Assembly Regular Meeting of August 21, 2025

We'll go ahead and call to order the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly regular meeting of Thursday, August 21st, 2025 at 6:30 PM. We are in the assembly chambers. Please rise for the invocation by Captain David Shadow of the Salvation Army, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for bringing us all here this evening.

We pray that you'll open our minds and our hearts as we discuss various issues this evening. Fill us with wisdom, compassion, and always help us to remember to do your will in our community. In Jesus' name, amen. 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.

We are gathered on the traditional homeland of the Supiaqalutiq people, and we acknowledge the 10 tribes of the Kodiakalutiq region. We recognize the Ohlute culture that enriches our community to this day. Roll call, please. Mr. Ainsworth. Here.

Mr. Griffin. Here. Mr. Johnson. Here. Mr. LeDoux.

Here. Mr. Sharrett. Here. Mr. Smiley. Here.

Mr. Whiteside. Here. Mayor Arndt. Here. You have a quorum.

Next is approval of the agenda and consent agenda. Jared. Move to approve the agenda and consent agenda. Second. It's been moved and seconded.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries unanimously. For the public's information, the consent agenda consists of the approval of the regular meeting minutes of August 7th, 2025.

Next is citizens' comments. There are two designated citizens' comments periods, one at the beginning of the meeting, and then one towards the end. These comment periods are intended for general comments as well as for agenda items that are not part of a public hearing. There are two public hearings tonight. One is Ordinance FY 2026-4, and the other is 2026-6.

Comments for these items will be heard when the item are called during the public hearing. Please wait until then to state your position on that. For those who wish to call in, the local number is 907-486-3231. Toll-free number is 855-492-9202. Please turn off your radio or any other listening device to prevent feedback.

And for those of you in the room who wish to speak, please come to the podium, sign in, turn on the microphone, make sure the green light is on before speaking, and speak directly into the mic. State your name for the record. Address all remarks to the assembly as a body and not to any member thereof. Mr. Turner, you have the floor.

Good evening. So I haven't seen you guys in a while. Um, the reason why I am coming forward to you tonight is to discuss, uh, Northstar, since I haven't had time to come and talk about it at an earlier date. Um, in my thought process, uh, the borough has been trying to figure out what to do with the borough offices as they sit. Uh, the discussion has been to sell Northstar, and to me, that seems like a perfect opportunity to go into a better building.

It was just recited recently, some roof, some windows, some skylights all been replaced. The building is basically sitting vacant. It is a perfect opportunity to look at moving the borough buildings to Northstar and utilizing the newer building and then discussing what happens with the borough building as it exists now. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, James. We have a caller.

You are now answering a call from the queue. You are on the line. Please state your name for the record. Hi. Yes, this is Kristen O'Lear, the Executive Director of the Cardiac History Museum.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person this evening, but I wanted to thank the assembly members for their kind donation in support of nonprofits. This is truly an appreciative investment in education and support of our public programming, and I look forward to coming to future meetings and letting you all know just the impact that this all has. I just want to say thank you guys so much for including the History Museum in this, and I look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you. Thank you.

Are there any other callers?

No. Anyone else in the audience that wishes to come forward and speak under citizens' comments? Seeing and hearing none, we will move on to committee reports. Do we have any committee reports? Jarrod.

The Health Facilities Advisory Board met a couple of days to kind of continue the work that we have been doing on some of the projects there. The chiller is done. They've had to make some longer plans for some of the other air handling and sterilization stuff. But most of our conversation was about process, their process for reimbursements, and then also getting the discussions about— what a new lease will look like. We are going to be having another meeting pretty soon in the next few weeks because there are just a lot of things that are getting information back and forth between the two bodies.

But we are making a lot of progress. At some point soon, we are going to have to— the Assembly is going to have a We are going to have to have a kind of a 360-degree conversation about the hospital again since the space study from late last year. And— but I think right now it is about getting these needed projects done and then also kind of looking ahead on what those future lease payments are going to— are going to be to help keep the hospital at least out of critical kind of condition that some parts are in. And that's what I remember. Larry was also there, if you have anything to add.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Oh, thanks.

