Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026

All right, I will call the, uh, Kodiak Island Borough Assembly regular meeting, uh, to order. Thursday, July 2nd, 2026. We'll begin with an invocation from Anthony Furio of Salvation Army.

Thank you for this opportunity to be here today. And, um, dear Lord, we just come before you and we thank you for this week, especially for us having 250 years of freedom. We thank you for being with our country, watching over and guiding us in this time. And at this time we have our summer, a lot of people in the villages and in our community, they're traveling. So we ask you especially traveling mercies for the people from Akiak to Uzinki that travel by small boats and small airplanes, and it's very dangerous, Lord.

And we ask you to be with them, take them to where they're going and bring them back home. As well as we have families here that travel in from far away, and they're traveling by jet and other means. So Lord, we have— we ask you to plead for the people going and the people coming for traveling mercies for them. Lord, we ask you to please be with our borough assembly and our people that work in our government on our, our budget matters, budget matters, and our decisions for our community. And Lord, we ask you please to guide us and be with us and to help us hear your voice.

Lord, we thank you, we praise you for all that you In Jesus' name. Amen. And now the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, everyone. We are gathered on the traditional homeland of the Sugpiaqalutik people, and we acknowledge the 10 tribes of the Kodiakalutik region. We recognize the Aleutic culture that enriches our community to this day. Roll call, please. Mr. Ames.

Here. Mr. Gardner. Here. Ms. Roberts. Here.

Mr. Smiley. Here. Mr. Whiteside. Here. Mr. Woods.

Here. Mayor Griffin. Here. You have a quorum. All right.

Next is approval of the agenda and consent agenda. This week, the consent agenda includes the special meeting minutes of May 28th and the regular meeting minutes of June 4th, 2026. Is there a motion? Mr. Whiteside. Move to approve the agenda and consent agenda.

Second. It has been moved and seconded. Voice vote on the motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda. All in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed, same sign. Motion carries. That brings us to citizen comments. There will be two designated citizen comment periods today, one at the beginning and at the end of the meeting. These comment periods are intended for general comments as well for agenda items that are not part of the public hearing, and we don't have any public hearing items Tonight, for those who wish to call in, the local number is 907-486-3231, toll-free 1-855-492-9202.

Please turn off your radio or any listening device to prevent feedback. For those in the room who wish to speak under citizens' comments, please come to the podium and sign in, turn on the microphone, make sure the green light is on before speaking, and speak directly into the mic. And please state your name for the record and address all remarks to the assembly. As a body and not to any member thereof. So, anyone in the audience wishing to speak, come on down.

Good evening, Mayor and assembly members. My name is Melissa Schoenwether, and I serve Kodiak as the executive director of Kodiak Economic Development Corporation. I want to take a few minutes this evening to share an opportunity that may be useful to Kodiak residents on the road system who rely on private wells. KEDC is partnering with Rural Community Assistance Corporation, also known as RCAC, to bring no-cost private well assessments to Kodiak on August 12th and 13th. This service is available to people who use wells, including homeowners, renters, property owners, and households that may not own the wells themselves.

Through this visit, participants will receive an individual well assessment, water sample testing for several common indicators, a completed report with recommendations, a well owner resource package, and follow-up technical assistance and support if needed. RCAC estimates the value of this service at approximately $750 per participant, but through this opportunity, we're able to bring this to the Kodiak residents at no cost. Many households rely on private wells, and regular testing and maintenance can help people better understand their water quality and the condition of their wells. Assessment spots are limited to about 8 per day, and once those spots are, are filled, we are going to create a waitlist. The hope is to work in additional households as openings become available, but to also use that waitlist to help support a possible second visit at the end of the summer or in the fall.

I want to share that this opportunity has come about as KEDC has been working with RCAC through the Building Rural Economies grant, which has supported community-led economic development work in Kodiak, including the Recharge Our Communities Economies workshops and our local value chain work. This private well assessment opportunity grew out of that relationship. To me, this is a good example of what economic development can look like in practice. Sometimes the work is not a large public project. Sometimes it is building the right partnership, helping outside resources reach Kodiak, and making sure residents know how to access that practical help.

More information and the registration link can be found on our website, which is Kodiak edc.com. Thank you all for your time and for your service to our community.

Thank you, Melissa. Any calls?

Good evening. My name is Carly McChesney, and to the people in the listening audience also, um, if I were to give all of this information, it would be like taking a drink of water from a fire hose, and some of you are better at doing research than I am. I just go to meetings and ask questions, mostly after the meeting so I'm not tying up the audience, but I've been taking a lot of notes from programs and, um, going to the Legislative Information Office to get more information. And then thoroughly reading the newspapers. So in the Kodiak Daily Mirror on June 25th, Plenty for Kodiak in Draft Senate Defense Bill.

There's more on things that are— things that the governor's vetoing and other things he's allowing to go through. But it's an awful lot of information and I've been learning about the data centers this morning on town hall news. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is kind of putting a halt on data centers because he feels like they should pay for them, they should pay for the electricity, they should pay for the water and recycle it or whatever. But, um, You'd be better at the research, and it would take a couple days to tell you things about data centers. It has to do with artificial intelligence.

It has to do with cryptocurrency. And, um, when this president came to the White House, from day one he was into data centers and pushing that. But it almost feels like it's being forced on us in Kodiak. And we're, um, we're also going to have to pay for it. When we had that 12.5% interest increase, it was to help build up the Coast Guard base, but then also helping the canneries.

