Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of October 1, 2026

There you go. All right, I will call the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly regular meeting of Thursday, October 1st, 2026 to order. Uh, we will begin with an invocation from Miss, uh, Grace Green from Salvation Army.

Let us pray. Dear Jesus, thank you for this great day. Thank you for this beautiful place that we get to call home. I thank you for all these people in the room as they are here just to make Kodiak make even a better place, Lord. We thank you for that cold morning that is coming, and we ask that you keep everyone safe and warm as it's just going to get a little colder.

And again, we just thank you for everyone in this room and that we understand you are just— these people here are just here to make Kodiak better. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Now for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And we are gathered on the traditional homeland of the Sugpiaq Aleutic people, and we acknowledge the 10 tribes of the Kodiak Aleutic region. We acknowledge— we recognize the Aleutic culture that enriches our community to this day. Roll call, please. Mr. Ames. Here.

Mr. Gardner. Here. Miss Roberts. Here. Mr. Smiley.

Mr. Viscoccio. Here. Mr. Whiteside. Here. Mr. Woods.

Here. Mayor Griffin. Here. You have a quorum. Um, okay, up next is the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda, which, uh, includes the special meeting minutes of September 10th, 2026, and the regular meeting minutes of September 17th.

2026. Mr. Whiteside, move to approve the agenda and the consent agenda. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Roll call on the motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda, please.

Mr. Ames. Yes. Mr. Gardner. Yes. Miss Roberts.

Yes. Mr. Biscotto. Yes. Mr. Whiteside. Yes.

Mr. Woods. Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0. All right, up next is our first opportunity for citizens' comments tonight.

There are two designated citizens' comments periods, one at the beginning and one at the end of the meeting. These comment periods are intended for general comments as well as for agenda items that are not part of a public hearing. We do have one public hearing item for tonight, which is Ordinance Number FY 2027-09, and comments for this item will be heard when the item is called during the public hearing. And please wait until we get to that portion of the agenda. For those who wish to call in, the local number is 907-486-3231.

Toll-free is 1-855-492-9202.

And please turn off your radio or any listening device to prevent feedback. And for those in the room who wish to speak under citizen comments, please come to the podium and sign in, turn on the microphone and make sure that green light is on before speaking, and speak directly into the microphone. And please state your name for the record and address all remarks to the assembly as a body and not to any member thereof.

Go for it. Thank you. Hello, assembly. I see that on your agenda today is working with Madsen to ship off our recyclables. Are we good?

I think I'm on. I'm green. We're good. Oh, hello. So far I've been able to remember my name.

I'm Sandra West. So we're good there. Yeah, so shipping off recyclables. I just want to encourage everybody in the community to recycle because recycling saves money for everybody. You, particularly on the Borough Assembly, understand the cost of enlarging our landfill.

It keeps coming back again and again. So recycling saves money for everybody in the community. Thank you. And the other good news is the Kodiak Short Trail is officially on the state— well, draft Transportation Improvement Program. So we are on the STIP.

That has been what our congressional delegation has been asking. Are you on the STIP? Are you on the STIP? We are on the STIP in the draft form. So for members of the public in the assembly, if you would like to make a comment, we are in comment period until the end of this month, till October 29th, which is almost the end of this month.

You can send an email to [email protected].

The project number is 34921. And I'll repeat that so that you can sharpen your pencil and be ready. Because we would love to send a lot of comments from the community to the DOT.

The benefits— I've talked to you before about the benefits of the bike path between here and Bells Flats. Number 1 is safety. And I'm going to go right— item B underneath safety is comfort if you're driving a big truck. And there's somebody in that very narrow shoulder. There's gravel and sticks and things in that shoulder, so often I will ride my bike right on the white fog line.

And it makes it uncomfortable for big cars and trucks. So a separated path would be helpful for safety, health, mental health, communication— I mean, transportation, and to connect our communities. So that email again, you can send the email note to [email protected].

And the project number is 34921. Thank you all. Thank you. Any calls? OK.

Anyone else?

Yeah, my name is Brian Tosi. Yeah, make sure that it's on. Is it on? Okay. Yeah, my name is Brian Tosi.

I grew up here in Kodiak and Moved back with my family about 7 years ago and just wanted to say a couple things. I really appreciate praying at the beginning of these meetings. That's awesome.

I guess the reason I'm speaking tonight is on the bear issue. I'm not familiar with like maybe the converse ongoing conversation with bear stuff in Kodiak, but It's like a little bit more real to me last night. Um, see, my, my son Gideon just got home from work. Um, it was 10:20 at night. He comes in the house, we're in our living room, and then we hear some just kind of stuff going on around the corner in what we thought was our entryway because, um, because, uh Anyway, it sounded like it was in the house.

So, and to, to kind of set the scene, we've been moving into the house for the last month, so our door has been like open a lot, like while we're moving, and unlatched, open. Anyway, I go around the corner and all I see is a brown bear head at our front door licking our glass and paws on the door. So I go up to it I was pretty certain that the door was latched. So I go up to it and slam my hands up against the door on this side, just kind of like trying to let it know that I don't want it there. But, um, so it kind of just like dropped down and was like, yeah, whatever.

