Haines businesses will have another chance to apply for CARES Act funding, the biomass project is officially terminated, and SEARHC will provide COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic travelers to Haines.

The Haines Borough Assembly voted to reopen the application window for Haines Small Business Emergency Grants, since over half the money remains unspoken for. That was at the request of Borough Finance Director Jila Stuart. She said there are several reasons that businesses have not applied.

Theres been a lot of confusion about whether or not accepting a municipal CARES Act grant will make a business ineligible for the Alaska CARES program which offers a lot more money than were offering, she said.

That remains unclear. Some businesses could not apply because their business licenses are not up to date. Some tax exempt businesseslike childcare and healthcare servicesdid not file their tax returns and were therefore ineligible for grants. The assembly voted against including them. The application will remain open until July 31st.

The Haines Borough will pay Southeast Regional Health Consortium $50,000 to test asymptomatic travelers at the Haines Health Clinic. In July SEARHC began offering free testing to asymptomatic on the weekend.

Acting borough manager Alekka Fullerton said the additional funds are to reduce testing delay for travelers who arrive midweek.

If someone comes in on the ferry for instance on Sunday, they would wait a whole week to be tested and a whole nother week to get their results back. Meanwhile theyd be running around Haines without testing or results, Fullerton said.

The motion passed unanimously.

The assembly voted to abandon a plan to heat municipal buildings using a biomass boiler. Assembly member Stephanie Scott was opposed. Public facilities director Ed Coffland said the years-long, repeatedly postponed project is uneconomical.

Assembly member Paul Rogers moved to nix the project.

We dont have another million and a half dollars and I dont see us having another million and a half dollars in the foreseeable future. I think its ridiculous to try to proceed to try to proceed and keep putting a band-aid on an arterial bleed, he said.

Coffland said roughly $900,000 in grant funding for the project will be returned to the grantor later this year.

Haines resident Ron Jackson requested that the assembly formally reprimand Assembly member Paul Rogers for the way he behaved around the firing of former borough manager Debra Schnabel.

Jackson said Rogers should be censured for attempting to usurp the supervisory authority of the assembly and for belittling the manager in a public meeting.

The assembly voted 4-2 against censuring Rogers with Zephyr Sincerny and Stephanie Scott in favor. Assembly member Gabe Thomas said a reprimand would only increase divisiveness.

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Haines businesses will have another chance to apply for CARES Act funding - KHNS Radio