Thank you, Jarrod. Any other committee reports? Seeing none, we'll move on to public hearings. First is Ordinance No. FY 2026-04, amending various sections of the Kodiak Island Borough Code, Title 17, Zoning, related to assisted living residents.

Jarrod. Move to adopt Ordinance No. FY 2026-04. Is there a second? Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy Williams, our borough manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public public hearing on July 16th regarding a code amendment to various sections of Title 17 related to assisted living facilities. The commission voted to recommend approval of the changes with Resolution Fiscal Year 2026-01, which is in your packet tonight.

Most of our current licensed properties are located within the two-family residential district and multi-family residential district. The proposed code amendment would allow assisted living facilities in the rural residential two district the Rural Residential District (RRD), the Rural Residential 1 District (RRD-1 District), Single-Family Residential District (SF-RD), Two-Family Residential District (TF-RD) and Multi-Family Residential District (MF-RD). Assisted living facilities would be allowed in the multi-family residential district, business district and urban neighborhood commercial districts, as well as retail business districts. Conditional use permits would allow assisted living facilities to be in the rural residential one district, single family residential district and two-family residential district. The code amendment also includes updates to parking requirements for both assisted living homes and assisted living facilities.

This recommended code change was reviewed on July 31st in the packet review, on August 7th as an ordinance for introduction, on August 14th in packet review, uh, and our Community Development Director Chris French is here tonight if you have any questions about the ordinance.

Seeing none, at this time I'll recess the regular meeting, open the public hearing. If you're calling in, the local number is 907-486-3231, toll-free number 855-492-9202. For those of you in the audience here wishing to speak, Please come up to the podium, sign in, turn on the mic, state your name for the record, address all remarks to the assembly as a body and not a member thereof. We have any callers? Seeing none.

Anyone in the audience that wishes to come forward and speak on this? Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing, reconvene the regular meeting. Assembly Discussion. Any comments? Roll call vote on the motion, please.

Mr. Ames. Yes. Mr. Griffin. Yes. Mr. Johnson.

Yes. Mr. LeDoux. Yes. Mr. Sharrett. Yes.

Mr. Smiley. Yes. Mr. Whiteside. Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote?

Motion carries unanimously. Okay, next public hearing is On ordinance number FY 2026-6, amending Kodiak Island Borough Code, Title 3, Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.35, Real Property Tax, Section 3.35.030, Real and Personal Property Exempted from Taxation, regarding definitions. Jared. Move to adopt Ordinance Number FY 2026-06. Is there a second?

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report. Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

KIBC 3.35.030 states that a primary residence and permanent place of abode shall mean a dwelling which is owned by and in which a person resides at least 185 days in the year prior to the exemption year. And when absent, the dwelling is not leased or rented to another. The Alaska Department of Revenue Permanent Fund Division office states that in order to be eligible for the PFD, you must reside in Alaska for 180 days. Since the PFD is relied upon as a source of eligibility for both our senior and disabled veteran exemptions, assessing staff believes that the Kodiak Island Borough should use the same number of days to determine qualification. This would benefit staff by eliminating the need to to develop additional resources and letters to determine eligibility for the difference of 5 days.

Our assessor, C. Magrude, is here tonight if you have any questions about the changes that you can see on lines 42 and 46 of the ordinance. Thank you. At this time, I'll recess the regular meeting and open the public hearing. And once again, if you're calling in, the local number is 907-486-3231.

Toll-free number: 855-492-9202. Please turn off your radio or any other listening device to prevent feedback. And if you're in the room, come up to the podium, sign in, and start talking. So anyone on the phone? Anyone in the audience wishing to come?

Forward. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing, reconvene the regular meeting. Assembly discussion, any comments? Roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Griffin?

Yes. Mr. Johnson? Yes. Mr. LeDoux? Yes.

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

Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you. Next item is Borough Manager's Report. Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Arndt, Deputy Presiding Officer Griffin, our ENF Director, our IT Director, our Project Manager, a Special Projects Officer, one of our maintenance specialists, and I went to the North Star walkthrough that we held on Wednesday with several KABSD staff members.

