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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06122020 City Council Special Mtg Minutes City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 12,2020 Volume 41,Page 191 CALL TO ORDER The June 12, 2020 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 5:30 p.m.by Mayor Christy Terry. OPENING CEREMONY City Manager Scott Meszaros led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Christy Terry presiding and Sue McClure Sharyl Seese John Osenga Tony Baclaan Dale Butts Julie Crites comprising a quorum of the Council; and Scott Meszaros, City Manager I Brenda Ballou, City Clerk Holly Wells, City Attorney(arrived 6:01 p.m.) Excused—None Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING Tara Reimer wanted to provide an update on operational and financial impact scenarios at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC), and provided council with a laydown. She said the best cost savings she could propose for the ASLC was$500,000;any additional cost-cutting measures beyond that would start affecting revenue production.At$500,000,there would be a 38%staffreduction,no education programs,and the facility would be closed from November through February.Reimer said, to put this in perspective,the ASLC was expecting to lose$2.8 million this summer;the PPP grant provided $1 million, so the residual gap was $1.8 million. The ASLC could cut $500,000 as mentioned above,which left a net loss of$1.3 million;they were asking the city for$500,000 to help offset the $1.3 million loss. Reimer added that the ASLC was the anchor tenant in the city's downtown area, and was the city's largest visitor asset. Dianne Dubuc was a small business owner who was concerned that non-profits in Seward would take the majority of the CARES Act funding.She proposed promoting Seward over the 4th of July by providing a blanket 10% discount across the city, and use the funding to make up the shortfall. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 2020 Volume 41, Page 192 Carole Tallman suggested council consider using some of the funding to help utility customers by forgiving a portion of their bills. Craig Ambrosiani advised businesses in Seward to consider the cost of masking and protecting their employees and customers against the cost of losing business due to a community outbreak. Carol Griswold submitted a comment in writing which the clerk read into the record. Griswold was concerned about the way the COVID-19 testing results were reported. She thought it was misleading to report a case in Seward when the person was not actually located in Seward at the time, or conversely,to report a case in Anchorage when the person was actually located in Seward. Griswold also suggested replacing the use of the term"social distancing"with"physical distancing." APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (McClure/Seese) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous There were no consent agenda items. NEW BUSINESS WOO Emergency Ordinance 2020-006, Adopting The City's COVID-19 Recovery Plan And The "Community Outbreak Rules" That Will Be Effective Only During A Local Orange Alert Under That Plan, And Ratifying Revisions To The City's Emergency COVID-19 Rules. Motion (McClure/Osenga) Enact Emergency Ordinance 2020-006 Motion (Terry/McClure) Lay Emergency Ordinance 2020-006 to await the arrival of the City Attorney. Motion Passed Yes:Crites,Butts,Seese,McClure,Osenga, Terry No: Baclaan Emergency Ordinance 2020-006 was laid on the table. Review and discuss the Federal CARES Act. Clerk's Note: CARES means Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security; it was a $2 trillion economic relief package passed by Congress on March 27, 2020 to provide fast and direct economic assistance for American workers,families, and small businesses. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 12,2020 Volume 41,Page 193 Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District (KPEDD) Executive Director Tim Dillon said he had been working closely with the state to gather information and help cities across the peninsula. Kenai and Homer had both started pushing money out to their communities, and Seldovia and Soldotna would be starting in the next week or so. Dillon said these funds would not make anyone whole,but they could help improve the quality of life for many.The goal was to assist as many people and businesses as possible. City Attorney Holly Wells arrived. Dillon said the disbursement of the funds would take place over the coming months, and people needed to consider where they wanted to be in three to six months from now. He was especially concerned about the Alaska SeaLife Center because they were a special case;they were a unique facility on the peninsula and it was in everyone's best interest to keep it afloat. Dillon suggested that the city engage a non-profit organization to help disburse the funds in the most effective way. As well, he said the city should also consider hiring a consultant to help manage the funds because the city didn't have enough staff on hand to do the work in the short term. Terry appreciated the overview and stated for the public that the plan would come back to council for adoption at a future date,and it was important for council to hear from the community in the meantime. Meszaros said there seemed to be steady changes and modifications to the rules for how these funds could be spent; he appreciated working with Tim Dillon and Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander to keep up with all the changes. In response to Terry, City Attorney Holly Wells said there were tax implications to Individual Assistance Grants. Wells said this presented more challenges than anyone anticipated. Butts wondered what the City Review Committee would look like;he would be interested in serving on such a committee as a council member. Terry thought the review committee would be charged with reviewing the rules that council put in place,and wondered if council members should not be on the committee in case there was an appeal. Meszaros said the review committee would review a request for funds and then submit the request to finance for a check to be cut. Dillon said the entire process should take no more than 30 minutes for a person or business to apply, get reviewed,and approved;the goal was to say yes and get the money out as quickly as possible.Terry said her understanding now was that the review committee would simply review the applications and make sure they were complete.Baclaan suggested the Chamber of Commerce might be