Clovis approves CARES Act agreements

CLOVIS — The Clovis city commission congratulated Ernie Kos Thursday on her 25th anniversary as director of the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce.

Kos said there was no better way to celebrate than by helping out pandemic-affected businesses with CARES Act continuity grants.

The commission agreed, and approved a pair of agreements for local entities to help distribute more than $4 million over the next few months.

In unanimous votes, commissioners approved up to $60,000 to the chamber for awarding $4.2 million in small business grants and $3,750 to the Eastern Plains Council of Governments for distribution of $70,000 for housing, childcare and utility assistance.

“We should have asked for twice that,” Ray Mondragon of EPCOG said. “We’ve got a lot of calls.”

In both cases, the entities will be paid through a portion of the federal awards.

Kos spent a few minutes telling the commission about the application, which went live Thursday on clovisnm.org/cares. A volunteer task force will review the first round of applications that ends Oct. 16, and those recommendations will be sent to the city and later the state — which awarded Clovis the money as part of $150 million in statewide CARES Act federal aid.

Eligible businesses must be incorporated in the state and doing business inside the incorporated area of Clovis, have annual revenues of $2 million or less and an equivalent of 50 or fewer full time employees (32 or more hours weekly), have been in operation before 2020 and forced to close or severely curtail business operations as a result of closure orders from the state of New Mexico due to COVID-19.

A business registration, including the annual $35 fee, is required to be current with the city. Non-profits are also eligible and need a business registration, but the city does not charge the $35 fee to non-profits.

Grant dollars may be used for non-owner employee payroll, rent, scheduled mortgage payments, insurance, utilities, marketing and business redesigns — including plexiglass barriers, personal protective equipment for employees, reconfiguration of physical spaces, remote work technology purchases.

Kos said anybody unsure about eligibility is encouraged to ask by calling the chamber at 575-763-3435 or the Small Business Development Center at 575-769-4136.

The application process will be ongoing, and money will be distributed until Dec. 15 or when it is exhausted.

Local government funding came to the city in the amount of $240,061, with $25,000 for housing assistance, $20,000 for childcare assistance and $25,000 for utility assistance.

Mondragon said individual assistance would be capped at $700 for housing assistance, $500 for daycare and $300 for utilities. The housing assistance could not be used for a first month’s rent or late fees.

Applications, Mondragon said, are available at epcog.org.