The group has decided on a path forward to continue the transfer of the building to the borough. There is an agenda item on August 28th to continue the conversation about the opportunities that KIB has to partner with community to use the space and possibly Mr. Turner's comments that he offered tonight. Um, the landfill inspection, um, engineering facilities has worked with GIS to create a map that shows the problem areas of the fence at the landfill. If you're interested, I can send you that link. Each of those points on that picture that you see there, you can click on it, it'll tell you what the issue is with the fence.

So pretty high speed in the technology for that. We included the timeline for our software conversion project that's still going on. We had two Board of Equalization appeals that are now complete. Both of our cases that were with the Alaska Superior Court for our business personal property cases have been settled, and we've received the order to dismiss both of those appeals. I heard at the work session last week that Assemblymember Ledoux asked for information on our emergency alerts.

So I hope that that made sense to folks. That number is in there and what you have to text if you want to be alerted through the new alert system because Nixle is going away. In Community Development, they had a regular meeting last night. The commission found that the two land disposal items for the Island Lake Road property and 2 tax foreclosed properties do not have a public purpose and recommended this to the Assembly that the land disposal is to be approved. A similar use determination for daycare services for Northstar Elementary Building within the Public Use Lands District was approved.

And the Capital Improvement Program list was continued to the September 17th— sorry, September 17th regular meeting. And 2 proposed amendments to the Commission's bylaws were approved and will be forwarded to the Assembly for approval. Uh, the community development staff has been having some problems getting to Zinke. They had to attend their actual meeting via Zoom, but they made it out there today and had a great visit when the weather cooperated. Our hydrology and hydraulic study for the Russian River and Sargent Creek is complete and scheduled for a presentation to the assembly on September 11th.

We'll have people from River Focus available at that meeting that night to answer questions that you might have. And our multi-jurisdictional, multi-hazard mitigation plan was approved by FEMA on the 15th. The plan is now in effect for the borough, the city of Larsen Bay, and the city of Port Lyons. The remaining cities in the borough can still approve a resolution within 1 year of the plan approval. Approved resolutions need to be submitted to the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Then they get transmitted to FEMA. Community Development staff is working with the other cities to assist them in the approval process. I believe that the City of Kodiak already has that on an agenda for an upcoming meeting. In finance, our August 15th deadline passed, so the next payment deadline for those wishing to make either a full payment or if you paid the first half payment after August 15th, your next payment date is October 15th. In assessing, we still have 20 outstanding applications, 18 senior citizens and 2 disabled veterans that are still undetermined.

We have senior citizen and disabled veteran village trips scheduled with CANA for the week of November 17th with a backup date of December 1st. And we have an in-town senior citizens and disabled veteran application help session set up with CANA. CANA does a coffee hour, um, and they are allowing us to come do that with them on both December 3rd and December 10th. Exemption appeals. The Lutig Museum has filed with the Superior Court on August 18th.

An executive session has been added to the September, September 4th meeting for the assembly to discuss that. Assessing is out working in villages and remote areas. They worked in Port Lyons last week, but due to our Tyler training, they haven't been able to complete that area, and their final boat trip is scheduled for September 22nd. In information technology, IT is working on Responding to questions regarding our state and local cybersecurity grant program RFP that they have out, they are also configuring a new server for the landfill, and our IT director, um, was with us on our North Star walkthrough and is determining what we're going to do and to update the North Star facility so that we can have security cameras there and make sure that we're going to have internet if we have renters there as well. Um, they've also been working with Engineering Facilities on their MaintainX program, which I'll get to in the Engineering Facilities section.

In Engineering Facilities, we hired a new temporary laborer this week, and just this afternoon there was an interview for a maintenance coordinator. We still have some gaps in our fuel spill that happened at the long-term care center, so a comprehensive gap analysis and site investigation work plan to advance towards the closure of that spill is under contract with NWFF. Um, the fuel spill that happened close to that same time at the hospital has been closed out, so that is good news. This week, our engineering facility director met with the director of maintenance for the school district, the fire chief, and the deputy fire marshal to discuss a path forward for open communication and collaboration on city fire department inspection records and reports. They'll be working on a path to optimize the maintenance and repair of identified discrepancies before the school year starts.

