Update on Cares Relief Funding: 8-10-20
Last Friday, the City of Carlsbad submitted its application for CARES Act Relief Funds to the State of New Mexico.
There’s been a lot of confusion about how businesses will apply and when they will apply, so we wanted to explain a little more of the process at this time. This is a federal relief program which provided funds to states for distribution to communities. There are two parts to this program – one program involves governments being reimbursed for COVID-19 expenses (such as additional first responder costs or PPE). Additionally, local governments also have to apply in order for their area’s business to be able to then apply for New Mexico Small Business Continuity Grants.
We were not thrilled with several aspects of the way the state legislature developed this application process, but we are also committed to doing everything we can to help our local small businesses – who have been bearing the economic brunt of this shutdown. Of course, we continue to maintain that the best way to allow businesses to recover is to allow them to re-open with safety measures in place.
We turned in our application on Aug. 7 and expect to have more information on the amount of grants received by Aug. 21. Our application to the state included our plan for providing Small Business Grants to local businesses, and we plan to partner with the Carlsbad Department of Development.
An application process for our local businesses is in development. At this point, however, we don’t know what level of funds will be allocated to the Carlsbad area. Our local small businesses will have a significant amount of time after Aug. 21 to complete the application process.
Eddy County has also applied for this program, and we will let you know more as soon as we have additional information.
On a positive note, Eddy County is now listed by the New Mexico Department of Health as a location where long-term care facilities who have not recently had a positive COVID-19 within the facility are eligible to begin scheduling monthly outdoor visits under new guidelines. Please check with your corresponding long-term facility to make sure they are now eligible. The state’s updated list of eligible counties is available here: https://cv.nmhealth.org/long-term-care-visitation-guidelines/
Eddy County had 8 positive cases announced on Sunday and 9 on Saturday for a total number of cases at 301. Artesia General Hospital reports 88 full recoveries. We are currently aware of one local resident being hospitalized within Eddy County for COVID-19 related symptoms and one who is still hospitalized out of the county. Please keep these individuals in your prayers.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway