By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly will tackle a full agenda Tuesday, with a proposal to rescind the city’s quarantine ordinance for travelers into Sitka among the items.
For the first time in more than a month, Assembly members will have the option of attending in person at Harrigan Centennial Hall as well as remotely by Zoom videoconference.
Social distancing will be observed by those attending in person.
Richard Wein, for one, said he plans to be at Centennial Hall for the 6 p.m. meeting.
“Because I believe that government process is a person-to-person event,” Wein said. “To try to be effective – social distancing person-to-person is a much more effective way of hearing people’s concerns and conducting business. We are getting back to a certain amount of business. Let’s get back to business and try to do it in an intelligent way.”
“You can’t do the city’s business on Zoom,” said Mayor Gary Paxton, who also plans to be at Centennial Hall.
Kevin Knox said he will attend from home.
“I fully believe we should still be doing as much as we can to limit social contact and expand our social distancing and physical distancing,” Knox said. “I also have two vulnerable people in my family I need to protect.”
In line with recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control, the city clerk’s office is encouraging members of the public to testify in writing or by teleconference.
A guide to in-person, telephonic and written testimony is available at cityofsitka.com, with a link on the right side of the page.
The Assembly’s April 14 shelter-in-place, or “hunker down,” resolution 2020-08 will expire Tuesday, and no proposals have been introduced to extend it. The resolution is nonbinding, but it encourages residents to stay home as much as possible.
Emergency Ordinance 2020-14, which requires people coming to Sitka – with the exception of critical health care workers – to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival, will be up consideration. It would expire on June 14 or at the same time State Mandate 10 is rescinded, whichever comes first.
The state has announced a plan for “responsible reopening” of businesses and activities.
The proposal to rescind Emergency Ordinance 2020-14 (self-quarantine) requires five votes.
The Reopen Alaska Responsibly by the governor went into Phase II on Friday, allowing many businesses to reopen while retaining requirements for social distancing, face coverings, cleaning and sanitizing surfaces, and maximum capacity. (No firm dates have been set for Phases III, IV and V, according to the state COVID website.)
Immediately following the agenda item to rescind EO-2020-14 is a resolution co-sponsored by Knox and Thor Christianson to encourage residents to continue following the precautions in that resolution as well as those in the state mandate on the same issues.
The resolution encourages citizens to reduce infection rates by “practicing appropriate physical distancing, wearing masks in public places, frequent hand washing, and limiting our social and community contact circles.”
Another item related to the pandemic is farther down on the agenda: a discussion item on how to spend the $14 million the city expects to receive in CARES Act funds.
“Direction/Decision will need to be made at a future meeting,” wrote City Clerk Sara Peterson in her note to Assembly members in the packet.
The federal CARES Act sets requirements and limitations on how the money may be spent. “Necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to” COVID-19 are covered, says a memo in the packet, “but funds may not be used to fill shortfalls in government revenue to cover expenditures that would not otherwise qualify under the statute.”
Also on the 24-item agenda are final readings of 2021 budgets for the general fund, enterprise funds, and internal service and special revenue funds. The budgets have rate increases for many city services in line with the goal of the Assembly and administration goal to keep services at their present level.
City Controller Melissa Haley said there are also belt-tightening measures because of the anticipated losses in sales tax revenue. The general fund budget anticipates some $2 million less in sales tax revenue because of the pandemic-related cancellation of cruise ship visits.
The Assembly is additionally required to take up proposed moorage rate increases through a resolution.
Four items are on the agenda related to improvement of Sitka’s “working waterfront.”
One is related to a proposal from a local company to build a boat haulout facility at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park.
Other agenda items are related to grant opportunities. One proposes seeking a $6.5 million grant for the haulout, with the city making a 20 percent match.
Another resolution would allow the city administrator to apply for a $7.3 million grant – also with a 20 percent match – to restore the port wall and crane at the Marine Services Center.
Four items are related to refinancing bonds.
The final item is an ordinance up for first reading to change the order of the agenda.
The meeting at Centennial Hall is open to the public, and can be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel.