MaintainX is our request portal for all things maintenance. It is an online system that ENF and IT have been working to make available to all of our employees. If they see a problem, there's QR codes all over the borough now. You can can just scan that and put your, um, issue directly in. They are electronically submitted, reviewed, and generated, allowing staff to track and manage them from start to finish.

And with our new amount of maintenance specialists, I actually saw preventive maintenance being done in the building today, so we are moving forward with that. Last week's meeting, there was a question about the total amount of, um, solid waste that was delivered to the landfill. There was 4.16 tons, um, and I know that you guys all heard how appreciative that CANNA was that we allowed that to go into the landfill, um, for free this year. In the regional solid waste management update, uh, the plan update is underway and we have made, um, some Significant progress in that. The Chuníac School painting pre-construction meeting for the project was on August 11th, and efforts to complete the majority of what they're calling the noisy work is, um, we're trying to get done before the school start, uh, school year starts to minimize disruption for the students.

Our multi-facility elevator modernization project, um, for the middle school, there's an estimated ship date of mid-October. It's We think it's gonna take at least 3 weeks for the gear to arrive in Kodiak. So we're anticipating parts to begin arriving mid-November. And the Providence Elevator Systems were reviewed by TK Elevator Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, have been realigned to meet the same delivery date. So we're looking right now to get the middle school elevators done first and then the hospital right after that because the middle school doesn't have any elevator service right now.

At the KFRC, we have a new shipment date on those pumps. Which is December 18th. And at the landfill, our regional solid waste management plan surveys are out. We've had 101 responses for the road system, 15 responses for Native Village residents, 17 responses for Kodiak Business Survey, and 1 response from the— our waste and recycling service providers. We're currently developing an RFP for general environmental services, and staff is anticipating that RFP to be advertised in the next couple of weeks.

That's all I have for tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Any questions for the manager? Jared.

Thank you.

What was I about to say? Oh, the fire department inspection reports. I heard there were some issues with the sprinklers in the auditorium. I have a soft spot in my heart for the auditorium. Absolutely.

So there were a couple of areas where the The sprinklers weren't in the right position as far as being high enough, low enough in the ceiling. And so because that was in an area of egress, we weren't able to use that area for egress, but it hasn't affected operations thus far. And there is a schedule or a plan to get those all fixed. So capacity, instead of being at 100%, is at 75%, but like the stuff that's going around right now in the summer hasn't been affected by that. Things have been able to progress as normal.

Scott, and then Ryan. Um, my understanding is there's some concern about a limitation of students at Chiniak School because of the well. Are we working towards fixing the well situation? So the, the line that we can't cross with our current water system is 25 students. Correct.

Um, we have in the past— the school district in the past has allowed waivers for students to be bused from the community out to Chiniak. Because we're at 25 people now with the teacher and the teacher brought in a student, the school district isn't allowing those waivers. So the school district is not busing from town out to Chiniak. If we are going to go over 25, that will require a whole new water system, and we We are not prepared for that right now, but that is probably something we'll be looking at in the future. So we're going to— my understanding is we've tried several times to drill wells out there and they have been dry or not sufficient amount of water to justify them, and they cost us a pantload.

They cost us a lot of money. Our current well is pretty far away from the school itself. There is a— once we pass 25 students, students, it's a whole different kind of sterilization system that has to go in. I'm sure that Cody can give us more information about that, but that the 25-person is, is the limit, and we are sitting right at that 20, 25 people. Could we change the sterilization system and increase the number of students?

Not this year. Well, In the future, could we do that? With enough money, almost anything is possible. Thank you.

Ryan. So I have a question, just because I like transparency. So there is an Environmental Services Request for Proposal that is being developed. I am the only environmental company here. How does this work as a sitting Assembly member wanting to bid on a procurement item?

I guess this is a question for you, general question, how this works. Again, I like the transparency factor of this, and being a limited provider here in town, gotta ask. Well, we've worked with NWFF several times, and as you know, um, when there is projects that, um, we didn't want certain personalities to be involved in, we just asked those personalities to step out. So we chose NWFF for the long-term care center project because that was our original contractor and they own all of the previous information. So going with them is an absolute cost-saving measure.