And so in a lot of states, they use a tremendous amount of electricity a tremendous amount of money. KEA got a $40 million loan. They borrowed our capital credits, and that won't cover. And I know other people have gone to lengths to help with this, but my concern is that, um, I don't want to see us have to ration water or have to see the ratepayers pay tremendous electric bills. In Utah alone, they were going to put a data center.

It would take twice the amount of electricity as the entire state of Utah, and then trillions of gallons of water. I just would hate to see us be rationed. I think we might have to put regulations, but how do you put regulations on the federal government? Thank you. Thank you.

No calls. Anyone else in the audience?

Okay. Moving on into our agenda. Let's start with committee reports. We will just go down the line. Mr. Gardner.

I have nothing to report. All right, Mr. Smiley? Nothing yet. Mr. Ains? Nothing at this time.

Mr. Whiteside? Nothing to report, thank you. Ms. Roberts? Kodiak College Advisory Council, the college is still going through the final interview processes for a new director. We welcome some new members to the council with some prospective members as well.

So our next meeting is going to be organized after this holiday weekend, and HFAB meets Next Tuesday. Mr. Woods? Nothing to report. All right. Okay.

Borough Manager's Report. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Assembly Members. We're still inside of union negotiations. I just got a new counter proposal from IBEW today. I don't know what it says yet, but we'll worry about that after the holiday weekend.

Last week I attended the change of command ceremony at the Coast Guard Air Station. Met with regional directors from both Senator Sullivan and Senator Murkowski's office later that day. They were both in town for the change of command, so got some face time with them. Mayor Griffin and I met with Deb Barini, who is the new Providence Alaska CEO, on Tuesday. We talked about project processes, local communications with the larger Providence community, lease negotiations, and how important our partnership is.

Deb was lovely, and I look forward to working with her. She was very receptive to the concerns that we brought up, and it was a really good meeting. I sent a draft consent letter of— a landlord letter of consent to KCHC for the Signal Hill, or depending on what you call them, the old mental health buildings, to check to make sure it met their needs. I have not heard back. I did get an email back asking if they only wanted one of those buildings, will we hold the second building for them.

And so that'll be a conversation the assembly has to have. But my initial answer to her was probably not, because we have other community entities that are interested in one of the buildings. So for us to hold it for the future probably would be a tough ask. We also received a request for an additional letter from KCHC about the HVAC system on their current space. And so I am in talk— sent that to the mayor and deputy setting officer, and we're working through, uh, the pluses and minuses of doing that for that space.

The borough is planning a lobbying visit to DC at a different time than we normally go. We normally go in February in the years that we've gone recently. This year we're looking at September. The trip is scheduled to be a joint trip with the city of Kodiak, which I think signals like a new era in city and borough cooperation. Uh, your nonprofit Funding schedule is there.

Applications were due on the 30th. Um, when I wrote this, Megan was still consolidating and organizing the requests into a PDF. I have that now. I'm going to have to send you a OneDrive link on that because it's 198 pages long, and that's with the shortened, uh, words. So we did that.

Um, you're gonna have two work sessions to talk about nonprofits, um, July 9th and July 30th. And the rest of the schedule is there in the manager's report. In community development, Chris attended the Russian and Sergeant Creek Bridge planning environmental languages meeting. We do monthly meetings, and then they did a community stakeholder meeting, and then we did a meeting to say how that meeting went. So nothing new has progressed.

It was just a lot of meetings talking about how the last meeting went. Planning and Zoning Commission will have a work session on the 8th. Um, they are going to be reviewing the introduction chapter for our comprehensive plan. Uh, they will also be looking at 4 subdivision cases and a rezone, um, for Cliff Point Estates, as well as a conditional use permit for an ADU. Uh, and then they will have a regular meeting on July 15th.

In finance, um, for 2024 tax foreclosures, the redemption period ends on July 6th. For 2025 tax foreclosures. Um, the documents are to the attorney to be filed with the courts. Once those are signed, that judgment will put a lien on real properties until delinquent taxes are paid. Um, as those cases sit, additional interest and fees continue to accrue.

So if you haven't paid your 2025 taxes, please call finance for a payoff amount. And then you will probably have noticed a 2026 tax bill arriving at your location. Those were mailed out, and we had a lot of people in the borough paying their taxes today. So thanks for those folks that came in. Uh, those were mailed on the 30th, and so if you don't have yours, it should arrive soon.

Staff is still working with Tyler's finance team to complete remaining outstanding items. It's the same for assessing. Assessing is still working with Tyler to get their stuff up to speed. There is an online property access tool that you can get your, uh, tax statement, your payment history, and general property information if you go to the borough and you go into the search bar and you just type in property information link, the information will pop up and you can get all of your historical information.

In assessing, we are looking at properties inside of the city of Kodiak this summer. We had an annual report due to the state of Alaska. Tyler did not have information ready in time, so Seema asked the state for a deadline, which she got. Then naturally Tyler came through late in the day on the 1st with the information, but it was still too late. And so glad we got an extension.

For senior citizen and disabled veteran exemptions, during a year when we're not doing a software transition and the state is fully staffed, it will be normal to have about 35 undetermined or no-file applicants for the PFD. This year, assessing at 156, assessing sent out postcards to those 156 folks. It caused some confusion because people did file for the PFD. It just hadn't been processed yet, or they forgot to file. Assessing has made it through 73 of 156.

Those have been processed. If their tax statements went out without an exception, the borough will update those and send out new tax statements. No changes in our exemption updates. We have timely filed exemption applications listed there, and nothing has changed with our exemption appeal appeals, and we still have heard nothing from the Alaska Supreme Court on our case. With CANA and property tax.

