Council accepts federal money

The Lewiston City Council voted unanimously Monday night to accept $146,317 in emergency federal funding to aid its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and shift $64,000 in grant funding to the same purpose.

Both pots of money come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program. The $64,000 is from the current year’s appropriation, and was previously programmed to help low- to middle-income households with home repairs.

The larger amount is new funding approved by Congress specifically to help cities “prevent, prepare for, and respond to” COVID-19. City officials and councilors are awaiting guidance from the federal government on how the money may be spent. But Community Development Director Laura Von Tersch said that while the emergency funding will be strictly limited to COVID-19 response, much more of it can be targeted to service-oriented programs rather than the ususal brick-and-mortar projects.

“And right now it looks like we have pent-up demand for services, whether it’s direct financial support through Community Action (Partnership) or the (Idaho) Foodbank or business enterprises or homeless services,” Von Tersch said, noting that only 15 percent of usual CDBG appropriations can be spent on service-oriented projects. “If we had a good community service project, we could give them the whole thing.”

City Councilor Bob Blakey expressed his desire that some of the money be used to purchase face masks for the community to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. But Councilor John Pernsteiner pointed out that the city has $1 million from the state of Idaho’s share of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act that could serve that purpose.

The council will decide how to allocate the money at a future meeting, but Pernsteiner has proposed a business incubator and helping city residents find jobs that can be performed remotely. He told councilors he has been collaborating with local economic development agencies on the proposals and will deliver a presentation at next Monday’s 3 p.m. city council work session.

In other business:

Councilors delayed the reappointment of former Lewiston City Manager Jim Bennett to his seat on the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport Authority Board so they could open the position for applications.

Bennett’s term expires next month, and councilors received several emails and calls this week asking them to either not reappoint Bennett or open the seat for applications. Board members are also paid a salary, and many pointed to that as another reason to accept applications.

But councilors like Cari Miller and Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Schroeder were reluctant to go that route because of their support for steady, consistent board membership in the face of scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration. They also defended Bennett’s performance over the last two years as the board rebuilt after a string of setbacks. And Blakey was dead set against the move for the precedent it would set every time a city appointee to the board comes up.

“This stinks,” Blakey said. “Our job is to have our commissioners’ backs.”

Earlier on Monday, City Manager Alan Nygaard told a joint meeting of the city council and the Nez Perce County Commission that local government officials are developing plans to help local businesses reopen as safely as possible when Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s phased plan to restart the economy starts to take effect.

Nygaard said the city is working with local and regional medical and economic development agencies to help educate businesses on how to promote proper social distancing and hygiene when customers return. Interim Emergency Management Director Bill Reynolds said the team is also reaching out to area churches to assist on their reopening plans.

Reynolds added that the most important part of a successful restart of the economy will be people taking individual responsibility to behave in a manner that doesn’t transmit the coronavirus.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.