Three applicants seek Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly seat Aug. 18

Kalifornsky voters could have a seated assembly member again by Tuesday night, Aug. 18, when the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is scheduled to appoint someone to the vacant District 1 seat and swear that person in.

Three people applied. The Committee of the Whole will review applications and interview Annarose (Noelle) Phillips, Brent Hibbert and Teresa Mullican at 2:30 p.m. in the Betty J. Glick Assembly Chambers at 144 North Binkley Street in Soldotna. Remote participation is available through Zoom.

The agenda for the interview session carries a clerk's note stating that an executive session may be held, meaning part of the applicant review could take place behind closed doors. The appointment vote itself is on the regular assembly agenda at 6 p.m., followed by the swearing-in.

Whoever is appointed starts voting immediately. On the same agenda are Ordinance 2026-28, authorizing the sale of borough parcels by live public outcry and simulcast online auction, and Ordinance 2026-27, authorizing a long-term lease with the City of Seward for a surplus school facility. Also up are appropriations for the McNeil Canyon School waterline replacement, a dermatology clinic at Central Peninsula Hospital, and a capital project at the Central Peninsula Landfill.

The appointment does not settle the seat. Borough records show the appointed term expires in November 2026, while the elected term runs to November 2027, so District 1 voters decide the remainder at the ballot box.

District 7 remains vacant as well, leaving the nine-member body two seats short going into the meeting.

An earlier Alaska News article on Kodiak's vacancy noted the same pattern there: the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly interviewed four applicants in July and appointed one the same night.

The evening meeting includes periods for public comments and public testimony. The afternoon interview session's agenda lists no public comment period.