The City of Crookston’s Development, Policy & Review Committee met on Wednesday for the initial review of the second round of applications for the CARES Act Small Business Grant program. The city received an additional 22 applications for the second wave of grants.
The committee had $173,343.98 available for the second round of grants. City Finance Director/Interim City Administrator Angel Weasner said she’s anticipating most of that will be recommended to be approved if a few businesses provide some additional information before the committee reconvenes on Friday. “So far, we are anticipating an additional $157,210.45 to be distributed through the CARES grant again,” said Weasner. “We have some businesses that we will be asking additional information to clarify or see what they want to submit. The committee will review that again on Friday morning and make a recommendation for the City Council on Monday, October 12.”
Seven grant applications will be reviewed Friday, including two asking for additional grant funds after receiving funding during the first round of grants. Those seven businesses have made requests totaling more than $120,000. Five of those businesses will be asked to submit more information, according to Weasner. “The committee determined that because we still have some applicants that need to supply additional information, they did not review the second request at this time. At this time, we have $45,433.53 remaining. There are seven that still need to be reviewed.”
The City of Crookston also received a request from a bank to have an IRP loan it issued remain in a secondary position to a refinanced loan with the primary lender. Because the business with the loans is refinancing its primary loan to lower the interest rate by one percent. The initial primary loan will be paid off, moving the city’s gap financing into the primary position if the loans default. The committee approved the request to keep the IRP in the second position to the new refinanced loan.
COUNTY SMALL BUSINESS RESILIENCY GRANTS
On Friday, the committee will also be asked to review grant applications for businesses outside of Crookston. Currently, 11 businesses have applied for the county grant program through the City of Crookston.
Businesses are also submitting applications to the Cities of East Grand Forks and Fosston. Weasner said the committee would recommend the applications that meet the criteria in the county program to the County Board. “We’ve been receiving applications throughout this week and last week from businesses that are outside of the city limits,” said Weasner. “We are working with the county, and the committee will review those and make a recommendation to Polk County so they can present that information at their board meeting here in October.”
There is $125,000 available in grants, capped at $5,000 each, for Polk County businesses located outside the Cities of Crookston, East Grand Forks, and Fosston.
The committee will meet Friday at 11 a.m. to makes its recommendations to the Crookston City Council and Polk County Commissioners.
