126 Million Ways to Make an Impact

126 million ways to make an impact. This is the Elevate Polk podcast, and I'm your host Chrissanne Long. And with me, as always, from a distance, is Rob Arturi.

Hello from a distance.

I'm tired of this from a distance thing.

Yeah, me too. It might be Hopefully not too much longer before we can just say, you know what, we'll take our chances.

Safe to convene in person. I'm waiting for those, those days.

Well, you know what, here's the thing. I don't think it's going to be, quote, safe to convene for, I don't know, the foreseeable future. I mean, think about that, right? Like, there's— what is safety? I mean, is it safe to drive your car? You from your office to mine and record an episode? I mean, I guess for the most part it is, but there's still a risk, right?

Yeah, well, that's a good point. So my mom, when I was a kid, not when I was a kid, when I was a teenager and I started to drive and I would leave the house, her exiting words as I was saying, "Bye, Mom, love you, hug hug, kiss kiss," she would say, take a positive risk. And we had this discussion at the dining room table when I'm like, why are you— why do you say that? She says, well, leaving the house is a risk. And when you go out into the world, you're going to take risks. But I want you to think about taking positive risks. So I think it's also like weighing out the balance between the risk and the reward, or, or, or am I willing to take on this risk? And so she brought to my attention the idea of, you know, the fact that life is a risk.

It is. It is. And I don't know that there's necessarily the same risk tolerance for every person. So different people have different definitions of that. But I think essentially what you're saying is correct, that there's— everything does involve risk and there is no getting around it. What we do is we become comfortable with the risk. The problem with the COVID COVID-19, coronavirus, whatever you want to call it, is that we don't really know how to wrap our heads around the risk. You know, I mean, if you remember when we went— we first started this whole thing, we were told like the death rate would be anywhere from 4 to 7% and millions of people could die. That's a heck of a risk. That's certainly more risk than just about anything else most people do in their daily lives. Right. And I think people were genuinely scared, and I understand that. But I think as time has gone on, we've taken action accordingly. But there comes a point where when we see that risk has been mitigated somewhat— not that this virus is nothing, but it is nothing like we were first told or that they first knew. And we have new information. So we have to make that shift because there's also a risk of not opening. We don't hear about that a lot, but there is a risk in just doing nothing.

So before we get into the opening conversation, I want to take you to where I was going as you were talking about. So we talked about the risk that my mother kind of instilled in me is like, life is a risk. But then there's this story that I have to tell you, because when you were talking, I'm like, this reminds me of that story. So when I was a 7-year-old girl, my brother would have been— he's 4 years older, he would have been 11, right? 7 plus 4. Okay, good. And he was on the swim team. He was, you know, obviously doing things that, you know, I was behind him in my advancement. And we went— we were in Winter Haven. We were at the Rowdy Gaines Pool. And the Rowdy Gaines Pool had this high dive, this very, very, very high, high dive, uh, diving board. And as an adult, my mother has told me the story of thinking that her child was fearless, right? Like seeing her 7-year-old daughter climbing all the way up to the very, very high, high, high dive and just diving off there like she had no fear whatsoever. And so I, I I never told her how terrified I was of climbing up this diving board and diving off. But for me, there was no choice. I didn't have a choice because I had to do it in spite of my fear. And I say that story because it's just, it's one of those things for me. Sometimes life is a risk, but it's also a calculated risk and an understanding of the reward on the other side. And so the reward for me was much greater than the fear. So I climbed all the way up, my butterflies, my fear, I could have died. I don't know what I was going to do if I died, but, you know, I was going to do this because my brother did it, right? And that was the whole motivation that I had behind it. So I hate to, like, minimize the risk discussion that we're having, but at the same time, all of our lives, I feel like we've been taking these calculated risks and making decisions about things that on the other side would reward us with something that we were willing to take that risk for on the, on the front end, right? Does that make any sense?

Well, it does. I, I, from an, you know, I have an economics, uh, academic background, right? So for me, I look at a lot of these things, uh, through that lens. And for me, the term that I like to use is at what cost, right? So one of the things that I think you would get some pushback from that story. One of the, one of the things people would say is, well, that's true, but diving off the high dive was a risk for you, but nobody else. You didn't potentially jeopardize anybody else because you jumped off the high dive. And, and the, the wisdom that they're drawing from there is the idea that by, by some people being out and about spreading the virus, it then puts other people at risk.

Right.

