County taking CARES Act funding requests
by Patty Cheffey
Giving approval to start the process immediately, the Marion County Commission is now taking applications from those eligible to receiving funding from the CARES Act.
During their meeting Monday, the commissioners approved the revised Marion County CARES Funding Program proposal, which now includes a rolling period for accepting applications instead of an actual deadline.
Applications are available from the county’s website, marioncountymo.com. Some applications may also be coming straight to certain entities from the Hannibal or Palmyra Chambers of Commerce or from the cities.
Funding will still be split into two rounds, the first of which will include $2,175,639 of the total $3,347,138 funds to be distributed. The second round will be conducted this fall.
Public entities and political subdivisions will be given first consideration in the distribution of funds, but small businesses and non-profits (501(c)6 should also go ahead and apply.
Applications will be turned into the office of the county coordinator, Teya Stice.
In addition, small businesses and non-profits will need to meet certain criteria to apply.
Because the commissioners are going to be considering the applications on a rolling period, there is no deadline, but an application may not be considered immediately.
In addition, the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments will be reviewing all applications to make sure they have met all criteria and have included all paperwork, including receipts.
Those which have will then be forwarded to the commissioners to “grade” based on the criteria the county has established.
At this time, commissioners plan to review applications and distribute funds weekly, provided they can be reviewed and returned from the MTRCG in a timely manner.
In other business, Stice reviewed soft match with the commissioners.
The county will be receiving $786,000 in soft match from the Taylor bridge, she said, with $400,000 of that needing to be traded for the bridge on County Road 402.
The remaining $386,000 will be traded to help pay for the new bridge on County Road 230, which was damaged in recent flooding.
While she believes she can get one to one trade, meaning she can trade the $400,000 soft match for $400,000 in hard match, Stice said she will check to see if she can find a higher trade option.
Stice also presented a change order for the Taylor bridge project, which will actually mean $25,462.80 in credit to the county.
While an additional $6,500 was needed for fill, other items were more than what was actually used.
Stice also presented the county with a list of bridges that have been replaced since 1995.
