Daily Sitka Sentinel

City to Offer Help On Utility, Dock Fees?

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Tonight’s Assembly meeting will include comments from U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, during regular business.

Sullivan’s call-in is listed under Special Reports near the beginning of the meeting, just after reports (if any) from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Assembly liaisons, the city administrator, city attorney, mayor and school district.

City Administrator John Leach said he expects the senator to have a tight time frame but there may be time for questions from Assembly members. The agenda does not include a specified topic.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. It’s carried live on the city’s YouTube channel, Facebook and through the cityofsitka.com website.

Also under Special Reports is a presentation from the Alaska Trollers Association on the Wild Fish Conservancy lawsuit.

The agenda features a number of items related to government financial relief for Sitkans to help cover lost income caused by the COVID-19 emergency.

Thor Christianson and Kevin Mosher have co-sponsored two ordinances up for first reading. One would offer help for utility payments; the other would offer a break on moorage payments.

Both ordinances include eligibility, application deadlines, and other requirements, and the intent is to use city CARES Act funds to cover the costs. 

Under the proposed utility subsidy ordinance (Ordinance 20-28), up to $1,000 in utility relief would be available per resident and up to $3,000 for businesses affected by the emergency.

The other proposed ordinance (Ordinance 20-29) would make funds available for relief for moorage payments. “The subsidy for each eligible applicant shall be the maximum of moorage costs billed for one quarter of the calendar year,” the ordinance says. 

“We wanted to try to get money to the people who are hurt,” Christianson said today. “The vast majority of the fleet has been hurt by this. There are also people who haven’t been working who have a slip can get a little relief. It’s a pretty straightforward way to get people some money.”

In a related item, an ordinance is proposed that would set aside $4.5 million in city CARES Act funds to cover the costs of the utility and moorage relief programs. The funds would come from the first of three rounds of funding from the CARES Act, in the proposed ordinance. The item is up for first reading at tonight’s meeting.

In other business, a resolution is on the table to accept $14 million from the state for “costs that are necessary expenditures incurred to the public health emergency with respect to the coronavirus disease 2019.” The proposed motion also would authorize the administrator to execute the finalized grant agreement. As a resolution, as opposed to an ordinance, only one vote is required for passage.

There is also an item on the agenda to change Assembly meeting procedure, moving “Reports” from the top to the bottom of the agenda.