I understand that. However, there's a litany of other variables there. This is how I explain it to folks, because I have these conversations quite often and people just think, well, you know, I see surveys say we're opening up too quickly or whatever, as if that— I could talk for an hour on that. But, but the point is very simple. Right now, we will have a vaccine in 6 months, maybe 8 months. Maybe it won't even work and it will all be for nothing. But right now, the only thing that will potentially help and actually save lives of the most vulnerable among us is reaching a level of herd immunity where the virus is no longer easily transmitted from person to person because a vast number of people have had it, recovered, and have antibodies.

Right.

That's the best protection that you can have for a vulnerable populace. At a minimum, the people that are willing to take risks right now, assuming that they're not willfully putting other people in jeopardy, but they actually do so for the benefit of those other people. Now, if you're an at-risk person, if you're concerned, you have every right to stay home, to wear a mask, to do all of these things. I'm not looking— I don't think we should be reckless. But at the same time, the people that are willing to do that, that are willing to re-engage life and take that risk while many others are just not ready. And that's understandable. But those people who are willing to jump off that high dive are actually doing somewhat of a service to others.

Right.

And, and I think that's important that we understand that, because I think we don't have to have this, this, this idea that one side is right and one side is wrong. It's just what's right for you. And what might be right for somebody else.

Yeah. So, so let me qualify the things that my mother was trying to say in her statement of take a positive risk. So I was leaving the house, I was getting into a car, I was driving myself in a vehicle. And the things that she would encourage me to make sure that I did when she said take a positive risk was put on my seatbelt, Drive the speed limit. Don't do things that would put me under the influence or make it so that I was not in control of my faculties when I was driving. So these were— I'm taking risk, but I'm also taking risk with a calculated mindset of I can do things to make myself safer, even though this is a risky endeavor by driving a vehicle. So I think that that That adds to me, it's like the idea of, well, if I wasn't driving a seatbelt and I got into an accident, the risk is much higher and I would be injured. So these are the things that we can do. There are things that we now know that we can do to prevent ourselves from being at a higher risk of being infected with COVID-19 because we now know what we can do. Either it's social distancing or it's wearing a mask or it's wearing gloves or it's going places where we know that there are particular actions being taken to make it a safer environment for us. So that's kind of where I feel my mind is set at. Like, we can still continue to live life, but we don't necessarily live it in the exact same way that we lived it, you know, 6 weeks ago.

Well, I think that we have to make some, some conscious changes because we whether we reopen or not, we still have to contend with the fact that there, there is a serious virus. Is it as apocalyptic as we thought? Maybe not, but it is still very serious, especially for certain segments of the population. But I think that we do have to start reopening things and we have to start re-engaging normal life, not just because we're tired of this, not just because it's getting old and we're bored and, you know, it's just not fun being locked up in your house. Our economy cannot take it much longer.

And we're at the breaking point for the economy.

We are. Everything that I have ever known about economics and about the way that our economy was functioning going into this led me to believe that we don't have nearly as much resiliency as we think.

Yeah.

And we have never shut our economy down like this before, ever.

Ever.

And it was, it was an unknown. And we did it because we thought millions would die. Millions of people. Thankfully, they were really, really wrong. Thankfully.

And every, and every death is important for us to acknowledge. That, of course, is one too many deaths.

Of course. But the problem with thinking of it in those absolutes Right. Where they say, well, one, one death is too many. Well, of course, if, if it's you being the executioner, sure. But if you use that logic with other things, right. So traffic fatalities are a direct function of speed. The faster you go, the more likely you are to die in a car crash. If that's the case, why don't we make every speed limit in the entire country 10 miles an hour? Why don't we make it so that nobody could drive fast enough to kill themselves? Because every life counts, right?

Mm-hmm.

Well, no, the fact of the matter is we understand that everything is about balance and we live in a free society. And it's not that we don't care. It's not that we think that some people— it's okay if some people die because we do try and mitigate risks. But we, we understand as, as practical thinking adults that everything is a trade-off, that there are certain numbers of people who are going to die every year as a result of traffic fatalities. Many of them—

As a result of life. I mean, traffic fatalities is one bucket, but just living life and being alive.

Right. But I use the traffic example because it is one where many of those traffic fatalities are— the victims of those are not necessarily doing anything that is their fault. Right. So you could say that people die from heart disease. But they also eat, you know, 5 Big Macs a week, right? So they have some degree of responsibility for that.

There's something wrong with eating 5 Big Macs a week.

I, I would not advise it. I'm, I'm not personally a fan. If I was gonna eat a burger, uh, 5 burgers a week, I would not have a Big Mac.

But it would be a Whopper or what? Where do you go?

