“There’s not a lot of us left standing. I only have a couple of months more and I’m probably not going to be able to stay. It would be a blessing to know that my city would like to try and help me keep my door open,” said Cindy Phillips from Turn the Page Western Wear. 

Phillips, along with Christie Cothrun from the Globe-Miami Chamber of Commerce, addressed the Globe City Council at the Nov. 10 meeting following a presentation from City Manager Paul Jepson on how $843,484 of federal CARES act dollars was allocated for public safety use.  

While city officials stand by their budgeting decisions stating that funds were used for what they were intended for, small businesses shuttered for months by the pandemic appear as an afterthought next to big-ticket items like a type 3 fire truck and five new police patrol vehicles.  

According to Jepson, small businesses were not overlooked; it was a question of legality and concern about the state’s gift clause that prevented the city from issuing reopening grants. A state law called the Gift Clause prevents cities from giving money directly to businesses.  

Back on May 27 when the money from the CARES Act came through, Jepson emailed the mayor and council regarding how the funds were to be spent. He cited a press release from Gov. Doug Ducey that states, “Local governments may use their allocation to cover regular payroll cost of public health and public safety personnel, freeing up existing local budget capacity to be deployed elsewhere. The fund is designed to provide maximum flexibility, while minimizing red tape, so municipalities can determine how best to use the funds to meet their needs.” The City of Globe did just that, paying off salaries for public safety personnel through the end of the year. The money that freed up was quickly allocated by the council into next year’s budget. “We came back and looked at how we can reinvest this money into public safety, fire and police because that is what it was meant for,” said Jepson. “It was allocated for fire, police, and health and safety, so we spread some money around for plexiglass and reconfiguring of offices for the pandemic and the rest went to reoutfit public safety to get them up to speed for the next pandemic, or forest fire, or locusts-we don’t know.”  

The almost $850,000 in federal funding was distributed into the budget as follows: Community Center restroom remodel, $30,000, Public Works equipment and safety upgrades, $10,000, Fire Department Type 3 truck, $330,000, hand-held radios and equipment match, $33,000, self-contained breathing apparatus SCBA match, $18,000, fire department health and safety upgrades, $5,000, Police department vehicles, five patrol, one command, two detective, $270,227, Police main building electrical phase II, $28,000, Police main building flooring phase II, $15,000, Police main building security phase II, $7,000, Police lockers and briefing room upgrades, $30,000, secure interview room, $25,000, Besh Ba Gowah health and safety facility upgrades, $5,000, Active Adult Center health and safety facility upgrades, $5,000, Library health and safety facility upgrades, $5,000, City Hall health and safety facility upgrades, $5,000, public communication software and tools, $6,000 and economic development Globe reopening fund, $15,000.  

During the presentation Jepson insisted that when the freed-up funding was budgeted, the city had little guidance regarding the flexibility on how to spend the monies. Looking back at the email, dated May 27, Jepson states, “I am sure we will learn more about restrictions on the spending, if they exist, in the near future. But based on how the governor has been so flexible on his Covid guidelines, I expect we will have the ability to use this money as we see fit.” On that same day, the Arizona Republic reported on the guidelines for CARES fund spending outlined by Gov. Ducey. The article states that several cities and towns around Arizona were using the funding for public safety, but also promoting tourism, giving grants or loans to small businesses and business development projects.   

Cities and towns around Arizona have used their CARES funding in a variety of ways, with most entities using the funds to help build back Mainstreet, focusing on helping small businesses that did not qualify for big Paycheck Protection Program deals or Small Business Association grants and loans. They were able to bypass the state’s gift clause by using non-profit organizations such as Local First Arizona to help disperse monies through grants. The town of Superior used $97,000 to give small business grants and $35,000 to fund the town’s way point signage program to help people find businesses, trails and other important places. Pinal County used their funding to focus on rental assistance, utility payments, food banks, social services, small businesses, and job training. Larger cities like Tempe used $8.2 million of the $22.5 million received for small business assistance, nonprofit aid, and purchasing protective gear and cleaning supplies to promote business safety.   

During Jepson’s CARES funding presentation, Councilman Jesse Leetham chimed in remotely to ask that some funds be allocated to aid small businesses. “The reason I asked for this to be part of the presentation is because I’m hoping this council wants to be business friendly. It (CARES funding) freed up this much money and as a council we agreed where it should go, but I do believe that this is something we owe to our business community.”  

Representing the local business community, Christie Cothran addressed the council. “This has obviously been a roller coaster for everybody. I’ve had a quick education in the last few days about the CARES Act. A lot of money went to public safety which is certainly needed and always underfunded, and we understand that. However, representing businesses is one of the things we are focusing on at the Chamber of Commerce. When we see that some communities have done an amazing job with a lot less money than $800,000, we have to ask where can we really help the people that have really hurt that built this town.”  

Jepson went on to say that the city could possibly free up $50,000 to help small businesses. Councilwoman Charlene Giles suggested allocating 10 percent of the $840,000 toward small business grants.

A special meeting for business owners will be held on Monday night at City Hall to further discuss ways to help small businesses.