Last night Issaquah's City Council approved a Business Relief Grant Program. We will be providing the business community with a link to the application as soon as it becomes available.
Below is a copy of what Chamber CEO, Kathy McCorry presented to City Council during public comment:
Good Evening City Council and Madam Mayor.
My name is Kathy McCorry, I am the CEO of the Greater Issaquah Chamber located at 155 Gilman Blvd.
The Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, our 400 plus businesses members and their employees would like to take this opportunity to thank-you for all you are doing to support the economic survival of community by considering AB 7992 and AB 7993 this evening. Local businesses are the heart of the community as it is business that contributes significantly to the tax revenue received by the City, the donations made to social services, schools and non-profits, the sponsorship dollars at events and the volunteers to help the community in its efforts to improve.
During these challenging times it is vital that we look at programs that will support businesses and jumpstart our economy; in turn bring lost revenues back into the city coffers and donations back to the rest of the community.
In response to AB 7992 the Greater Issaquah Chamber supports this agenda bill that would allocate the following amounts from the $1,127,700 million the city has received from the CARES Act.
· $500,00 for direct business grants
· 427,700 for reimbursement of the portion of City expenses incurred to address the COVID -19 crisis
· $200,00 on top of the additional $100,00 in rental assistance already allocated to human services agencies serving Issaquah residents.
· And $50,000 provided to the City from King County’s CARES ACT to direct the business grants program
Please know that the Chamber Foundation board of directors has volunteered to help implement or assist in the implantation of the business grants in any way we can.
In response to AB 7993 the Chamber supports the temporary regulatory Relief for Businesses, the use of sidewalks and when possible parking spaces and right of ways or streets to expand outdoor service for restaurant, retail and fitness customers with the assurance that businesses are required to follow up to date social distancing guidelines as indicated by the Phase we are in.
We also support the request to suspend the temporary sign permit process for moveable A-frames and waive the permit fee thus reducing the approval process by up to a week.
We would also like to inform the Council that the Chamber is in receipt of 12, 018 cloth masks, 20,191 disposable mask and 346 hand sanitizers that we will be distributing to business in Issaquah. Distribution begins this week.
Again, we would like to thank City Council, the Mayor, City Administrator and the Economic Development Committee for your hard work. Your partnership is extremely important to The Chamber and the entire business community of Issaquah whom we represent. We truly appreciate your service.
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