Video Clips

Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.

Clips from City of NomeClear

John Handeland (Manager, Nome Joint Utility System)

“I'm not, uh, I can't, uh, tell you the board is going to say okay, but, uh, I, my if I was betting on it, I'd double my bet right now.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:26

Daniel Grimmer “That is correct. The city council's purview is to be able to change ordinance and change language in the ordinance.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:34

Daniel Grimmer “the code is law as far as I'm concerned. It is pretty clear that shall deny does not use the may language, which allows us, uh, discernment in cases like this. It says shall, which is a requirement. And so as far as I'm concerned, the code is clear that it shall be denied as it states in the code. The, the charges that are non-negotiable are offenses against persons.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:11

Scot Henderson “This is a strongly worded request to do what we're asking, you know.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:13

Daniel Grimmer “If it is the council's desire that, you know, specific boards and/or commissions meet in City Hall, um, uh, we can also change that in ordinance to make it an actual requirement.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:19

Mark Johnson

“So now with this resolution, the entire council may or may be requesting this, and so it should have a little more weight as it comes from the entire council as opposed to simply one or two council members.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:27

Daniel Grimmer “this gentleman had a sexual assault or sexual abuse of a minor in second degree, which is a Class B felony. There is no statute of limitations for such a charge. It stays and has, uh, consequences indefinitely according to state law. And so I'm following the state law, I'm following our code, which is why it was denied.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:03

Mark Johnson

“Motion carries.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:45

Scot Henderson “There have obviously been multiple requests by council members for the NJUS board to move their meeting location from the power plant to City Hall. And I think there was a desire expressed either the last meeting or 2 meetings ago to formalize that request because up to this point, it's just been individual council members asking whoever was, you know, doing the operations report”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:05

Mark Johnson

“Correct, the appeal. Right, so a yes vote will allow them to drive.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:16

Ben Townsend

“I could probably count on one hand the number of people from the general public that have gone to those. As has been mentioned, I think that the building itself is a little tough to access.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:15

Ben Townsend

“I really appreciate John has made an effort to change the power, the engines that are running during those meetings. The reality is the audio quality is still pretty abysmal.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:42

Scot Henderson “I do support also NJUS, you know, moving their meeting locations to here, and it's primarily, as Ben, I think, very eloquently stated, it's to basically, it's more transparent.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:26

Daniel Grimmer “The Port Commission, uh, being left out, that was just oversight on our part, um, which, I mean, we can certainly change the language in this however the council wishes, as this would be a resolution of the council.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:32

Ben Townsend

“For me, when I went for the first time, I was pretty intimidated because it doesn't feel like a place that I should be in.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:53

Mark Johnson

“it was started by a number of councilmen requesting that they hold their meetings here because it's really difficult to both hear and participate in meetings at the powerhouse that they have. So, um, it was— this resolution is an attempt to get them to please hold their meetings here so that they can be attended by more members of the public.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:07

Ben Townsend

“I'm thankful to the council for moving forward this resolution regarding NJUS.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:01

Mark Johnson

“I vote yes.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:32

Daniel Grimmer “A resolution is a a commitment that we're committing, uh, that this is the course of action that we want to take or that we would like to see. Now, if, uh, the city council wishes to pass this, this is a strong ask from the city council to the NJUS board and manager to have these meetings held here.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:08

Mark Johnson

“appeal made by Harold Michael Amasek for the denial of a chauffeur's license.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:04

Mark Johnson

“3 No. I hear 3 to 3.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

1:04

John Handeland (Manager, Nome Joint Utility System)

“under the manager's report, I did— I was there and addressed the matter and said that it would be brought back to the, the board for inclusion of the discussion and a determination at their meeting. And so that meeting is actually here next Tuesday.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Oct. 13, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026

0:02

Kenneth Hughes “Yes. Motion carries.”

Nome Common Council Meeting - Election Canvass and Certification · Oct 8, 2026

0:13

Kenneth Hughes “Chair, I'll entertain a motion to adopt. I'll make that motion. I'll second it. Motion made by Council Member Johnson, seconded by Council Member Lust. Is there any discussion on the resolution?”

Nome Common Council Meeting - Election Canvass and Certification · Oct 8, 2026

0:07

Kenneth Hughes “Item B, Resolution 26-10-01, a resolution canvassing the results of October 6th, 2026 annual municipal election.”

