County CARES business grant program winds down

While trying to wrap up their federal CARES Act business grant program, commissioners this week heard from an outspoken and well-known critic of their decision-making.

Commissioners approved 67 grants in the second round of the “Platte County CARES” grant program at a special meeting held Monday, June 14 at the Platte County Resource Center. Grants were awarded to businesses across the county ranging from Hillcrest Platte County, O’Malleys Weston and the Parkville Athletic Complex. A total of 83 applications were denied.

In a separate action, with presiding commissioner Ron Schieber abstaining, the Southern Platte County Athletic Association received a grant not to exceed $14,000. This grant is in addition to several grants already received by the SPCAA over the last year. Schieber’s wife is director of the SPCAA.

County auditor Kevin Robinson said the grant awards were not to exceed $14,000 each for a total of about $800,000

“With that, we will be – depending on a few variables – the money will be completely disbursed,” Robinson said.

Some of the county’s direct costs, including mass vaccination events and overtime costs, have yet to be finalized. The county received about $12 million in CARES Act funds to offset costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharen Hunt, the retired director of Platte County’s University of Missouri Extension, spoke out about the grand awards, Hunt is currently on the board of directors for the Platte Land Trust.

She had concerns about the money awarded to SPCAA and that group’s connection to Schieber.

“I’ve worked with youth for 35-plus years and I’m a very strong advocate for youth, but I think this one organization is limited geographically,” Hunt said, questioning the total amount awarded to SPCAA over the course of the grant program. “I think this also reflects on conflicts of interest. This group – they knew how to get the money, I guess.”

Hunt also spoke at the regular commission session following the CARES meeting.

“There are a bunch of us in Platte County that think it would be great to have more citizen input into issues before the decisions are made and then once those decisions are made there should be an easier way to find out about them,” she said, suggesting the county should more regularly issue press releases and stay in contact with local media.

She questioned how difficult it would be for the average citizen to know where to find information – even if it is available on the county website – or to attend meetings scheduled during regular work hours.

“Some of us don’t know, still, if the health department got the help it needed because hundreds and hundreds of people depend on that agency not just for COVID but for all sorts of things,” Hunt said. She said she believed some businesses received thousands, but services such as pantries were denied funding.

Grants were reviewed and recommendations for approval made via a commission-appointed committee under the leadership of the Platte County Economic Development Council. Meetings of that body were open to the public, which Schieber told Hunt. She argued that people aren’t aware of that information, or how to acquire it.

“I think it is a lack of knowledge of how to access the information and not that it’s not available,” Schieber said. The commission calendar lists meetings and is available on the county website, but he understood scheduling concerns.

He said county officials are open to scheduling Zoom calls with interested members of the public on topics of concern. Hunt said she believed scheduling a regular Zoom session would be a good start to improving transparency.