Kenai: 09/02/2026 City Council Meeting

I would like to call the September 2nd, 2026 City Council meeting to order. If you're able, please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Sonnart. Here. Mayor Naxted. Here.

Councilmember Daniel, here. Councilmember Grimy, here. Vice Mayor Askin, here. Councilmember Petty, here. Councilmember Kassena, here.

You have a quorum. Thank you, Council. Before we get to the agenda and consent agenda approval, I'd like to bring to your attention laydown materials. We have 3. There's an ad item, E1, Ordinance 3542-2026, public comments.

Requested by the clerk, we have an add item E3 to Resolution 2026-59, a request to postpone indefinitely, brought to us by administration. And item E4, Resolution 2026-60, Resolution number 2026-60 substitution, also brought us to us by, uh, by administration.

Pleasure of Council. Vice Mayor Askin. Um, thank you. I would like to add to the consent agenda introduction of Ordinance Number 3544-2026. Do you want to—.

And approve the agenda and consent agenda as presented with the amendment. Okay, do we have a second?

I'll second that. Are there any objections to adding introduction of Ordinance 3544-2026 to the consent agenda?

Hearing none, I can call for a roll.

I request unanimous. Request unanimous consent. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, the agenda and consent agenda are approved.

Are approved. Uh, would the, would the clerk please, uh, read the consent agenda items into the record for us? Thank you, Mayor Nokstad. Approval of the regular meeting minutes of August 19th, 2026, brought to you by the city clerk. New business action approval, bills to be ratified, brought to you by the administration.

And introduction of ordinance number 3544-2026, amending Kenai Municipal Code Chapter 1.56, Kenai Municipal Library Department, removing the library regulations from the appendices of Kenai Municipal Code and amending the City of Kenai schedule rates— schedule of rates, charges, and fees for housekeeping purposes and to align the library with other city departments. Brought to you by the administration. Public hearing scheduled for September 16th, 2026. And that is your consent agenda. Thank you.

Are there any public comments on any of the consent agenda items just read by the clerk? Seeing no one, back again here. Unanimous consent was requested for the amended agenda and consent. Here is—. Are there any objections?

Hearing and seeing none, the agenda and consent agenda are approved. We have no scheduled administrative reports. We have no scheduled public comments. So now we're— now we have unscheduled public comments. Are there any members from the public who would like to speak on any item not appearing on the agenda tonight.

Anybody online? Seeing no one, that, uh, that brings us up to public hearings. The first public hearing before us tonight is Ordinance Number 3542-2026, providing for the submission to the qualified voters of the City of Kenai at the regular election to be held November 3rd, 2026, The question of enacting Kenai Municipal Code Section 7.05031, Residential Property Tax Exemption, to establish a residential property tax exemption in the amount of $75,000, brought to us by Naxstedt and Kucina. Council Member Kucina.

Thank you. I move to enact Ordinance Number 3542-2026.

I'll second. Thank you. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3542-2026?

Mr. Banach. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. My name is Dwayne Banach. I live at 1908 Aliak in Kenai, Alaska.

James Basden is not able to be with you tonight. I did speak with him today. Our thoughts are aligned on this matter.

First off, thank you. We brought this subject to you several weeks ago. I quite frankly am overwhelmed by the speed in which you have responded. Thank you for taking our requests seriously. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your work session just a couple of weeks ago.

You know exactly what my position is on this matter, and I will give you only two small things today. At that meeting, I was asked a question: Was there anything that I would like to see added or anything different to this. There is one— there, well, two, two, two. Not done with this yet. I hope that you do pass this tonight.

I hope that my neighbors vote yes when given that opportunity. But then we're going to come back with part two, and part two will be the senior exemption to match what the borough's is. And the disabled veterans exemption to match what the borough's is. I will not ask you to take that up tonight, but know that we will be bringing that back to you as well. Finally, the numbers in your, uh, in the packet, in, in the agenda, in the ordinance itself— forgive me, my mind's a little distracted today— but the numbers that are in there I want to talk about $325 for just a moment.

That's the amount that a person in Kenai is— most people are going to not pay in tax. $325 Is not going to change my world. It's not going to change my month, my week, or hardly even a day, nor will it James's life. But as I was thinking about the first house that I bought, and I remember the first house that I bought, and we had one small child, and every penny counted. Today Dave Ramsey will say every dollar matters.

Well, when I bought my first house with, with a young son and a wife, it was every penny mattered. And as I was thinking about next year, people paying property tax maybe for the first time in their brand new house— they'll pay that property tax in the middle of October, and that $325 may make a difference at Thanksgiving. It may make a difference at Christmas time. This is not a business tax reduction. This is not an investment property tax deduction.

This is for the home that you live in. And it is a thing that you can do for new families, particularly young families, that $325 does make a difference. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Thank you, Mr. Banach. Any questions for Mr. Banach?

Council—. Uh, Council Member, uh, Petty, uh, no questions, but I would like to thank you and, uh, Mr. Basden for bringing this forth, uh, so that we can enhance, uh, the opportunity for young families to continue to be a prosperous opportunity here in our community. And I think this will do just that. And, um, I wanted to personally Thank you both.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anybody else from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3542-2026?

Mr. Butler, state your name and what city you live in. I think you're here in our beautiful city of Kenai.

Should turn on the light there. Press a button and just see if a light comes on. There you go, now you're recorded. Red is danger. All right, my name, my name is Jim Butler.

