COVID-19 Test Site Opens in M.B.
A COVID-19 test site is now open in Morro Bay at the Veterans Memorial Building, 209 Surf Street.
Health officials strongly encourage community members to make an appointment at www.emergencyslo.org/testing, due to increased demand for testing. Walk-ins will be accepted as availability allows but are not guaranteed. Testing demand tends to be highest on Mondays and lower later in the week.
The hours are Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. It will be closed every weekday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For those who have health insurance, information will be collected when registering for an appointment and no co-pay is required. There is no charge for those without medical insurance. The County of San Luis Obispo and State of California are contracting with OptumServe to provide this service to the community.
LOCSD Public Hearing Tonight for New Electoral System
Get your voice heard about the creation of a LOCSD Board of Directors district-based electoral system.
The Los Osos Community Services District invites all interested persons to attend public hearings tonight, October 7, and November 4 at 6 p.m. online at us02web.zoom.us/j/86456192412.
Folks will be asked for community input on voting area scenarios of five board of directors districts for elections commencing with the General Election in November 2022.
The board will discuss, consider, and take community input on the scenarios and such other matters as may be related to the formation of the districts. Draft maps of potential district boundaries will be available at the public hearings, and an additional final public hearing will be scheduled.
For more information, contact Ron Munds, general manager, at (805) 528-9370 or by email rmunds@losososcsd.org. Copies of the staff reports and any support materials will be available for public inspection in the District Office, 2122 9th Street Suite 110, Los Osos or by visiting the District website at www.losososcsd.org. The board could also discuss other hearings or business items before or after the item listed above. Anyone challenging the proposed action in court, could be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the board of directors at, or prior to, the public hearing.
County Seeks $3.4M Airport Grant
The Federal Government’s spending largesse will bring some bacon home, if the County airport gets a large grant it’s applying for.
SLO County Airports Director, Courtney Johnson, said the money would come from the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.”
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) is part of a $1.9 trillion spending scheme passed by Congress in March 2021 and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The package was intended to combat the costs of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The grant program is part of an $8 billion fund being doled out by the FAA to “airport sponsors” for “economic relief to airports to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including relief from rent and Minimum Annual Guarantees (MAGs) for eligible airport concessions at primary airports.”
Johnson is applying for over $3.4 million for the SLO County Airport and another $22,000 for the Oceano Airport. The Rescue Plan gives money in four specific instances:
- For costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the Airport and debt service payments;
- To provide relief to in-terminal airport concessionaires, for rental payment obligations and MAGs;
- All categories of airports receiving an Airport Improvement Plan (AIP) grant. Funds will be made available to pay a Federal share of 100-percent of the costs for any grant awarded in fiscal year 2021, or in fiscal year 2020 with less than a 100-percent Federal share for an airport development project.
- For costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the airport, and debt service payments.
Airports across the nation were hit especially hard when the pandemic was announced in April 2020 and commercial air travel was effectively grounded.
If the County gets the grants, it must spend the money or at least encumber it by the 2024 deadline, or the FAA might take it back.
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