Wenatchee Plans to Spend Almost 70% of CARES Funds Internally

The Wenatchee City Council voted unanimously Thursday evening to officially amend a contract with the Department of Commerce for $519,750 in additional CARES Act funds.

Governor Jay Inslee announced the added allocation in late August, and Thursday's vote makes the move official. The City was originally given $1,039,500 in CARES money earlier this spring, bringing Wenatchee's total CARES allocation to $1,559,250.

Of that amount, roughly $850,000 was earmarked by the City to reimburse its COVID-related payroll and supply costs, leaving $709,250 yet to be distributed.

Mayor Frank Kuntz said council and staff have been discussing how to allocate the remaining funds over the last few meetings. Staff have also been doing research into possibly giving the Chamber of Commerce money to advertise local business in other markets.

"The decision that we've talked about doing is putting $500,000 with the (Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority) to get it into local businesses' hands." Kuntz explained, "We would keep the other $200,000 or so to help reimburse our police, and we would talk about whether or not the Chamber of Commerce got some money at a later date."

The regional port would then distribute that $500,000 to local businesses in the form of relief grants that would not exceed $10,000 each.

Council Member Keith Huffaker suggested that it might be better for the City to dip into some of its healthy reserves.

"I'd push for more than the $500,000, but it's a start." Huffaker said, "But again, the City is doing pretty well, and a lot of our businesses aren't. So the more we can put in our businesses' hands to keep those doors open, (the better)."

Kuntz replied that they would have allocated more for businesses, but the funds need to be spent by November 30th and he and staff were concerned businesses would need the money more in the winter.