I live at 1711 Kaknü in Kenai.

I'd like to address the council in support of the proposed ordinance.

I, like I'm not nearly as eloquent as the former speaker, but I've been a resident and business owner here for, well, since the last century, if I can just put it that way diplomatically. And I once had the opportunity to actually sit on this council, so I understand that the decisions you make when it comes to financial issues, like the city, are some of the most important decisions you make. We're not talking about park benches or a fire engine. We're talking about the money and how revenues work in your city. So I appreciate the fact that in addition to other people who've commented that you're taking in delivering this.

The disclaimer, I'm not a math guy, but I can say that I'm very thankful for the services the city provides. I live in a cul-de-sac, the snow gets plowed, they fix the cracks in the road this summer. If I call 911 for an old relative, they show up. It's a great thing. So I want to talk briefly about the concept of terminology.

I'd like to have the council think about this not so much as a tax break, but as an incentive.

When you make financial policy, a lot of the thing is, oh, this is a tax break for this person, it's a tax break for that one. I'd like to think of you, maybe consider this as an incentive. And I think in addition to helping long-term residents, and I won't go into the, the other issues that were raised by the previous speaker, but I would echo the interest in supporting, encouraging small families to reside in Kenai. You know, 50 years ago I rolled into town as a teenager and I have been thankful ever since. And when you get a closing statement and you're trying to figure out your payments, a small amount makes a difference.

And I'm very blessed that we have a daughter and grandchildren who live in the town And I want to speak on behalf of those folks who maybe aren't here tonight because they're too busy picking up their kids or running around getting groceries or doing whatever. But if you can incentivize young people to be in this community and they see something that says millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars, guess what? Someone's looking out for me. I have this incentive to be in this community. I hope you think of this ordinance as an incentive.

And with that said, I'd answer any questions. I, I could go on, but I just appreciate the fact that this was brought up. I understand that these are going to be issues that may become in the future again, but for now, tonight, I'd like to speak on the folks that aren't here, and those are the young people who are looking for an incentive to why am I going to be here instead of down on Key Beach or down on Soldotna or wherever else, because you're going to see something on your thing that says our council supports you investing in our community. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, council members, for your attention.

Thank you, Mr. Butler. Does council have any questions of Mr. Butler? I'd just like to thank you for being here and say that I think you misled us. You spoke plenty eloquently, so—. I've been accused of a lot of things, so I appreciate that, Mr. Councilman.

Thank you very much, and I appreciate it. And by the way, our kids are about the same age, and I think we, you know, pretty funny lawyers, doctors, whatever, but they're coming back to town and that's a beautiful thing. It's tough to buy a house. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

Is there anybody else that would like to speak to Ordinance 3542-2026 from the general public? Please come forward, state your name and generally where you live for the record. Thank you. My name is John Ulan. I live on Phillips Drive here in Kenai.

I've only moved to the city 7 years ago, so, um, but I do— I want to second what the other two gentlemen have said and support this amendment. I think it's a good, a good benefit for the youngsters that we can draw to our city to keep living here. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hulen. Any questions from council for Mr. Hulen?

Mr. Cassano, thanks for being here, John. It's always good to see you. So you too, thanks for showing up. Thank you for being here. And again, are there any— is there anybody else that would like to speak to Ordinance 3542-2026?

Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion.

Council Member Petty. Yes, um, I would just like to state on the record that I'm in support of this, and I really appreciate Mr. Butler bringing to our attention the, um, the importance of nomenclature and the words that we select in putting this forth. And, um, incentive is a great word instead of tax exemption, and I'd like to hear the, uh, attorney's point of view on this if we put forth incentive instead of exemption on this, how that would affect this ordinance, please. Mr. Bloom.

Thank you. Um, this is statutorily defined as an exemption. I think it's probably both an exemption as defined by statute, and perhaps one could say it's an incentive for people to move here.

Um, but it—. The specific, uh, statutory language that allows this defines it as an exemption.

A follow-up question, if I may. Um, how would we put also into this ordinance, uh, keeping in the exemption but also implementing the incentive portion of this. How would we do that? Would—. Could we do that?

Thank you, uh, Councilmember Petty, through the mayor. I think you could put— if you wanted to modify one of the wheres to put the word incentive in, I think you could. I don't think it would be proper to include it in the ballot language because I think incentive itself is sort of subjective. Um, while you may agree that it's an incentive, I, I, uh, I would be leery of putting that in the ballot language itself from the city's standpoint. Somebody, a private entity, could certainly, uh, promote it as an incentive, and you could put it in the whereas as far as the council's intent but probably not in the ballot language.

I'd caution you against that. Sure. And would we need to take an at ease to get your language proper to put in an additional whereas in this?

Yes, I would need to draft a new whereas for it. I think there's other incentives coming, but if you wanted to take an at ease— or sorry, other amendments coming, but if you wanted to take a break at any point and have me draft some proposed language for the council to vote on, I can certainly do that. Okay. And I think what I'd like to do now, uh, before we continue on, is, is, is go ahead and have— and move those, uh, those two amendments that we have. That there's one on, on page 7 of the packet.

It's a rec— it's a needed amendment actually from, uh, from the city manager. That clarifies that. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we amend the, um, the ordinance to change the 6th whereas clause to read, whereas an estimated 1,421 property owners will be eligible for the proposed exemption, exempting an estimated $99,743,700 in property value. Including $3,346,500 of disabled veteran exemptions, for— of which is 49, um, 551 senior exemptions, which would equal $36,221,900, and $60,175,300 eligible property exemptions that do not qualify for the senior or disabled veteran exemption. 820— That's 821— and amend the 7th whereas clause to change the total financial impact to the city amount from $442,202 to $433,855.

