Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
0:28
Chris French“The applicant has proposed a rezone of 6 lots that are created through subdivision requests S-27-1, 2, 3, and 4, which we just discussed, that consolidates 21 lots into 6 lots. The applicant proposes that the 6 lots be rezoned from the RR-2 Rural Residential 2 District to the C Conservation District.”
Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026 · Jul 8, 2026
0:48
Michael Martin
“to my knowledge, every couple of years, there is a small pink salmon run. As you've noted, there are two properties that are currently purchased alongside it. On one hand, I believe this has come up because the larger tract— we refer to it as Phase 3, it's the large section across that creek on the Coast Guard side— is one of the sections that we are wanting to rezone to conservation, which, as you noted, actually increases the protections for such areas.”Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026 · Jul 8, 2026
0:16
Michael Martin
“my name is Michael Martin Jr. I'm the manager of Oceanfront Kodiak, the Cliff Point Estates development. And the stream that you are referring to is Cliff Point Creek, I believe, or Cliff Point Stream.”Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026 · Jul 8, 2026
1:13
Chris French“It's really, you know, what is a comprehensive plan, how is it organized, how is it used, what are goals, objectives, and policies, how they're used, how this plan relates to any other plan that we have at the borough, what the community engagement process has been, what's the public review process. There's a review of Kodiak Island Borough and its communities, which deals with everything from history to demographics and everything else.”
Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026 · Jul 8, 2026
0:56
Michael Martin
“The one thing that I have brought to the development since I entered into the picture back around 2019-2020 and took over as the developer and manager overseeing the development is to go back to more of that traditional Kodiak model. I did not like the original 2-acre design that was originally envisioned by the previous project developer. And so fortunately, things have, you know, moved in a way that it makes more sense for us to try to go back to that more traditional style lot layout and zoning.”Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026 · Jul 8, 2026
0:34
Chris French“This is a long chapter, but it's long because, you know, the chapters regarding, you know, history and regarding the terrain of the borough and things like that. It is a pretty long chapter. Also, the Census Data chapter is full of tables and things that add length to the chapter.”
Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026 · Jul 8, 2026
0:30
Aimee Williams“I already mentioned we have $170,000 budgeted between the two line items, plus $100,000 budgeted for college and libraries, uh, which puts us at $270,000. But we have, uh, $68,169 in the opioid fund balance. There are four applications that are going just for that money.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:08
Jared Griffin“Up next is to discuss code change to reduce allowable assembly absences.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:33
Scott Smiley“in the past, we have used $25,000 for the health and safety ones, and for the educational ones, $5,000. That's not supported by the amount of money we have. And it's tough to find more money.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:32
Jared Griffin“I would suggest someone to amend maybe line 42, because we don't want to consider pregnancy as an illness or injury. It seems like a pretty contained set right there, but maybe just a little bit of wordsmithing to get what you're trying to get at, Mr. Whiteside.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:29
Aimee Williams“I think that would be a good look at the use of those tourism funds and clearly supports tourism and that is what the fund is for. So that would be a great use.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:47
Scott Smiley“If we limit the amount of money on one of these sheets, the big guys get $15,000 and the small guys get $3,500, that adds up to $181,000, which is $11,000 $100,000 more than we have, but $11,000 should be close to doable. The other one is more advanced than the two amounts are, $20,000 and $4,000. That adds up to $224,000, which is $54,000 more than we've budgeted.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:29
Jared Griffin“there are kind of— just to kind of guide our discussion, there are 3 things here. One is the, the reasons, the allowable excused reasons. Number two is the, um, the process of, um, qualifying for an excused absence. And then the third thing is the, uh, revising the allowable number of absences from 50% to 25%.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:42
Aimee Williams“Casey, she also has an opioid ask in for a larger amount, so it might be more appropriate to fund them through there if you don't want to do this one. And then also, we'll talk about it when we get to contracts and packet review, but a large part of what we pay for animal control actually goes to the Humane Society, like to the tune of like almost $75,000. And so if we're looking for low-hanging fruit, giving them another 4 might be, you know, $79,000 instead of $75,000. That might be an easy one to take off the list as well.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:17
Aimee Williams“Canna is our local sponsor of the Women, Infants, and Children in the Infant Learning Program, they're not the funding source. And because it was going to get dropped if no one picked it up, Canna picked it up. And so they are not the funders. Those are state programs that they're just administering.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:38
Scott Smiley“I think it's important to have two categories of funding. I think if we divide them in that way, it's fine. I think it's crazy to try to nickel and dime things on each of the— on each of the applications because we just don't know enough. One other thing that I've done with these two sheets is for applicants that are new to our system and are asking for the big amount of money, we don't have a history of how you deal with finances. So I think the temperate thing to do is to limit them to the lower amount of money.”
