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Established in the wake of the Kentucky River’s second highest crest on record in April, the Franklin County Flood Relief Fund has been raising money for six months.

At Monday’s meeting, the Frankfort Board of Commissioners received an update from Franklin County Community Fund Advisory Board Chair Harry Carver, who explained that $409,101 has been donated to the flood relief fund.

“The community fund is an endowed fund. We do not spend any money out of that fund,” he explained. “The only money that comes out of that fund is grants from earnings from that fund.”

Due to its affiliation with the Bluegrass Community Foundation, the Franklin County Community Fund has the ability to create non-endowed funds to serve special needs that arise in the community.

For instance, when local nonprofit organizations were stretched thin during the COVID-19 pandemic, a special fund was set up and raised nearly $40,000. Carver noted that having that infrastructure already in place was instrumental in establishing the flood relief fund in order to begin collecting monetary contributions with in days of the disaster.

“The interesting thing about this, when you have money, you would think it’s really easy to spend,” he stated. “Now, because this money comes to us and to this fund, we cannot give it directly to individuals. We can only give money to nonprofits that are serving affected folks.”

Two local nonprofits — the Resource Office for Social Ministries (ROSM) and the Frankfort CARES Coalition — were selected as partners. ROSM has served the community for several years and has a good track record of helping individuals in need, Carver added. The CARES Coalition, which was launched a few years back, is composed of agencies that ensure local individuals have access to shelter, food, healthcare, mental health assistance, affordable housing, substance use disorder treatment, and other basic needs and opportunities.

“The hard part about this is the first part in a flood is it’s easy in that what you want to do is you need to make sure that people are sheltered, that they’re fed and that they’re clothed and that’s something that we were able to do quickly. People came together and there was a lot of community interest,” he commented.

The fund helped pay for hotel rooms, as well as food, since the majority of hotel rooms do not have kitchens.

“Then we started with the folks that had easier solutions, if you will,” Carver said. “Folks that were renters and were not going back to the places they were renting. We were able to help them with the utility deposits and things to get them started if they lost appliances and things in the flood.”

He went on to say that there are numerous local nonprofits, but there is not an active nonprofit housing developer in the community.

“I know that’s being worked on right now, but it’s not in a position where they’re actually able to go out and build and rebuild,” Carver remarked adding that the Fuller Center, which is a local organization similar to Habitat for Humanity, doesn’t have the capacity.

“So we’re kind of stuck in this place where we have about $200,000 left to spend and we want to spend it as equitably as possible and helping folks get back into their houses.”

According to Carver, a few churches in town are planning to put together crews of volunteers to provide labor for those affected by the flood and that the fund — through ROSM or the CARES Coalition — could help purchase the materials that folks need to get back in their houses.

“I do like the idea because I know several churches in town put together a crew and they can do a lot of that, a lot of the carpentry work, framing, whatever,” stated Commissioner Rob Richardson. “I think that’s a great idea to get that out as well.”

Carver said that they are regrouping with those who filled out applications early on to see where they are in the process and what their current needs are. Residents can reach out via email at [email protected]

Commissioner Leesa Unger asked if there was a timeframe for people to apply or if it was first come, first served.

“We have not talked about setting up a deadline because I don’t want to say it’s never-ending because it will end at some point but it’s not anytime soon. If we start doing hard and fast deadlines we’re going to run into trouble and people are going to be left out,” Carver responded. “It’s kind of a weird dance and the good news is that money continues to come in so we’re not spending down to zero quite yet.”

To make a one-time or recurring donation to the flood relief fund, visit https://bgcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=1985

“There’s some good news that’s come out of this with the CARES Coalition meeting with FEMA, they started working on a VOAD — Volunteer Organization Active during Disasters, so that we’re prepared better for next time.”

In other business, the city commission unanimously approved the property tax rate of 19.5 cents per $100 valuation of all real and personal property. Last year’s rate was 19.7 cents per $100 valuation.