No, I'm not a, I'm not a burger— I can't, I can't do Burger King. Um, no, I, I prefer to make my own, but You know, but I think that we have to be pragmatic about it. And I think the fearmongering has just whipped people up into a frenzy. And it's, it's really, it's crazy. And I, you know, the other thing was I heard people say, well, two-thirds of Americans think that we're just, we're reopening things too soon, too quickly. And I hear that and I think to myself, well, should we wait another month? Well, why not two? Why not six? Where do you draw the line? Who gets to draw the line? When will you be sure you will feel safe? And the people that answer that question, I think it's too early, they can't answer those subsequent questions. They don't, they just don't know. And what they're really afraid of is what they don't know. And I understand that. And to the, to the degree I can, I empathize with it, but it cannot be the basis of public policy. You cannot make public policy decisions based on somebody being afraid of a possible outcome.

So, so let me, let me give you some stories without any names, obviously, but conversations that I've had in the trenches in the small business side of things when we're talking now, since we're talking about reopening and we're going to get to the, you know, kind of the purpose of the title of the show today, but I've had, I had a conversation. Let's just, let's just break it up into 4 weeks. All right. So front, the front 2 weeks and the back 2 weeks. So on the front 2 weeks, we're talking about when the order, the Safer at Home order was made. And the conversation I had with the business and some of the cautionary messages was like, why aren't we XYZ, 1, 2, 3? And I don't really want to get into the specifics. It was just more cautionary, more let's, let's hunker down, let's close our shops, let's just get through this. Let's do, do, do, do, do. Okay. Sure. And 2 weeks later, when the PPP funding had been pretty much exhausted and the panic of the reality was setting in, the mindset 2 weeks before had been, all right, the federal government is passing this law to allow small businesses to have paycheck protection, and it's, it's planned. They're gonna, they're gonna execute this quickly. We're all gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine. Let's, let's stay home. We'll pay our employees, we'll stay open, or we'll close, but we'll continue to pay our employees because that was the sentiment behind it. And then 2 weeks later, the message comes out of PPP— PPP funding is exhausted and we don't really know what we're going to do next. And the, the mindset was shifted and there wasn't like an acknowledgment that went back 2 weeks where people were like, Okay, I thought I was going to be okay economically, financially, but now 2 weeks later, I know that I'm not. And now I'm panicking because they didn't really necessarily want to go there. But the reality is that's what was driving them. They thought that they were going to be okay economically, financially, because they had an anticipatory philosophy that things were going to be okay.

Sure.

Now things are not going to be okay. And there is no idea when they will be okay. And I closed down and I followed the suggestions of the CDC and the government. I followed the rules, but I'm gonna die anyway, right? I mean, not die meaning die physically, but die, my business is gonna die. And so for a lot of people, and I always have this conversation when I talk about small business and why, why I am so passionate about small business. Because the identity of our businesses are wrapped up in who we are as individuals. So it's not just a job for us, it's who we are. And to take that ability for us to continue to be who we are is kind of like a death. And, and that's a, that's a scary thing that we can't really quantify. It's, it's not about paying our employees or how many square footage, how much square footage we have our businesses or, or whether we even matter in the space of this community, because I think that's what it boils down to. It's like, oh, well, how many employees do you have? Oh, you only have one? You don't matter. Oh, you have 5 employees? Well, you're a little bit more significant. Oh, you have 30 employees? Wow. You're very significant. We need to make sure we do what we can to keep you floating.

Here's, here's what I think. What you're describing. Is that evolution, right? So people go into the situation, they start out thinking one thing. Now, some people thought from the very beginning, oh, this is a conspiracy, it's nothing, blah, blah, blah. That was certainly not the majority. Uh, some people were absolutely petrified, but a majority of people went, wow, if this is real, if this is as bad as they say, this could be really, really bad. And we were watching video of, of people in Italy dealing with this, so we did have a visual of this. Now, our country didn't turn out like Italy, but by the same token, we have to deal— we have to evaluate the actions taken based upon what we knew at the time. Now, what you're describing was people making a calculated decision, going, okay, if I close for 2 weeks and I get some support, I can pay my employees, and this will prevent us from going off the healthcare cliff. Okay, fine. And then what we find out is that fast forward 2 weeks and everything changes. It reminds me of that episode that we did where the cavalry ain't coming, right? Mm-hmm. And when that happens, I mean, we did a whole episode about it. When that happens, you realize, okay, I have to reassess. The cavalry is not coming. Now my situation has changed. I cannot make the same— well, let me rephrase that. Will I make the same decision based upon different information today as I did with different information 2 weeks ago?

Exactly.