And I told you about Tyler for assessing. Staff, I think they do really good job remaining patient, but some days it's really frustrating because our deadlines are hard deadlines. Tax statements have to get to the printers at a certain time. Tyler doesn't have that pressure on their side, so they will often push it to the very last minute. So we're learning how to work with that.

In IT, Fred is out this week, so thank you to Michael and Christian and Travis for running the IT department update. Uh, Christian has been working with the landfill. We had some power outages out there which burn out our Starlink, uh, internet connection, so we have to get a new modem. So they've been working with their old school internet connection for connectivity out there, the LTP. So they've been working with that.

They've also been working with Bayside and Women's Bay Fire Departments., with some technical issues and discuss technological upgrades that the fire department wants. Uh, in GIS, Travis has been helping the clerks with election map updates as well as providing assistance to the Army Corps of Engineers in data acquisition. Um, they're also working on parcel data for the Tyler system so we can, uh, draw information from the new system instead of our old system. In engineering facilities, the extensions are complete for pumps 3 and 4 at the KFRC. Uh, IP is going to be returning to install the other pumps in the next few weeks.

Um, we have tested and found that those pumps work, so we wanted to make sure we had a good test before we installed pumps 1 and 2 in case any changes had to be made. Um, both elevators are working at the hospital. I think we should stop and celebrate that. Okay. Uh, tsunami sirens maintenance happened over the last couple of weeks.

Our contractor was here. They come and they service all of the tsunami sirens. It doesn't matter if they're city or borough. That went well. Everything that had to be replaced was replaced.

Our solid waste RFP is posted on the website. It closes on the 4th. We had a mandatory pre-proposal meeting on June 30th, and there was only one contractor, so I guess we know who the one bid will come from. Has to be here by the 4th. Nothing is changing in our fuel bill assistance.

Our building automation systems, the Fisheries Research Center is done and you'll have a contract tonight for the Kodiak Island Borough admin building. Our other projects that are going on, we have had our sampling done at the East Elementary roof for hazardous materials. Port Lions painting project, the contractor, I was just in Walmart today and like it was in the aisle over and heard him tell all about the project, so that was kind of fun. Uh, he's planning to take the ferry out this weekend, and so that project will be mobilized. Um, the agenda tonight also includes the UST removal at the Annex Building.

The Mill Bay steep stairs and picnic table replacement is underway. The stair assembly is in Kodiak. I hear that it is robust. The Leachate Treatment Plant citric acid, um, skid is expected to arrive next week, and then we'll work with contractors to get that installed. And we are still working on getting a schedule from the contractor for roof work or warranty work right here at the borough building.

Uh, we are working on an environmental services contract, facilities road maintenance and snow contract. Uh, our janitorial contract is on the agenda tonight, and we're working on a preferred vendors contract. Will be a shift in the way we do business. Instead of having a contract with just a single contractor we will have a list of contractors that we can choose from, so we have greater variety of getting service faster to the borough. As Assemblymember Roberts mentioned, we have HVAB on July 7th that'll be held at the hospital.

And that's all I have for tonight. Wishing everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend. Uh, thank you. Any, um, questions for the manager?

I have one, Amy, for the tsunami siren maintenance. Did they get to the sirens in the villages? Sorry, that was only road system maintenance. Okay. Thank you.

I was not very specific. I was just curious.

Okay. Moving on to messages from the borough mayor. It's been over a month, I think, since I've been at a regular meeting. So I have a lot, so get comfortable.

So before we get into tonight's business, I would like to recognize the high school Shakespeareans. We had another remarkable performance at the National Speech and Debate Tournament. You can read about all of their accomplishments on the school district website. But they, uh, their accomplishments continue to place Kodiak and Alaska on the national stage, and I think they remind us that excellence doesn't require living in a major metropolitan area. Successes like these are never, you know, the product of talent alone.

I think it's the result of a community choosing year after year to invest in its young people, and even, even from the borough, who contributes to the school district so that they can maintain the facilities where these students learn and, and perform. So, you know, when an entire community believes in its youth, our students can compete with anybody in, in this country. So, um, so I just wanted to shout out, shout out the team there. As Amy mentioned, yes, we met with, uh, with Providence to prepare for formal lease discussions in the near future. It was a good opportunity to discuss the values that we share before we discuss contracts, before we get into all the, you know, the legal language and things.

And so I appreciated that opportunity to build that relationship. And I remain pretty optimistic about the conversations ahead. Later this month, I will join Alaska Aerospace during a visit with officials from the Department of Energy. One of the responsibilities that I feel I've embraced as mayor is ensuring that Kodiak has a seat at these tables where decisions about Alaska's future are being discussed. And opportunities like these come from consistently building relationships and advocating for our community.

And I think we saw the value of that work during the Coast Guard's decision to homeport two new polar icebreakers in Kodiak. And I haven't had a chance to congratulate everybody in public on, on that because that outcome was not the result of a single meeting or a single presentation, even though I worked hard on that presentation. But it still reflected months of collaboration among our congressional delegation, Coast Guard leadership, our community partners, our city partners, other local advocates. And so I was, I was proud to have the opportunity to present Kodiak's case directly to Coast Guard decision makers.

We emphasized not only our strategic location and infrastructure, but we really highlighted the community itself, the way that Kodiak embraces Coast Guard families. And so those relationships and the willingness to tell Kodiak's story wherever these kinds of decisions are being made are, I think, one of the most important responsibilities of, of this office. Um, we'll be moving into discussions regarding requests from nonprofit organizations soon. I would encourage us to think carefully about the lens through which we evaluate those proposals.

