Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Mayor Lenise Peterman to talk about the happenings taking place in Helper. She came in to discuss the CARES Act Grant, new signage for the city and shared an update on the annual Light Parade.

The CARES Act Grant was recently awarded to the state than in turn was distributed to various counties and municipalities to assist small businesses affected by the COVID pandemic. “So Helper was the recipient of three waves of funding, it’s a total of $175,000.00 and the focus is to get those funds into our local area small business. We’ve worked with the local ALG, as well as Carbon County, the commissioners, to develop a process for applications and so on, so that small business could appeal for funding,” said Mayor Peterman. Thus far the city has accepted, reviewed and awarded five applicants with the CARES Act Grant.

“Because it’s somewhat early in the process we didn’t want to expend all of our funds on the first people in the door so people we’re granted half or more for what they were asking for and then we’re going to come back to those applicants if we haven’t expended the rest of the funds and try to make them whole,” explained Mayor Peterman. Interested businesses can find CARES Act Grant applications at the Helper City Hall or on the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments website.

Residents may have noticed the new Wayfinding Signs around town which were recently installed so now the city is working with the marketing group for new signage for the city’s entrances. “We’ve been working with a marketing group, actually, that is contracted to Carbon County, that’s how we met. So Helper City engaged them to help us design new billboards for the north and south entrances, Popular Street and 232, that could resonate for a couple years. So super excited, we just finalized those and got them to the printing company so I hope that we are able to put them up in the next month or two,” stated Mayor Peterman.

With the Governor’s recent mandate that was issued on November 9 the city has not made any decisions about the Light Parade and Fireworks. “We’re looking at the two weeks, as the Governor asked us to do and at that point, we will make another statement that informs the public where we’re going. But I totally and would strongly emphasize our focus is safety. Keeping everyone as safe as we can. If that means foregoing an event, you know, we’ll take that hit just because it’s so important for everyone to be healthy,” said Mayor Peterman.

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