PDC sets meeting on restaurant aid package
By Terry Murry on Thursday, January 21st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Pendleton Development Commission is digging deeper into a grant program to bail out restaurants that’s been proposed by the Chamber of Commerce. Mayor John Turner said Oregon’s restrictions on restaurants are not backed up by data.
“Here in Umatilla County, our restaurants have had severe restrictions placed on them, and yet we’ve still seen a rise in COVID, which indicates to me that restaurants are not the cause of the spread,” Turner said.
The program was proposed at this week’s regular PDC meeting. Because of the details involved in establishing a new program, the commission is holding a special meeting next Tuesday to consider it.
“We’re thinking grants based on operating costs, number of employees, typical number of customers, and loss of revenue.” Turner said. “All of these things are going to be factored in and we have not made a decision yet.”
An example of how the program would work, according to the mayor, would be a restaurant receiving a set amount each month for a set period of time, like four months.