a good place to manage these funds. Meszaros said, as the plan was currently written, the minimum threshold for a business to apply for funds from the city was $50,000 in gross revenues. Butts said he wanted to spend every penny of these funds. Terry concurred and said council did not want to leave any money unspent. Terry added that the application period deadline was September 25,2020,and that payments would City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 12,2020 Volume 41,Page 194 be disbursed in batches on an ongoing basis. Crites said these funds would be expended on a first come, first served basis;when the funds were exhausted,the program was over. Baclaan wondered what was included in the proposed $1 million for First Responder and Incident Management Team Payroll and Related City Emergency Expenditures. In response, Meszaros said all of the expenses that were incurred by the city since the beginning of the emergency were being tracked and itemized.As a follow up,Terry stated council wished to know how accurate this estimate was in relation to actual expenses. In response, Meszaros guessed the city had spent over$2 million.Terry said,before council could approve the funding amounts,council would want to see actual numbers. Meszaros said he would need additional accounting staff in order to provide that information. Terry stated the proposal for Individual Assistance Grants was $1,074,326, and wondered when the city would know how and when those funds could be distributed to individuals. In response, Wells said she was watching and learning from what other communities were doing in order to avoid potential pitfalls.Wells particularly wanted to avoid experiencing a"claw back"of the funds. Dillon stated that the funds would be paid out in thirds,and 80%of the first check had to be distributed before the second check would be given to the city.Dillon said the first two-thirds of the funds should be disbursed directly to businesses and individuals,and the city should wait until the last third was received to keep any funds for itself.The goal was to get the funds into the community. Baclaan said the city currently had a balance of$1.8 million in the Commercial Passenger Vessel(CPV)fund,and wondered what the plans were for using those funds.In response,Meszaros said because there were no cruise ships coming to Seward this year, the city wouldn't receive any CPV money next year, so the current fund balance would have to get the city through next year as well.Baclaan suggested maybe taking some money from the CPV fund and combining it with some CARES Act funding in order to help the Alaska SeaLife Center(ASLC). In response to McClure's concerns that CPV funds could be used to help the ASLC,Wells said she believed the ASLC would be an acceptable use of those funds, but she would be willing to do some research to confirm. Council requested Wells look into this option. Terry wanted to support the non-profits in the city;there were 60 non-profits in Seward,nine of which were considered"major". Meszaros suggested engaging council's Budget Committee to help work through some of the issues. Council directed the city manager and city attorney to continue working on the plan and bring it back to council for review. Council took Ordinance 2020-006 from the table. The main motion was back on the floor. Crites was concerned that the facial covering rule was an encouragement rather than a requirement. In response,Wells said if the Orange Alert rules had to be activated,the city would be under an extreme situation; she,too,was concerned that the facial covering would be a suggestion City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 2020 Volume 41, Page 195 under those circumstances. Wells stated she was observing a lot of movement, in general, towards facial covering mandates;they were lawful and could be structured in such a way that would mitigate public concern. Motion to Amend (Baclaan/McClure) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-006 by striking Rule 0-1 Facial Coverings from the "Code Orange" Community Outbreak Rules. Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Main Motion Passed Unanimous Motion (Baclaan/McClure) Direct the City Manager to bring back a resolution to strongly encourage facial coverings when physical distancing cannot be observed in public places. Motion Passed Yes:Butts,McClure,Osenga,Baclaan,Seese, Terry No: Crites Ls. CITIZEN COMMENTS Tara Reimer appreciated all the work that was done to put this information together, and asked that the Alaska SeaLife Center be considered as a standalone operation rather than being lumped together with all other non-profits. Lynda Paquette was disappointed that the mask provision had been removed. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS & RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Meszaros welcomed more input about the CARES Act funding. In response to Terry, Meszaros said the community could email him with their suggestions. Crites thanked everyone for coming to the meeting,and hoped that people would take a step back and really consider the importance of wearing masks. Baclaan thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for providing input. He thanked Tim Dillon,Holly Wells,and Scott Meszaros for putting together all the information. Baclaan agreed with wearing masks and thought it was a simple thing to do to protect people. Seese also thought wearing a mask was important to protect others. She appreciated the public coming to the meeting. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 2020 Volume 41, Page 196 McClure thanked Tim Dillon,and said KPEDD was a gem of the borough. She agreed with wearing masks in public places. She thought this had been a productive meeting. Terry said the special meeting on June 16, 2020 would be held in council chambers. She wondered where council wanted to hold the June 22, 2020 regular meeting. In response, McClure was in favor of holding the next meeting in council chambers. Baclaan thought that if tonight's meeting was held in council chambers,there would have been too many people;he wished to stay at the library.Osenga thought they should ask permission from the library to continue using the library. Terry wanted to have no misunderstanding about the procedure for the next regular meeting— it would be held in council chambers and citizens would contact the city clerk to provide their comments. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. B nda J. Ballou, C C 'sty Terry City Clerk MayorJ (City Seal) ,%%4 OF'SE '•.... F'• SEAL - .• ti• F OF A`�P .•'