Kent County will again review state rep’s COVID grants
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Kent County administrator says the county will take another look at allegations that a former school board member and current state representative was improperly given COVID-19 relief funding.
Administrator Al Vanderberg said the county investigated the issue and Rep. Kristian Grant, D-Grand Rapids, corrected the error but the county will take another look with new concerns being voiced.
The accusation had some calling for an independent investigation Thursday at the Kent County Commission meeting.
Report: Rep. allowed to keep grants despite conflicting applications
Former county commissioner Robert S. Womack said documents show Grant was allowed to keep $15,000 in small business grants provided through the CARES Act.
“Our job is to levy taxes. When we give out grants our job is to have oversight that they are spent accurately,” Womack said.
Kent County wrote to Grant in January of 2023 saying there was information on two applications that was contradictory.
One of the issues pointed out in the documents show a planner business had nearly $4,300 in sales for December 2019. Another application said that same planner business had only $205 in sales for the year.
“As friends in government she was able to get $5,000, $15,000, where other businesses who had brick and mortar were not able to get those funds,” Womack said.
Womack, who Grant defeated in the primary run for a state house seat, says that is not why he has brought the issue forward.
“No politician should be using the word personal when we’re applying for government money because everything we do is public,” Womack said.
“I think we’re going to have to take another look at it because the last word that we had, the result of the investigation, was that the error was corrected and so the money was properly accounted for. I mean, if somebody is alleging that that’s not the case then I would think we would need to look at that,” Vanderberg said.
Grant responded to the allegations in a statement sent to News 8 earlier this week.
Before I was elected as state representative, I worked to develop small businesses and have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. One of the many reasons I work so hard now in my role as an elected official to support small businesses across the state is because I know first-hand how vital small-business owners are to having a thriving and diverse economy. Like many small-business owners, I applied for grants, including COVID-19 recovery assistance. I qualified for two grants from Kent County and used those funds to keep business operations going during COVID, which was reported to the County. In my final report, there was an accounting error for one of my business grants — which was just that, an accounting error. I became aware of the error when the county alerted me about it in 2023, upon which I worked with my accountant to find the flaw and subsequently revise my tax filings to correct the accounting flaw. Furthermore, Kent County’s legal team reviewed all paperwork and has since confirmed that it was an error of paperwork and nothing inappropriate or illegal had taken place. It’s also worthy to note that the only individual making unsubstantiated and false claims about this non-story is my previous opponent — just another example of time wasted on playing party politics. I will continue to focus my time on doing the work of the people, including supporting small businesses and the hard-working folks who run them.
Rep. Kristian Grant, D-Grand Rapids
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