Every organization performs valuable work. The question before the Assembly is not really whether their missions are worthwhile, but whether a particular investment advances a legitimate borough purpose. For me, one of those purposes is economic development. We are— we describe these as nonprofit grants, but I think that that framing tends to undersell what they actually accomplish. In many cases, these organizations use local dollars to leverage outside investment.

They bring in new state, federal, and other private resources into Kodiak, and a borough contribution is often that catalyst that allows many more dollars to flow into our local economy. I've seen that happen, and I've been a part of seeing that happen. So, right, so rather than asking, you know, what does the grant cost, we should really also be asking what return that investment is producing for the community. And so, and I think that we should better understand the other variety of ways that the borough does support nonprofit organizations and the impacts that that support delivers. We should also remember that public dollars routinely support private enterprise when doing so advances a public purse— public purpose.

Roads, city maintains the harbors, the state invests in airports. We improve tax incentives to encourage housing construction and economic growth. We fund Discover Kodiak as a tourism marketing organization, but the beneficiaries of that funding are hotels, restaurants, charter operators, retailers, museums, right? We prepare land and infrastructure specifically so private companies will invest. We allocate public support, which we'll probably be doing in a few weeks, for workforce training that ultimately benefits private employers who need those skilled workers.

And we do these things not because government exists to benefit business, but because I think, right, strong businesses strengthen the community as a whole. So these things all work together. And I think nonprofits deserve to be viewed through a similar lens, you know, the question is whether they, right, advance legitimate borough purpose, and if that investment is going to generate some measurable public benefits, attracting outside dollars, and so on. So they deserve thoughtful consideration on, on their merits. And so it's us investing in a public outcome.

Summer also provides us with something local government rarely enjoys during the rest of the year: a little room to think. Our meeting agenda— agendas will be, you know, somewhat lighter, and this is precisely when we should be really be thinking and having some larger conversations that will shape next year's budget.

The choices that we make sometimes in the budget planning are kind of like reactions, and there's deadlines in there. So we should take, you know, this time and have those reflect on these months, you know, some thoughtful planning.

So long-term revenue diversification, Amy and I think we'll be meeting with the new superintendent next week. I'm sure we'll be talking about the pool, auditorium, other capital priorities that we have, and that's going to help us as we enter into that long-awaited strategic planning process, which hopefully will get started pretty soon.

And so I'm not done yet. That brings me to— so the state released new demographic estimates yesterday. So I took a look at them, and there's a really— there's some really interesting things in there that I think will help guide what we do.

The pace of outmigration appears to be slowing, but over the past 5 years, our borough saw nearly 1,000 residents leave. And it was a net loss of about 650 residents when you consider births and, you know, people moving in.

Even more significant is, I think, is we continue to see fewer young children entering the population. In April of 2020, we had 970 residents aged 5 to 9. That number last year was 800. 802, Um, actually. We have a rapidly aging community.

In April 2020, we had roughly 700 residents in their 70s. Now we have 900. That's a huge jump in just 5 years. The median age in Kodiak went from 35 to 36 in that period. That's a whole— that's a really significant shift in just a 5-year And this one is also interesting.

Male adults are leaving the island at a faster pace than adult women are. 2 To 1, actually. So those are pretty big, I think, demographic shifts just in the last 5 years. And they're going to affect everything from school enrollment to workforce availability, housing demand, and the services that we provide. So they're trends, they're not destiny, right?

They're signals, but I think if we pay attention to them, we'll be better positioned when we go through strategic planning. And then finally, you know, with the Fourth of July, with the 250th anniversary of American independence coming up, I wanted to kind of talk about the history of assemblies So the borough assembly is modern. It's a modern form of local government, but the idea behind it goes back about 1,000 years. Communities throughout England for over 1,000 years have gathered in local assemblies. They were called motes, M-O-O-T-E-S, to settle disputes, to maintain roads, to build bridges, levy taxes.

Take care of the land, you know, the things that we do, you know, today. So long before there was such a thing as a Congress, people were practicing self-government in village halls, in taverns, in public squares. So when English settlers crossed the Atlantic, they brought that tradition, that assembly tradition with them. In New England, it became the town meeting. This is where citizens debated budgets and schools and militias.

And elected their neighbors to positions of trust. And those meetings became the training ground for American democracy. It taught citizens that an effective government is not something done to them by distant officials, right? Effective government is something that we do together locally.

They, the founders, also encountered, encountered sophisticated systems of indigenous government, governance too. The councils of what most of us probably know as the Iroquois Confederacy is probably a really good example and deserves some reading up. They knew how to preserve local autonomy and maintain a durable union of tribes too. So while our constitutional system developed mainly through, right, the English legal and political traditions. Even Ben Franklin noted that the indigenous interactions broadened their understanding of what representative government could look like here.

So America's great contribution to democracy was not inventing, you know, the borough assemblies, but it was making them the foundation of a republic built on this kind of remarkable idea that we are capable of governing ourselves.

So every—. Everything that we debate, every contract, every budget, every citizen who offers testimony, every difficult decision that we make is part of that millennia-long tradition going back centuries. And so it's a good time to renew that, I think, this weekend when we come together in good faith to wrestle with the questions facing our community. So I might make a bold assumption and say that America did not begin as a nation on July 4th, 1776. It began when communities decided that they want to learn how to govern themselves.

And that's important. And we're one of those communities today. So I hope we remember that the strength of our republic has never depended solely on the leaders in Washington. It has depended on us right here. It's quiet, it's imperfect, it's often imperfect, but it's really, really important.

