HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020 09 23 Message on Funding Decisions CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund w listMessage on Final Funding Decisions - Jefferson County CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund
It is a pleasure to announce that the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners has established County
priorities for funding community assistance to help mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in
2020 using Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) made available by Washington State from the federal CARES
Act. Jefferson County continues to work collaboratively with the City of Port Townsend and other
governmental units in dispersing these funds to assist the community. The sister agencies made up of
the County, City, Port and Public Utility District asked six community groups convened through the joint
Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee to submit a list of prioritized community assistance
proposals to help mitigate local health, social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. To set
funding priorities, the County Commissioners considered input from the sister agencies, stringent state
and federal CRF eligibility requirements, and overall community needs to assess the groups’ proposals
within available CRF funds from the County, and potentially in partnership with the City. The funding
priorities established by the Commissioners are shown on the following pages.
“This was a great example of the community working to help address the impacts of COVID-19” said
Greg Brotherton, Chair of the County Board of Commissioners. “The business interruptions, the impacts
to our families and households due to the pandemic are very real in Jefferson County. Each and every
proposal brought forward for consideration was well done and showed a deep concern for and wish to
do the best for the broader community. We wish we had the funds to support them all.”
The Commissioners ranked all of the six community group lists together to make their funding decisions.
County staff will now work with the City of Port Townsend to coordinate regarding the City’s available
CRF, and will work with subrecipients to put funding agreements in place for the approved projects. The
Board gave County staff permission to make minor adjustments as the funding process gets more
earnestly underway. The decisions made today represent a big step in allocating CARES Act dollars to
address critical community needs due to COVID-19.