The Mountlake Terrace City Council at its June 15 meeting unanimously approved moving forward with plans for directing approximately $420,000 in federal funding to help residents and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding is what the city expects to receive from the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act.

Under the council’s approved proposal, relief efforts will be directed toward three areas it had previously identified for helping local residents and businesses — safety, assistance and the economy — plus specific ideas in each of those areas to support constituents’ needs.

To address public safety in an equitable manner, the plan proposed that the city distribute personal protective equipment kits — including face masks and cleaning supplies — to every household and business. Costs for this program have not been finalized and would be dependent on the city’s ability to both acquire and distribute the provisions.

“I’m glad to see that the distributing of the face masks and disinfectant to every member of the city is still in there, because that is one thing that will cover the whole city, not just a portion of it,” Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright said.

As envisioned by the city, assistance efforts would have the city contracting with nonprofit organizations to help those residents who are unable to pay essential bills and to deliver food to people who are homebound or at higher risk to travel. The plan may also include subsidizing the city’s child care program.

To boost the economy the city would provide grants to local businesses to cover expenses such as rent, bills or costs associated with reopening locations in a safe manner. The grants would not be available to in-home businesses.

Specific plans and funding amounts have yet to be finalized. In previous proposals, city staff had suggested allocating $100,000 of the total funds to safety, residential payment relief and assistance programs, and $300,000 for the business grants and expense relief efforts.

The city will continues to seek public input and ideas as the process progresses.

Councilmember Laura Sonmore told her colleagues she thought the council might have to narrow the scope of some ideas and potentially reexamine any costs discussed in prior meetings in an effort to incorporate more of their ideas. She said that she would like to see the city explore a voucher program for its residents similar to Edmonds.

The council’s vote was to help clarify directions and areas for city staff to focus on. As a result, staff will begin to request proposals from nonprofit organizations to deliver meals and assist residents with paying bills, start a business grant application process and order face masks for distribution.

“I thought if we leave it somewhat flexible at this time, we’ll be able to get those dollars out relatively quick,” City Manager Scott Hugill told the council. Hugill added that he would share a status update and any additional ideas gathered at the council’s July 2 work/study session, in case they would like to change directions or redirect funds.

In other business, the council voted unanimously to approve the annual update to the city’s Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). It covers the years from 2021-26 and is consistent with both the municipal Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Master Plan.

City Engineer Jesse Birchman told the council that the core projects in the TIP remain the same or are similar to previous updates.

The current revitalization on Main Street is expected to be substantially finished within a couple of weeks, he said. However, there would be some “continuing minor activity for the remainder of the year” for activities such as replacing missing signs or dead plants, he added.

The next substantial phase of Main Street improvements will occur along 56th Avenue West from 230th to 236th Street Southwest. Plans call for its design to be finalized by early next year, with approximately $220,000 still to be funded. Birchman told the council that the construction work is anticipated to start in 2022.

Additional smaller projects over the next two years include making curb ramps and traffic signals at crosswalks compliant with guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), improvements to sidewalks and pavement preservation efforts.

In other action, the council approved adoption of a resolution to authorize the use of electronic records and signatures for city business, approved subcommittee recommendations for city board and commission members, and acknowledged an amendment for additional costs of $3,405 to the agreement with ARC Architects for redevelopment of the Mountlake Terrace Civic Campus. The increased Civic Campus expenses were for additional geotechnical engineering work, addressing excavation and drainage issues, that had been previously completed on the project.

— By Nathan Blackwell