For most people, the answer is no. For some, the answer is yes. What I have found is that those who have the same conclusion, who reach the same conclusion, typically have fewer variables that are at odds. Right. So maybe you work for a company that is paying you to work from home. It is inconvenient. You have your kids there. Your dog is interrupting your Zoom meetings every day and it is not fun for you. But your paycheck is still coming and overall the worst thing was trying to find toilet paper. If those are your variables, then whether it's 2 weeks or 6 weeks, the risk reward is very different. When you're a business owner and what you said was, you know, it's tied to who we are as people. And I think it's important for you people to understand who are not business owners. It's not just because we identify as whatever job we have. This is how you make a living. And people tend to think that business owners just have these piles of cash lying, lying around, of cash. Sure. Because every business owner is, is wealthy and greedy and has just piles of piles of cash just ready for a rainy day. And that is totally patently absurd and, and not the case for about 99.8% of businesses out there. So when you're talking about small businesses, they have to make those adjustments. They have to reassess. And I was stunned by the shaming that was going on. And again, it was typically done by people who had less skin in the game. Some had no skin in the game.

And it brings you to, to the statement of walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you pass judgment on where they are in that moment in time.

Sure.

And it's hard, it's very hard to do in the moment because you're in your place, you're walking in your shoes, and you see things in a completely different way than the other person. But I really want to get to where we are in Polk County at this moment in time and start to focus on kind of what actions are being taken and how we're going to get through this as a community. And so we've talked about the PPP, the Paycheck Protection Program, we've talked about about, um, other state and federal funding that has been made available to businesses. But, um, the government also included a local fund for the CARES Act that is now kind of our reality in Polk County. So you may have seen in the news recently that the Polk County Commission is now deciding what they're going to do with $126 million. On the surface, I'm satisfied with the way that things are rolling out. I was at the commission meeting this week and kind of listening to the sentiment and the mindset of the commissioners. I feel very confident in the way that they're thinking because I think they're thinking in a direction that's in line with the way that I'm thinking. And if someone's listening to this podcast and they think that it's not, that's fine too. But I was reassured that where they're going is a direction that I'm glad that they're going. So if you'll give me the opportunity, I'll break it down for our listeners as to kind of what's coming down the pike and how they've decided to allocate. There are basically 4 different sections of how Polk County plans on allocating the $126 million.

Please.

So the first group is for— the first area of focus is the small business and economic development section, and they've decided as of this moment, $40 million of the $126 million is going to go to small business and economic development. And the way that I understand it is that basically businesses from 1 employee to 25 employees will have the opportunity to have access to some of the funding. They've broken it down based into 3 different tiers. So the first tier is the self-employed business with 1 employee will have access to $1,000, and then 2 employees to 9 employees will have access to $2,500, and then those with 11 to 25 employees will have access to $5,000. And there will be a process. They're still working on the application and the details, but I think the framework is pretty much that's how it's going to go. And I If it changes, that's not for me to be able to say. I'm just kind of reporting what I heard today or what I heard this week. And so from there, the opportunity then becomes there's $40 million going back into the local community to help generate or inspire commerce and to hopefully keep some of these businesses with rent paid, utilities paid, some employees paid, being able to utilize those funds for for their own expenses. So let's chat about that a little bit, and then we'll go into 2, 3, and 4.

Sure. So, and I also, I want to say, I think I was under the impression that if you have received other assistance, whether it's EIDL or PPP loans, that you're not eligible for this.

Correct. So the sentiment from the commission is that the desire for them to be able to provide these funds is for those businesses that have kind of slipped through the cracks and haven't been able to access any funds from any other sources. And so yes, if they— if you haven't received funding from PPP or the Economic Injury Disaster Loan or bridge loan from the state or other funding, then the hope is that these funds will help to augment or support you in wherever you need the help at this point in time. And the other hope is that this can be done in a very quick way. So it's not like you've got to go through a huge application process to be eligible. It's really just how quickly can we get you to qualify yourself as a business who, who fits these qualifications, and how do we get that money to you as quickly as possible. So from that standpoint, I think that that's I think that's a really good thing that the community, that the commission is doing. And I'm excited that at the end of the day, where I'm sitting and looking at this community, I'm saying, wow, we are now investing in small businesses in a way that I've never seen us do.

Right. Well, I have to, you know, you have to tip your hat that You know, it's nice that we, the county, received this money, but I think that they're looking to use it in a judicious way. I think the idea of giving, of targeting smaller businesses, because, you know, the term small business applies, is pretty broad, and, um, you know, they're applying it really to micro businesses, really, if you really want to get technical.

