute money to food banks. United Way would be a sub-recipient of this grant and they would offer $50,000 in match dollars which would go directly to food banks and any administration fees.
There were no other public comments during the second public hearing.
The commissioners passed motions that would allow Commission President Kevin Overmyer to sign several documents to be sent to the Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
The application for the third phase is due is March 11.
Munroe will be before the Marshall County Commissioners on March 1 and the Marshall County Council on March 8 for their consideration on phase three paperwork.