So that was an easy decision. For the environmental services proposals, I want to be able to use local contractors. I would say that what we would do is when it came time to vote, you would just say that, hey, I stand to gain— fiduciary— that isn't a real word— I'm going to make money off of this, and then you don't vote on that. I would hate to have a company not be able to bid just because someone was sitting on the assembly. And I— that's obviously an assembly decision and for the mayor to decide if there's a financial conflict or not, but that's how I would see that.

Yeah, previous both borough contracts and city contracts, you know, over the years. Brecken Construction— Louiani was on the city council, and he would abstain, of course, on any awards to Brecken Enterprises. So I would see it as declaring conflict. I'd rule that you had a financial conflict and wouldn't be able to participate in the discussion or the vote. Perfect.

Thanks.

Any other assembly member comments on there? Next is messages from the borough mayor. I would just say that the trip that Amy and I took up to Barrow was very enlightening and very worthwhile. We were the last plane to get in and the first plane to get out. The city of Kodiak had two city council members that were not able to get up there.

They got up to Anchorage and couldn't get in on Tuesday, and Wednesday it canceled and they came back to Kodiak. So we lost some speakers in that, but very worthwhile, very pleasant community to work with. And you know, their native dance team. There was a— was she roughly a 2-year-old that stole the show? Yes.

And it was very enlightening and very entertaining. Amy, would you have anything else that you'd like to say? I think because it was smaller in numbers, it felt a lot more intimate, and a lot more conversation got to happen with participants than I'd say a regular AML conference. And I would agree with the 2-year-old stealing the show, but also they were very inclusive, invited us to get up and dance with them, taught us the meaning of their songs, introduced us to their members, taught us what their instruments were made out of. Just a really great experience.

And the mayor isn't telling my favorite part. We got to go— the mayors and the managers went separately on our first day there, but we went on an ATV trip out to Point Barrow and got to see see where they— after they harvest whales, where they bring all the carcasses out. And so for people who dream of having a vertebrae or a big piece of baleen, there were hundreds just everywhere because they are unaffected by how neat they are. So it was really neat to go learn that part of their culture. And they taught us about their whale lockers and the permafrost is melting and how they keep it frozen.

And they offered us whale to eat and the whole thing. So it was a really neat tour. Yeah, and the— I want to say that we had an opportunity there that was very unique, but they were very welcoming to the community. And, you know, we got along best with the maintenance people and the janitorial people on there. So, Amy?

If I could add one more thing, the North Salute Borough is the site of— the size of Utah. And so when you put that in perspective of the amount of area and the amount of villages that they are taking care of, learning from them on how they get their services out to their remote villages and hearing about how they're meeting their citizens' needs was very eye-opening and gave us some good ideas how we can better communicate with our own villages. Thank you. So cooperative effort.

Next, we have new business contracts. Contract number FY2026-03, Surface Water Monitoring Plan Sampling and Reporting with Shannon and Wilson Incorporated. Jared. Move to authorize the borough manager to execute contract number FY2026-03, Surface Water Monitoring Plan Sampling and Reporting with Shannon and Wilson Incorporated. Is there a second?

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The borough maintains a solid waste disposal permit, the land— with the landfill and the leachate treatment plant, which requires biannual surface water sampling and reporting to the state of Alaska in accordance with the approved surface water monitoring plan.

In the past, this work was coordinated and executed by the borough's environmental specialist and leachate treatment staff. To align with both best practices used by other municipalities across the state, or just to do that, the borough has chosen to advertise this work through a formal request for proposal process. Hiring a third-party contractor to perform the sampling and prepare the required reports for submission to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ensures consistency, objectivity, and compliance with permit requirements while also allowing borough staff to focus on operational responsibilities. Disabilities. A request for proposals was issued on July 1st with a due date of August 4th.

4 Proposals were received. They were evaluated by a committee that consisted of the Kodiak Island Borough Landfill Supervisor, Leachate Treatment Plant Lead and Trainee, one Assembly member, and the Chairman of the Architectural Review Board. All proposals along with a blank rubric sheet were provided to all evaluators electronically by email, and a OneDrive link was provided with a copy of all proposals to be evaluated. All evaluators submitted their scores to the Engineering and Facilities Department, which were compiled and averaged on an Excel spreadsheet. Based on these scores, Shannon and Wilson Incorporated had the highest cumulative average score.