There's not a monument preserved in history for democracy, especially not the gold-plated ones, you know, DC right now. It's a habit. It's a practice that we have to renew every generation. Every citizen who takes the time to testify, talking about nonprofits, every volunteer, right, who serves their community, those of us who approach our work with humility and integrity, that's helping carry this country, this experiment forward. And so I hope we remember that our greatest contribution to this history of democracy is just continuing that quiet work of self-government.

And I hope that we remember that our inheritance is not just freedom. Our inheritance is responsibility. Every generation is entrusted with these institutions, but we only get it for a little while. We don't own them. We are stewards.

We steward them. Our task is to leave our community a little stronger, a little bit healthier, a little more thoughtful than we found it. And I think if we can do that, then we're doing our best to add our chapter to this story.

So yeah, I waxed poetic there a little bit, but you know, this is where it started. You know, it didn't start in Congress. It didn't start with wars. You know, it started in bars.

And here we are sitting at a bar of sorts. So thank you for indulging me. And no, we're not going to make our 37-minute— I don't think so. All right. So that moves us on into new business.

We have 3 contracts. To look at today. The first one is contract number FY2026-55, approval of Annex Building underground storage tank removal with AIM Maintenance, LLC. Mr. Whiteside. Move to authorize the Borough Manager to execute contract number FY2026-55 for the Annex Building underground storage tank removal with AIM Maintenance, LLC in an amount not to exceed $33,500.

$1,400. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Manager Williams. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

The borough-owned annex building, formerly known as the Red Cross building, has a 300-gallon underground storage tank that needs to be removed. This work was originally included as an alternate bid with the Signal Hill Mental Health Building demolition project. However, the assembly elected not to move forward with the work at that time. Staff worked with Jensen Yorba Wall to develop this effort into a standalone bid package. The current invitation to bid was issued on May 12th, advertised for 3 weeks per KIB code, and bids were due on June 16th.

There was a mandatory pre-bid meeting on June 3rd. There were 6 contractors in attendance. At bid opening, staff received 2 bid packages. Staff reviewed the bid packages and determined that A Maintenance LLC provided a complete bid package and is the lowest cost, responsible, and responsive bid. And our Engineering and Facilities Director Cody Allen is here tonight if you have any specific questions about the project.

Any questions or discussion from the assembly?

All right, seeing none, roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Ames? Yes. Mr. Gardner? Yes.

Ms. Roberts? Yes. Mr. Smiley? Yes. Mr. Whiteside?

Yes. Mr. Woods? Yes. Motion passes.

Okay, next, uh, next contract, uh, FY 2027-07, approval of janitorial services contract with JNR Cleaning Service. Madam Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The borough's current—. If I may, Mr., Mr. Mayor, make a motion.

Oh yes, I'm sorry. Yes, please, Mr. Whiteside. Move to authorize the borough manager to execute contract number FY 2027-07 for janitorial services with J&R Cleaning Service. Second. It's been moved and seconded.

Now you can talk. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The borough's current janitorial services contract ended on June 30th. Accordingly, staff solicited for bids for a new janitorial services contract. The janitorial services include routine daily, weekly, and monthly services, and as-needed services such as carpet extraction, stripping and waxing flooring, and post-event cleaning.

Also deep move-out cleaning of the borough-owned apartment and emergency cleaning services. Staff issued an invitation to bid on April 24th, advertised for the designated 3 weeks per code, and bids were due on June 17th. There was a mandatory pre-bid meeting held on May 20th. There were 2 contractors in attendance. At the bid opening, staff received 2 bid packages.

Following the review of bids, staff determined that J&R Cleaning Service had a complete bid package and and is the lowest cost responsible responsive bidder.

And again, our Engineering and Facilities Director is here if you have any specific questions. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions or discussion from the Assembly? Mr. Gardner and then Mr. Williams.

It was brought to my attention that I believe there was sort of an informal protest letter written on this.

I'm not going to say that we shouldn't award this to JNR. What I do think we need to do is clarify and make— we have in our code Chapter 2.35010, Section E, it says municipal officer, appointed official, or employee may not use his official position for the primary purpose of obtaining financial gain for himself or his spouse, child, mother, father, or business. Um, not that it is, uh, the primary financial gain in this situation, but the optics of this look a little bad to certain people in the community. I think it would be wise to extend the current contract for one month and talk about how we want to approach this situation and basically put this back out to bid so that we can clean up the optics on it. So I will be voting no on this one.

That's what I got. Mr. Ames.

Do we know the status of the protest at this point? We absolutely do, Mr. Ames. Thank you for asking. So we did— we got a letter from the other contractor. They named bid protest/formal complaint.

As we do when we get any kind of a protest, it goes to the manager, and the manager has a certain amount of time to answer it. We answered it right away, sent that reply back to the other bidder. They have it, and I got an email back that said thank you, and that's the only thing that we've heard. I have shared that response with both your Deputy Prime presiding officer and the mayor, just so they were included on what was going on. Protests don't naturally— it's not the natural flow to come to the assembly.

It's usually handled at the manager's level unless there's something that causes a legal review or something that's controversial in there. We spoke about this at the work session last week, and then we also talked about looking at possible code changes to make that section more clear in the conflict of interest section at agenda setting this week. So I think we've done some work around making sure that those optics aren't something that we have to worry about in the future. I do have copies of the— because I thought this might come up— of my reply to the contractor if you want to see that. I can distribute that now or later or whenever, but that's been issued and the protest was denied.

Mr. Woods. Yeah, if you would just talk a little bit about what you went through with the, uh, how this, this, the, uh, awarded bidder was determined to be the awarded bidder. My understanding is the other bid did not actually meet our minimum standards. Is that correct? That is correct.

