Kendall County Commissioners award $150,000 in stimulus funds

hillcountryweekly.com

Thursday, October 29

Christina Ryrholm – Hill Country Weekly

OCT. 26 MEETING

County Commissioners County to award an additional $150,000 in stimulus funds

On Monday morning, October 26 Commissioners Court held their second meeting of the month. Per the new normal, all commissioners attended through zoom. In all 32 staff and observers participated.

The Kendall County Business Grant stimulus awards sponsored by the county took up two of the 22 agenda items. First was awarding DWJ Investments, LLC $8250 from the first round of funding. They had filed prior to the deadline but the email was blocked by the county server. Had it been processed with the original requests it would have qualified. Thus, it was approved unanimously to grant them the money.

The next item was to discuss whether or not the county should consider having a second round of stimulus grants. On March 27 Congress passed the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities) Act. Kendall County could qualify for just over a $1,500,000. While it is mandated that 75% must be spent on three categories specifically dealing with COVID and health care issues, the other 25% is available for the county to award qualifying businesses with stimulus money. Following the same protocols as before the county will soon begin the process of receiving applications. The total amount of will not exceed $150,000.

The individuals that wished to speak during the public comments portion of the meeting all deferred to the agenda item they wished to address - the update on “potential legislation specific to Kendall County”. Speaking for State Representative Kyle Biedermann was Karin Dyer, Chief of Staff, and for State Senator Donna Campbell was Zach Dooley, Senior Policy Analyst.

Commissioner Richard Elkins stated that the draft with Kendall County specific language is focusing on working with developers and quality of life issues. He believes all requests concerning roads are reasonable. He concluded with the only way the court will get the authority to have these restrictions will be when it is received from the residents in the county through the ballot process.

Three individuals spoke expressing their concerns on this issue - Milan Michalec, a director with the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District, Denise Lindemann and Denise Dever.

Milan focused on water issues and the two-fold problem. First is the high density of development and the “second is the significant threat of proliferation of the Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) and the Municipal Utility District (MUD)”.

Denise Lindemann also focused on water issues stating that the water crisis was already here and that we “are all straws drinking from the same cup”.

Denise Dever introduced Zach Taylor from Donna Campbell’s office and commented that there needed to be coordination in the efforts to get anything done. She mentioned that individuals were willing to send emails to elected officials and that it was necessary to realize that everything would not be accomplished at once, but a step at a time.

Both Dyer and Dooley reiterated that Biedermann and Campbell were listening and would take Kendall County’s requests to Austin. Lux ended the discussion by quoting Michalec closing lines, “Future growth must respect the unique local conditions and not sacrifice those institutions and natural resources that contribute so greatly to an enviable high quality of life. This includes preserving the natural beauty, native wildlife, as well as the local historical and cultural heritage of this unique region”.