Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander offered an update on several aspects of the City of Kenai during this week’s City Council meeting. The City Manager’s report to the council offered information about COVID-19, the state of dipnetting in Kenai, as well as news about Summer Ice.
He first offered insight into the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenai, as well as the surrounding communities: “We’re clearly seeing an uptick. It’s something that we’re continuing to keep our eyes and ears on. It is putting some stress on operations in the city. We do not have a positive COVID test for any city employees to-date, but we’re seeing an uptick in personnel issues, getting tested or their families getting tested. We’re still focused very much on keeping everyone healthy and continuing to provide all of the essential services that the city provides throughout this public health emergency.”
Also, the City Council was updated on the amount of CARES Act money that has been spent: “We’ve spent just over $4,000,000 – that’s $4,044,902 – through June 30. That is 98% of the first bucket of money that we received. As you’ll recall, it’s a requirement that 80% of that bucket be spent before the second bucket is provided. Earlier today, we applied for that second bucket of money and I’d guess we’ll receive that.”
With regards to the dipnet season revenues, Ostrander says that the season is looking close to last year’s numbers, despite going cashless: “Through the first six days of the fishery, our revenues are at $60,215. By comparison, last year we were at $61,895 – so we’re really close to last year’s numbers, the revenues. We hope we’ll continue to see those revenues stay up.”
He also offered some good news for leisure in Kenai: “We’re actually going to be starting Summer Ice on August 1 of this year. Also, in other good news, the Kenai River Marathon is still scheduled to occur. There’s going to be a mitigation plan that has strategies that will minimize the spread of the virus.”