The Wrangell Borough Assembly met last Wednesday evening, June 3, for a special meeting. City administration was wanting to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with SEARHC to provide COVID-19 testing for Sea Level Seafood employees. The total cost for the proposed memorandum, according to the meeting's agenda packet, comes out to $60,000. This amount provides some padding in case of emergency, the actual cost of the memorandum is anticipated to be $52,500.
"In order to ensure an appropriate testing regimen throughout the season for all Sea Level employees (both local and seasonal) the CBW has offered to cover the cost of testing using CARES Act funding," the agenda packet reads. "There are anticipated to be approximately 50 total staff, tested up to 6 times over the season. The cost for administering and processing the tests for business cohorts is $175 per test."
Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen clarified that the money is meant to cover the cost of processing the test after it has been taken. The COVID-19 test itself is free, she said, but it costs money to get the tests processed. This plan is part of an effort to be good community partners, she also said, and this is what CARES Act funding is designed to be spent on.
"We just want to make sure the processing workers are being tested to the maximum degree possible while they're in our community," Von Bargen said. "It's a safety measure for the entire town."
After some brief discussion amongst the assembly, they approved of the borough manager moving forward with plans to draft and execute this memorandum.
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