The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly passed an ordinance that would accept and appropriate funding in the amount of $153,940.61 for the Healthy and Equitable Communities Program that is a federal pass-through program under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The DHSS provided funding to municipalities to help improve efforts and increase access to COVID-19 testing, to build capacity to increase access to vaccinations, and to address recovery activities.
According to corresponding memo documents, the ordinance requests approval and appropriation for $153,940.61, of which $100,000 will be used for testing and treatments, through contracts or subawards, and $53,940.61 will be sub-awarded to the Kenai Peninsula Homeless Coalition to supplement their facility operations.
Assemblymember Tyson Cox spoke in response to concerns some had regarding his amendments to the ordinance:
“The whole reason for the amendments that we presented earlier today was not just the ideas that I presented. They can be anyone’s ideas. We’re not going to be the ones bringing forth the ideas, the administration will. This is just giving us some help in the decision-making process. To say that these amendments are changing something, they’re not. If what the mayor wants to bring forward is something that the assembly wants, then that will happen. I think all its doing is making the process work the way that it’s supposed to. Because we’re not in any kind of emergency, these kinds of funds should come through the assembly and be approved by the assembly for their use. These are not funds that we’ve already approved through the budget. These are new funds that have come to the borough. I’m no sure if there are any other times that we don’t approve new funds that come to the borough. The reason that I put this forward is because we should have that right, as the assembly members, to at least say, “okay, yeah, we like the idea, this is where the funds should go,” because we’re the ones responsible to the public and as being responsible to the public, I’m responsible to those in my district and the entirety of the borough.”
Cox Amendment
Ordinance 2021-19-32 unanimously passed the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly as amended.