Ponca City Chamber of Commerce News
Mike Seals - April 10, 2020 11:40 am
Congratulations Ponca City Monthly Kelsey Wagner and your team Jennifer Vaughan, Robyn Ryan, Beverly Bryant, Carey Head, and Brenda Baugh. What a great new publication for Ponca City. Also outstanding cover featuring our amazing Mayor Homer Nicholson. Thank you and we look forward to seeing a new magazine every month and reading wonderful things about Ponca City and our people.
What the Chamber is offering to do to help your business
We are offering our Chamber Member Businesses free space in our Email Blast to promote your business.
We are also offering to put what you are doing in these difficult times on our Chamber Facebook Page.
We are encouraging people to be safe but to Shop Ponca when possible.
We know many of you will bring what the customer wants to their car.
We have been promoting phoning the business and asking what you can do to accommodate their shopping needs.
We know several of you offer online shopping.
You are the backbone of Ponca City and in fact America.
What we can do, in a safe way, to keep all of you vibrant we are going to do!
Please help us promote this
We are encouraging people to save their receipts when shopping Ponca City.
Will you also promote this?
Then when we can open up our chamber lobby we will collect those receipts at the Chamber Office.
They will bring their receipt in with their name and phone number on the receipt.
Then on Monday, June 1 we will have a drawing and give away chamber bucks.
We will have one $500 winner and 5 – $100 winners.
Anything else you can think of please email us!!
From Governor Kevin Stitt
“We are seeing proof here in Oklahoma and across the country that our social distancing is working.” – Governor Kevin Stitt
Yesterday Governor Stitt and Oklahoma health officials gave an update from the Strategic National Stockpile warehouse on what is being done to distribute PPE to protect our health care workers and first responders.
Oklahoma has 5600 hospital beds, 958 ICU beds and almost 2,000 ventilators positioned across the state.
In addition, Oklahoma has 4 million pairs of gloves, 120,000 hospital gowns, 173,000 face shields and goggles, about 900,000 masks, and 110,000 respirators. We have PPE supplies on hand for our health care workers and first responders, and there is a system in place to replenish what they need daily should Oklahoma see a larger or sudden surge in COVID cases.
The CDC has also issued guidance to health care workers about how to conserve PPE and use it safely during this global supply crunch.
Governor Stitt said one of his top goals is keeping health care workers safe and asked any health care workers that feel they are being asked to use personal protective equipment in a manner that is not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to call his office so he can contact the hospital to find out if they are receiving enough supplies or if there is some other problem.
“If you’re short on PPE or if your hospital is asking you to preserve it beyond the CDC guidelines, I need to hear about it,” Stitt said.
While these numbers show Oklahoma is in good shape today with PPE, Governor Stitt reiterated that we are still preparing for a surge on hospital capacity.
“I know how badly many of us want to be able to start to get our lives back to normal. What we do together over the next 3 weeks will significantly impact what we can do after April 30.” – Governor Stitt
- Oklahomans must take seriously the guidance of CDC and the orders by the State and local officials.
- Do not gather with people outside of your family members.
- Stay home. Stay 6 feet apart from others.
- Wash your hands.
- Businesses – move your workforce to teleworking asap.
- The latest CDC guidelines advise people to wear masks when out in public. This is not a substitute for staying 6-feet apart, but Oklahomans and businesses are encouraged to review the CDC’s latest guidance and to continue to be proactive in stopping the spread of COVID in Oklahoma.
As the Governor said yesterday, we will get through this together. Stay strong — and continue to work with us through the end of April.
This is a critical time in our fight to slow the spread of COVID-19, protect our public health and get our life back to normal as soon as we can.
For the most up to date information and updates please visit the Oklahoma State Department of Health website at coronavirus.health.ok.gov. For questions, please call the OSDH Coronavirus Call Center at 1-877-215-8336.
–Team Stitt
Important information from Ben Evans with Pioneer Technology Center:
UPDATES On The SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)
- There are already a number of FRAUD sites to gather business information based on the EIDL Loan Application process. Type in www.sba.gov in your browser URL field to be sure. If you aren’t sure how to navigate from there, contact me and we can navigate this together.
