The Haines Borough Assembly approved three CARES Act-spending measures at Tuesday’s meeting including $15,000 to address a backlog in driver’s license testing, an extension of the limited entry permit holder relief program, and the creation of a new program for fisheries tenders, who have been excluded from other borough relief programs.
“Currently there is a waiting list of at least sixteen individuals for the driving test required to obtain a Class D driving license. Some have been waiting since March for the test, and this is causing a hardship on them and their families,” CARES Act ad hoc committee chair Brenda Josephson said in a memo to the assembly.
The Haines Division of Motor Vehicles office has ordered equipment to allow applicants and proctors to maintain social distancing during the road test. However, the arrival of this equipment has been delayed at least two months and the backlog has reached a point where it would take several months to work through all those waiting to take the test, Josephson said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Members voted unanimously to set aside $15,000, including roughly $7,000 to cover the cost of a Palmer-based company traveling to Haines to administer tests to up to 24 applicants during a three-day period at the end of the month.
The assembly voted unanimously to reopen the application for the program awarding $500 per limited entry permit to commercial fishery permit holders. The deadline had been Sept. 25, but members said it made sense to reopen the program as a number of fishermen had said they were unable to meet the deadline due to the demands of fishing season. The new deadline is Nov. 30.
The assembly also unanimously approved a program awarding up to $1,000 in assistance for Haines-based fish tenders who were unable to qualify for the limited entry permit program and the Haines small business and nonprofit relief program.
As of Oct. 8, the borough had spent nearly $2 million of the $4 million it’s slated to receive through the CARES Act.