Minster Village Council authorizes additional CARES grants

On Oct. 26, the Minster village council authorized round two of the villages COVID-19 business relief grant program that uses Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to assist local businesses effected by the pandemic.

At their Nov. 3 bi-monthly meeting, they approved the next round of funds to be distributed.

The village has received a total of $231,780.50 dollars in CARES Act funding with $86,850 distributed in the initial round and another $144,930.50 approved at the Nov. 3 meeting.

With 14 applicants for the second round of the CARES Act funding, five were companies that hadn’t applied for the initial grant.

The same criteria used for the first round of funding was applied, looking at the impact the pandemic had on the business and how much impact the business had on the community.

Different tiers were applied this time around for the amount given to local businesses. Tier one was for a $3,000 grant, tier two was for $2,000 and tier three was for $1,000. Village administrator Don Herrod reported that distributing the second round of the grant money used about $26,000 of the funds and added that the money would have to be spent by Nov. 20.

The ordinance was passed unanimously with the exception of board member Curt Albers who was not present at the meeting.

Harrod also wanted to open up discussion with the village council about what to do with the remaining funds.

With the first round of funding already being distributed and the Personal Protective Equipment costs for village offices taken out as well, Herrod reported that $56,816.50 had been spent with $174,971 remaining.

With purchase orders in for no

touch faucets and urinals for the village administration building, air conditioning and circulation units for various village offices and the second round of CARES Act funding approved earlier in the meeting, that accounted for another $94,978.65 which left the village with around $80,000.

Harrod added that with some village employees having to quarantine because of COVID19, some of that money could be used to pay sick/ medical leave with the CARES Act funding.

He added that he would like to encumber $55,000 of the remaining funds in case more employees of the village were to have to quarantine.

If that money isn’t earmarked for purchases by Nov. 20, it has to be returned to the county and Herrod wanted to make sure the village took advantage of the funds available.

At the end of the year, on Dec. 30, any funds not used are to be returned to the federal government

With $24,0792.90 left after reserving funds for possible sick pay, Herrod added that he and the staff had wracked their brains on how to use it best.

One of their ideas included sub-granting the money out to the school district, with Herrod reporting that he had had conversations with Minster Schools Superintendent Brenda Boeke and that the school had plenty of use for the funds to address COVID19 related issues within the district.

The council also discussed other possible uses for those funds, like the police or fire department, if the funds could be used for COVID related issues. But in the end they decided to give the funds to the schools, with Harrod adding he would follow up with the council over the next couple days to see if any other purchase ideas had crossed their mind.

Recent police department purchases of new tasers were allocated for the CARES Act funds at the end of that discussion, with the justification for the purchase being that tasers for each officer were more sanitary than sharing the equipment. “We are very grateful for the village for thinking about us in terms of providing us with additional CARES money,” said Minster Schools Superintendent Brenda Boeke. “We have spent our CARES money we were allotted from the state and we will use the money the village gives us to cover the cost of substitutes for our regular personal who are currently out because of COVID related issues.”

“This includes quarantining of teachers and other related issues pertaining to COVID,” added Boeke. “We also will use the money to pay for the two additional bus drivers we had to hire for our take home bus routes because we re-instated the in town bus routes.”

Harrod also told the Community Post on Nov. 5 that they were looking into computers in each cruiser so officers wouldn’t have to share those as well.

At the end of the meeting, council member Rick Schwarz asked Village solicitor Jim Hearn for an update on the legal proceedings pertaining to the solar field.

On Aug. 27, the village received notice that it been named in a lawsuit by Empower Solar, an energy company from Alabama.

Empower Solar was originally chosen by the village to complete the solar field additions in the village but the council had voted to terminate the agreement on Apr. 7 because Empower Solar had failed to meet a Dec. 31, 2019 deadline to provide financial documentation.

“We believe they didn’t even have financing lined up,” said Harrod. “That’s why we terminated it. They’re saying they did have financing lined up even though they didn’t provide the documentation we thought was necessary.”

Empower Solar is suing for $10 million, debating the claim that they hadn’t met the requirements and that the village was in material breach if they canceled the contract.

The original solar field installed six years ago, provides 4.2 megawatts with the second phase to add another 4.8 megawatts.

The solar field saves the village roughly $250,000 in transmission costs and the added benefit comes at peak times like the summer when many homes are using power for air conditionings. “We have to go out on the market to buy power to make sure we have it all covered,” said Harrod. “But because we have the solar field that produces the most when its sunny and shining out, that saves us from having to go out on that market and buy power so it saves us money that way as well.”

At the Nov. 3 meeting, Hearn told the council that both sides had presented their exhibits and initial findings. The proposed schedule for litigation would run the discovery process through sometime next June according to Hearn.