Bardstown City Council OKs funding to give local small businesses post-pandemic relief

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, April 14, 2020 — The Bardstown City Council tooks steps at its videoconferenced meeting Tuesday night to set aside funds to help local businesses and non-profit organizations recover from the affects of the COVID-19 virus impacts on their operations.

And the council took the first steps Tuesday to reallocate money in the city’s current fiscal year budget to help businesses as they reopen in post-pandemic Bardstown.

HELP FOR NON-PROFITS. The city will make an immediate donation of $20,000 to Tri-County United Way for grants to local non-profit organizations adversely affected by the pandemic.

Mayor Dick Heaton said that the local business leaders have volunteered to contribute private funding to the recovery efforts, and the private sector has already agreed to add $15,000 to the city’s initial $20,000 donation.

Tri-County United Way will provide grants of up to $2,000 in assistance to qualifying non-profits, which can include local school resource centers and other organizations that provide assistance to the public.

POST-PANDEMIC SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF. With the help of Aaron Boles, the city’s chief financial officer, the city will set aside $65,000 from its budget to fund up to $2,000 in grants for businesses in the city limits to help their financial recovery from the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

Heaton said that the private sector has committed to contribute $15,000 to this fund as well, which will create an $85,000 fund from which to the city will provide grants to local businesses.

“The whole purpose of this effort is to provide some assistance to those businesses that have been forced to close and greatly impacted,” Heaton explained. A lot of businesses — like restaurants — had to scale back their operations, and many others were forced to close.

Kim Huston, the president of Nelson Economic Development Agency, explained that the grant process will include a three-member committee which will evaluate the grant applications.

Heaton said the city will accept additional donations to its business relief fund, and those contributions will be tax-deductible.

“I would love to see the fund grow to $100,000,” he said. “If the need is there we hope to have the funding available to help these businesses.”

Huston said its possible that some local businesses will not be able to re-open once the pandemic’s restrictions are lifted.

“Bardstown is going to change and our businesses are going to change,” she told the council. “And we want to be there to help them.”

Heaton said an second phase of the recovery plan is still taking shape, but said it will come together as things move forward.

“We’ll try to provide grants to as many businesses that quality.”

The idea of a post-COVID-19 business recovery program had its roots in a discussion Heaton had with Councilwoman Betty Hart and Councilman Frankie Hibbs about a program they wished to launch called Bardstown Blessings, he explained. That discussion launched an effort to research how other Kentucky cities are taken steps to assist their businesses.

BARDSTOWN BLESSINGS. Hibbs and Hart have been working on Bardstown Blessings since earlier this year, and both agreed now is the time to push the idea to fruition.

The idea behind Bardstown Blessings is to collect non-perishable good to help the less fortunate in our community. The effort seemed timely given the hardships many are facing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on people’s jobs and incomes.

The program hopes to have five collection boxes built and placed in the community where residents can drop off donations like non-perishable foods, diapers or other goods.

Initially, the collection boxes were slated to built by the Area Technical Center, but the pandemic thwarted that effort. Fortunately, former Councilman Fred Hagan stepped up and volunteered to build the five collection boxes, Hart told the council.

Buzick Lumber has donated up to $1,000 for materials to build the collection boxes; Armag Corp. has volunteered the materials for the bases for the boxes.

The plan is to place five of the Bardstown Blessings collection boxes at locations in the city. The locations under consideration include the Community Park at the end of Allison Avenue; the city’s COBEC building at First and Muir; the American Legion Post 121 hall on West Broadway; Woodson Park on South Fourth Street; the the Farmer’s Market pavillion; the corner of Allison and East Forrest Avenue on the former sewing factory property.

A sixth Bardstown Blessings box will be placed at the Fine Arts Building on the Court Square with the intention to collection donations of art supplies.

FUNDING THE RELIEF. The council approved the first reading of a budget amendment ordinance Tuesday night that reallocates funds from a variety of line-item budgets to create the Small Business Relief fund.

In order to fast track the ordinance’s approval, the council will hold a special meeting at noon on Wednesday to give final approval of the budget amendment.

SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF DETAILS. For the purpose of the grant, a “small business” is defined as a business categorized as “non-essential” and required to close or reduce operations by Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive orders; was open before Jan. 1, 2020; had revenue of $1 million or less; or employed fewer than 50 employees.

The relief funds are only available to small businesses inside the corporate city limits of Bardstown.

Franchise businesses do not qualify for the COVID-19 grants.

Eligible businesses include:

• Retail (general or specialty)
• Barber / beauty salons
• service businesses
• restaurants
• childcare/daycare centers
• other small businesses closed by executive order.

Businesses not eligible for the grants include:

• Home occupations
• Real estate agents and companies
• Attorneys
• Finance and accounting firms
• Food trucks
• Not-for-profit organizations
• Landlords and rental property owners.

DEADLINES. Applications will be available on the City of Bardstown website, and will be accepted from April 20, 2020 through May 4, 2020. Funds will be awarded starting May 29, 2020.

All businesses affected by the pandemic are encouraged to apply.

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