Kenai Assembly Weighs Rule Letting Three Votes Carry a Decision

Assembly President Ryan Tunseth is sponsoring an ordinance for introduction Tuesday that would let a majority of whatever quorum is present carry an action of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly. That means as few as three votes when only the five-member minimum attends, down from the five now required.

The ordinance adds one sentence to the chapter governing assembly meetings: "Unless otherwise provided, actions of the assembly are adopted by a majority of the quorum." The quorum stays defined as a majority of the total membership, five of nine. A majority of five is three.

State law sets a different threshold. AS 29.20.160(d) provides that actions of a governing body are adopted by a majority of the total membership, five votes for a nine-member body. The Kenai Peninsula Borough is a second-class borough, so Title 29 applies. The statute allows a governing body to set its own procedural rules by ordinance, but only to the extent otherwise permitted by law.

Tunseth's sponsor memorandum does not mention the statute. It says the amendment codifies the default rule under Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure. A later section of the same ordinance strikes Mason's Manual from the assembly's reconsideration rules, leaving the manual not adopted and not controlling assembly action.

The record contains no statement from Borough Attorney Sean Kelley on whether the statute permits the change. In August, Kelley and Borough Clerk Michele Turner advised in writing that filling a vacant seat required five votes.

Two of the nine members who would vote on the measure were appointed rather than elected. The assembly declared the District 1 Kalifornsky seat vacant July 7 after Scott Griebel resigned. It declared District 7 Central vacant Aug. 4 after Michael Hicks resigned. Tunseth sponsored both resolutions.

Of three applicants for the Kalifornsky seat, Brent Hibbert won by ballot 5-1 over Annarose (Noelle) Phillips, with Teresa Mullican drawing no votes, and was sworn in Aug. 18. Nathan Berga, the sole applicant for District 7 Central, was appointed and sworn in Sept. 1. Borough records list both men's service as running through Nov. 15, 2026.

Residents of the two districts, represented by appointees since August and September, elect replacements to finish the unexpired terms on Nov. 3. The borough's election-information page lists only District 1 and District 2, not District 7, among assembly seats on that ballot.

The same ordinance also shortens the guaranteed public notice window before assembly decisions, from roughly 11 days under the current rule to a system with only a binding 48-hour minimum. Sponsors would still file 10 days out, and the clerk would aim to publish materials seven days out. The sponsor memorandum does not say the interval changes.

A second ordinance set for introduction the same day rewrites how a vacant seat is filled, extending the window in which a vacancy goes to voters rather than appointment from 45 to 90 days before a regular election. Applied this year, that would have made no difference: the Hicks vacancy was declared 91 days before the election.

The ordinance also adds a one-year district residency requirement not mentioned in the sponsor memorandum, replacing a section that had no durational requirement. It loosens the deadline to fill a seat from the second meeting after a resignation to 60 days, versus the 30-day state default.

Both ordinances go before the Policies and Procedures Committee at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, ahead of the assembly's introduction vote that evening. No committee packet had been published for either item as of this writing. Neither requires voter approval, unlike a separate school board term-limits measure the assembly placed on the ballot Sept. 1 as Proposition No. 1.

Public hearing on both ordinances is set for Oct. 20, two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, with the sitting assembly deciding. The record contains no resident correspondence on either measure. Residents can testify at the hearing or write the borough clerk beforehand.