After amendment, the 2nd whereas clause would read, whereas the total financial impact to the city at its current tax rate of 4.35 mills is estimated to be $433,885 annually, with the maximum savings to an individual property owner of $326.25 annually. And requesting unanimous consent. I'll second that. Moved and seconded. Any further discussion on the amendment?

Seeing none, unanimous consent. Anonymous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, ordinance number 3542-2026 is amended. Uh, next we have a, uh, an amendment, uh, by Mr. Councilmember Daniel.

Mr. Daniel, you want to make that amendment now? Sure. Thank you, Mayor Naxted. I'd like to propose the following amendment: amend Section 3 fiscal impact paragraph by answering the maximum property tax savings each property owner could receive, up to $326.25, in the first sentence, and adding a second sentence identifying the total estimated property value of the property exempted and the estimated annual revenue impact to the city. After the amendment, the fiscal impact portion of the proposition summary should would read: Fiscal impact.

Eligible property owners could see up to a $326.25 reduction in their annual property tax liability due to a portion of their permanent place of residence assessed value being— from being exempt from taxation. If approved, an estimated 1,421 property owners may be eligible, resulting in the exemption of $999,743,700 in property from taxation, reducing the city of Kenai's real property tax revenue by $433,885 annually based on the city's currently adopted mill rate of 4.35.

I'll second that and request unanimous consent. Any further discussion on the amendment? Seeing no— Councilmember Daniels. Thank you. Just real quick, like, for everybody, and the reason I proposed this was I just wanted to make sure that we could include as much factual information as possible for our voters and our constituents, so when this is before them, they can understand exactly in more detail what is being proposed.

And that's it.

Thank you for that. Is there any further discussion? Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, the amendment passes.

And now we are back to Ordinance 3542-2026 as amended.

Um, Council Member Petty, did you have an amendment that you wanted to take an add ease for at this time, or would you like to do that a little later, or At all.

Your mic, please.

I would like to take an at ease and consult with the attorney to add a whereas into this so that it is on the record that this, uh, we're looking at this as an incentive for our, um for some of our residents. Sure. Um, how about we— 5 minutes at ease, uh, Mr. Bloom? Work? Okay.

And then you can bring it back and we'll discuss it. Thank you. 5 Minutes.

Council Member Petty. Yes, thank you, Mayor Nextad. Um, thank you, um, Mr. Bloom, in helping me with this, um, whereas. So I would like to amend Ordinance Number 3542-2026 by adding a new 8th whereas clause to read: whereas it is intended that the exemption is if approved by the voters, incentive primary homeowners— homeowners in Kenai. And let me repeat that.

The 8th whereas would state, whereas it is intended that this exemption, if approved by the voters, incentivize primary homeowner— homeownership in Kenai. And. Do we have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Vice Mayor Askin.

Um, I request unanimous consent.

Council Member Petty. Yes. Oh, um, I think this nomenclature in this is very important, and if this ordinance passes, I look at this as an incentive for younger, um, individuals who come into our community and, um, have home ownership, that they would have this exemption, and it would incentivize them to consider Kenai very importantly as their home of residence in our community. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Next. Just a quick question, uh, this might be for the city attorney. Is this just the whereas we're amending? Is this not on the language of the proposition, or is it both and I'm not clear? Mr. Bloom.

Thank you, Mayor Naxted, Council Member Daniels. Yes, it's just a whereas clause. I don't think it's something that could be included in the proposition language itself because the proposition language itself, as the city, as the sponsor, we're restricted to just providing factual information And people could— I don't know what those arguments would be, but people could argue that using the word incentive could be— we would be advocating for it rather than just stating the facts. Thank you. This is a whereas clause on the ordinance itself, correct?

It's a whereas clause in the ordinance that I don't think would appear on the ballot, correct, Shelley? That is correct. If there's any language in the proposition summary that supports or opposes anything, we have to file campaign expenditures, and those expenditures would have to be appropriated by council prior to taking any action.

We keep it to the facts.

Good question. Any further questions? Any comments? Nana's consent was requested. Are there any objections?

Seeing none, the amendment passes. So that brings us back to Ordinance 3542-2026. Discussion? Council? Councilmember Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Nextstedt. Uh, first of all, um, thank you again for bringing this forth and letting us debate it. Uh, generally I am supporting something to get to our, our residents some sort of relief. I guess my only concern is that we rushed through this a little bit. It was just a fast timeline, and we usually have more time to debate these things.

And so I'm a little concerned we haven't given enough due diligence to try to, like, you know, go through everything. Um, and so I just— I mean, like I said, generous support. I just, I just wish we had a little more time. And looking at our timelines, I don't know what we what options we have there. If anybody, um, has any ideas, I'd be willing to entertain them.

Council Member Petty. Well, um, time is of the essence because, um, the election is coming forth, and if we're to get this on the ballot, it is a timely manner. I do think that this would be a very, uh, advantageous opportunity to show support from the council for relief for our citizens because of all the extra added expenses that life has incurred because of the world that we live in. And this is something that we could put forth to show our concern for those added expenses for our community members. And so I will be voted— voting in support.

And because of the timeline to get this on the ballot before our citizens time is of the essence.