Nome Common Council Meeting - Election Canvass and Certification · Oct 8, 2026

0:08

Paul Costell

“The mayor's position would be moot. Yet we stopped this process for all these folks out here that have been working on this for months.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:15

Paul Costell

“that's 102%, Dad. That's not sustainable.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:14

Paul Costell

“It's, it's getting to where it's not sustainable, and these groups are not going to have a reliable funding force, um, source which was envisioned by the state of Alaska.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:15

Kenneth Hughes “So there's a motion on the floor to table the pull tabs ordinance. Is there— until we get a legal opinion on my potential conflict of interest.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:06

Kenneth Hughes “I am president of the Chamber of Commerce. I don't get a salary.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:37

Paul Costell

“Nome, for some reason— well, we there's reasons for it, decided that most of that money was not going to go to these charities that are listed here, and it became a revenue source for the city.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:18

Paul Costell

“the state developed the charitable gaming in 1960, 66 years ago, and it's for enacting regulations allowing games of chance like pull tabs, raffles, bingos to give religious, educational, civic, and veterans groups a reliable funding stream.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:19

Kenneth Hughes “Chamber of Commerce does use pull-tab funds to fund its operations. That's about it. I'm not sure what the actual process is, but is that a conflict of interest?”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:07

Jennifer Reader

“for this to be tabled tonight is very, very frustrating to hear because this is completely avoidable.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:31

Jennifer Reader

“Ordinance 2.05.070 covers your conflicts of interest in your own ordinances. And I'm really surprised that somebody like the city manager or the clerk or somebody didn't bring that up and say, this is what it says, like right now. Like, this should not have been an issue tonight, and I'm really disappointed that it was.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:18

Alex Thompson

“if we don't do pull tabs, there is no taxes in the first place.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:21

Alex Thompson

“if we do no longer do these pull tabs, there will be no tax revenue. So the other side of the coin is if more charitable organizations don't want to do pull tabs, there will be zero tax revenue from pull tabs. None.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:10

Paul Costell

“tonight wasn't the night to stop the process yet again for something that might not be an issue. We wait until it's an issue.”

Nome Common Council Regular Meeting- Sept. 28, 2026 · Sep 28, 2026

0:17

Karl Emmons

“it's going to be nothing but a heartache. And I've seen how this happens when people do that, the, um, and then it becomes a mess, you know, and it's flowing out on the tundra and all that. It seems like utilities always winds up involved in the cleanup.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:10

Derek McLarty

“But really about all we can do is give them some line. We don't have people that—. We don't have to give water and that'll stop that. Yeah, they're magic boxes.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:10

Karl Emmons

“somebody should at least point out to the people that are putting this together that it's going to be real high maintenance.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:15

“whoever approves it had better be ready to take over the maintenance of it.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:23

Derek McLarty

“Utilities writes a letter to the owner of the property saying that they're responsible for until they get it properly hooked into city water and sewer. There is no question on that. It is their responsibility, and that is a known— so if they call us and need help, then we'll build them for it, right? We absolutely— and we have an agreement in place for that.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:42

Karl Emmons

“At our cost, you know, sending our crew to empty honey buckets, get piled out the back door and all that stuff. You know, I think that, uh, that people just don't understand how these things work. And to put them into a housing project where people there don't necessarily understand how a flush toilet works, it's going to be pretty tough to, uh, to, to maintain.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:40

Karl Emmons

“My understanding is that somehow they got approved for those life water above-ground septic tanks. I don't think anybody knows how those function. You know, they're, they're a septic tank, but they've got agitators and grinders and pumps inside of them that all have to work, and they digest the, uh, oopie in there, and then it goes out through an outflow, and they, they kill all the bacteria that might not have gotten digested with, uh, ultraviolet light. But then they just dump them out in the yard.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:22

Derek McLarty

“So it's an interim measure until they build they expand that development, expectation is with later phases they will put a proper lift station in and then collect all that drainage, you know, further to the south— I'm sorry, further to the north towards Bourbon Creek, and then pump it up to our, our force main.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:37

Karl Emmons

“I think it's worth people going into that with their eyes open, you know. Yeah, I've been involved in several of those and I would never put one in or recommend anybody to put one in. Unless it was the last option you had and you were gonna— it was your baby and you were gonna take care of it.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

0:26

Karl Emmons

“they're real management intensive. You know, if you were— was in your house and you lived there and you took care of it, because there's a limited amount of water, or maximum water you put through every day, and you can't exceed that. And so somebody needs to really care that they're not going to work, you know, if they don't follow it real strict. And I mean, I would never recommend that anybody put anything like that in.”

Nome Joint Utility System Board Meeting- Sept. 22, 2025 · Sep 22, 2026

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