Homer council hears appeal Monday on whether city fully searched for parking records

The Homer City Council will hear resident Frank Griswold's appeal Monday over whether city staff fully searched for records on paved parking along West Bunnell Avenue. The special meeting starts at 5:45 pm in the Cowles Council Chambers and by Zoom.

The city first told Griswold no such records existed. Emails released later show city staff approved shoulder paving in front of businesses that use the shoulders for parking and added the work to a road contract.

Griswold asked on Oct. 7, 2025, for all records on the authorization and marking of parking spaces along West Bunnell Avenue. The city's answer, written on his request form Oct. 16, said no records existed and that property owners had painted the lines "to the best of our knowledge." Griswold appealed to the council the next day. On Nov. 11, 2025, City Manager Melissa Jacobsen replied that the city had not denied his request but reported that no records existed, so city code allowed no council appeal.

On Jan. 7, City Clerk Amy Woodruff released records found by an IT search based on Griswold's broader reading of his request. More followed Oct. 20 and Nov. 2.

The emails begin Sept. 3, 2025, when City Engineer Leon Galbraith wrote that the contractor and "residents/businesses are in favor of paving these areas," which he described as where everyone already parks, inside the city right of way. The same day, Public Works Director Daniel Kort forwarded the message to Jacobsen. "However the Tax Payer will be flipping the bill for private business parking which we don't allow in City ROW by code," Kort wrote, suggesting the businesses pay for the change instead. Jacobsen forwarded it to Mayor Rachel Lord, asking to discuss it as soon as possible.

On Sept. 4, Galbraith told contractor Buck Jones of East Road Services that "we have been given the go ahead to do this work but we will need to document all with a project change order." Jones priced the paving at 65 tons of asphalt for $16,590.60, and Galbraith approved it Sept. 5.

Change Order No. 1, dated Sept. 22, added about $95,000 to the Ohlson Lane and West Bunnell Avenue road and water contract, bringing it to about $2.16 million. An engineer's memo says much of its asphalt paved areas in front of AJ's, Wild Honey, the Art Center and the Driftwood RV park, where businesses had let customers park in the right of way.

Nelson Engineering, the project's design firm, wrote through Matthew Dura on Oct. 1 that it took no design responsibility for the shoulder parking and that the paving and striping were done without consulting it. Dura warned the stalls are shallow, so many vehicles will stick out into an already narrow road. "With the previous dirt shoulders now paved and striped inside the ROW the city is seen as endorsing and encouraging this sub-standard parking configuration," he wrote.

Griswold took the dispute to Superior Court in Homer. Judge B. Seifert's Sept. 15 order dismissed his court appeal but found the "no records exist" answer was a denial that should have gone to the council. To challenge whether the follow-up search was sufficient, the order said, Griswold had to file a request with the city.

City Attorney Max Holmquist, who represents the city, asked Griswold on Nov. 10 to name the records he believes are missing, writing that full disclosure "would make a hearing unnecessary." Griswold said he is not required to. "Many of those belatedly disclosed records reference additional responsive records which were not disclosed to me," he wrote in September. He wants to question Kort, Galbraith, Owen Meyer and Bill Jirsa of the city's IT department, and he objects to Holmquist advising the council. He declined the clerk's offer to move the hearing to Nov. 30, citing the code's 30-day limit.