The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still accepting applications for businesses to ask for reimbursement under the Request for Public Assistance said Boyle Emergency Management Director Mike Wilder. The RPA is available to businesses and government agencies that, “Have done something to save lives and protect property, protect public health and safety, or lessen or thwart the threat of a catastrophe in a distinctive area,” Wilder said.

FEMA offered the same assistance to area businesses during the 2009 ice storm, Wilder said.

FEMA is authorized to provide this assistance. However, just because a business fills out the request form, “it doesn’t guarantee you anything,” Wilder said. “It doesn’t give you a blank check.” It just lets FEMA be able to determine if the business is eligible for assistance, he added.

The COVID-19 pandemic “is a different type of event. We’ve never experienced anything like this. There’s lots to iron out,” Wilder said.

If a business or entity meets the RPA criteria, Wilder said it will be a 75/20 match. In other words, the federal government will pay 75%; the state will pay 12.5 % and the entity will be responsible for the other 12.5% Wilder said.

When FEMA comes to the area to determine who qualifies for financial assistance the agency or organization has to be able to show detailed documentation of what it had spent, Wilder said. For example, extra gas, extra man hours and any receipts associated with meeting the criteria.

Local agencies that have already submitted the RPA form include: Boyle County Fiscal Court, City of Danville; Boyle County Board of Education, Kentucky School for the Deaf, McDowell Health, Boyle County Health Department, Centenary Methodist Church and the Salvation Army, Wilder said.

Any business who thinks they may meet the criteria can request the simple, one-page form from Wilder by calling his office at (859) 238-1109.