Bardstown City Council approves $10k grant to help recycling center reopen

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 — Bardstown residents who have piles of cans, plastics and paper set aside for recycling won’t have much longer to wait to unload those recyclables.

The Bardstown City Council approved providing $10,000 from its CARES Act funding to pay the salaries for employees to re-open the recycling operating at the Guthrie Opportunity Center.

The recycling operating has been closed because its workforce, which consists of specials needs adults supplied by agreement by Communicare, was particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and all such workshops and centers that employ these adults were closed during the pandemic — and remain closed for the forseeable future.

Mayor Dick Heaton said that local residents have been calling to ask about when the city can haul off the recyclables residents are stockpiling. With no answer in site, Heaton said that a possible answer is to operate the recycling center with paid employees until its regular workforce is able to return to work.

Heaton said the federal CARES Act funding the city is eligible to receive — more than $900,000 — can be used to create a grant that can be used to pay for employees to reopen the recycling center.

The council unanimously approved a $10,000 grant that will be used to cover the costs of 3 to 4 employees for approximately nine weeks. Communicare representatives said they expect more guidance from the Governor’s office by then on allowing the usual recycling center employees to return to work.

COVID-19 RELIEF PHASE II. The council approved designating $150,000 of its federal CARES Act funding for a second phase of COVID-19 relief grants for local businesses.

The city and county are discussing each contributing $150,000 of their CARES Act funds to create a $300,000 COVID-19 relief fund that will be aimed at businesses countywide that have been impacted by the pandemic.

Mayor Dick Heaton said the state’s Department of Local Government had advised the city such a plan would be in line with the rules governing the CARES Act funds. In the city, businesses that did not receive funding or did not apply for a grant would be given a preference in the second round.

Heaton said 95 businesses in the city were helped with the first round of COVID-19 relief grants.

Businesses would have to show how they were impacted by the pandemic, with grants of up to $2,000 available to eligible businesses.

The council voted to allocate the CARES Act funding and to join with Nelson Fiscal Court in creating the relief fund.

The council’s motion also allows the city to move forward on its own should county government fail to approve the joint COVID-19 relief plan.

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