Healdsburg Recovery Task Force Update
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A Recovery News Update from the Healdsburg Recovery Task Force a partnership between the City of Healdsburg & the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce.
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When will the City reopen?
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We don’t know yet. The current Sonoma County Shelter-in-Place order is through May 3, 2020 - but the State's is indefinite. Sonoma County’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Sundari Mase, reviews the County Order regularly and uses modeling to help try to understand the virus’ current and future trajectory and impacts. The model is updated regularly. Tonight, at Senator McGuire's tele-Town Hall, Dr. Mase noted that she is giving consideration to lifting some restrictions involving parks and open spaces, possibly including Tayman Park (and other golf courses across the county). Dr. Mase also reminded listeners that she can only lift local restrictions that are MORE restrictive than Governor Newsom's orders. Right now, Sonoma County's more restrictive health orders include those affecting parks and open spaces and certain construction projects, including residential homebuilding. For more information from the County as to COVID-19, click
here
.
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First, if you need additional help with what's out there (including navigating through the below loan programs), consider getting to know the
Napa-Sonoma Small Business Development Center
. Download COVID-19 assistance
guides
and other information. Call them at 833-ASK-SBDC (833.275.7232) with questions and for direct help regarding SBA and other programs.
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The
US Small Business Administration
has two major loan programs – the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL). Today, these are both oversubscribed (too many folks applied for too little funding). In the last couple of days, the US Senate voted to add another $310 BN to PPP and another $60BN to EIDL. If passed by the House (highly likely) and signed by the President (also likely) late this week, money will flow pretty fast. The PPP loans are forgivable if enough of the funds used keep your staff on payroll long enough, If you want to use the PPP program, make sure you complete your PPP
application
soon and contact your SBA-partner banker right away.
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On Monday night, April 20, the Healdsburg City Council authorized the City to provide a small business loan program. Generally, this is for employers with 25 or fewer employees, for loans of up to $15,000. $600,000 has been set aside for these no-interest loans that can be used for payroll and benefits, lease or mortgage payments, utilities, layout improvements, and more. We're hoping to roll out the application before this coming weekend. Email us
here
if you'd like notification right when that comes out.
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The City has suspended water and electric utility service disconnections for non-payment and are waiving late fees through May 31 for City utility customers (residential and commercial). We encourage customers to pay what they can and work out repayment plans for past due amounts when County of Sonoma’s Shelter-in-Place Order has ended. For more information, call us at (707) 431-3307 or email
here
. If you’ve lost wages, you may also be eligible for the City’s utility discount program. For more info, click
here
.
The Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce and the City have good information about COVID-19, too. Find that here (
Chamber
) and here (
City
).
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Help Us Help You Got an Idea?
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Do you have an idea to help your sales or other business activities during the Shelter-in-Place period that the Task Force should help support or explore? We promise we’ll talk with you about the ideas and hear you out. So
email
us, please.
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Maybe you’ve got it all dialed in to do a phased re-opening – like where customers might queue, how to safely limit customers coming into your store or office, outside spaces you may want to use, best practices regarding cleaning and other protections, etc. But if not, we’re here to help you navigate through that. Stay tuned for helpful videos from us with other Healdsburg businesses, and feel free to email us if you’d like direct help.
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Understanding the Health Orders
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They can be a bit confusing to follow. The Sonoma County Health Officer’s orders are
here
. Sign up for health alerts
here
. If you have questions about the orders, give us a try at the email above and we’ll help.
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What’s the status of City Activities and Programs?
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- City Hall – closed to the public. Only essential staff are at their workplaces, others are on leave or working from home.
- Construction Activities – stopped (with some exceptions) per Health Order C19-05.
- Parks, Open Spaces, and Trails, including play areas and tot lots – Closed to the Public via Health Order C19-04.
- Plan Check and Inspection Services – Limited activities - click here for detailed information.
- Recreational Programs – Rec@home programs only
- Senior Services – Senior Center closed, but assistance programs underway.
- Tayman Park – Closed to the Public via Health Order C19-04.
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Because this is our first news update, we don't have any questions from you yet. But we want 'em. Send them along to
Tallia
or
Dave
- including ideas that may help your business survive and prosper (as noted above).
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The Healdsburg Recovery Task Force is an informal partnership between the City of Healdsburg and the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce to help us all navigate through the COVID-19 crisis of 2020. Members are: Mayor pro Tem Evelyn Mitchell, Council Member David Hagele, William Seppi (Costeaux Bakery), Alan Baker (Cartograph Wines), Jason Liles (Senator McGuire's office), Shelley Anderson (HUSD), and David Mickaelian (Healdsburg City Manager). Tallia Hart of the Chamber and Dave Kiff of the City help write and revise this document. Nothing in this document is a specific endorsement by the Chamber or the City of any action, financial path, or business practice.
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Join the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce every Friday at 9:00 am with a virtual check in. Each Friday we will have a guest speaker and special topic geared towards businesses. Please submit question ahead of time to
[email protected]
.
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State Update with Jason Liles
Senior Advisor to Senator Mike McGuire
Friday, April 24th
9:00 am
Registration required to access Check In.
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