Kodiak Borough: Assembly Work Session of July 9, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:06
Ellen McKay“There are 7 votes in the affirmative, no votes in the negative, and the variance is granted.”
Anchorage Assembly: Zoning Board of Examiers and Appeals - July 9, 2026 - 2026-07-09 18:30:00 · Jul 10, 2026
0:41
Jason Norris“I did send an email, a follow-up email to staff asking them to take a look at the dimensional standards, because if we're going to look at what is reasonable for a minor modification, I felt it was reasonable for us to look at the dimensional standards themselves and see if they were still applicable and still serving us well.”
Anchorage Assembly: Zoning Board of Examiers and Appeals - July 9, 2026 - 2026-07-09 18:30:00 · Jul 10, 2026
0:14
Jason Norris“if you have to reduce it so small to fit it within it that it's not going to be developed, then that doesn't feel like the minimum. That feels like below the minimum.”
Anchorage Assembly: Zoning Board of Examiers and Appeals - July 9, 2026 - 2026-07-09 18:30:00 · Jul 10, 2026
0:43
Jason Norris“if we're saying that, well, they could just redesign it to have a smaller floor plate, then I think that that's going to force a lot of redesign, and they may not be able to actually make it commercially viable. And the applicant is saying they're going to have 3 units of commercial with 3 units of residential on top. I don't think that we can just flippantly say that this would be perfectly fine if you just take that 8-foot chunk out.”
Anchorage Assembly: Zoning Board of Examiers and Appeals - July 9, 2026 - 2026-07-09 18:30:00 · Jul 10, 2026
0:27
Jason Norris“I think it does revolve all around the proposed footprint of the building itself, but it does beg the question of what is minimally needed to— is this the minimum variance required, right?”
Anchorage Assembly: Zoning Board of Examiers and Appeals - July 9, 2026 - 2026-07-09 18:30:00 · Jul 10, 2026
0:24
“we will start deploying pumps later next week. You will see people, our city crews as well as our contractors, working on setting up the pumps, the piping, and the connections to the HESCO barriers to pump across the top of the barriers to get the water back into the river.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:29
“More of the southern part of the valley is included in the evacuation advisory, and it's also a little bit, a little bit wider around the river.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:13
Ryan O'Shaughnessy“the entire system is somewhat fragile to tree strikes and things like that. So we really want to encourage folks to evacuate. For that worst-case scenario.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
1:10
Aaron Jacobs“we are kind of with the volume estimate, we're going to be very close to the same volume as last year, just due to the conditions of the lower end of the overflow channel to less icebergs in the basin, and then the lateral expansion of the basin. So we're going to see a very similar volume estimate that we're anticipating, maybe a little bit of an increase, but very similar to last year. And so we are also anticipating a flood if it releases at a full basin capacity, something very similar to last year, to maybe a little bit lower, but still a major flooding event.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:09
“last year's, during last year's event, it was, it was just, just over 1,000 homes that were advised for evacuation.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:35
“last year we strictly used inundation maps to guide evacuation notice,. And this year we've broadened our perspective a little bit. We saw, we did see ponding last year behind some of the HESCO barriers and to take into account where roads may become blocked and access may be limited by first responders or those evacuating, we've broadened our criteria for the evacuation area a little bit.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:36
“We will begin closing those gaps on July— Monday, July 20th, and progressively work towards closing those right up towards the end, right up towards the release”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:43
“The good news, moving on to the HESCO and flood barrier work, is that it is complete. You will see crews still working on cleanup and final details, but the barriers are sealed and ready to go, with the exception of the pedestrian and the maintenance accesses. Those were left open intentionally so that people can access trails and maintenance crews can continue to get through them”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:24
“It is really important to heed the evacuation advisory. Life safety is our number one priority, and we've we really want to stress for folks to evacuate during this event. We have a very high level of confidence in the HESCO barriers, but this is a dynamic event. It's a natural disaster, and we can't predict every element of it.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:10
“absent the Governor compelling an evacuation for the Mendenhall Valley, the evacuation notice will remain an advisory.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:36
John Bohan“The breach locations that were chosen are the potential high-impact areas. And so tree strikes and direct, you know, even though we fortified these areas, the direct impacts at the 90-degree corners just effectively to, you know, to prepare for the worst-case scenario. As Ryan said, these are sandbags, they are temporary measures.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:20
