Wasilla distributes over a quarter of a million dollars in CARES grants

WASILLA — During the Wasilla City Council meeting at Wasilla City Hall on Monday, Mayor Bert Cottle provided an update on the CARES grants distributed by the city and also clarified the number of COVID-19 positives attributed to Wasilla.

As of Wednesday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services listed 267 cumulative COVID-19 positives reported from Wasilla with 167 remaining active. Councilman Stu Graham asked for a specific report

“The geographic report that the state puts out, I mean it shows a tremendous number of cases in Wasilla but that’s not necessarily in the Wasilla city limits,” said Graham.

Cottle clarified that the numbers attributed to Wasilla include all five areas that are Wasilla zip codes, but are not differentiated between cases that are inside city limits.

“They don’t really break it down into inside the city versus outside in their reports, so the numbers you see in that geographic area you could have I would guess inside the city limits 45 to 50,000 of which we only have control under medical powers because we’re first class for 10,000 peoples. When you see the numbers go up it’s not all inside the city, it’s Wasilla zip codes,” said Cottle.

Cottle informed the Council that 111 applications for CARES grants had been received, 35 of which were for Personal Protective Equipment and 76 of which were small business grant applications. As of Monday night, Cottle announced that 28 applications had been approved for a total of $250,800.

Cottle issued two Mayoral Proclamations declaring Suicide Prevention Week and Patriot’s Day on September 11.

“All communities must join together to make a stand to help those who are comtemplating suicide,” said Cottle.

Wasilla will observe Suicide Prevention Week from September 6-12. Cottle reported that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, the second leading cause of death in persons between ages 15-24, and the only leading cause of death that has increased every year in the last decade. On average, 40,000 people die of suicide in the United States each year and Alaska has the highest rate of suicides per capita with an average of 165. Cottle also reported that over 90 percent of people who commit suicide suffer from behavioral health issues.

“All citizens should educate themselves to recognize the warning signs and how to best help those in need,” said Cottle.

The only item on Wasilla’s agenda that was debated by the Council on Monday was Action Memorandum 20-30 awarding a $188,512 contract to Big Dipper for the townsite parking lot project. Public Works Director Archie Giddings noted that a job requiring concrete, asphalt, lighting and landscaping only pertains to a handful of available contractors and that the construction season has been vastly different amidst the pandemic.

“There was only one bid, in this case Big Dipper. It was kind of an in between project. The cost analysis was based upon Big Dipper is also doing the library parking lot,” said Giddings. “In this case we only had the one bid and Big Dipper had a bid that was responsive and in keeping with other work.”

Councilman Tim Burney had asked for the Action Memorandum to be removed from the consent agenda to be debated by the council.

“Moving forward something as a council we should continue to keep an eye on and I hope everybody would agree with me on that,” said Burney.

The motion to approve AM 20-30 passed unanimously. Wasilla Clerk Jamie Newman reminded the council that early voting begins September 21 and continues through October 5 at City Hall. Wasilla has two council seats up for election and the Mayor’s office as well.