HERMANN — A raft of CARES Act applications was approved Thursday morning by the Gasconade County Commission as the deadline arrived for agencies and businesses to request a share of the coronavirus relief funding.

Seven applications — a mix of local government agencies, businesses and non-profit organizations — received approval in what likely will be one of the final batches of requests to be acted on by county officials. County government if facing a Dec. 30 deadline set by the federal government to allocate the $1.725-million portion of the $2.2-trillion CARES Act money issued to Gasconade County. According to financial records, as of last week only a few hundred thousand dollars remained unallocated.

The Meramec Regional Planning Commission, the agency administering CARES Act money for Gasconade and six other counties in the Meramec Region, had set Thursday as the deadline to accept requests. The early deadline, compared to the federal deadline of Dec. 30, was set to allow MRPC personnel adequate time to investigate the legitimacy of the requests and make a recommendation to the various county commissions for final action.

Any unused CARES Act dollars must be returned to the federal treasury.

The requests receiving approval Thursday from the County Commission were from a variety of organizations. The Owensville Knights of Columbus' application for $1,850 was approved to recover revenue lost from fund-raising events. Shear Perfection, a hair salon in Hermann, was approved to receive $1,600 to make up for loss of income.

Quality Bee Fabrics’ request for $684 was approved; the money will be used to help with the opening of a new store and health supplies. Snowensville LLC of Owensville was approved to receive $30,000 to cover loss of revenue.

The city of Owensville’s request for $6,263 was approved. The money will be used to cover the costs of sanitizing  supplies and labor costs within the Public Works Department and Police Department. The Owensville Police Department’s application for $15,570 was approved. The money will be used to buy radar guns and new radios.

The Gasconade County Health Department was approved to receive $21,580 to cover the cost of supplies and for the loss of wages.

Still pending are a pair of large requests: $150,000 requested by Missouri Thistle of Owensville and $50,000 requested by Hermann Hill Vineyards. Those requests were tabled by the Commission to allow county administrators to see how many other applications were made for a share of the CARES Act money. Commissioners said they wanted to see the CARES Act money allocated to as many organizations and businesses as possible.

Meanwhile, the Daniel Jones accounting firm will be doing the Single Financial Audit of Gasconade County regarding the use of the CARES Act funds. The cost of the audit will be $18,000, which can be paid with CARES Act money.

A Single Financial Audit is triggered whenever a county spends $750,000 of federal money in a single year. Normally, Gasconade County does not spend nearly that much; most of the federal dollars are federal highway funds for bridge work. And while the total amount of federal dollars spent this year includes about $350,000 in federal highway money, county administrators agreed that the Road Department should not be assessed a portion of the expense of the Single Financial Audit.

“The CARES Act is why this is happening,” said County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, who recommended the Road Department not be assessed a portion of the audit cost.

“I agree,” said Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore of Owensville, who served Thursday as acting presiding commissioner. Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel of Hermann missed most of the Commission session in order to attend the Governmental Relations Day event sponsored by Gasconade County R-1 School District.

To wrap up its CARES Act work on behalf of Gasconade County, MRPC presented county administrators with a contract that covers January through June at a cost of $5,600. Lairmore and Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland of Hermann voted to accept MRPC’s contract offer.