The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, May 26, for their regularly scheduled meeting. In the meeting, the assembly accepted the resignation of one of their members, Drew Larrabee. Larrabee turned in his resignation at the meeting, effective at the end of the evening, and will leave open an unexpired term on the borough assembly that lasts until this October. In his letter, he wrote that he regrets leaving his position in the middle of the budget season. However, he and his family are preparing to move away, and he felt his position needed someone who could be around for the remainder of the process. In a Facebook message, Larrabee said that he has accepted a K-12 principal position in Tok, necessitating the move.
"As my family and I prepare for our move, we are excited about our next adventure but are filled with sorrow for how much we will miss this wonderful community," Larrabee wrote in his resignation letter. "Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve and represent the people of this place we have called home."
During the meeting, the assembly also approved of a resolution to create a "Coronavirus Pandemic Emergency Special Revenue Fund." This fund will be used to hold CARES Act funding for the community. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was passed by Congress on March 27, according to the agenda packet, and distributed federal funds to the states for use in recovery from the pandemic. The state of Alaska, furthermore, is passing that money down to individual boroughs and municipalities to use.
Wrangell is expecting approximately $3.85 million in total, over the course of three payments. According to the agenda packet, the first payment is valued at about $2.06 million. The remaining two payments will be sent to Wrangell only if the borough uses 80 percent of the first installment. Monthly reports to the state will be expected, the agenda packet reads.
This money can be used for non-budgeted expenditures incurred because of COVID-19. Some examples of potential uses of this money include, according to the agenda packet, payroll expenses for public safety and health employees responding to the pandemic, unemployment insurance costs, costs for providing COVID-19 testing, among other possibilities. After some discussion, this was approved by the assembly.
On a related topic, the assembly also approved of an outline of plans provided by the Economic Development Committee, for how CARES Act funding could be used for community support. The Economic Development Director said, in the meeting, that work still needed to be done on putting some of the plans together fully, but the document provided to the assembly laid out their general ideas. Assembly Member Julie Decker added that they were aiming to be conservative with their funding, about 10 percent of CARES Act money, and were also trying to move quickly to get these plans moving when they were most needed. Some of the proposals include food and social service assistance, incentives for local business spending, and business relief programs. The assembly approved of up to $400,000 of CARES Act money to be spent on community relief assistance.
In other business, the assembly decided to explore ways they can go back to in-person meetings in the near future, and approved of a relocation of GCI's submarine cable. They also approved a draft letter from the Alaska Municipal League calling on a moratorium on small cruise ship sailings in Southeast Alaska until ports in the region and the industry could agree to shared safety protocols.
They recognized and thanked three Wrangell residents, Dan Flickinger, Duke Aitkin, and George Howell for helping save Norm Canaday from a trailer fire on May 16.
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