SBA reports Pulaski loan activity and urges use of iWORKS for FEMA reimbursement

Lane Davis, a representative of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience, updated Pulaski County Fiscal Court members on federal disaster loan activity and deadlines during Tuesday’s meeting.

Davis said that across Kentucky there were 246 SBA disaster loan applications—201 for homes, 32 for businesses and 13 for economic injury; 83 applications had been offered totaling just under $11.3 million. For Pulaski County specifically, Davis said 46 residents applied, 12 loans had been offered for just under $800,000 and nine loans had been disbursed for just under $429,000. He said four Pulaski applications were still in progress and urged residents to apply before the 60-day grace period ends around Oct. 22.

Separately, a county official briefed the court on FEMA flood-recovery projects and emphasized that county road crews must use iWORKS, the county’s project-tracking system, to record time, equipment and material. The official said 15 projects related to February flooding were in the system, three had reached review and were awaiting state/FEMA sign-off and the remaining 11 required detailed timesheet and equipment backup to secure reimbursement. The speaker said FEMA will demand verifiable records to reimburse county spending and that failure to use iWORKS will hamper reimbursement claims.

Davis also said that the local SBA disaster recovery center at the Emergency Operations Center will close its on-site customer service after Thursday; continued assistance would be available online at sba.gov/disaster or by telephone for applicants with files already in progress. The court asked that municipal offices help circulate application and deadline information to residents.