Our Engineering and Facilities Director is here tonight if you have questions about this.

Any questions? Discussion? I would just state for the record, approximate cost is $74,000. $120 On this contract. Roll call vote on the motion, please.

Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. LeDoux. Yes. Mr. Sharrett.

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

Mr. Ames. Yes. Mr. Griffin. Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote?

Motion passes unanimously. Next is contract number FY 2026-10 Provision of Destination Marketing and Tourism Development Services with Kodiak Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, parentheses Discover Kodiak, in the amount of $75,000. Jared. Move to authorize the borough manager to execute contract number FY2026-10, Provision of Destination Marketing and Tourism Development Services with Kodiak Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, Discover Kodiak, in the amount of $75,000. Is there a second?

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is an annual contract with the Kodiak Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, doing business as Discover Kodiak, to promote Kodiak Island as a destination for tourists and to promote local businesses and supportive tourism activities.

The assembly approved $75,000 in the fiscal year 2026 budget for these services. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. LeDoux. Yes.

Mr. Sharick. Yes. Mr. Smiley. Yes. Mr. Whiteside.

Yes. Mr. Ames. Yes. Mr. Griffin. Yes.

Mr. Johnson. Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion carries unanimously. All right, next is resolutions, and we have Resolution number FY 2023-3E, a resolution of the Assembly of the Kodiak Island Borough amending various sections of the Kodiak Island Borough Records Retention Schedule and Central Filing System to reflect amendments to the Borough Clerk's Office, the Manager's Office, and the Personnel Management Series.

Jared, move to adopt Resolution Number FY 2023-03E. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Nova.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the assembly. This resolution modifies the retention series for the manager's office, human resources, and also the clerk's office. A significant alteration in the clerk's office involves transitioning the storage of ordinances access resolutions and minutes from physical storage to a fully electronic format. This transition will enhance searchability, eliminate redundancy, and reduce cost by removing the necessity to purchase fire-safe cabinets, acid-free paper, and specialized binders. We have conducted the necessary due diligence in reaching this decision.

We consulted with the IT director, who confirmed that we possess backup systems capable of fully restoring Laserfiche files and servers. Additionally, there are several copies of backups stored both on-site at the Borough Building and also off-site at KFRC. The resolution also suggests a change in the retention, retention of legal opinions and also litigation case files. It has Litigation case files has been added to enhance the efficiency of record handling. Currently, all litigation files are required to be stored in the manager's office, a practice deemed inefficient, as departments should have the authority to retain these records within their own offices if a litigation is still active and transfer them directly to archives once they become inactive, rather than routing them through through the manager's office first.

So that's my report. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you, Nova. Any questions? Any discussion?

Roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Sharrett? Yes. Mr. Smiley? Yes.

Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes. Mr. Griffin?

Yes. Mr. Johnson? Yes. Mr. LeDoux? Yes.

Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes unanimously. Next, we have ordinances for introduction. We have ordinance number FY 2026-5, amending Kodiak Island Borough Code, Title 3, Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.35, Real Property Tax, Section 3.35.050, Board of Equalization. Jared.

Move to advance Ordinance Number FY 2026-05 to public hearing at the next regular meeting of the Assembly. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Senate Bill 179 describes specific information for the Board of Equalization members that when they receive a full appraisal and when the board can ask for a higher value than what the assessor has valued the property at. This change will make it so the Board of Equalization The board cannot raise an assessment in the current year unless the appellant requests an increase. Also, if an appellant provides a long-form fee appraisal and the board does not rule in favor of the appellant, the board shall make specific findings on the record to support its decision. Thank you.

Any questions? Any discussion? Roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Smiley. Yes.

Mr. Whiteside. Yes. Mr. Ames. Mr. Griffin? Yes.

Mr. Johnson? Yes. Mr. Lidew? Yes. Mr. Sharrett?

Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes unanimously. Next on the agenda, we have other items, and we have State of Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office. This is general wholesale license renewal application for Southern Glazers Wine and Spirits of Alaska, LLC, doing business as Southern Glazers of Alaska, license number 4860, combined renewal notice for 2025 through 2026 renewal cycle.

