Mayfield expected to help small business owners with third round of grants – cleveland.com

MAYFIELD, Ohio -- The villages small businesses continue to apply for financial help as the COVID-19 pandemic carries on, necessitating a third round of grants through Mayfields Small Business Relief Grant Program.

Mayfield has already issued two rounds of grants to small businesses -- those with 20 or fewer employees.

During Mondays (Dec. 7) council caucus meeting, Economic Development Manager John Marquart asked council to approve $50,000 for a third round.

In October, 20 small businesses were each granted $2,500 as part of the $50,000 first round of grants. For round two, Marquart had requested, and received from council, $25,000 in funding.

I had assumed that would be adequate, since the applications actually slowed down quite a bit at the end of round one, and it turns out I was mistaken, Marquart told council.

Marquart said round two grants were very quickly snapped up. The $25,000 for the second round was enough to furnish grants to 10 new applicants, but Marquart received 18 new applications.

So, right now, we currently have eight small businesses hoping for additional funding.

The round three request for $50,000 will allow a total of 20 more small businesses to receive help.

Councilwoman Jennifer Jurcisek asked Marquart what he thought might be the reason for the new spike in interest from businesses.

In speaking to a couple of folks, Marquart answered, word of mouth is starting to spread, sort of on the street, so to speak. I had a couple of folks indicate that they didnt think it was, sort of, for real the first time around, so they didnt bother, and now that their neighbors received their checks, they gave me a call, they sent me an email.

Beyond that, I dont have much more of an explanation.

Finance Director Ron Wynne told council that the villages economic development fund, from which the grant money derives, is funded each year by $130,000. In a normal year, $100,000 of that amount comes from hotel taxes, but in this pandemic year, only about $50,000 in hotel taxes will be realized.

Also contributing to the fund is about $35,000 the village collects in franchise fees from cable companies each year.

The fund, which has accumulated over the years, will -- after round two of small business grants -- total about $452,000. Round three, if approved by council in two weeks, would bring the fund down to approximately $400,000.

Court costs

In August, the village paid an additional $31,835 to Lyndhurst Municipal Court as its share of court operations because the court was experiencing a deficit of about $200,000 for the first half of the year.

The courts budget deficit was caused by fewer tickets being issued by its municipalities police departments, as well as a general slowdown in all activities, including criminal and civil doings, due to the pandemic.

Wynne told council Monday that he estimates that the village will be paying approximately $40,000 more this year as its expected second payment for the second half of the year.

All communities the court serves -- Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield, Gates Mills, Highland Heights and Richmond Heights -- are making two additional payments this year, in additional to their usual annual proportionate payment, to offset the deficit.

Wynne said he expected the cost for the second half of the year to be double the initial payment of $31,000, but that, during the summer, police departments began to write more citations, lowering the expected deficit amount.

Primary election still on

Law Director Anthony Coyne said he had received a response to a Nov. 24 letter he sent to petitioners who gathered signatures to place on a spring primary ballot a question asking voters if there should be term limits for council members and the position of mayor.

They are declining to rescind the petition, so there will be a special election in the spring, Coyne said.

The committee of petitioners includes chairman Ron DiNardo, former councilman Stephen Jerome, Jeff Geisinger, Richard Eisenberg and Richard Koch. The petition asks residents to limit the time a mayor or council member may serve to two consecutive four-year terms.

Sidewalks and patios

Council is expected to vote at its Dec. 21 meeting on pieces of legislation pertaining to sidewalk repairs and residential patio placements.

The sidewalk reimbursement program, for residents replacing and repairing sidewalk blocks damaged by roots from trees on the tree lawn, has been in effect for many years as a policy, but not in ordinance form. The proposal before council would codify that policy.

The policy had allowed for reimbursement to residents of as much as $125 per sidewalk block, up to $1,000. Under the new ordinance, residents would still be reimbursed those amounts, but per street frontage.

This slight change will allow for those on corner lots to make replacements on the two streets on the front and side of their homes.

As for patios, Mayor Brenda Bodnar explained in an email to cleveland.com, This ordinance just puts some restrictions on front yard patios in terms of proximity to the front of the house.

It would require new patios to be as close as possible to a home, but no more than 5 feet away. As for size, patios would not exceed 12 feet by 12 feet.

Regarding patio placement, they would be required to be 10 feet from the side property line, and separated from driveways and turnarounds, with landscaping or other barriers required.

This will give us some uniformity and keep driveways separate from patios, Bodnar stated.

Read more from the Sun Messenger.

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Mayfield expected to help small business owners with third round of grants - cleveland.com