HERMANN — With three months left to use it or lose it, Gasconade County has paid out slightly more than $300,000 to political subdivisions, businesses and non-profit organizations to cover coronavirus-related expenses.

That means that as of last week, almost $1.4 million remains available to be distributed to local government agencies, small businesses and non-profit operations looking to recoup some expenses resulting from the virus. A total of $1.725 million was allocated to Gasconade County from the state’s share of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act fund approved by Congress in March.

Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, Thursday morning emphasized the need for businesses and organizations to apply for a share of the funding.

“There are still funds available, so use them,” he said during last week’s County Commission session.

The money will be available for use through the end of December, as outlined by the federal government. However, the Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC), the agency that administers CARES Act money for all but one of the eight counties in the Meramec Region, has set a Dec. 20 deadline for requests to be submitted.

Any funds not used by the end of December must be returned to the federal treasury.

MRPC staff headed by Kelly Sink receive the requests for funding and conduct a thorough vetting of the legitimacy of the expenses being listed for reimbursement. There are constraints placed on counties regarding the use of the money. A detailed audit of the program will be conducted when it’s done and any of the money that might have been improperly allocated likely would have to be paid back by the county, which could result in a significant hit to a county's operating budget.

After investigating a request for funding, MRPC makes a recommendation to the County Commission, which must sign off on a request before County Treasurer Mike Feagan issues a check to the agency or organization making the request. If the Commission has a question about a request, it can set aside MRPC’s recommendation until it has the questions answered, as was the case with an Owensville business that was approved in recent weeks for $50,000 and then submitted a request for another large amount of money.

Last week, the Commission received recommendations on several requests for CARES Act money:

St. Paul United Church of Christ in Hermann had two requests acted on, one for $454 and another, which had received pre-approval first for $1,800 and then reduced through the verification process by MRPC to $1,251. Gasconade County R-1 School District was approved to receive $63,245. Owensville Ambulance District was approved to receive $73,335.

The administrative panel had questions about the request of a non-profit they weren’t familiar with, NESUS Supply LLC of Hermann, which was recommended to receive $12,000.

Commissioners also were a bit confused about a request from Maries County R-2 School District for $2,024 that was recommended for approval by MRPC. Why, county officials asked aloud, was the request being made out of Gasconade County’s CARES Act money and not Maries County’s allocation?

They reasoned that the reimbursement was being requested for expenses incurred at Maries R-1 School District’s middle school in Bland, which is in Gasconade County. Miskel said he would check on this request before clearing it for payment.

County officials had high praise for the work done by MRPC in administering the CARES Act money, noting the time it takes to verify the legitimacy of the expenses identified in the detailed documents that are required in the program. The only county in the region that opted not to have MRPC administer its CARES Act money is Crawford County.

That means much work is being done by that county’s clerk and staff in checking the legitimacy of the requests — all at a time when a county clerk’s staff has had to deal with multiple elections and what is expected to be a large turnout for the November General Election.

Miskel said MRPC’s work has set the standard for administering the federal money. “They are, literally, the model for the state,” he said.

County Clerk Lesa Lietzow said other counties in the state that are administering their CARES Act money are “overwhelmed” by all that’s involved in the dispersing the money.

Contracting with MRPC do the work makes life much easier for her office, considering all the other work that has to be done, she said. “They get my thanks and congratulations,” Lietzow said of MRPC. “They’re earning every penny” of the $2,200 payment approved Thursday by the Commission. That money, incidentally, will come out of the overall amount allocated to the county.

In other action Thursday morning, Lietzow told The Gasconade County Republican that early efforts to attract additional election judges has had some success. “We’ve had a couple people call,” she said, noting that her office has yet to begin its formal campaign to recruit additional judges. The extra election officials are going to be needed at polling places expected to see higher-than-normal voter turnouts in the General Election.

Normally, polling places have four election judges — two Republican and two Democrat. Lietzow said she would like to add at least a third Democrat and a third Republican to several of the county’s 16 precincts, including polling places in Hermann and Owensville.

Also, the county’s chief elections official discounted criticism being voiced by some at the national level of mail-in voting, saying safeguards are in place — and have been for many years — to protect the integrity of mail-in voting.

On a related noted, absentee voting begins later this month and Lietzow said early indications are that many absentee ballots will be cast. She said her office already has received more than a 100 inquiries about absentee voting. Both absentee voting and mail-in balloting is expected to be considerable this fall because of coronavirus concerns.