Of the $50,000.00 that was set aside for local businesses from the Geary County round 1 SPARK monies, 56 businesses picked up applications and of those 56 applicants 22 businesses provided the required documentation in order to receive funds. The total amount of money that was issued to local businesses was $ 37,594.01 The SPARK monies that these businesses received, are monies that do not need to be paid back.
Originally, Mickey Dean, Director of the Junction City, Geary County Economic development committee spoke with Commissioner Scholz in an effort to see if Geary County could help local businesses with any of the SPARK round 1 monies.
Once, SPARK monies were earmarked, Mickey Dean and Dawn Stephens, Chamber Membership Director, created a marketing campaign to bring this to the attention of all the businesses in Geary County. The EDC also supplied all applications, helped businesses fill them out and worked directly with Witt Obrien which is the company the County hired to help with the disbursement of SPARK monies. Commissioner Scholz stated that “the EDC within a limited time frame in which to work did an exceptional job of helping several of the businesses in Geary County who were hit hard by the pandemic to receive these SPARK monies”