By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The City Council of Olive Hill met for their regularly scheduled meeting last Tuesday, June 18, to discuss the business of the city. Items on the agenda included an update on the progress of the new water plant, blacktop bids, employee benefits, and the renewal of an existing loan with Commercial Bank. Council also heard reports from various city departments as well as the treasurer’s report and opening the floor to discussion from the public.
A motion was made to accept the meeting minutes from the May meeting and approved unanimously by the council members present, with the exception of one council member who abstained from the vote.
The report on the new water plant stated that another automated test on the backwash would be necessary, but that the intent was still to see parts of it operational by sometime in July; with tentative dates to see the plant fully operational set for either late August or early September.
In the open discussion portion of the meeting Jim Accurso, a Public Affairs Specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience, addressed the council. Accurso said that the SBA was in Eastern Kentucky following the April 2, 2024, storms and that Carter County was one of the declared counties for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). This means that residents and businesses impacted by those floods were eligible for aid. That aid takes the form of low interest long term loans for property damage. Renters are also eligible for aid to cover the contents of an affected home while businesses can also get economic injury disaster loans, Accurso told the council.
“These are long term, low interest loans, and you are under no obligation to accept them if you are approved,” Accurso said. “And there is no fee to apply.”
“FEMA just opened a disaster recovery center where we (the SBA) have staff as well in Grayson at the credit union (Member’s Choice) on US 60. We have folks there seven days a week now and would encourage anyone that had any kind of loss related to the storms to come in and talk to us and see if we can help you,” Accurso added.
The deadline to apply is July 22, 2024, for physical damage, and the economic injury loan deadline is February 24, 2025.
“We are here to help anyone in Eastern Kentucky who has had any kind of setback,” Accurso continued. “Like with economic injury, if they couldn’t get in or out of the county or their customers couldn’t get in or out of the county, but they had to stay operational and they need a working capital loan, those are up to two million dollars. And renters can get up to one hundred thousand and homeowners can get up to five hundred thousand.”
“So, we encourage individuals to come in and see us. We also have mitigation assistance on top of the loans. Anyone that puts in place a measure to prevent future disaster, you can get up to twenty percent of the damage in additional funds,” he explained to council.
Accurso also reminded the council that any time the funds given aren’t sufficient, the individual or business is allowed to apply for more. And the funds from SBA are in addition to any insurance coverage that might be in place.
In other action, after reviewing potential city employee benefit packages, the council voted to keep the current package in spite of an increased cost to the city. During discussion it was determined that any other available package would result in a significant increase, but that the current package better supported the city employees. The council also voted to renew the current loan through Commercial Bank at the same rate of interest and with no change to terms.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