Yeah, I'd like to remind council too that, you know, we did have a 2-hour work session on the finances of this, and I, and I just want to say that I appreciate our city manager, Eubank, and, and his staff for pulling together a lot of numbers and presenting it in a very clear way. And so that goes a long ways for me. Otherwise, if we didn't have that, I would tend to concur with that. But Mr. Daniel, I didn't know if you had anything more that you, you know, what more time would do for us. That's a great question.

I don't know. I mean, looking at it, it's like there's other avenues we could explore. We could debate it some more. I just, I guess I wanna make sure we're giving I think we have one crack at the— not one crack, if I will, but it's just if we put it out there, it's out there. And so I just want to make sure that we're putting something out there that we all like and agree on and that we're comfortable with.

Because I mean, we're going to have to look the voters in the eye in, you know, a few years from now and say, hey, we got to do a big public safety project. We're going to need your help. And so I guess my— what I'm getting at is I'm hopeful that if we do put this forward and we do approve it, that voters will recognize that, hey, we're trying to build that bridge, we're trying to, you know, build that trust with everybody. And then in the future, when we do have some project come up that, you know, we won't have those funds in the bank to pay for, that we can hopefully count on voter support again to help us get there. And, and so I guess it's just, you know, the timing, it just was a little fast.

But I do appreciate the numbers our city manager provided and I appreciate the effort that we put into it, um, and I just hope our voters recognize this and will hopefully, um, meet us again halfway when things hap— when we need that support for any, uh, future projects that may come up, such as a new public safety building.

Council Member Gremmie. I, I actually agree on all, on all points. I agree that, um, The city manager provided us with a lot of information. Um, I, but I also gave a lot of weight to Mr. Banach's statement at our last meeting that using exemption as a tool was not something that council had done in the past. So this isn't something that's been done before.

It's a big thing. There's a lot of numbers, and, um, you know, as, as Mr. Butler said earlier, you know, you're not a math guy. I'm not a math girl. So all of these numbers being thrown at me and different scenarios to consider, um, and all of the things that you brought up about the future of what we need to provide to the city are all are all big questions that really deserve a lot of attention and consideration and discussion. We did have a 2-hour work session.

The city manager did provide us with a lot of information. I know I've put a lot of thought and research into this since this came to our attention, and I know that other council members have as well. But I share and have shared your concern about needing to rush it and, and making sure that it's something we are very comfortable with and sure of all of the what-ifs. I think it's really easy to say, to look at the positives and say, yeah, this is relief, and, and I would like that relief too, and I would like that relief for my two young adult children who live in this community, but I want to make sure it's a responsible decision that remains responsible moving forward. All of that aside, I don't think that I can come up with another, another better way to do that at this time.

I don't have another suggestion to offer, but I do share your concern about it feeling more, more rushed than maybe it should be, given the gravity of what this is. All of that to say, I am in support of putting this on the ballot and asking voters.

But I do think for an issue this significant that we did have more time to explore and marinate on it a little more.

Any further discussion?

I—. One of the— First rules in business is, you know, doing what's always worked and all of that. It's kind of comfortable and all of that. But with this case, in this case, it did make me feel uncomfortable because it's a little different than how the city has done business. The borough has done it and other, other communities have too.

But from the work session, we learned, you know, just how much the fund balance has been increasing due to the, the value of the properties and when those lines are going to cross. You know, and what it really reduces down the time risk on that.

And in fact, you know, particularly the younger families, you know, where every dollar does count, if they want to buy a house, it's very difficult now. It is an incentive to come to Kenai and whatnot. And I think that doing this incentivizes our young people and actually a little older people too to come here, buy a house, build a house, come to Kenai. Our sister city isn't doing it and a number of the other places aren't either, but Kenai could. And so because of that, I think that the risk— there's a risk in everything we do.

I think that the risk has been mitigated and I understand it. And I think that the process that we went through, even though it may seem a little rushed, was the right way to go about it. Because Mr. Bonick is sitting right here. He and Mr. Basden would have got— gone out and gotten signatures and got it on the ballot without our consent or without our discussion. I can almost assure you that would have happened, and we really wouldn't have had any say, talk, or anything like that.

But now we do, and we are debating this, and we can modify it And we've been doing that. So I think we're in as good a position as we can be, and I think the risks are as mitigated as it can be. That's just my opinion.

Any further? No, that's—. Mr. Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxton. I appreciate that.

And again, I mean, I'm definitely in general support of this. I do think the voters need to take a crack at this. I'm glad it can go before the voters so they can decide it. And I generally feel okay about it. I just wish she had more time, but we don't have that time, and we got what we got, and it's, you know, and I can— we can work with this.

But yes, I appreciate that, that comment. Thank you, that commentary. Thank you, Mayor Next. That's helpful.

I just want to thank everyone for the comments they had. I think most people said anything everything I had to say better than I would have. The only thing I'd add is I often get frustrated with how slow government can be, and I think this, as uncomfortable as the speed in which this happened was, this is an example of moving efficiently through a process as best as possible given the timeline. And so I think I'm— I'm thankful for the efforts of the city. I'm thankful for those who attended the work session.

And, you know, I'm hopeful that voters will look into this further, and it gives them an opportunity to make a decision themselves as well, and not just those of us up here. So, yeah, fast government example one.

Vice Mayor Askin. I agree with everything everybody's had to say, but I'm also kind of proud of the fact that it's proven we can be nimble when we need to be, and I'm truly in favor of this. Councilmember Soenart, I see your hand up.