And for anyone who's listening, isn't familiar with the term and all of the language, hit me up. I can give you the down-low, but here's where it breaks down. From the SBA standpoint, 499-employee businesses are considered by technically by the SBA standards a small business. So the funds here are really trying to focus on helping the smaller businesses and the micro businesses. And I tend to define the micro businesses as 0 to 9 employees, but we're going into the 25 and that's That's good. I think that we just need to make sure we can economically impact those that need it the most. That's what I hope that we're able to do with this fund.

And that makes sense. I think that that's— I think it will help. I think it will help. It'll be a benefit. And I think it's targeting the right, the right groups, those falling through the cracks. I think that's a good, a good use of some of those funds.

And the qualification here, too, is also that these businesses have to indicate a negative impact from COVID-related challenges. And that's going to be important because, you know, some businesses are actually flourishing as a result of some of the changes in the marketplace. So hopefully businesses aren't going to apply for these funds just saying, yeah, yeah, I've been negatively impacted, but they're bankrolling because they're in an industry that's flourishing.

Right, right. And, and I think that's, that's important because definitely some, some businesses were hurt far, far more than others. And I think that it's important that we take a look at those separately. So what else? So we've got the money going to small businesses. And again, these are not loans, right? These are just payments.

These are grants. They do not need to be repaid. And we're still not sure if they are going to be taxed. I reached out to some of my contacts to find out some clarification from the Department of Treasury, and we do not have clarification on that. So the sentiment is, based on what was done by the PPP, is that it will not, but we don't have a black and white on that yet.

Okay. All right. Well, and I guess in some ways, if your business is truly impacted, the likelihood that $1,000, $2,500, even $5,000 is going to kind of put you in the black, so to speak, to a degree where your eventual tax liability from it is going to be an issue, then you probably didn't need it in the first place. I think there's—

Or the money isn't going to change the trajectory of your future.

Right, right.

Sadly.

Right.

I wish that it could, but it might not be what you need. It might just be better to cut your losses and move into a different direction, which is not normally the Chrissanne message that I I give. But if, if that's what we're coming down to, I think we need to kind of be looking at other options.

Well, that's a reality of this, and I think people need to hear that, that there are some of your favorite businesses that are— that exist right now, or at least existed 6, 7, 8 weeks ago, you will never see again. They will never be back, right? And, you know, as much as it, it's painful to think about the, the loved ones that, that many have lost in all of this. There are numerous casualties. And, and, you know, there— you may not end up knowing anybody that lost their life as a result of COVID And I hope that you don't. But more than likely, you will know at least one, one business, one, one livelihood, one employee, or many, or hopefully not many more that will never come back.

Right. I'm going to be straightforward and honest with you. As I was watching all of this unfold as a small business, it's a tenuous role. I mean, you just, you don't have a lot of security. So when it was rolling out and I'm watching and I'm thinking, okay, are we going to survive? That was the big question in my mind. Sure. And I think the question was, are we going to survive? Well, if not, we'll have a good excuse for closing our business. And I don't want that to sound silly, but it's just like the justification of being able to say, hey, we gave it all we had, but COVID came and we closed. Sometimes that's just what some of us with very strong egos and pride really kind of need. So I don't want anyone listening to think that I want you to close because this is the the time, but at the same time, it's like we also need to take the opportunity to, to, to go out in style, you know?

Right. Well, way to make lemonade, right? Right. Yeah. No, I get it. You know, it gives you an opportunity. It gives you, you know. But you're right. Some of those businesses were on their way out. I'd venture to say that most of the ones that are for sure gone were probably on shaky ground to begin with. But a lot of it, a lot of them are going to depend upon this recovery. How long does it in fact take to get to that point? And, you know, I mean, restaurants right now that are open, they're limited to 25% capacity. I don't know of a restaurant that could survive for very long with 25% capacity.

But I will say that the restaurants that I've heard feedback from since we started the reopening this week, the feedback from the customers is it feels so good to be able to come to a restaurant and enjoy a meal and be able to just sit down and relax and not worry about ordering in advance and coming to pick it up and doing all of these extra things. So it's celebrating some of these moments and saying this is a good thing and focusing on— and this is a good— this I'm telling myself, this lesson. At the moment that I'm saying it because I have kind of been caught up in some frustrations and some negativity. And so I'm saying, okay, Chrissanne, focus on the good things, focus on the optimistic things that are coming now, you know, that we're starting to reopen instead of it's not good enough. Well, it's only 25%, but it's 25% more than we had last week. Sure. So let's look at those things and really focus on what we can do with those opportunities. And I'm excited to see Downtown Lakeland is going to have a Mother's Day picnic and there's some really good opportunities that are happening. So I hope that we can continue to focus on the positives and not belabor the what we don't haves kind of statements.