- There are about 25,000 EIDL applications backlogged since March 6, 2020 and processing has just begun March 30, 2020. Applications will certainly take a while longer to process. It is reasonable to expect first approvals near the end of April or early May at best. We do not yet know if an existing EIDL loan application can be withdrawn.
- If you’ve already applied for the EIDL loan, it may limit your ability to successfully apply for a PPP Loan.
- You must certify that there is no conflict between the two loans which may be hard to justify. A pending EIDL application might be a “red flag” delay for the PPP loan process
- While it is still too early for the SBA to integrate accounting for the loan funding, they will certainly link the data of the two loan programs together in the near future. Businesses who apply or participate in both EIDL and PPP programs may face detailed accounting questions. That accounting process and process has yet to be defined.
The Oklahoma Department Of Commerce is hosting an informational call every Tuesday and Thursday at 2:00 p.m. This can be attended by any companies that might be interested. Register at the link below.
Prepare For A Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Application
- The application process will primarily be through an online portal with your bank and should be very fast (days). If there are potential conflicts, your application will likely enter an ‘exception’ process – which may involve a lot more time – in a manual process, so preparation is important.
- Talk to your CPA. Decide how much money you want to apply for (max is 2.5 times average 2019 payroll or $10M, whichever is less). Remember, THIS IS A LOAN even though it has attractive forgiveness provisions. There are lending parameters, interest rates, payment requirements and tax implications that need to be considered.
- Talk to your attorney to make sure you can testify (under penalty of perjury) that you are eligible according to the 3 eligibility requirements:
- Have less than 500 employees (all affiliates regardless of location)
- Are the sole-proprietors, self-employed individuals or independent contractors
- Were in business (making payroll) on February 15, 2020
- Contact the SBA liaison at your bank to indicate your intent and receive any specific instruction. Though all SBA lending partners will have to use an SBA-approved process, there may be an “invitation” protocol to avoid overloading web and bank resources.
- Prepare to certify that there is no conflict in your application. This means that the business (not the bank nor the SBA) will take on loan liability themselves.
- You cannot apply for two PPP loans
- You cannot have an SBA EIDL loan for the same use as a PPP loan.
You need to decide what you want to use the PPP money for (i.e. payroll support, such as employee salaries, paid sick or medical leave, insurance premiums, or mortgage, rent, and utility payments)
If you have already applied for the EIDL loan to use for payroll and operating expenses, you likely won’t be able to justify a PPP loan
- Be prepared to provide normal loan documentation, including the following: 2019 employee payroll statements, 1099 costs (no 1099 for services), Health care costs and Company retirement plan costs. The requirements are still being refined based on the language of the Act.
PPP Loan Forgiveness Details
- The purpose of the Paycheck Protection Program is to help you retain your employees, at their current base pay. If you keep all of your employees, the entirety of the loan will be forgiven.
- If you still lay off employees, the forgiveness will be reduced by the percent decrease in the number of employees.
- If your total payroll expenses (on workers making less than $100,000 annually) decreases by more than 25 percent, loan forgiveness will be reduced by the same amount.
- If you have already laid off some employees, you can still be forgiven for the full amount of your payroll cost if you rehire your employees by June 30, 2020.
- If the full principal of the PPP loan is forgiven, the borrower is not responsible for the interest accrued in the 8-week covered period.
- Any remainder of the loan that is not forgiven will operate according to the loan terms (i.e. 4% interest, payment over 10 years). If you would like to use the Paycheck Protection Program for other business-related expenses, like inventory, you can, but that portion of the loan will not be forgiven.
- The covered period during which expenses can be forgiven extends from February 15, 2020 to June 30, 2020. Borrowers can choose which 8 weeks they want to count towards the covered period, which can start as early as February 15, 2020.
- At some point the PPP program will come full-circle. Though there is a minimum of paperwork up front, when forgiveness is requested, paperwork will likely be required. Be prepared to fully account for how the money was spent in detail – linking dollars-received to dollars-spent.
If you have questions call Ben Evans on his cell phone at 405-880-1280.
Remember according to the SBA, these loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that cannot be paid because of the impact of COVID-19.
Again please know the Ponca City Chamber of Commerce is here for you and all of our businesses during this time. There is also forms available at damage.ok.gov. Please contact us if you need assistance.