Thank you, Mayor Nexton. I want to thank both you and Councilmember Kucena for putting forth this ordinance and, uh, focusing back in on what was brought before us and requested of us by our constituents. And I think we have something solid to put forth before the voters. And just keep in mind, we aren't voting for this tonight ourselves. We're just voting to put it in front of our constituents, in front of the voters.

And who knows, it's such a simple, um, ballot question, maybe they'll think it's a trick question and vote it down. But anyway, that was sense of humor, but it's late here. But thank you guys for bringing it forward. I appreciate all of the discussion on it. And even though it has moved quickly through our wheels of progress here, I'd like to think it just shows that we can be efficient when we need to be.

So thank you.

Thank you for that. Any, uh, any further discussion on ordinance number 3542-2026 as amended?

Seeing none, clerk, please call the roll. Mayor Naxted. Yes. Councilmember Daniel. Yes.

Councilmember Grimme. Yes. Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Council Member Petty?

Absolutely. Council Member Cassana? Yes. Council Member Sonnart? Yes.

You have 7 yes votes. Ordinance number 3542-2026 as amended is enacted. Thank you. Now we are on item E2, Ordinance number 3542-2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the airport improvements capital project fund and accepting a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and awarding a contract to the airport perimeter and security fence project brought to us by administration under KMC 1.15070D. And note here is KMC 1.15070 allows an ordinance making, appealing, transferring, or otherwise changing an appropriation may be enacted on the same day it's introduced.

Now, we don't— uh, we do these occasionally, but this one is time sensitive, so we needed to act tonight. So we'll be moving forward. So I'll be looking for a motion to introduce. Vice Mayor Askin. I move we introduce Ordinance Number 3543-2026 and request unanimous consent.

Second. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, motion passes. Now I am looking for, uh, pleasure of council on a motion for a second reading.

I'd like to make a motion for a second reading, please. I'll second that and request unanimous consent. Thank you. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections?

Seeing none. Um, ordinance number 3542-2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the airport improvement capital project fund and accepting a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and awarding a contract for the airport perimeter and security fence project, brought to us by administration per KMC 1.15070.

D. Now I'm looking for a motion to enact. Vice Mayor Askin. I move that we enact Ordinance Number 3543-2026. I'd like to second that, please. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3543-2026?

Seeing no one, bring it back to council.

Sorry, I got lost in thought there. Go ahead. I just wanted to clarify that, uh, in this it calls out that the grant offer is $3,157,270, requiring us to only pay $166,000 and change. Is that an accurate interpretation? Acting City Manager Frey.

Thank you. Yes, that is correct. It's a 95/5 match grant. Awesome. Sweet.

Thank you then for doing that.

Yeah, I would echo that, and I would say I appreciate— again, this is another example of staff's resourcefulness in consistently finding alternative revenue sources. But finding $3 million, I know. Yeah, yeah.

It probably was programmed in the airport plan. And so it's— but it took some preplanning to do that, so it didn't just appear. Mr. Fry, would you like to elaborate on this at all? Because of the timing and everything, you turned your mic off. Sure.

So this is a project replacing the perimeter fence at the airport. There is some security issues with it. Of this is actually replacing gates. We are having a lot of issues with the gates and the electronics where people are scanning in and out to get access to the fence. So this will be replacing and fixing that whole system.

So it'll be a big improvement for that. As far as the funding does go, yes, this is something we regularly work with FAA through regular meetings. We have a capital improvement plan that gets approved by the FAA every year. So we're— where they were trying to budget money as we to move out on these projects. Next one we're looking at right now is like a taxiway improvement project to redo that after we just did the runway.

So we are regularly working with them and talking about when we'll be able to budget projects in the future like this with their funding.

Any further discussion or questions of Mr. Fry? Mr. Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Nexter. A question for Mr. Fry. I see the— with the costs here and then the grant offer, um, We definitely— there's a little bit of a difference there.

Is that just the FAA will give us up to that amount? Is that what that means, or is there extra for other projects? How does that work? Acting City Manager Frye. Thank you.

So the cost difference there is we already had design money that was appropriated in there, and there's also construction administration and administrative costs. So when we bill time to the cost project, that will go in here as well. We haven't negotiated— or we're still negotiating the construction administration contract with the HDL or design consultant for the project. Um, so that will be coming in a future resolution to approve their construction administration contract for observation on this construction contract. Okay, and follow up, so that would come out of that bucket potentially?

Okay, thank you.

Any further discussion?

Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Daniel. Yes. Council Member Grimme? Yes.

Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Council Member Petty? Yes. Council Member Cassano?

Yes. Council Member Sonnert? Yes. Mayor Naxteff? Yes.

You have 7 yes votes. Ordinance number 3543-2026 is enacted.

Now we have item E3, Resolution 2026-59, authorizing a contract award for 6 Street Construction Project, brought to us by Administration. Pleasure of Council. Vice Mayor Askin. I move we adopt Resolution Number 2026-59. Second.

Request unanimous. Is there anybody from the public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-59?

Seeing no one, uh, we'll bring it back to Council. There's a There's a motion here requested to postpone indefinitely, and I thought perhaps Mr. Fry might want to explain why that request.