Yeah, and I think we've kind of beat up on the people who, you know, the stay-at-home crowd. But I think we also have to address the other side of that, which is, you know, those who will not be happy until everything was, you know, if we acted as if there was no COVID ever, you know, that's not realistic either. And, you know, there's going to be a way of doing this so that we can mitigate risk.

Yeah. And so let me just make a couple of comments about our commission and just some of the things that I observed and heard as we were talking about This part of the $126 million, but also all of the other parts, there's a concern for those that don't have access to the resources that they need. So we're looking at, okay, well, we're going to have an online application so people will be able to substantiate their need for small business funding online, but then we need to make sure that we're not missing somebody who's not able to do that through the internet. And so now we're looking at ways that we can do the manual side of application and what that process looks like. And that's actually going to be more, probably more important when we come to the human services bucket of the $126 million. But I want to just kind of put some accolades out there for the commission because what I heard when I was listening to them is a truly empathetic and aware and sensitive to the needs group of people. There's 5 people up there that are saying, "We just want to make sure nobody gets left out." Right. And I don't know that I've ever really heard that in such a resounding message. I don't think anybody wants to leave anybody out in any kind of group capacity, groupthink kind of standpoint. But I felt like that was the resounding— it's like we need to do the extra work to make sure that nobody gets left out. And I just wanted to make sure that I celebrated what I heard and let pass that on to those that weren't participating in listening to the meeting or aren't going to listen to the meeting or aren't going to read the newspaper to get that message. So those are just some thoughts that came from participating in that conversation.

Yeah, I think they're doing a great job. I really do. I think this is a— I applaud the County Commission for taking the lead on reopening. And being aggressive with that and understanding the need for the community of what, why that's important. And simultaneously also looking at it as how we can do it as safely as possible.

So shout out to—

they've done a good job.

Shout out to our electeds. That's— it was really good, refreshing to hear. So the second bucket of funding, the $40 million for small business, as I broke down before, and then $30 million in the human services area to address the needs of rent, electricity, utilities, food assistance, and just the general individual needs from a household perspective that if you're not working for a small business or if you're not a small business owner, you have these needs. And so I listened to the conversation and as it kind of came down, I believe where they settled was the cap for the access or the availability from a public standpoint was $75,000 household income. And then also partnering with the United Way of Central Florida to help get these funds into the hands of the people who need them. So some of the funds, and I believe it's— I can't speak to it because I didn't write it down. So I believe it's 10 and 20. So $10 million directly to the public from through the portal that will be provided through the county, and then $20 million that will be allocated through the partnership with United Way so that those funds can get into the hands of those businesses. And pay attention to how powerful our United Way is. I heard some things in the meeting that made me give— gave me some awareness of— there's a public perception. But I think that the reality is that we want to make sure that the money is going to the right cause for the right reasons. So if we just said, hey, here's $10 million, or here's $30 million we're going to give away to the public, come and get it, and we had no way of, of accounting for it or even proving that it was being used for the right reasons, or, or, you know, or, or just maybe it could become drug money, or maybe it can become prostitution money, or whatever you wanted it to be. Hey, free money from the government, let's go, you know, do what we want, but we have an oversight through organizations, through United Way, to make sure that it's being used for the right reasons. And I think it's still there for people who need it. Yeah, it's exactly right. It's there for the people that need it for the right reasons, to ensure that those that are struggling to survive right now because of the COVID crisis are not going to fall, you know, fall through the cracks.

Right.

Well, I would love to have Christina Kreiser-Jackson from United Way on a future episode just to kind of talk through some of those challenges that they're dealing with. They're in the trenches, they're doing food drops, they're making sure that people have what they need. 211, we talked about it on a previous episode, but I would really like to just kind of hone in specifically on the human services side of Polk County and get some awareness out there about what the, the community is doing.

Yeah, well, let's see if we can get her on the show and she can tell us about some of those things that they're doing, um, and kind of give us a little some more specifics about it. But, uh, I think suffice to say, I think the county is— this, this $126 million, just kind of tie it all together, is, uh, was rather unexpected. It was not money that was lobbied for It just kind of happened. And it's a, it's a positive thing. There's no strings attached to it. It's not like, you know, high-speed rail funding or anything else. I'm, I'm normally— what is the old adage? Beware of Romans bearing gifts. You know, when, whenever, whenever there's free money from Washington, I'm a natural skeptic. But in this particular case, everything I've seen is basically saying, as long as you use this money for this specific intended purpose, there are no strings, which I think is a good thing. And I think our county commission really is trying to make the best decision possible for the overall county.