Um, Cody, I'll let you answer since you were there and have the specifics.

Yeah, good evening. So the other bidder that is filing the formal complaint/informal protest was deemed non-responsive. Per our bid documents, we have all the outline requirements to make a bid responsive or non-responsive. Per code, it's really the assembly's decision if they're a responsible bidder, but so we went through— and our checklist there that's in the bid documents, and they didn't provide a bid bond for bid security. And so that automatically deemed them non-responsive, and we let them know as such.

But one other point I wanted to make is in the discussion item on the agenda tonight, the contract actually already expired June 30th, and so I'm not really sure how that process would work, potentially extending and things. So that contract is completely expired at this time.

Anyone else? I will jump in.

I think I have made a lot of notes on this and I have talked to Amy and had a lengthy email exchange with Cody. And I think what you are voting on here is, you know, the— integrity of the process. You know, so we have, we have an employee who's spent years building a side business. They followed every disclosure rule. They didn't participate in the procurement.

They submitted the lowest responsive bid, and then the government comes in and says, sorry, you followed every rule, but we're going to punish you because of appearances. That to me is not ethical. It's discrimination based on employment status. And I think the public's confidence doesn't come from us avoiding difficult appearances. It comes from knowing that we apply the same rules to everyone.

I think a conflict exists when someone has the ability to improperly influence the outcome. And I don't— I don't think that appearance alone is not enough evidence to show that an influence has occurred., and we have to ask, you know, which decision in the procurement process was improperly influenced? And we can't point— there is nothing there. So if we can't identify one, then we're objecting to who won and not how the contract was awarded. So I would strongly urge you to pass this contract.

Mr. Whiteside and Mr. Gardner. Mr. Smith. Thank you. I agree with the Mayor in that procurement processes, when following best practices, which I am confident that Director Allen and his staff did, along with the Meta Manager, they are very rigid and prescribed in process. And certainly, in respect to anyone highlighting a potential conflict of interest, there is very prescriptive ways that you capture the process.

To make sure that people who should not have access to information or the process do not have it, and you actually capture that. Who was involved, time/date stamps on processes, all the way including when you open the bids and how those bids are tabulated is all captured throughout the process. So I agree that optics are one thing, but trusting the process is That's what I put my faith in, and that's how we govern, and that's how we follow procurement. And this is the same with our municipal government. It's the same with state government, federal government.

It's all very rigid and prescribed. Is there potential room for improvement in the code to clarify some of this? Most likely. But, however, the process as is and how it was followed is textbook, and so I'm I will support this moving forward. Mr. Gardner.

That was eloquently put, both of you. I think you just changed my vote. Mr. Woods. Hey, Cody, thank you again for being here. Could you just do me a quick favor and maybe discuss a little bit about any steps or measures you took to ensure the integrity of our bid process here and anything you guys did or may have done to allow a protest that may not necessarily have strictly necessary with our rules.

Yeah, absolutely. So we treat every bid the same regardless of the dollar value. $500,000 Or more, we have to go out and solicit and get more than one quote. And for this particular, like, bid on a long-term contract, it gets published. We have an invitation to bid that gets sent out.

All parties that are interested can enter Attend our mandatory pre-bid meetings. We've shifted to recording those and following a very scripted approach, as we've learned through a series of other issues that that was a preferred method. All parties that bid on this project or this contract were in attendance for that. They were aware of the potential conflict. It never got brought up at that time, as the other entity had a power of attorney for the business.

The staff member was not at the pre-bid meeting. The staff member was not a part of any of the bid solicitation, the bid review. The bid packages all go to the Finance Department in a sealed envelope, and they're tracked by Finance staff. We don't even see them to the day of the bid. Finance logs that in the log that we provide them.

They're date and time stamped. So all the way up until the day that the bids will be opened, we have— even myself— have no involvement in where we get the physical tangible, um, item. We have contractors sometimes that try to bring it to myself or the project manager, and we escort them to finance to make sure that still follows the process. That did not happen in this case. Once the bids were open, we, we go through, we treat them the same way.

Even though the bid was non-responsive and incomplete, we went ahead and gave them the good grace of letting them know via the Notice of Intent to Award. Although the Notice of Intent to Award process is going to be changing to the date that we publish it online, historically with the Bureau, that process was the date that the signature is laid on the Notice of Intent to Award. That triggers a protest period. And so at this point, still staff members not involved in any of that. That's just Engineering Facilities Director and projects staff.

The protest period was— or the contractor was notified. A grievance was immediately filed, and an exchange that went on until probably about 9 or 10 o'clock at night explaining where they could find the information on why the aggrieved bidder was not responsive. And although it's ambiguous on if an aggrieved bidder is allowed or not allowed to protest per borough code, we decided to allow that anyways, and so we actually extended the protest period to give them time and provide a formal protest to the manager for review, just hope like maybe if there's something that we didn't see and follow, check and cross-reference. Once we got the— we'll call it protest— information, immediately went to work just like we would any other project or contract. Again, staff members not involved, staff members not informed.

This goes to project staff from EF Projects or myself. And then we are going through and cross-referencing all of the citations because it is the duty of the protester to provide us with the information and the sources that they are referencing, which in this case was largely the information we had already presented at the work session. Therefore, it kind of streamlined the review. And then I passed my recommendation on to the manager.

Madam Manager. Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And just to add a couple of things to what Cody just told you, there was additional time given at the beginning of the bid process to allow the person who filed the formal complaint/protest to update their license so they would be eligible to apply for this, which we did not have to do. And then, um, our— we're old school on our bids. When our bids come here, they're sealed.

