A conference call involving numerous state and federal agencies providing information to businesses impacted by Sandy is available online.
The audio recording of a Thursday afternoon conference call with FEMA, the Small Business Administration and other business agencies can now be accessed at the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) website.
Scroll about halfway down the page and look for the following paragraph:
"Listen to a conference call that took place November 8 on government programs to help businesses recover from Sandy. Senior officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), US Small Business Administration (SBA), NJ Economic Development Authority (EDA) and the NJ Business Action Center were on the conference call."
The information includes what steps businesses need to take to apply for reimbursement or loans for the cost of lost business or repairing damages caused by Sandy, which changed classification from a hurricane to a tropical storm when it hit the Atlantic City area on Oct. 29.
A number of business owners told Patch they had been unable to dial into the conference call and asked where the information was available. Steve Wilson at NJBIA accessed it, put in on their association website in a format easy to access and notified Patch.
Marc Palazzolo, owner of Alex's Bait and Tackle, Point Pleasant Beach, had been able to dial into the call and said that both the presentations from the officials and the thoughtful questions from business owners around the state provided a wealth of valuable information. The bait shop was one of many businesses on the Manasquan Inlet that were flooded.
Wilson noted that the website page containing the hyperlink to the audio also has a lot of useful information for any businesses impacted by Sandy.
Editor's Note: A special thank you goes out to Steve Wilson of NJBIA for finding, converting and making the audio available to the public and notifying Patch.
