SANTA CRUZ — Observing the struggles of local businesses hit hard by the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders, city leaders on Tuesday agreed to offer to bridge a gap to larger economic support efforts.

The Santa Cruz City Council unanimously voted to approve creation of the new Santa Cruz Resilience Microloan Program, offering loans ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 per eligible small business on a first-come, first-served basis.

Commending city staff and Mayor Justin Cummings for their “rapid response” to the ongoing health crisis, Councilwoman Cynthia Mathews thanked those involved for presenting the proposal.

“I think all of us have felt the sense of desperation and creativity and desire to recover from our local businesses. And I think it’s so important that we’re taking this step to try and provide a quick response to fill the gap,” Mathews said.

Waiting on aid

Though business federal loans are being made available from the Small Business Administration and the federal CARES Act, “it is clear that an infusion of immediate support is critical if they are going to survive,” particularly with ineligible local establishments or those facing pending bills due May 1, city Development Manager Kathryn Mintz wrote in a report to the council.

Hula’s Island Grill co-owner Ian McRae is one local restaurateur who said last week that he was seeing financial need coming faster than federal support. Out of an abundance of caution for his employees’ safety, he sent his workers home with the onset of the county shelter-in-place order last month, rather than continue with a potentially risky carry-out model. Even while waiting for multiple loan applications to process through the Small Business Administration, McRae said he felt his responsibility to his employees did not end at the door.

“We’re making personal loans to them, the ones that are in need. We’ve got a Facebook page that we’re all on, so we’re in constant communication with everyone,” said McRae last week while waiting to deliver Grey Bears’ bags of groceries for area seniors. “The first thing we did when we shut our doors, we brought all our employees in and gave away all the food that we had that was perishable.”

Program launch

City Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb said she hoped to have the program up and operational as early as Monday. She and her staff expect to work with Santa Cruz Community Credit Union to collaboratively administer the city’s emergency loan program, pending a signed memorandum of understanding. Related Articles Pac-12 football will be back in 2020, but the specifics remain a mystery

Pac-12 football: Cal, Stanford working to return but local health officials must sign off

Coronavirus: With cases way down, California’s decline begins to slow down

How California’s Coastal Cleanup Day is different this year

Law and order: Santa Cruz judge lays down her gavel

Business owners would be able to use the loan funds for operating expenses such as rent, payroll, utilities, inventory and supplies, with no application fee or collateral required. Interest rates may vary, beginning at 0% for shorter-term loans and up to 3% for the longer terms, all up to a maximum of three years.

The projected $500,000 of funding for the economic stimulus effort will come out of the city’s Economic Development Trust Fund. Information on the microloans are available online at choosesantacruz.com/microloan. The city also is maintaining a coronavirus-related business resource portal online at choosesantacruz.com/coronavirus.

The City of Capitola also took a step to provide emergency community support during its April 9 City Council meeting. Council members approved spending as much as $10,000 of the Capitola Community Grant Program to offset costs for several emergency needs. Approved coronavirus-related spending included providing $4,500 worth of personal protective equipment and disinfectants/sanitizers and enhanced decontamination equipment for city police, public works and other department employees; $3,500 toward updating the city website’s communication features; $1,080 to cover waived online city recreation program registration fees; and $470 to install several temporary handwashing stations.