The City of Allen and the Allen Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) have been working jointly to provide a small business grant program to companies in Allen that have been impacted by COVID-19.The funding for this program comes from the CARES funding allocated to Allen through Collin County.  The total amount allocated to Allen was $5,376,848. These funds are intended to assist the City with expenditures related to the response of the COVID - 19 pandemic.  We are holding back some of the funds to deal with those internal needs.  However, the funds are also eligible to be used for a grant program to assist in local business recovery. As such staff recommends allocating $3,000,000 for business recovery grants.

The grant guidelines are attached, and a summary of key points is listed below:

1. Eligible businesses will be granted an amount not to exceed $25,000.
   1. The actual amount is calculated by adding up the following expenses:
      1. Average monthly payroll costs for the first quarter of 2020 multiplied by 1.75.
      2. Monthly fixed costs (defined in attachment) multiplied by 2.

The guidelines used for eligibility have been created in conjunction with the cities of Frisco and McKinney.  Staff has worked closely with these cities in order to establish similar guidelines so that we might be able to jointly hire a third party to assist in vetting, scoring and administering the program.  Approaching it this way will allow us to realize some efficiencies and cost savings based on the volume of business that we will be providing the third party.  Jointly, the cities have identified the following criteria that a business must meet in order to be eligible:

1. Business must have started prior to March 1, 2019

2. Business must have a physical location in Allen

3. Business must have 100 employees or fewer

4. Business must have no more than $15 million in Gross Annual Revenue per location

5. Applicant must have no outstanding Municipal or Collin County tax liens or judgments

Additional criteria and information can be found in the backup documentation.

$3,000,000 from designated CARES funding as provided through Collin County.

Staff recommends approval of the Resolution allocating funds and approving the guidelines for the grant program.

I make a motion to adopt Resolution No. _________________ allocating funds to a business recovery grant program and approving the guidelines for said program.