Pulaski County is moving ahead with efforts to get COVID-19 relief for small businesses. The county commissioners Monday agreed to let the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission proceed with an application for $250,000 from the state’s COVID-19 Response Program.
KIRPC Community Development Planner Emily Albaugh said the county would use that money to provide grants of up to $10,000 to local businesses. “We have to submit to the state draft materials of the program,” she told the commissioners. “We have to submit who our selection committee will be, how you’re going to determine a business is eligible.”
Albaugh said that many places offering similar programs have limited them to businesses with 20 or fewer employees, but Pulaski County hasn’t decided on a specific number yet.
Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer added that the program wouldn’t be limited to certain types of businesses, and small factories could likely apply, along with stores and restaurants. He said he’d already had 10 to 15 businesses express interest. No comments were offered during Monday’s public hearing on the county’s grant application.
More than $6,000 of the money the county is asking for would be set aside for grant administration costs, leaving almost $244,000 to distribute to businesses. The county’s grant application is due to the state by next Friday.
