By John Estridge
A group of people is meeting once a month in the Franklin County Commissioners meeting room in order to make sure businesses, organizations and government entities in Franklin County are getting as many grants and low-interest loans as is possible through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meeting on Wednesday, August 26, were EMA Director Amy Lindsey, John Palmer, Franklin County Economic Development president and Franklin County Redevelopment Commission member; Franklin County Community Foundation Executive Director Shelly Lunsford, Franklin County Auditor Karla Bauman and her first deputy Derrike Kolb. The group is called the Economic Recovery Task Force.
Money has been made available from the federal government and administered by the state for COVID-19-related expenses. The federal and state governments want to get money into the hands of counties, cities and towns within the state as quickly as possible.
While noble, this is a double-edged sword.
Bauman and Kolb reported that while the state is expediting funding requests by reimbursing the counties’ requests quickly – a five-to-seven-day turnaround – the rubber stamp may be misleading. State officials have warned, in a couple of years, the State Board of Accounts may visit the local entities and determine some of those costs were not COVID-19 related or did not fit the parameters of the program. That would mean the local governments would have to pay back those monies.
One major problem area was discussed via Zoom with Franklin County Community School Corporation Assistant Superintendent and soon to be superintendent Tammy Chavis. The corporation purchased 100 hot spots for students with little or no internet access. The students are taking the distance learning option. And the cost, for the 100 hot spots, is $3,000 per month. Each hot spot has 25 gigs and the families are burning through that amount at an alarming rate, she said.
Also, just interaction and videos burn the data and hot spots quickly go to the data allowance limit.
When students need to be quarantined, there are no more hot spots to offer them, and there are so many places in Franklin County without internet access.
Those attending the meeting suggested businesses, libraries and fire departments as places to park outside of and get free WiFi.
Lunsford and Palmer volunteered to reach out to internet providers and see if they can get some deals for the school corporation and for the students.
Tim Ripperger, the Brookville town administrator, was also on Zoom, speaking about the town’s efforts at this point.
He said the town is updating computers as some computers don’t have microphones, which are needed for distance meetings. The town is also purchasing laptops in case employees need to work from home again.
Lunsford talked about a Small Business Loan program she and Palmer have been telling local businesses about. She said about 20 businesses, in all, within the county, have taken advantage of the program, with many of the small businesses being in Metamora.
According to Lunsford, there is a similar grant program spearheaded by the Ripley and Franklin County Foundations along with United Way for organizations and not for profits; however, more Ripley County organizations are taking advantage of the program than Franklin County organizations.
Lunsford said that may be because many of the Franklin County organizations and not-for-profits have not been meeting during the pandemic.