Mat-Su Borough, cities to receive over $65 million in CARES act funding

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough Mayor Vern Halter addressed questions and concerns about the reopening of certain sectors of the economy that will begin Friday at the borough’s seventh COVID-19 press conference on Wednesday at the Dorothy Swanda Jones Borough Building.

On Friday, Gov. Mike Mike Dunleavy’s phase one of reopening the economy will include personal services such as barbers, salons, estheticians and tattoo artists, restaurants, retail operations and professional services. The reopening of these businesses can provide a spark to the local economy that has been hampered since mid March by the health mandates put forward by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to protect Alaskans from further spread of the coronavirus.

As of Wednesday, 335 Alaskans had tested positive for COVID-19 with 20 of those people in the Mat-Su. A new case was reported out of Wasilla on Wednesday, but while the virus is spreading, no new deaths or hospitalizations have been reported this week. Halter joined Palmer Mayor Edna DeVries, Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle and Houston Mayor Virgie Thompson on a teleconference with Dunleavy on Tuesday and took to heart something that DeVries had said, calling the first phase of the economic reopening ‘probation.’

“It’s very critical at this point in time for everybody to be vigilant and to stay the course, not think okay everything’s ready we can just do anything we want. That’d be exactly the opposite of what we need to do right now so when Edna DeVries said probation she meant it in a sense that we need to get through this phase so that we can get to the next phase and I think that’s the correct way to look at it,” said Halter.

Halter announced the distribution of $65,930,000 out of the $1.25 billion in CARES act funding that will be distributed amongst the local governments in the Mat-Su. Houston will receive $1.13 million, Palmer $7.5 million, Wasilla $18.6 million and $38.7 million to the Mat-Su Borough itself. After Dunleavy had vetoed school bond debt reimbursement for the second straight year, Halter was happy to see allocation of CARES act funding in the Mat-Su.

“To me personally, the governor’s word is good so we are extremely happy because we were really worried about filling that school bond debt, $18 million that’s like two mills to us and so we can handle that easily. I think the big issue is if we possibly can, and it’s up to the assembly to reduce the areawide mill rate to reflect how hard this pandemic has affected the Mat-Su Borough,” said Halter.

Halter said that he asked Dunleavy to relax interstate travel mandates during the teleconference, but was quickly denied. Halter did say that DHSS Commissioner Adam Crum and Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink were consulted about the Alaska State Fair, which brings hundreds of thousands of people to Palmer each fall. Halter was told that by the end of next week, a determination should be made about whether to cancel the Alaska State Fair. Also on the fairgrounds, Halter asked about the possibility of baseball at Hermon Brothers Field with the Mat-Su Miners for the Alaska Baseball League season, which is also as of yet undetermined. Halter hopes to reopen borough facilities by mid-May, as the facilities and playground closures were extended to May 15 last week.

“What we don’t want is to reverse and have a lot of cases pop up in the Mat-Su Borough because if that happens we know most likely the restrictions will be back in place,” said Halter. “Remember when seat belts came out too, many years ago. It was like tyranny and people were mad and it was mandatory and just think about how it’s worked to protect the society and so the health issue is what it’s all about.”

While the start of phase 1 is set to restart the economy on Friday, Anchorage will not open for business until Monday. Halter was asked about the possibility of an influx of Anchorage residents into the Valley to use services not available until Monday and said that the issue was a ‘two-way street’ and hoped that residents would remain vigilant and positive cases would continue to drop statewide.

“The state of Alaska has led the nation in every aspect of the COVID pandemic. Our numbers are down,” said Halter. “Any type of uptick in cases might reverse this and lock us back down to where we were before phase 1.”

Deputy Borough Manager George Hays who was thrust into the forefront of managing the borough’s affairs at Tuesday’s meeting of the Assembly clarified an update on 2018 road bond funding. Of the 13 projects awarded statewide, four were awarded to the Mat-Su. Hermon Road, Trunk Road, Hemmer Road and Seldon Road phase two will all see construction this year. Halter took a brief moment to reflect on his personal loss of business from canceled tourist trips, but remains hopeful for the future.

“I’m confident if we do the phases we will be back whole again,” said Halter. “Maybe it’s going to take a year, maybe it’s going to take 18 months, maybe it’s not fun but I am totally confident that’s the direction we’re going.”