Right. And the cautionary language is that there will be an audit and we will make sure that we used it for the right reasons. And we have to account for each and every dollar that was spent for that purpose. So it's, it's, it's encouraging to know that we have leadership. I'm very impressed with Bill Beasley, our county manager, and just making sure that he's guiding the commission in the right way and helping provide the framework for— I mean, this is a feat. I mean, yeah, I, you know, it's humorous in some ways because it's like, okay, here's $126 million, now figure out how to get it to your people. And the challenges are immense in trying to understand what that undertaking is all about. So hats off to the county staff and to our county commissioners, each and every one of you, because I feel like there's an unprecedented experience. I was— have— I had a— we've had several conversations through Bridge with, with Martha Santiago, and one of the dialogues I had with her is, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now. I really wouldn't want that pressure, that stress, that worry, that concern. So I know that there's a lot on their shoulders, and I want to make sure that they know that we appreciate them.

It's, it's like our very own, uh, Brewster's Millions, right? Exactly. Remember that movie from the '80s where he had to spend like, I don't know, $30 million so he could inherit a couple hundred million dollars or something? We had to do it in 30 days.

It's like, it's not as easy as you As you think, I was more focused on Punky Brewster. But, you know, it was—

it's a funny movie with Richard Pryor. But the idea is that it's not as easy to spend, you know, that many millions. Now, granted, that was, you know, 35 years ago. It's probably a little bit easier to spend that much today. But right. Nevertheless, so.

But they were very good-natured in the way that they approached this. So I think that that's— it's laudable.

Good word.

All right, so the third, and I'll wrap this up pretty quickly, these last two are going to be quick, but the third area or focus is on the medical and the public antibody testing, and I know this is right up your alley because you've been talking about more testing and more opportunities for testing. So there is a $30 million allocation toward putting not just the frontlines and the county staff to be able to get tested as well as the healthcare professionals, but also putting dollars to organizing ways that the public themselves can also be tested. And there's a lot to work out. Dr. Banerjee was there to kind of report how this might be planned and organized. So I believe the next step for the commission is to set up some conversations with the healthcare professionals in the community and start figuring out how that's going to happen, but they do have it earmarked in the sense of for the next, you know, however long it takes for us to figure it out. So people can have peace of mind. Hey, I've been tested. I tested positive or I tested negative and now I need to figure out what I need to do about that. It's just the lack of awareness is what's probably causing most of us a lot of concerns. And so I will— we talked about our survey on a previous episode, but the survey has now kind of wrapped up. And I want to just say thank you publicly. You keep telling me I don't need to, but I will anyway, for helping put that survey together, because there were several things that happened as a result of that. And I think it helped to identify some areas of concern. That the commissioners can now look at and go, okay, well, what do we want to do about that? But I think the biggest thing that I took away from the survey is that we don't have a lot of data in the area of small businesses. So—

Right.

Sorry, I forgot that I was done talking about small businesses, but I'm never really done talking about small businesses. So it's just, it's a starting point and I want us to use this as an opportunity for us to not waste this moment and say, let's keep talking about how to continue gathering data. I am a participant. I was invited. I'm very excited. I'm very grateful to be invited to the Reopen Lakeland Task Force. And like I said, I've been having conversations with the county commission. So I want to continue this dialogue and not just run into a moment where we're just done. And it's like, okay, well, COVID is over. So let's get back to the way things always were. This is an opportunity for us to look at things from an entrepreneurial perspective, which is how do we pivot? How do we change? How do we stop treading water? How do we get out of this moment of we're just, we're just at a standstill and doing things the way we've always done them? How do we look at things in a different way? So hopefully, if any good can come out of, of this challenge, this crisis, we can start to— I don't want this moment in time where we go, "Oh my gosh, all of our small businesses are struggling. What are we going to do?" And then 5 years from now, we haven't stopped to think about it again. It's like, wait, we're right here in this moment. We can do something to change the way we treat small businesses. We think— I am tired. I'm going to go on record. I am tired of hearing people say small businesses are the backbone of our economy, because it's all lip service if we don't do something with that knowledge. And we are now watching it in front of our very eyes as these small businesses are at risk of closing and never opening again. If they're our backbone, we need to do something to fortify those resources and make sure that they don't go away for good.

