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the 20 businesses. He stated that perhaps 25 applications are sent to the third party for review in <br />the case that some businesses are not eligible. <br />Member Heineman stated that he would caution against looking at the amount of annual revenue <br />for a business rather than revenue. He stated that a business could have a larger annual revenue <br />but not as large of a profit because of its expenses. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that Ramsey has been charged to get these funds <br />out as soon as possible and therefore it could be difficult to get to that level of analysis. He stated <br />that revenue could be removed from the criteria, if desired. <br />Member Riley stated that he would agree with removing the revenue criteria as he believes the cap <br />of 50 employees and the proof of harm from COVID would be sufficient. <br />Member Hardin stated that he would like to have some benchmark if the intent is to help small <br />businesses. He stated that 50 employees would be a fairly good-sized business. <br />Member Burandt stated that for the purpose of deploying the funds quickly, he would agree with <br />removing the revenue criteria. <br />Member Kuzma stated that he would also support waiving the revenue criteria. He suggested that <br />perhaps the number of employees is reduced to 30 or less. <br />Member Hardin confirmed that he would agree with that. <br />Chairperson Steffen stated that he would also agree with that. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that he would caution against lowering the <br />number of employees too far because of restaurant businesses that have a higher number of <br />employees. He recognized that those employees may not be considered full time. <br />Chairperson Steffen agreed that most restaurant employees would not be considered full time and <br />therefore that should not impact their ability to apply. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan confirmed the direction from the EDA to use the <br />criteria of 30 full time employees or less and proof of impact from COVID. He reviewed <br />information related to how long a business has been in operation and recommended using a period <br />of one year prior to March 1, 2020. <br />Chairperson Steffen recommended using one year prior to January 1, 2020. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that applications could either be reviewed to <br />determine whether they meet the criteria, or the applications could be reviewed using a scoring <br />system. He stated that staff would not recommend scoring. <br />Economic Development Authority/ July 16, 2020 <br />Page 6 of 11 <br />