Ryan O'Shaughnessy“the CBJ is currently operating under an emergency declaration, and the intent and the purpose of that is to utilize resources that wouldn't be available to us as a local government ordinarily.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
1:07
“public safety is number one, and we definitely think the evacuation is important, that there's a lot of flood barriers out in place, but if something were to happen, it would be very short notice on a breach and a flash flood.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:27
John Bohan“as we saw last year, fortunately above the waterline, but a tree completely blew up the barriers behind the Field House very quickly, very easily. So we do need to be prepared for those events. So be careful. And that's also why we're requesting evacuation because they are temporary and we don't know what, you know, we don't know what force might crack one open.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:24
“this year we're advising evacuation for just over 1,900”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:27
Ryan O'Shaughnessy“we have a tremendous amount of confidence in the HESCO system. We saw it perform relatively well last year and we're very confident for this year, but the entire system is fragile. And that's really why we want everyone in the evacuation area to heed that advisory and to evacuate. These are resilient structures. We do have a little bit of testing with them, but they are essentially sandbags, right?”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:53
“without them, we would not have— we would have 2 pumps in Juneau capable of pumping water from behind the Hesco flood barriers. So they have basically stripped all of their resources from the Lower 48, and also working on acquiring additional pumps outside of what their normal resources are to provide us the number of pumps we need to work to pump behind the HESCOs”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:29
Aaron Jacobs“this year, in conjunction with the USGS, we were able to improve our monitoring so we have more redundant information. And one of that more redundant information is a camera that looks over the overflow channel. So from the monitoring page, if you go to latest images, and now you will see this overflow channel to the right. And so this is a new camera for us so we can see when water is starting to go over this overflow channel.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:51
“those were designed to the same capacity to which the HESCO barriers are built, so 63,500. Also, as a function of creating the maps, we also overlaid, we took a no HESCO model, and so what would be inundated without the HESCOs. We also looked at several different breach points and tried to identify where the worst or most impactful breach locations would be and overlaid those things so that we made sure that we encompassed any area that could be impacted.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:34
Ryan O'Shaughnessy“Once the state resources you know, primarily the drone monitoring and public assistance support and those kinds of things come into play, the CBJ will be requesting that the Governor also declare a state disaster. So that is, we're working really closely with the SEOC to move that process along, and at this point, all indications that we've received are that the state will very seriously consider a pre-event disaster declaration again.”
Juneau: July 9, 2026 CBJ Media Availability · Jul 9, 2026
0:53
Kathy Bolling“What is tightly woven into this challenge, this argument between city and borough and people not wanting to pay a non-area-wide fee, is they want control of collection development, which is so offensively absurd to me.”
Ketchikan: Library Advisory Board Quarterly Meeting of July 8, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:51
Pat Bowling
“due to concerns over the recent increases in the borough's contribution, the borough assembly voted to terminate the current library services agreement effective December 31st, 2026. This gives the assembly time to consider their options, which are option 1, to renegotiate the library services agreement, uh, with a view to limit the amount that the borough is contracted to pay the non-area-wide library services. Option 2, put a measure on the October ballot for the borough to adopt area-wide library powers. If passed, the borough would provide and pay for library services for all residents of the borough.”Ketchikan: Library Advisory Board Quarterly Meeting of July 8, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:15
Pat Bowling
“The assembly will next take up this issue at their July 20th meeting when they will hold a public hearing and work session. The citizens' petition to put on the fall ballot a measure for the borough to adopt area-wide library hours is going around.”Ketchikan: Library Advisory Board Quarterly Meeting of July 8, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:39
Kathy Bolling“just last year, Assemblymember Arntzen made a move to, to pull all funding for the library, right? Reduce that library levy to zero and give notice to cancel the contract.”
Ketchikan: Library Advisory Board Quarterly Meeting of July 8, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:24
Kathy Bolling“If it just caps at, uh, $0.7 mil, that's already not enough.”
Ketchikan: Library Advisory Board Quarterly Meeting of July 8, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026
0:27
Kathy Bolling“my understanding in response to my colleague's question is that that non-area-wide tax will be collected. The borough is still obligated. To fund the library. It just depends at what, at what level.”
Ketchikan: Library Advisory Board Quarterly Meeting of July 8, 2026 · Jul 9, 2026