League City City Council accepts Harris County money to combat COVID-19-related unemployment

Through various agenda items, on Sept. 1, League City City Council approved new ways to help those affected by COVID-19.

Council entered an interlocal agreement to accept $109,102 from the Harris County COVID-19 Relief Fund. The city will use the money to reimburse the League City Regional Chamber of Commerce for providing programs, such as job fairs, interview training, mental health seminars, employment-related webinars and employee training, to local businesses and residents affected by COVID-19.

According to a League City memo, the Harris County Small Cities Assistance Program was created to help distribute coronavirus relief funds. The county awards cities $55 per Harris County resident, so League City will receive $109,120 because it has 1,984 Harris County residents.

The chamber will put on programs to help those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and then bill the city. The city will use the Harris County-provided funds to pay for the chamber's programs, officials said.

"I appreciate the chamber of commerce stepping up to help in this way," Council Member Hank Dugie said.

Dugie said unemployment went up during the pandemic, and while it is falling, there are still many who out of work.

Additionally, the council approved entering an interlocal agreement with The University of Texas Medical Branch to provide COVID-19 testing for service and hospitality employees in League City.

Under the agreement, hospitality and service employees in the city will be able to get tested at a UTMB facility for $100 per test. UTMB will bill the resident's insurance first, but if that fails, the city will pay the test cost through its CARES Act funding, according to a city memo.

Under the agreement, the cost will not exceed $1.5 million. If 100 uninsured hospitality and service industry employees were to be tested per day five days a week for three months, the cost would be $600,000, the memo reads.