They go in a safe. And there are like 2 people at the borough that can get in that safe, and it's no one in engineering facilities, and it's not me. It's only finance staff. And so they sit in that safe until like 15 minutes before the bid opening, and they take them out of the safe, and they have to sign them in, sign them out. It's a— it feels, um, I know a lot of other places do electronic bidding and stuff, but we are still stuck in the paper version of bids actually go in the physical safe that is bolted to the floor.

Like, if you've ever seen it, it's ginormous. Yeah, so, um, just those two extra things. But I, I think as soon as we identified that there was going to be a potential conflict at that pre-bid meeting, every step that could be taken to separate the two was already done. But given the staff member's job here, in their normal course of work, they would have nothing to do with anything on the creation of or tabulation of or opening of or just— that's just not their job here. She does work here, but that's the end of the, the correlation.

Okay, roll call vote on the motion. Mr. Gardner? Yes. Ms. Roberts? Yes.

Mr. Smiley? Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Woods?

Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0.

Okay, and the— let's see, there we go— third contract, uh, number FY 2027-09, approval of Codex Island Borough Administration Building air handling system updates with, um, with Long Technologies. Mr. Whiteside? Move to authorize the borough manager to execute contract number FY 2027-09 Kodiak Island Borough Administration Building Air Handling System Updates with Long Technologies in an amount not to exceed $133,520. Second. All right, moved and seconded.

Staff report, Manager Williams. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. During a recent review of the previous borough building mechanical upgrades, when we replaced our boilers during that project and their related digital direct control work, staff identified that Air Handling Unit 2 was not included in the scope scope of the work at this project. The pneumatic controls that previously served the unit were actually removed during the direct digital controls upgrade work, but they were not reconnected or replaced, leaving the unit without a functioning control system. You may have noticed that while you're sitting in this space.

Restoring this to full operational status is critical to maintaining proper air circulation throughout the Borough Building. Again, our ENF Director Cody Allen is here here tonight if you have any specific questions about the project. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, roll call vote on the motion, please. Miss Roberts?

Yes. Mr. Smiley? Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes.

Mr. Woods? Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes. Mr. Gardner?

Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0.

Okay. Up next, ordinances for introduction. Ordinance No. FY2027-03, rezoning a portion of Yuzinki Tract C, Block 1, remainder of USS 4871 from R-1 Single-Family District to PL Public Use Land District. Zoning will correspond to lot created by preliminary subdivision S-26-016.

Mr. Weisheit.

03 To public hearing at the next regular meeting of the assembly. Second. Moved and seconded. Staff report. Manager Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Native Village of Usinki submitted a rezoning application to rezone the subject property from the R-1 District to Public Lands District to permit the existing building on the property to be used for government offices and as the community tsunami shelter. The existing property was once part of the old Usinki Airport, which is is no longer in operation. The 2008 Comprehensive Plan's future land use map designated this property as industrial. This designation is no longer valid since the subject property is no longer in operation as an airport.

The proposed PL District supports the use of a portion of the property for government uses such as government offices and a tsunami shelter. Our Community Development Director Chris French is here tonight if you have any specific questions. Any questions or discussion? Mr. Ames.

Normally, isn't zoning checked before buildings are constructed? Because this is the second one that I know of that we've had zoning issues after a building is basically completed. And so I'm a little confused on why this is happening. I think in a perfect world, zoning would be checked beforehand, and this is one of Several that we've seen recently.

Yes, we would like to encourage everyone to check zoning before doing any kind of a project. Unfortunately, when you're outside of the road system and you're not going through all the same checks as you would if the building official was coming or you have easier access to community development, I'm just happy that we're cleaning it up afterwards. Do you have any more on that, Mr. French? Yeah, I would just say that, you know, I think The Native Village of Usinki and the City of Usinki understand now that, you know, zoning compliance permits are still required even if you're off the road system. And even though you're not by borough code required to pull a building permit, you still have to get your zoning compliance permits.

I will say one of the conditions on the subdivision case is to get a zoning compliance permit for that structure, and so they will be required to do that prior to the final plat being approved, again, which is something they need for the Zoning Ordinance because the Zoning Ordinance will not take effect until the final plat is submitted for approval.

Good. Mr. Ames, any follow-up? Oh, okay. Roll call vote on the motion. Mr. Smiley?

Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Woods? Yes.

Mr. Ames? Yes. Mr. Gardner? Yes. Ms. Roberts?

Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0. All right, and our last item is authorization for the Kodiak Island Borough Mayor to become a signer to the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference Resolution Number 2026-06-01, a resolution of municipalities and federally recognized tribes of Southwest Alaska calling for fact-based dialogue on the future of Alaska fisheries and coastal communities. Mr. Whiteside.

Move to authorize Mayor Griffin to become a signer to the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference Resolution Number FY 2026-06-01. Second. All right. It's moved and seconded. This is mine.

So SWAMPSEA has updated its economic study and they want to highlight the region. They are seeking a joint resolution from regional municipalities and tribes calling on local leaders to adopt this unified voice. So they're asking for municipalities and tribes to become a signer on the resolution, and specifically they're asking for each entity's mayor, presiding officer, or any other designated representative. And I am happy to sign this one. We talked about it last week.

But just for the public, this resolution is not about taking positions on technical fisheries management questions that are handled by other bodies. It doesn't cross that line. It doesn't talk about allocations or quotas. It really is talking about how those conversations should occur.