Thank you, Mayor Naxat. So this is a project that we were working in coordination with Kenai Peninsula Housing Initiative. We previously did an ordinance where we accepted funding from them, and they worked on submitting for the community block development grant with us that we were successful in getting. Um, so we had a set budget available for this project to try and get it constructed for the winter for the apartment complexes that they're building over there for senior housing. Um, the bids came in over the budgeted amount that they had for the project, so we're unable to award this at the time.

So we are working with KPHI to try and figure out a way to use this grant funds and move forward in the future. So something will probably come back in the future when we have that plan in place, but for right now, we're unable to award this contract. Thank you. Vice Mayor Askin. I move that we postpone Resolution 2026-59 indefinitely.

I'd like to second that, please.

I'd like to request unanimous consent, please. Is there, uh, any further discussion? You know, this consent was requested. The resolution 2026-59 is postponed indefinitely.

That brings us to item 4, Resolution 2026-60, authorizing a contract award for the strategic plan consulting services, brought to us by administration. Pleasure of council. Vice Mayor Austin. I move we adopt Resolution number 2026-60 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-60 or Substitute Resolution number 2026-60? Seeing no one, bring it back to council for discussion.

Vice Mayor Askin. Um, I would like to move that we, um, substitute Resolution 2026-60 that was in our laydown. Yes, I'll second. I question unanimous consent. Any discussion on the, on the motion?

Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? We have Resolution 2026-60 as amended with be the substitute.

Council discussion?

Mr. Fry, you want to—. I was going to—. You probably need to discuss what this—. Um, so this was a request for proposals that the city manager's office put out. Um, we received a lot of positive feedback here, so we got 8 proposals received that a team of people from the city reviewed and scored.

As you can see here, the University of Kansas Center for Workplace Excellence was the top scoring proposal that we received. So the idea for this project, I believe, is to develop a new strategic plan for the city to move forward. Some of that is going to be some community engagement and also looking at the results of the community survey that was completed. And the goal being that this will be a project that's done through this winter here, so goals for next budget process can be incorporated into, um, strategic plan can be incorporated into the next budgeting process. Thank you.

Any questions of Mr. Fry or further discussion? Council Member Petty, uh, do we have an estimate on the cost of this strategic plan, sir? Uh, Mr. Fry? Yeah, so the city manager's office budgeted $60,000. Um, the winning proposal was a cost of $54,000.

$4,740. Was that added in our budget that we previously passed? If you would re— refresh my memory. It's in the, uh, city manager's budget currently, in the operating budget. Okay, thank you.

Any further discussion? Council Member Petty, one other question. Uh, at what point, if we move forward with this, would this, uh, strategic planning occur, and when do we expect it to be completed? Mr. Frye. Thank you.

So, um, we would reach out tomorrow, um, start to get contract paperwork in place. So that usually takes anywhere from a week to 2 weeks for us to get contracts into place. Uh, the completion date for this project, um, I might be a little off, but I believe it's around March 15th of next year. So it's about 6 months is what we're giving them to complete this work. Work, which is a little rushed for this type of project, but that's what we were aiming to do to incorporate it into the budget process next year.

Do you know— I have a follow-up question, please. Do you know if the strategic riverfront plan that we passed a number of years ago, will that be considered in their strategic plan?

Um, it could be. Essentially all the plans that we've developed— there was a number of plans that were questioned as part of the process, but basically every— all All the plans that we have available are available for the consultant to review when they're developing this plan. So, um, city administration will work with the consultant to provide them all the planning documents, surveys, engagement that we've done with the public here to try and develop a full, well-rounded strategic plan to move forward. Thank you. I appreciate that insight.

Councilmember Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxit. Um, this may be way early in the process, but it's curiosity of mine. What is— I guess, what do we hope to get out of it? And what is our— how long these plans last typically?

Mr. Frye? Thank you. Um, that might be a better question for, um, Terry in the city manager's office when they return.

Oh, Mr. Bittner, forgot he's on.

I'm not there in person. Um, the strategic plan's usually, uh, horizon about 5 years, um, and its goal is to align a lot of our goals and objectives, not plan by plan like we did the Parks Master Plan and the Comprehensive Plan like that, but goal setting at a city level to, um, move in one direction, both, you know, as the administration, as Council, and with input from the communities. But it is a very short-term plan. Pretty nimble, so in about 5 years things could change and we could be doing either an update to the strategic plan or moving on to a different planning effort.

Thank you for that clarification. Any further discussion?

Seeing none. Nice dog. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, Resolution 2026-60 is adopted.

Under Item G, we have no unfinished business. Under H, we have no new business. That brings us down to commission reports. First is Council on Aging. Councilmember— Vice Mayor Askin.

Thank you, Mayor Nix. So there was no meeting. The next meeting is next Thursday the 9th, I believe, or 10th. Thank you. Airport Commission, Council Member Sonar.

Thank you, Mayor Nexted. Their meeting for September, I believe, is next Thursday. The— is it the 9th?

Vice Mayor Askin? It's the 10th. It's the same day as the Council on Aging, except the Council on Aging is in the afternoon and airport is in the evening.

Okay, next we have Parks and Recreation. Councilmember Gremmie, there was a work session on August 27th with a tour for some of the facilities for members, and, uh, next meeting is tomorrow. Thank you. Now we have Planning and Zoning Commission.

Um, I attended the Planning and Zoning Commission in lieu of Mr. Daniel and Mr. Cassana. On—. There was a resolution asking for a rezone of 3 parcels on Kenaispur Highway that was withdrawn before the meeting. There was a conditional use permit granted for a 6-space recreational vehicle park, and it's at the Eagle— at the Elks across from the post office. And then there was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 variant, uh, 3 variances and 2 conditional use permits for, uh, Co-Alaska regarding surface extraction on Beaver Loop.

