Unalaska paid for library internet for three years before the council approved it

Unalaska has been paying GCI to run the public internet at its library since July 2023 under a contract the City Council never voted on, though city code required it to. The council ratified the five-year agreement this month, retroactively.

The contract runs $108,876 a year through June 2028, about $544,000 in all. Almost none of it is city money. A federal program that discounts internet service for schools and libraries covers $54,059 a year, and a state program that pays for public library connections covers most of the rest. Unalaska's own general fund paid $8,779 in fiscal 2024 and nothing since.

The city did competitively bid the work. GCI came in at about $21,000 a year under OptimERA and was selected on cost, with a consultant guiding the process to meet federal requirements.

What did not happen was the council vote. City Librarian Karen Kresh described it as a procedural lapse during an administrative transition. Until 2022 the school district signed the library's internet contracts, so they had never come before the council. City code requires council approval for contracts that commit money from future years' budgets.

The city attorney advised that ratifying it would clear up any legal or funding problems. Staff told the council that not ratifying could force Unalaska to repay federal money it has already received and put future funding at risk.

The library's internet is free to the public, and residents without home broadband use it for schoolwork, job applications and government services.