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Upland staff proposes $15,000 small-business expansion grants funded by $225,000 in ARPA; council seeks broader eligibility, social-media limits
Summary
Staff presented draft guidelines for a Small Business Expansion Grant: up to $15,000 per business, $225,000 in ARPA funding to help roughly 15 businesses, SBDC training requirements; councilmembers proposed raising the employee cap and capping social-media spending at $5,000.
Development Services Director Bob Dahlquist presented a draft Small Business Expansion Grant program to the Upland City Council on Nov. 25 that would use $225,000 in ARPA funds to provide grants of up to $15,000 to qualifying small businesses.
Under the draft guidelines, eligible applicants would have 10 FTE or fewer (or the equivalent FTE count combining full- and part-time staff) and annual gross sales of $500,000 or less. Proposed eligible uses include increasing building square footage, expanding indoor/outdoor seating, improving business service capacity, marketing and signage. Staff recommended requiring applicants to complete two training courses from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and a one-on-one consulting meeting as part of the grant process.
Councilmembers raised detailed questions about eligibility, vetting and program goals. One councilmember suggested increasing the employee threshold from 10 to 20 to broaden eligibility to intermediate-sized firms; another recommended capping social-media marketing spending at $5,000 of the $15,000 to limit high-risk influencer spending and to prioritize durable marketing materials. Staff confirmed the program would require itemized invoices and receipts, vet applicants for vendor legitimacy, and reconcile expenditures before disbursing funds.
Councilmember questions also prompted a suggested clarification to the ineligibility language to specify that applicants in arrears to city, state, or federal agencies would be ineligible. Staff said they would tighten that language and return the program guidelines and ARPA allocation to council for formal approval at the Dec. 9 meeting.
No grant awards were approved Nov. 25; council direction was limited to feedback on eligibility, vetting and reporting and to the timeline for returning with formal guidelines and funding allocation.
