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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—AUGUST 10, 2020 2 was noted that all housing assistance requests would be referred to Ramsey County. She reported staff would need additional feedback from the Council regarding the truck purchase along with input on the draft parameters for the small business assistance program. Mayor Grant explained the Council put a plan in place that required staff to be in separate trucks. He asked how the Council felt about using CARES Act dollars to purchase a truck to assist with social distancing. Councilmember Scott questioned if this vehicle would be above and beyond the truck purchase that had already been deferred. Finance Director Bauman reported this was the case. Councilmember Scott explained he supported the purchase of the truck. Councilmember McClung agreed stating the truck purchase made a great deal of sense. Councilmember Holmes supported the City purchasing a truck with the CARES Act dollars. Mayor Grant also supported the truck purchase. He requested staff provide the Council with additional information regarding the small business assistance program. Community Development Manager/City Planner Mrosla reviewed the eligibility and proposed parameters for the small business assistance program. He explained he drafted this program document from other communities and asked if the Council supported the City using $150,000 in CARES Act dollars for this program. Councilmember Scott asked if$150,000 was the remaining balance of CARES Act funds. Mayor Grant stated this was an amount staff was recommending out of the CARES Act funds. He noted the remainder would be the amount set aside for police and fire. Councilmember Holmes commented she did not support the City having a specific amount set aside for this program because it would limit the number of businesses that could be helped. She stated if the grants were set at $10,000, 15 businesses could be helped and if the grants were set at $5,000 then 30 businesses could be helped. She wanted to see the grant amounts have a flexible range in order to help all of the businesses in need. Community Development Manager/City Planner Mrosla explained that if the grant requests exceeded $150,000 staff could request additional dollars from the Council. Councilmember Holmes suggested there be two rounds of grants. Mayor Grant questioned how many businesses in Arden Hills would be eligible for grants. Community Development Manager/City Planner Mrosla stated this would be difficult for staff to determine because the City did not have employee counts for each business. He estimated there would be 50 to 100 businesses that may fit the program criteria. He indicated Shoreview had 35