VIENNA — Requests for funds from the over $1 million Maries County received for Covid-19 coronavirus reimbursements from the federal CARES Act money are expected to begin coming in.

The Maries R-1 School District recently requested and received $24,980.14 for salaries and benefits, the first request received and paid. Last week the Phelps-Maries Health Department requested and received $3,799.33 for salaries and supplies.

County Treasurer Rhonda Slone explained requests are sent to MRPC, which approves and processes the applications. Then Maries County receives a copy of the application and approval from MRPC. The county commission signs for the check to be written and Clerk’s Deputy Renee Kottwitz writes the checks.

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said the request for reimbursement for virus expenses from the health department represents Maries County’s 16 percent share of expenses. Phelps County carries the brunt of the health department expenses at 84 percent. The health department asked for $19,118.51 in salaries and supplies from the Phelps County CARES Act revenue. Larger counties received more money. Phelps Health asked for $1,752,012 for labor and equipment from Phelps County’s portion of the federal money.

In Osage County, CARES Act reimbursement requests included $32,122.65 from the Osage County R-2 School District for cleaning and prevention measures, and $61,202.08 from the Osage Ambulance District for telemedicine capabilities, acquisition of PPE, medical supplies, and disinfection of public areas. Linn State Technical College of Missouri requested $27,063.78 for cleaning and prevention measures. Osage County R-1 School District requested $6,017.37 for food service, transportation and instructional department.

Business Grants

Discussion continued about how to best help businesses that were forced to close and suffered losses during the coronavirus shutdown in Missouri. Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said he can see businesses such as doctors, dentists, convenience stores, hairdressers, nail places, restaurants, tattoo parlor, fitness gym, nursing homes, hotel/motel, daycares, bars, and more that might request virus reimbursements from the CARES Act money. They talked about including non-profits but it seemed like “a can of worms” and Stratman noted, “nobody is making a living on that.”

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he thinks its best to keep it as simple as they can. He worries there will be another shut down as the positive virus cases increase in the state and more entities and businesses will have financial losses.

Stratman had an application from Polk County, Florida. From its CARES Act fund, that county gave grants of $2,000 to self-employed businesses, $5,000 to businesses with two to nine employees, and $10,000 to businesses with 10 to 25 employees. All of the requests required documentation. Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said they would have to have some paperwork to receive money. Stratman said they can compare the time they could not be open to receipts they had for the same time the previous year.

The business has to have a location in Maries County. Drewel said he thinks restaurants lost the most money. Stratman said the haircut places had a lot of losses, too. If there is another shutdown, there will be funds available as long as the county still has some of this federal money left. Stratman suggested a $5,000 ceiling and require documentation of proof of loss with a Sept. 1 cut off date for applying. They hope to roll out the business grant application process by July 1.

The business owners will have to sign saying they will pay the money back if the auditor disallows the payment. There has been a lot of government money given away and if they received paycheck protection money or other payments from programs, it may be considered double-dipping, which is not allowed. Fagre said a lot of this has to be trust. Drewel said with MRPC looking over each application, they should use their guidance. Slone said it will be a year before the audit and maybe the county should apply for reimbursement for the audit. About businesses paying it back, Drewel said if they don’t have money, and even though they are given money, they probably won’t be able to pay it back. They decided to do as Stratman suggested and cap each application at $5,000. They will look at it again later in the week.

Kottwitz asked if she should set aside an hour a day to work on CARES Act reimbursement work. “It’s not like we’re not busy in here.” She said she did not want to be paid for the work. Rodgers said its something they will have to do.

They planned to teleconference a meeting in Rolla with the MAC attorney and the auditor about how to handle business requests and the CARES Act money.

Six Pages

At Thursday’s meeting, Stratman had a sample of the business reimbursement application. It was six pages long and he said it might scare people because on every page it says in a couple of places the money would have to be paid back if their application contained falsehoods. From the meeting with the MAC attorney and a federal attorney, they came away with different answers to the same question. One said the money can be used to pay business losses and the other attorney said no. Stratman said he hopes MRPC’s Bonnie Prigge can mesh the two together and get a useable application and that she is able to clarify the questions they continue to have. He said he doesn’t want to do any more with the CARES Act money until the county hears from MRPC. They are grateful for MRPC’s assistance in this.

Three Rivers

There were five propane providers that bid on the county’s request for pricing for 6,000 gallons of propane for the courthouse. The bidders included Three Rivers Propane $0.88; Lock’s Mill $0.92; MFA Oil $0.98; Dickneite Oil $0.94.9; and All State Capitol Energy $0.91.9.

The commissioners accepted the Three Rivers bid. Last year MFA had the bid and the county paid $0.98 per gallon. The county used the 6,000 gallons and more. Stratman said he told Three Rivers the county commission expects them to monitor the tank levels and not let the county run out. The custodian also will be asked to monitor the tanks.

Election  Reimbursement

Rodgers reported receiving a total of $15,317.14 from the Secretary of State for reimbursement for the Presidential Preference Primary Election.

Also, her office sent bills to the entities that had issues put before voters on the June 2 Election ballot. Total costs for the election in the county was $21,244.97, which is about the usual amount, she said. There were 4,715 potential voters with issues on the various ballots that covered seven entities. Some such as Argyle only had two potential voters and Iberia Fire with 51 potential voters. The Maries R-1 School District bore the brunt of the costs with its district-wide bond issue. The school’s portion of the June 2 election is $12,377.50.

Settle Accounts

Stratman spoke to an attorney for AT&T who offered to settle all outstanding accounts with the county for payment from Maries County of $941.70. Stratman said this would have to be put in writing. He has been dealing with AT&T for 17 months trying to work out the overcharges by the company.