Uintah County Commissioner Bill Stringer and Commissioner Bart Haslem visited the KVEL Newstalk radio studio on Thursday for an interview focused on the recent audit released by the State Auditor’s Office. The use of Cares Act funding was among the many topics discussed during the hour-long interview. Commissioner Haslem explained that a 13-member committee created a detailed list of criteria to be used in determining what businesses would qualify for grant funding. After the criteria was determined, a spreadsheet was created and the word was spread throughout the area inviting all businesses to apply for funding. As applications came in, the data was entered into the spreadsheet, showing whether or not the business was experiencing a loss due to the pandemic, and ultimately the computer decided who qualified and who didn’t. “If you met the criteria, you qualified. If you didn’t, then you didn’t,” shared Haslem. “No one on the committee was deciding.” When asked about family members receiving grant money, Commissioner Stringer explained that state law anticipates that situation and provides a process to declare the conflict so that the family member is still able to apply for the funding. Stringer stated that he did not have family members that had applied while Haslem said that he did. His son and wife’s businesses were both hit hard and they met the criteria. Haslem said it has been disturbing that the state auditor has seemingly ignored the information provided that showed they had followed state law on the matter. In the end, 590 struggling businesses were awarded grant money from the Cares Act as a result of demonstrating loss due to the pandemic. The Commissioners also addressed the question of the snow hill during the interview. Haslem emphasized that the purchase of the equipment was discussed at length during a public meeting and there was funding that could not be used for more businesses but that had a deadline of about 2 weeks. Knowing that many were struggling with mental health due to the pandemic they decided to go for it. Over 10,000 people used the snow hill in just 50 days. Many more topics were discussed. The interview can be found here: https://basinnow.com/public_affairs.php
