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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Sisters businesses seek economic aid
By Jim Cornelius

The fire-related closure of Highway 20 from August 19 to August 31 choked off the main artery of Sisters commerce. Businesses from lodging to dining to retail felt the pinch.

Now, some of those businesses are exploring a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program to help them absorb the blow of losing almost two weeks of peak summer traffic.

According to Ric Nowak, Executive Director of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce, 23 Sisters businesses are applying for loans under the program. Perhaps three more are considering an application, Nowak said.

The Economic Injury Disaster Loans for Small Businesses Program (EIDL) provide long-term loans at a rate of no more than 4 percent interest to businesses that have suffered "substantial economic injury" due to a disaster.

Governor Ted Kulongoski must declare Sisters an economic disaster area for the program to be activated. Nowak said he expects that to happen quickly.

"He declares an average of one of these a year," Nowak said.

A business owner may "request an EIDL for the amount of economic injury and operating needs, but not in excess of what your business could have paid had the disaster not occurred," according to SBA documents on the program.

SBA policy requires that businesses use private credit sources as much as possible to overcome the economic injury before tapping the SBA resource.

Nowak noted that the program was discovered by Sisters City Administrator Eileen Stein and the chamber has followed up on informing the business community about the program.

Nowak acknowledged that the loan program may not seem like much help to some businesses. He noted that many business owners wondered whether Sisters could qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance. That, however, requires that businesses actually be physically damaged by a disaster.

The chamber and city both researched grant options and came up empty, Nowak acknowledged.

That was not surprising in light of comments from Governor Kulongoski when he visited Sisters after touring the B&B Complex fires.

Kulongoski told city officials and business leaders that there is no financial aid available from the state. He did promise that his office would continue to focus economic development efforts, especially tourism promotion, on communities east of the Cascades.

One aspect of the EIDL program that still needs to be explored, Nowak said, is whether loans will cover future loss of business as well as the impact of the two-week closure of Highway 20.

"The ODOT folks tell us that there could be closures from time to time, and rock hazards," Nowak said. "We believe that getting people to Sisters is going to be a challenge for some time."

Whether and how the EIDL program might cover losses from future closures remains up in the air.

But Nowak expressed confidence in Bank of the Cascades SBA advocate Cathie Hendrix, who is working on Sisters' behalf on the program. Hendrix is heading to Washington, D.C. this month to compete for the title of National SBA Advocate of the Year.

Nowak thinks she will get answers to those questions and will secure help if it is available.

"We've got a pretty qualified SBA person to step up and do this for the community," he said.

Bank of the Cascades will administer the loan program for reasons of privacy protection and professionalism, Nowak said. It is not a profitable operation for the bank.

"It's not the bank's money and they don't make a nickel off of it," Nowak said.

Nowak said his research indicates that lodging and dining establishments were hardest hit by the highway closure.

The more tourist-oriented retailers also suffered.

The impact was not universal, Nowak said. Some businesses reported relatively minor impact.

According to Nowak, the major economic linchpins of Sisters -- large retailers and dining establishments -- are in pretty good shape.

"I haven't heard anybody that I would consider a real big player who's in serious trouble," Nowak said.

It could be a tough winter for some injured businesses, however.

"I think we'll see a shakeout of a few retailers," he said.

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