It affirms the principles that have always mattered to us. You know, science-based management, meaningful involvement of coastal communities, like I talked about earlier, recognition of the economic importance of fisheries, and of course asking for respectful and fact-based public dialogue about fisheries in Southwest Alaska. So we're just endorsing the process, not necessarily, you know, the outcomes. So it's a resolution that's community-based and So like I said, I'm happy to sign it. Any questions or discussion?

Mr. Woods. Yeah, I'm going to be a no vote on this one. I'm actually pretty strongly in opposition to this. Reading this, the "for whereas," I find that to be somewhat distressing of the process in general. The language specifically, what is it, 3, 4, often without full consideration of the economic, social and cultural cultural consequences of such actions.

I think it's very possible that two reasonable people can review the same piece of information and come to two very different conclusions. Um, I don't like that language. I also particularly do not enjoy the language in whereas number 6, specifically meaningful engagement with communities most directly affected by management decisions. Okay, which communities are those, and how are we to weigh one against another? We're endorsing a process, yet we're also essentially being asked to weigh in on who gets priority for what, and I find that to be inappropriate.

Thank you. I don't see it that way at all, but, uh, Mr. Weisheit. Thank you. Um, I'm going to support this in principle, but I also strongly oppose the fourth whereas, um, given the target, who this resolution is targeted towards, every one of those entities listed, um, has a comprehensive review of everything noted in the whereas. So the language saying— stating often without full consideration of the economic, social, and cultural consequences of such actions, I think every entity that was listed would take pretty serious offense to that.

Understanding that this language is fixed and not able to be edited, I will still support it in principle, but I do think that is a careless statement to support.

Mr. Gardner, I really don't see where you guys are coming from. Um, I've lived in some of these small communities, and when big corporations that are slowly kind of consolidating our fishing industry make poor decisions, it guts Southwest Coastal Alaska. And I see no problem with this language. And yeah, I dearly hope that you all support this.

Anyone else?

Okay, roll call vote on the motion.

Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Woods? No. Mr. Ames?

Yes. Mr. Gardner? Yes. Ms. Roberts? Yes.

Mr. Smiley? Yes. Mr.—. Sorry, would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 5-1.

All right, thank you everyone. And now it's time for our second opportunity for citizens' comments. For those who wish to call in, the local number is 907- 3231, toll-free 1-855-492-9202. Please turn off your radio or any listening device to prevent feedback. For those in the room who wish to speak under Citizens' Comments, please come to the podium and sign in, turn on the microphone, make sure the green light is on before speaking, and speak directly into the mic, and state your name for the record, and address all remarks to the Assembly as a body and not to any member thereof.

Seeing no calls, we will move into Assemblymember comments. We will start with Mr. Gardner.

I deeply appreciate what Mr. Mayor and Mr. Whiteside said about the cleaning contract. You made me immediately think that I do really trust the staff here. And no, the optics aren't perfect, but you were exactly right. I'm glad you were able to change my vote. I do think we need to take a look back at that code and clean that up just a little bit to avoid the presence of poor optics, because it's still poor optics.

That being said, everybody have a fantastic Fourth of July. And if you like to blow up pretty sparkly things like I do, you started the weekend with 10 fingers and 10 toes. Come out of the weekend with 10 fingers and 10 toes. Have a great weekend. Mr. Smiley.

My dog cowers from July 3rd until July 6th from all of the explosions. Please be cautious and think of our furry friends. Mr. Ames. Um, no comment about the meeting. Enjoy the Fourth.

I too like to make some explosions, but I do it away from residents. So because of dogs, I've had a dog that didn't like them, and therefore— and at the same time, people who do this probably won't listen, but if you do live— if you do intend to set them off in the city, which is illegal, or in the borough near residents, Remember, people do sleep. Some people, even though it's a holiday, do get up in the morning and work. So do it in a respectful area and clean your mess up. Yes, Mr. Whiteside.

Thank you. Um, yep, similar comment. Enjoy the Fourth. Um, have a great time with your fireworks and, and all the celebrations with family and friends. Make good choices.

If you are unable to make your own good choices, please designate someone to do that for you. We all care about each other. It'd be heartbreaking to read any, any bad stories or hear any bad, bad news come end of the weekend. So please be careful, but have a great time. Thank you.

Ms. Roberts. Thank you. Everyone have a safe Fourth. Wear helmets. Have a good friend that's your DD, and have a good weekend.

Thank you. Mr. Woods. Just wanted to again thank staff staff for doing as much as you guys did in excess of strict requirements to go through and make this process as absolutely as transparent as possible with the, uh, even the appearance of impropriety. I thank you greatly. In my career, I have noticed a tremendous correlation between tense topics and information, just straight information alleviating a lot of tempers and, uh, frankly shenanigans that didn't need to transpire.

So sometimes just providing the information that what happened to get where we are, or in my case, sometimes why someone had to go to jail, can do a lot to save a lot of conflict. So thank you guys for your willingness to provide that information. Have a happy Fourth. Thank you all. Yeah, I think there's a joke from The Simpsons.

We're the only country that celebrates our nation by blowing up a small part of it every year. All Bureau offices and facilities will be closed to the public on Friday, July 3rd, July 4th, 2026, in observance of Independence Day. The next Assembly work session is scheduled for Thursday, July 9th at 6:30 PM, and an Assembly special work session will be held Thursday, July 16th at 6 PM. Please note that on your calendar, 6 PM, followed by a regular meeting in the Borough Assembly Chambers. Is there a motion to adjourn?

Mr. Whiteside. Move to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded. Voice vote on the motion.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. We are adjourned. Do we have one on 6 PM?

Oh, that's when we're inter—.