Skagway officials move forward on discussions of how to spend the $2 million donated by Norwegian Cruise Lines while the mayor says he’s concerned about winter ferry service. KHNS’ Mike Swasey spoke with Vice Mayor Orion Hanson about this week’s assembly meeting.

Swasey – Let’s talk about the Norwegian Cruise Lines gift, the Assembly has already allocated $800,000 to programs like utility relief, the food bank, and local unemployment benefits, what is the plan to distribute the remaining $1.2 million?

Hanson – So item 7A, which is a public hearing and second reading of ordinance 21-12, makes it official that in our budgetary process, the $1.2 million that’s remaining will go to fund small business assistance. And so anytime you have an ordinance, that takes two readings, so this will be the second reading. The public has the opportunity to comment on that. 

And that will make it official that the money is going to be directed towards small businesses. Our chair of finance and the director of SDC, they’ve come up with a metric, a mathematical formula. It’ll be based on your gross revenue from 2019, and then your gross loss revenue for 2020 and 2021. If you weren’t around in 2019, like you’re a new business such as the E-bikes or there are a few retail stores that fall in that category. It’ll be on an average of what other businesses reported. You have to have a Skagway residence, you have to have a business license in Skagway. There are a number of criteria that (ensures) you’re most certainly a Skagway business.

Swasey – Are certain businesses like White Pass and Hunz and Hunz eligible for these funds?

Hanson – It’s supposed to target smaller business shares. So I think anything from a sole proprietor to an S Corp, an LLC, and down would qualify. I’m not 100% certain if there is a cut-off point in terms of gross revenue. That’s something that was discussed in other versions, but you cannot be, you know, a publicly traded corporation and qualify for this.

Swasey – Okay, moving along, and this isn’t on the agenda for Thursday, but just wondering if you know how long that State Street project is gonna be going on?

Hanson – I believe they got an extension to next year, next spring.

Swasey – Oh, so that the street is going to be under construction through the winter? 

Hanson – No, they will have to stop at some point because of wintertime conditions. They’ve had some COVID issues. They’ve had a lot of other supply chain things going on and I believe that the manager has granted them a short extension into 2022 to finish it up.

Swasey – And the mayor has sent a letter to the Alaska Marine Highway System advocating for a backup ferry this winter. As it’s currently scheduled, it looks like the LeConte will be the only ship coming up to the Upper Lynn Canal for a couple of months so he asked for the Tazlina to be put in service. Is that something that you think might actually happen?

Hanson – I can’t speak for the Department of Transportation or you know, the Alaska Marine Highway System and their scheduling their budget concerns, but it’s certainly a huge need for us in the winter. One ferry a week, and one ferry by itself that’s 60 years old and has mechanical issues, there’s no backup plan. It’s also related to why we are really looking at an alternative regional fairy. Enacting the Tazlina, which was built for the Upper Lynn Canal seems like the right move, but I don’t know if they’re going to do it.

Swasey – Yeah. All right, Mr. Vice Mayor, thank you so much for the time, we’ll see on Thursday night. 

Hanson – Thank you, Mr. Swasey. 

Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata is out of town attending Elks Club functions in his role as the State Elks President, so Hanson will take over the role of running the assembly meeting. That meeting can be streamed live at khns.org Thursday night at 7 p.m.