Article by Spencer Daily Reporter
On June 22, 2024, Candice McGuire’s life, like so many other Spencer residents’, was upended by disaster.
Both McGuire’s home and business, Northwest Glass, located on South Grand Avenue were inundated by floodwaters. Ultimately, Northwest Glass ended up with 91 inches of water in its small compound, which included workshops, storage buildings, and a storefront. The business lost all of its tools, nine vehicles, its records, and around $1 million worth of inventory.
“It was pretty much like having to start all over again, but worse, because when I bought the business, I had inventory to sell,” McGuire said.
Businesses, generally, aren’t eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster recovery grants, and Northwest Glass didn’t have flood insurance. McGuire said the terms offered on low-interest disaster recovery loans from the federal Small Business Administration were too onerous to be of much help.
“The $8,000 payments were more than payment son the loan I took out to buy the business in the first place,” she said. “I couldn’t afford that.”
McGuire wound up largely self-funding her business’s flood recovery. She had a few things working in her favor. There was a significant need for new windows in Spencer, allowing Northwest Glass to quickly restart its cash flow. Also, many of the business’s employees stayed on, despite also suffering flood damage to their homes. Then, earlier this year, Northwest Glass applied for and received a $25,000 grant from the Spencer Economic Development Corporation’s new disaster assistance grant program for local businesses.
“I really appreciated what the city was able to do for us. …It was amazing,” McGuire said.
Northwest Glass was one of 84 Spencer businesses that applied for more than $1.5 million in disaster relief grants administrered by the SEDC before the program’s application deadline of April 1.
So far, SEDC has awarded about $988,000 to local businesses impacted by the devastating June 22, 2024, flood, according to Jason Warren, who sits on the grant committee. Of the 84 applications received, 62 have been reviewed and approved so far, with 22 additional grants still under review, according to Warren. Businesses applying for grants reported an estimated $22 million in total damages.
“It’s a great feeling to be able to help businesses that didn’t receive FEMA or state grants,” Warren said. “Anything we can do to help businesses stay in Spencer and reopen means a lot to our community.”
Business owners such as Jenessa Mechler, a veterinarian and one of six co-owners of Animal Medical Centers, said the grants provided them with critical financial support to help them rebuild and reopen. Animal Medical Centers had about 30 inches of water in its building in south Spencer near the corner of Seventh Avenue Southwest and U.S. Highway 71.
“The grant was instrumental. …It took a lot of stress off of our budget and us as we were getting everything put back together and the clinic back to running the way it was before (the flood),” Mechlar said.
The SEDC program was originally funded with $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that the Spencer City Council was able to divert from another project, offering up to $25,000 per business. Spencer Municipal Utilities, meanwhile, agreed to cover any shortfall in the program’s funding to ensure all qualifying applicants get a grant. SMU could end up contributing more than $500,000 to the program.
To receive a grant, applicants must have either been reopened or must have demonstrated a clear intention to reopen. Recipients could use their grants to replace lost inventory, or purchase new equipment. Building repairs were not an allowable expense, Warren said.
The program will ultimately support a wide range of Spencer businesses, including home-based operations such as in-home day cares and bakeries, which are eligible for up to $1,000 in assistance. The Spencer Planning Department and its employees are responsible for conducting site visits to verify that businesses were reopening and had used their grant money for approved expenses. Businesses that have applied for one of the grants still have a few months to submit eligible expenses for review and receive the money.