In December the state promised to divert $1.4 million in federal coronavirus aid to help Haines respond to the pandemic and aftermath of the landslide that killed two residents, destroyed homes and disrupted livelihoods. Haines still hasn’t seen the money — and never will.
“We made inquiries about (where the money went), but no one seems to have answers for it,” said Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud. “The money was returned to the state, and I have a feeling it has already been allocated” elsewhere.
The state said in December the funds would go to Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital “to provide stabilization services” in Haines. Bartlett’s chief behavioral officer Bradley Grigg told the CVN last week that the state ultimately didn’t provide the hospital with the $1.4 million “due to legislative and legal concerns.” Grigg referred the CVN to state officials for comment on specifics.
“Based on the request that was submitted to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) for use of these funds, they could not be transferred to Haines Borough. Those funds are no longer available,” state health department spokesperson Clinton Bennett wrote in an email last week to the CVN.
Bennett didn’t respond to requests for comment about why the funds couldn’t be transferred to Haines and where the $1.4 million is now. Federal CARES Act funding originally was intended to expire on Dec. 31, 2020 but was extended a year.
Interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton said she suspects the state scrambled to use the funding before the original expiration date but changed its mind when the deadline was extended.
Bartlett sent staff to support Haines for four weeks after the landslide and again will provide behavioral health support, including outpatient care, starting in the coming weeks. The hospital will use its own funds to cover services in Haines.
Last spring, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services solicited applications for another $200,000 in emergency mental health funding for Haines.
Bennett said the state didn’t receive a single application. Only healthcare providers were eligible for the award.
“Since there were no applications or responses, the division reallocated the $200,000 to increase each of the existing grantees’ grant awards through an amendment,” Bennett wrote to the CVN. He didn’t respond to follow-up questions about who the grantees are and how much money was reallocated to each.
In January, Fullerton told KHNS that officials had planned to use the $1.4 million to help displaced families with rent and utilities and fund mental health services for people affected by the disaster.