A special emergency meeting for the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday. The public will not be allowed to attend the meeting in person, however, the clerk’s office has set up remote ways to call in and speak on several emergency ordinances that will appropriate funds for the borough’s Office of Emergency Management and extend payment deadlines for residents.
The assembly will look at three ordinances. One of the ordinances the assembly will consider would make $125,000 available for the Office of Emergency Management. The office has spent most of the $50,000 appropriated for disaster response contingency purposes for incident management wages, contracting costs, personal protective equipment and other costs directly related to the disaster response, the ordinance said.
The office is estimating they’ll need approximately $125,000, based on expenditures the office has incurred so far, to cover costs through the end of the local disaster declaration, April 21.
Another ordinance extends the annual payment deadline from March 31 to June 30 for all outstanding special assessment districts. Beginning July 1, interest will start accruing again if payments are not made by the payment deadline of June 30.
All special assessment districts are “used to finance capital improvements that benefit specific properties within a certain designated area, referred to as ‘districts,’” according to the borough’s assessing department. The district’s are billed annually March 1 and 466 special assessment bills have been mailed out, according to the ordinance.
“Given the current Covid-19 pandemic and the numerous difficulties many of our citizens are experiencing, the Kenai Peninsula Borough is committed to providing relief where we can through these economic hard times,” the ordinance said.
Another emergency ordinance the assembly will consider Friday will provide an exception to the operating agreement the borough has with South Peninsula Hospital. On March 20, the borough received a request from the hospital asking if the hospital could retain cash in excess of 90 days to support “anticipated cash outflow that the hospital anticipates experiencing during the next three months,” the ordinance said.
The current agreement with the borough requires “cash in excess of 90 days operating cash on hand” be transferred to the borough for deposit into the hospital’s Plant Replacement and Expansion Fund.
The meeting will not be open to the public to enforce social distancing and recent health mandates from Gov. Mike Dunleavy. However, residents can tune into meetings via Zoom. The meeting ID is 75 571 8266. To join the meeting from a computer, visit zoom.us/j/9755718266. To attend the Zoom meeting by telephone call toll free 1-888-788-0099 or 1-877-853-5247 and enter the Meeting ID: 975 571 8266. Detailed instructions will be posted on the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s main page at kpb.us: “Meeting and Public Notices” / “Current Assembly Agenda.”
The clerk’s office encourages residents to submit comments in writing through either the eComment portal located at https://kpb.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx or by emailing them to assemblyclerk@kpb.us.
If you have questions, technical difficulties or would like to provide a public comment during the meeting, please call 907-714-2160.