And the assembly is to assess the I want to say this is the general wholesale license application based on the information contained within the packet, feedback received from staff, and response from law— local law enforcement. Below are examples of the motion. Jarrod. Move to voice protest to the State of Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, AMCO, general wholesale license renewal application for Southern Glazers of Alaska located at 5152 Tom Stiles Road, Building B, Bay 2, Kodiak, Alaska 99615, and direct the clerk to notify the applicant of this intent. And basically, as a clerk's note, as required by 3 AAC 305.085(d), the local governing body shall allow the applicant a reasonable opportunity to defend the application before the local governing body.

The applicant/licensee will be advised of the Assembly's decision on protesting, and the applicant— Mr. Mayor, if we may interrupt, just a quick point of order. We need a second on that. What's that? We need a second on that. Second.

It's been moved and seconded, and will be given an opportunity to defend the GWL application and at a future meeting. Staff report, Nova. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the assembly. On July 18, 2025, the clerk's office received a renewal notice from the ABC board for license 4860, held by Southern Glazers of Alaska. We have investigated, and the investigation resulted in the following: assessing department noted that the business is no active business, personal property, or real property accounts on record.

The assessor's office confirmed with both Southern Glazers and Odom that the listed address Bay 2 does not exist. Southern Glazers does not appear to have employees or a physical storefront in Kodiak and is reportedly billed by Odom for local sales. It remains unclear whether Southern Glazers is actively wholesaling in Kodiak. The clerk's office found that the business license details show that the physical address for this specific business license is located in Anchorage, Alaska. In reviewing the license, the actual license states that, um, it must be posted in a conspicuous place at the business location.

It is not transferable. Transferable or assignable. So if you decide to vote to protest this tonight, at the next meeting you will be seeing this item again because we need to notify the applicants or the licensees that we are going to be objecting, and we are going to give them an opportunity to defend their application. I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Any questions of the clerk?

Jared? I don't have any questions. I just think that we should approve the motion because we have a lot of— we had a lot of questions about this at the work session last week, and the only way to get an answer to those questions is to voice a protest and compel them to come talk to us to answer those questions. Any further discussion? Okay, roll call vote on the motion, please.

Mr. Whiteside. Yes. Mr. Ames. Yes. Mr. Griffin.

Yes. Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. LeDoux. Yes.

Mr. Sharrett. Yes. Mr. Smiley. Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote?

Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next item, we have citizens' comments. Again, those of you that wish to call in, the local number is 907- 486-3231, toll-free number 855-492-9202. Please turn off your radio or any listening device to prevent feedback.

For those of you in the room wishing to speak, come to the podium, sign in, turn on the microphone, and state your name for the record. Address all remarks to the assembly as a body and not to any member thereof. Sandra, you have the floor. Thank you. It's just good to be here.

It's good to be here. It's good to see you all work, everybody, staff.

Yeah, it's always interesting.

I'd like to speak for the Kodiak Shore Trail.

We've got a couple new grants that have come our way through the state DOT, through the feds, maybe. I don't know. I'm not really good with those grants. But we've got 3 that we're looking at, or more.

And we've also— I believe I talked to you about shortening the Short Trail. So our new current request is up to Tom Stiles Road.

It connects a large Coast Guard community. It offers opportunities for recreation for people that want to go from town to the Buskin River Recreation Site, the lake, the beaches, stuff like that. We have a— you know, a while back we got a letter from the manager supporting the Kodiak Shore Trail. And I think I'm just going to ask for more. I'm wondering if the borough— we'll get some better words than Sandra's to you, but if we could get something a little stronger, like, I don't know, resolution or something, that the borough assembly supports this plan, this idea moving forward and begging for money.

As we've said before, it's about mental health. It's about physical health. It's about emotional health, and it's about economic health. People, professionals that want to move to a community like to see safe routes.

And it's just good for us all. Thank you. Thank you, Sandra. Anyone else wishing to come forward and speak. Do we have any callers?

Go for it.

We're now answering a call from the queue. You're on the line. Please state your name for the record.

