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<br /> <br />Member Hardin stated that he would recommend that the annual revenue be reviewed to ensure <br />that links together with the number of employees. He stated that if a business has 50 employees, <br />it most likely has an annual revenue over $2,000,000. <br /> <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that a cap would not have to be placed on annual <br />revenue. He explained that the intent is to help the small businesses but acknowledged that there <br />was a previous intent expressed by some members of the EDA to attempt to provide assistance to <br />more businesses. He noted that the first round of the business assistance program focused on <br />service businesses that were forced to shut down for an extended period of time. He stated that <br />this round of funding would be open to any business that has been impacted by COVID. <br /> <br />Chairperson Steffen agreed that it would make sense to keep this broader. <br /> <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan moved to the question related to business revenue. He <br />explained that the reason a cap is typically used is to ensure that the $10,000 grant would be <br />meaningful and effective to combat the challenges related to COVID. He stated that in the other <br />programs he reviewed the highest cap he saw was $3,500,000. He stated that the City has the <br />ability to do whatever it would like, but noted that he has not seen a business grant program without <br />a cap. <br /> <br />Member Hardin asked if there is an idea of the annual revenue of Ramsey businesses. <br /> <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that he does not have that information. He <br />estimated that perhaps that outside of the top 20 businesses in Ramsey, the employment is around <br />75 to 100 employees. He noted that staff could look further into that if desired. <br /> <br />Chairperson Steffen asked how a business would document its number of employees or revenue <br />and which a business would be more willing to share. <br /> <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that local lenders have been charged with <br />assisting the State in the distribution of these funds. He explained that rather than have the City <br />gather this information, a third party could be used to review the applications. He stated that the <br />City could collect the applications and choose 20 using a lottery type system. He noted that <br />application information could then be reviewed by a third party to ensure that the criteria would <br />be met. <br /> <br />Chairperson Steffen stated that there would only be 20 grants available and asked how those <br />recipients would be chosen. <br /> <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that in the Anoka County program there is a <br />specification that a business that received CARES Act funding would not be eligible for this <br />program. He noted that the City could do something similar to ensure that the funds are being <br />spread to more businesses and that the business has not received CARES Act funding or funding <br />through Anoka County. He stated that staff would determine a method that would randomly select <br />Economic Development Authority/ July 16, 2020 <br />Page 5 of 11 <br /> <br />