And that was all that was addressed at that meeting. Thank you. Beautification Commission, Councilmember Petty. Thank you, Mayor Nexted. Our next meeting will be on the 8th, which is Tuesday.

6 In the evening. Thank you. Thank you. So that brings us down to report of the mayor. A few items.

On, on the 21st of August, I was invited along with other mayors to meet with John Sims, the president of Enstar, over at their facility in Soldotna, Ridgeway actually. I was the only one that actually came and met there in person. One other mayor did, did Zoom in, so it was a small group, which has its advantages. One of the things I want to say before I talk about it is we did not talk about the AIX facility here in that storage. That was off the table because they are competing with— we have a couple of things, so I just— we didn't talk about that.

But I don't have a whole lot of wonderful things to say about the meeting, and not— and that has to do with the gas supply and what is expected to happen. And if you've been reading about it at all, it was reiterated that they figure if we have an average winter, even, or maybe slightly colder, that they anticipate we will be 18 days short of having the supply necessary to provide gas to everybody. And it was likened to a balloon where you press on one thing and it pushes out in another, and it's necessary to maintain that minimum pressure for everybody or nobody has gas. So the plan is essentially is if, if they do run short at some point, we have a colder winter, they would actually physically go out and shut a shut valves off to businesses and industry first, and schools and other facilities, commercial facilities, and then, you know, the residences would continue. There's possibilities for, like, they're working with Chugiach Electric to use more diesel than gas.

And they also are working with Joint Beda, Baisalamandar, All they have to do is talk to one person, the commander up there, and say, hey, thermostats need to be shut down or whatever. So they can, they can make a big reduction there, you know. And I did offer up if they had some data that we could provide on our website to our residents and whatnot, that we would do that. If there's something that accumulative of all the residents, if we drop the temperature in our houses maybe a degree or something like that, that, what a difference that might make. I don't know what that data is, but at any rate, there's big concern about what's coming up.

He did talk about that they were in arbitration at the time with HEC. HEC sells them gas, but they were selling gas to another customer, and it was an emergency arbitration. They said it was going to be decided in 48 hours. That was a Friday on the 21st. I haven't heard anything about where that's come, but some of the other things that were discussed was there's other suppliers out there that they're trying to get under contract to produce gas, find gas, and provide it to them.

But there's such uncertainty about whether they'd be able to find enough gas And in time, that the risk is not worth it to a lot of these companies to go into a contract with NSTAR to provide it.

So another non-great thing, right? And I guess the other thing, I don't think I had a note here, but they figured if for imports it would be the fourth quarter of '29. Before they could actually import gas through the Nekiski facility going backwards. And it's not a matter of just turning around valves and you've got the tanks there and pumping it back into the system. It's a, it's a big deal to rework that whole facility and go backwards with it.

So that's out there. So I don't think I've got any more bad news, but there's, you know, but it's not great. So I've already turned my thermostat down down, or some of them are off in it for that matter. But that's how that meeting went.

The city of Sodat Namir was, you know, kind of wishing for better news than that, but that's what we got. On to better news, on the 22nd I did attend the food bank Soup and Supper fundraiser. Enjoy doing those every year. And if you've never been to one of those, it's a fundraiser, you get a bowl, and they have all the— there's a number a number of vendors, restaurants that have their soups there. There's about a dozen or 15 of them or so all lined up, all different kinds of soups.

And you can, you know, go between them. And I just wanted to point out that our very own Kenai Senior Center was there at the very end. And they had Hungarian mushroom soup, which is one of my favorites. So I ran down there and got that. But I appreciate our senior center being there and supporting that cause.

Later in that day, well, actually earlier today, I went to Industry Appreciation Day and attended that, and I did get to provide two awards. One was for Outstanding Business Tourism, and that was to Grand Aviation. We appreciate Grand Aviation. They've been sticking with it here and doing a very good job, flights every 15 minutes. And the second one was Outstanding Support Business for Tourism.

And that was received by June Harris on behalf of the Kenai Historical Society. And they've been working with our chamber and they have the cabin park down here. And then on August 28th, I attended the Old-Timers Luncheon. And I'm still a kid, so I was there as a kid, but also did a greeting and I got to As if Mayor Williams needed introduction, I did provide an introduction to him, for him, and he gave some of his insights as you can imagine. That was very good.

I guess the last thing that's on my list, and I don't know much about it other than what you might have heard on the radio, is the Silver Salmon Derby has been canceled that we've been doing for years with with the chamber. And it's been noted as the most responsible fishing tournament in the world, I suppose. Might as well make it the world, certainly the state. And because it's not based on the biggest fish or anything like that, it's just a fish, and then you— and it's kind of mostly a local thing too. But anyway, I'm disappointed that's not happening, but that decision was made.

And well, maybe Maybe better next year. So that's all I have. So that brings us to administration reports.

And, excuse me here, City— Acting City Manager Frye, if you would. Thank you, Mayor Naxted. So on the staffing and recruitment front, we are pleased to welcome 3 new employees, Melina Grimi as a firefighter and— sorry. I know that name. Mathias Smith and Ellis Knottmeyer as janitors.