Well, all right, so think about it like this. This is a unique opportunity, and I think that it's important. And let me tell you why I think it's unique. Small business is the backbone. But the problem with the backbone is it's a structure that's comprised of a whole bunch of little interlocking pieces. And, you know, just like anybody that's ever had spinal surgery, you can take one or two of those pieces and kind of glue them together. And, and it doesn't necessarily— nothing changes. Right? It's not that big of a deal. You can still function. It's no big deal. So the problem that we have with small business is that we say it's the backbone, but we understand that collectively it is. But we rarely, if ever, look at small business in that collective sense like we would an entire, uh, spinal column, right? We're always looking at one or two of the individual little vertebrae. This situation has forced us to look because you're talking about a, an impact, a significant impact upon the whole unit all at one time from one direction, something that we have never seen happen before. And it forced us to really look and to see what effect that has. And I think that's an eye-opening experience for a lot of people. And I think we have to capitalize on that because It is going to be fresh in a lot of people's minds just how important small business is. And I think that it's incumbent upon us, though, to keep that message going and to remind people of what is, what is possible when we look at the whole rather than just the, you know, the individual components here or there, because small businesses will open, small businesses will close. And again, individually, they're not— it's not one of those where you're only as strong as your weakest link. That's not how it works. But they are all intertwined, right? And we saw that this time. And I do have to give a lot of credit. One of the driving forces behind my initial draft of that survey was the fact that Commissioner Santiago was— basically gave me her commitment to look at the data. And she is a fellow data nerd like, like yours truly. And she gave me her commitment that she was going to look at it objectively and critically. And I have to— I want to give her a shout out because I do, I do believe, after a subsequent conversation with her, that that's exactly what she and the other commissioners did. And that's not a knock on the other commissioners. I've worked directly with Commissioner Braswell as well, and both he and Commissioner Santiago have been fantastic. It's not a knock on the others. Those are the only two that I had any interaction with during this process, but they were absolutely top-notch. So I think from my standpoint, I thought to myself, if we, we can't expect them to make decisions in the interest of small business if they only have anecdotal evidence here or there— this person, that person, that sort of thing. We have to have the data for them. It's our, it's our job as, as business leaders in the community to, to get that in front of them and, uh, and back them up. We cannot expect them to make decisions in our interest if they have no basis for the justification for making those decisions.

So, well, and it's, it's, to me, I continue to say it's an all of us job. So it isn't something that one organization, and I'm not going to name any of them at all, but we tend to kind of abdicate responsibility into an area. It's like, oh well, that's their job, that's their job, that's your, that's that department. That's this particular group's responsibility. It's all of our responsibility as we work together to ensure that the business community that we have, the culture, the ecosystem I use— if you know me well, you hear me say that all the time— the economic ecosystem for entrepreneurs has to be healthy, and that ecosystem is all about balance. I will also add that I feel like we are under the gun as far as how much time we have to figure this out. And so yes, I parrot what you said. Awesome. Very grateful to Commissioner Santiago, grateful for Bill Braswell, who continues to just be willing to have uncomfortable conversations and get out there and get under people's skin a little bit, which I think is a hard thing to do. But I also want to shout out to our other 3 commissioners. John Hall was very willing to listen to the to the management side of things and to the understanding of the administration and tries to get into the details, which is important. And Rick Wilson, this is kind of wrapping things up because the last bucket of the $126 is kind of important because it's the local government costs of managing these other three areas and any other areas that are related to the COVID relief. So the thing that I heard Commissioner Wilson say several times this week was, "One and two, one and two, let's take care of one and two." And what he was saying was the first two on the list, the small businesses and the individuals, those are our main priority today, right this minute, and the rest will come. And then George Lindsey, you know, there's a lot of wisdom in his head, and I'm grateful to him for being such a level-headed leader in in times of challenge and bringing sometimes balance to the conversation. And it's— I'm grateful to Commissioner Braswell for being able to listen to some of that balance as well, because, you know, I probably relate a lot more to Bill Braswell than I do to any of the other commissioners because I'm passionate and I want to lead and I want to talk about the things that are important to me, but I also want to make sure that I can continue to listen. So I think we have a very balanced Commission, and I'm grateful to them for leading us through this really challenging time.

Couldn't have said it better. And I think that's— I think that's the best, best place to leave it for now. Oh, I will say one thing. So, yeah, if you're listening to this episode and you did not listen to last week's episode, which was the best of funny moments of the Elevate Polk podcast, go back and listen to it. It was— it was hysterical.

I don't know that I think that it was hysterical because you were poking fun at my desire to use "by golly" in every episode.

It wasn't poking fun. It's a staple. It's like a tagline.

A tagline.

Yeah, it's the thing. It's what it is. Sometimes, that's what happens. Some things just stick. That stuck.

It stuck. So it's— okay, well. Thank you for listening. And remember, we have a new episode each week, so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And remember to leave us a review. We promise to read every single one. You can always find all of our episodes at elevatepolk.com. And if there's anything that you would like to hear about on an upcoming episode, please reach out to us on Facebook at Elevate Polk.