The City of Soldotna voted to approve $250,000 from the COVID-19 relief special revenue fund to provide a grant to the Chamber of Commerce for an in-state tourism marketing campaign to benefit Soldotna businesses harmed by the COVID-19 public health emergency. The City Council adopted several ordinances in approving a combined $9.94 million in grant funds made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to cover expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency. A law was passed in December by Congress extending the date by which state and local governments can make expenditures in CARES Act funds to December 31, 2021.
Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen, “This is one of the projects we identified with the remaining approximately 2 million dollars in CARES act funds that the city had rolled over from 2020 into 2021. It’s part of the larger focus on business support and economic development. We have already kicked off some of those programs, as you know the outdoor dining grants the virtual storefront improvement, this would complement those efforts by providing funding for a really targeted strategic in-state marketing effort to capture Alaskans who are traveling or people who arrive in Alaska and try and focus them down to the Kenai Peninsula and the city of Soldotna and our businesses. The chamber presented a proposal and we really kind of identified early on the most appropriate use of our funds would be more focused in-state. This is the marketing strategy. There are elements of it that would certainly be very advantageous in our recovery specifically for the tourism related businesses that saw a more significant decline due to COVID-19, but there are also pieces of this plan where we, and the chamber, will have assets that can be used in perpetuity moving forward.”
The city states that the proposed use of these funds follows CARES Act requirements as interpreted by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s guidance for local governments, which allows for these types of expenditures due to the public health emergency and for second order effects of the emergency.
Resolution 2021-020 passed with five yes votes and one abstention.