My name is Carleen McChesney. Um, I'm listening to the conversation about the liquor license, and somehow I I get the feeling that this is a liquor distributor and not a business that sells. That would— that's just an impression that I have. Thank you very much. Thank you, Carly.

And yes, it is a wholesaler license. So any other callers? Anyone else in the audience wishing to come forward? Seeing none, we'll move on to assembly members' comments. And we will start with you, Bo.

Uh, not much to add other than, uh, I hope folks are paying attention to the upcoming elections. I really hope we can see an increase in turnout. It's really nice seeing the large number of candidates for both municipalities. I think people are paying attention, they're wanting to become involved. We need to get a better turnout.

Speak to your friends, neighbors. It takes longer to brew a pot of coffee than it does to vote and Kodiak. So please encourage your friends, neighbors, family to get out and vote. It's very easy to do here. Thank you.

Thank you. Jared. Uh, yeah, I wanted to echo that too. Also, it's pretty cool to see that, uh, a lot of young names, um, too, um, on, on the list is, is exciting. Um, if it, uh, if it seems like there wasn't a whole lot of discussion about the issues tonight, it's because we had a very successful work session last week, and that's, I think, how these are supposed to go.

We have a good, vibrant work session where we get into the meat on these things, and then the regular meetings we can voice our approval or disapproval as we go through them. Um, just want to send out a message of support to our Special Olympics teams. They'll be traveling up to the state tournament for golf and for bocce. My daughter's on the bocce team, so, um, Good luck, good luck to them. And there are a couple of other committees that I'm on that I neglected to mention that we haven't met in the past couple of months because of fishing, but that's the Joint Fisheries Workgroup and the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference.

We will be having a SWAMC meeting in the next week or two, I believe, and we need to get together about the the fisheries workgroup as we head into fall. Thank you. Thank you, Dave. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, echoing what my fellow assembly members said, I just thank— thankful for folks deciding to run for these open seats.

It's always nice to see more people participating in the process. Wish them all the best of luck and wish luck to our football and other teams competing this weekend as as well. Go Bears! Steve? No comment at this point in time.

Thank you. Larry?

Prior to the meeting, there was small discussion relative to the rocket facility, and there's always a lot of misunderstanding and drama to a certain extent about the operations, what they are and what they might be. So I always think it's good to make sure with this kind of activity in our community that we continue to have an open forum. And I know this has happened in the past, but I think it might be a good idea for the Rocket facility to open a public forum with the community. It could either be done at a public meeting, it could be done on a public Zoom, but I think the more discussion we have, the less hysteria one way or the together that we'll have regarding the facilities so that we can keep everybody informed. Thank you.

Thank you, Scott. Yesterday I spent 8 hours in the hospital. I went into KCHC because I felt shortness of breath, which turned out to be atrial fibrillation, and it had been going on for 2 days, and they referred me to the emergency room upstairs. So I went upstairs and got in the emergency room where they took away my shirt and my undershirt and made me wear a silly gown and put electrodes all over my body and then continued to dose me with various drugs trying to treat the atrial fibrillation with drugs. Eventually they had to do it with an electroshock.

And that cured it. My comment is these guys were incredibly professional. Not only that, they took care of my worry and my fatigue about the whole situation. I mean, spending 8 hours in the hospital is not fun, and you start to get a little worried, and they were very professional about the whole thing. Part of the team was part of the team was a local resident and part of the team was what we call transients now.

And they were both spectacular. So I just want to chime in and say this is a great thing for our community to have it here, to not have to get on a plane and jet to Anchorage to get that kind of treatment. So I'm very supportive of them and I want all of you to know that I am I'm supportive. Thank you. Thank you, Scott.

Ryan? No comment. Next we have— next Assembly work session is scheduled on Thursday, August 28th at 6:30 PM. The next Assembly regular meeting is scheduled on Thursday, September 4th at 6:30 PM in the Assembly Chambers. All borough offices and facilities will be closed to the public on Monday, September 1st, in observance of Labor Day.

Chair, entertain a motion to adjourn. Move to adjourn. It's been moved. Is there a second? Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. We are adjourned at 7:21. Thank you all.

But with all that MIT on the record, I think it's time for—. Thank you. It was good seeing you both.