We congratulate Brandon Skinner on his promotion to lead operator in the Public Works Utility Department. That was from the vacation of Justin Wick, who's been with us for about 5 years, that's leaving for another position. We congratulate Ian Brahman, the city's animal control chief, on being selected to serve as president of the Alaska Animal Control Association Board. City is currently recruiting for a police officer, utility operator, part-time planning and zoning technician, part-time rec— center attendant temporary equipment operators at the airport for the winter season. For Wildwood Drive, the Alaska Department of Transportation has preliminarily scheduled Wildwood Drive to be paved near the end of September.

QAP, the contractor currently working on the Kenai Spur Highway project, will complete the work. The Small Community Air Service Development Grant, the city has not yet received a decision on the SCADSB grant. The awards were expected at the end of August. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently confirmed that the review is continuing but did not provide a new timeline. The city requested $950,000 to help recruit nonstop air service between Kenai and Seattle-Tacoma.

Um, like the mayor mentioned, the Kenai Silver Salmon Derby— the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center announced last week that it will not hold the salmon derby in 2026. The chamber cited limited information about this season's silver salmon abundance and varying reports from local guides and anglers. The chamber plans to hold the derby again next year and will explore moving the event to August in 2027. The city and chamber began the Derby as a cooperative effort in 2017. In recent years, the chamber has managed most of the activities associated with the event.

And lastly, the city shop has completed the annual public surplus auction. Um, we are preparing a second auction for remaining items. Uh, we're going to divide items into smaller lots with lower starting bids and try and continue and get some of those things back and get a little more life out of them. So that's all we have. Thank you.

Any questions of Acting City Manager Frye?

Seeing none, I'll move on to City Attorney Bloom. Thank you, Mayor Naxted, members of council. I don't have anything to report, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Mr. Bloom? City Clerk.

Thank you, Mayor Naxted. I just want to let everybody know, following the taxi renovation tour application project on the website, we have now updated the mobile food vendor website and application application process. And I also wanted to remind every one of you, if you are intending to go to Alaska Municipal League Conference, please get your dates to us as soon as possible. They're running earlier than normal early registration deadlines. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anything you want to share about, uh, elections coming up? Candidate—. We got 3 applicants. Yeah, candidate filing period close on Monday.

There's 3 candidates The information is available on the website, and we are— the candidate filing period in our neighboring city doesn't close until the 15th, and the borough's closed, so everybody's getting their ballot layout set. And after tonight, I've got more additions to ours. Okay, thank you very much. Didn't mean to put you on the spot there. Any questions of the city clerk?

So that, uh, If there isn't any, we are down to additional public comments. Are there any members of the public who would like to address the council at this time? Mr. Bannock, thanks for staying. Thank you again, and thank you for your unanimous support, Ms. Greeney. Mr. Daniel, your concerns are noted, and you will remember that I thank you for your speed in this.

Give yourselves a good feeling that in most ordinances that would be for this. There would be one public, one public hearing, one introduction, and one work session. The good news is if the City of Kenai wanted to continue to hold a work session on it from a public informational point of view, we would certainly have no objection with that at all. Once again, on behalf of James— he was texting with me— we say thank you for addressing this matter and addressing it in the manner in which you did. Thank you very much.

Thank you for that. Any, any questions, or— it does that. Thank you very much. Any, uh, further public comments from anybody? Anyone?

Okay, so that brings us down to council comments. Councilmember Kucena. You know, I don't have much, uh, just, uh, thanks everyone for being here and Yeah, I appreciate the good points from everyone on every topic we have, and it's always nice to hear the differing opinions without arguments or anything like that. So, uh, just appreciative of the process today. Councilmember Stonhart.

Not a whole lot. I just wish everyone well, and I look forward to seeing you down the road.

Yes, I agree with Councilmember Kucinich. I'm appreciative of the process. I'm glad we got to go through it and that we got through surprisingly quickly, and we were able to come to a unanimous agreement on that exemption. So that was really well done, everybody. And also, school's in session.

Watch out for the kiddos, and you all have a good night.

I wanted to thank everybody who participated in Industry Appreciation Day. Unfortunately, the weather was great the day before and the day after and not so fantastic day of. I braved the weather with my son and my granddaughter. It was her first, I hope of many, Kenai Industry Appreciation Days. And despite the weather, there was still a lot of folks out there.

Peninsula folks can't— won't be held back by rain. But I also wanted to remind everybody that it's National Library Card Month. So if you don't have a library card, now would be a great time to get one. And keep in mind that a library card does not limit you only to our library, but lots of free ebooks through Libby and interlibrary loan process. And lots of options available.

So, um, go check out the library this month and get your card if you don't have one. Very good. Council Member Petty. Thank you so very much, um, Mayor Naxted. Um, we live in a great city, and I'm thankful to be a constituent here and represent the individuals who not only come and speak with us, um, face to face, but also recognize that there are people who aren't here who are living their lives and relying upon us to make decisions on their behalf.

So I'm very thankful that I have that privilege at this point in time and wish everyone a good night. Thank you. Vice Mayor Askin. Thank you, Mayor Nagstad. So the 22nd, I got to attend— I did attend Industry Appreciation Day.

I worked part of the time at the Hillcorp booth where I, where I work, and they gave away 30 dozen donuts that day. How many? 30 Dozen. They were delicious. And then that evening I attended the food bank fundraiser.

That was very well attended also. And that's all I have tonight. Okay, thank you. We have no executive session, no pending items, and having no further business, the body is adjourned. Thank you.