So I got off the front porch, and at that point I felt safe enough to open the door and be like, hey, get out of here, like yelling. But I don't know, my— I have my opinions about what to do with bears. I know everybody probably has an opinion. We live in Alaska. I love, I absolutely love Kodiak.

I hike all over the place. Most of the time don't have bear spray just because I, we live with the bears. But in our town and ongoing issues at the dump and just things like that, the margin for that bear being in our entryway, in our living room, was like The paw print that I have a picture of is this far away from the latch handle, so it would have been like in the door. And my wife had been making tacos, but I— they were, they're really good. Bear would have probably enjoyed them too.

I don't know what the scenario would have been if the bear come around the corner and there would have been screaming and yelling, and hopefully the fight or flight thing, he would have chosen flight. That would have been— that'd be cool. But I feel like ultimately what I'm trying to get at is sometimes I don't feel like it should land on the citizens' responsibility for these bears. And I know sometimes they just have to get shot. That is kind of where I—.

Keep going. That's where I would be more— take care of the bears by shooting them. I know there's all different sorts of ways, like keep care of your trash and all those other different things. Ultimately, does it have to come down to a bear in my living room or somebody getting hurt? Just, that's just my opinion.

Just, and sometimes they do have to get shot, but I would say more time, I would just, that's just, uh, my thoughts. Thanks. No, thank you. Thanks for coming out.

Anyone else?

Any calls? Okay. All right. We'll move on into awards and presentations. First up is a proclamation declaring the month of October as Filipino American National History Month.

And I'll read a proclamation here.

So whereas Filipino American history and culture must be promoted because of the role of Filipino Americans in the history of Kodiak and Alaska, And whereas positive role models can instill in Filipino American youth the importance of education, ethnicity, and values of their legacy. And whereas Kodiak is fortunate to count among its population a large concentration of citizens of Filipino descent, including those who have lived in Kodiak for generations and those who are new to the Kodiak area, who contribute to Kodiak's economy and society through their commitment to professions, commerce, family, and the arts. Now therefore, I, Jared Griffin, Mayor of the Kodiak Island Borough, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2026 as Filipino American National History Month, as established by the trustees of the Filipino American National Historical Society, and encourage all residents to participate in the festivities celebrating the rich heritage and traditions of the Philippines. And receiving this proclamation is Filipino American Association Vice President Ruby Schultz, Come on down.

We'll give you this. We'll take some pictures and then you can make some comments. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.

Hello. Hello. Okay. Hi, my name is Ruby Schulte. And actually, I have to go backwards.

Good evening, Borough Mayor, assembly members, and staff. My name is Ruby Schulte, and I serve as Vice President for PhilAm Kodiak. On behalf of our association, we are deeply honored and grateful to accept this proclamation recognizing October as Filipino American National History Month. Thank you for your continued support and for celebrating the rich history and contributions of the Filipino community in Kodiak.

Thank you.

And our next one is a proclamation declaring the month of October also as Community Planning Month.

Whereas change within a community is constant and community planning and plans can help navigate this change with data-driven insights and expertise that provides better choices for how people work and live, and whereas community planning provides an opportunity for all residents to be meaningfully involved in making choices that determine the future of their community, and whereas the month of October is designated as National Community Planning Month throughout the United States of America and its territories, and whereas the celebration of National Community Planning Month allows us to publicly recognize the participation and dedication of the members of planning commissions, professional planners, and other citizen planners who have contributed their time and expertise to the improvement of the Kodiak Island Borough. Now therefore, I, Jared Griffin, Mayor of the Kodiak Island Borough, do hereby declare the month of October 2026 as Community Planning Month in the Kodiak Island Borough, in conjunction with the celebration of National Community Planning Month. And here to receive this proclamation is the Community Development Director, Chris French.

Thank you.

Thank the Mayor and the Assembly for this proclamation. Tonight I'm just here presenting— not representing the borough, but representing as a board member of the Alaska Chapter of the American Planning Association, which that organization works hard throughout the country to promote planning both for professionals but also for citizen planners. Throughout the country. And one of the main focuses of proclamations like this for Community Planning Month is to promote planning throughout the communities within the country, but also to hopefully instill in residents of the borough and other communities throughout the country the idea of what they can do to participate in planning efforts. That are basically efforts to improve the community and the future of the community as we move forward.

So, again, I appreciate the proclamation tonight. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Chris.

All right. Thank you, everyone. Up next are committee reports. We will just start down here to my left and then we will loop around and hit Bo last. So, Mr. Gardner?

I have not had any committees since the last time I gave a report. Okay. Mr. Viscoccio? Still waiting. Still waiting.

Mr. Ames? Nothing to report. All right. Ms. Roberts? Nothing to report.

Mr. Woods? Nothing to report. And Mr. Whiteside? Just that we had a successful joint trip to D.C. last week to lobby on behalf of the borough and the city, but I think I will save my comments to piggyback on Mayor Griffin's here shortly. Cool.

All right, up next is our public hearing for tonight. Let me pull that up. Ordinance number FY 2027-09, amending Kodiak Island Borough Code of Ordinances, Title 2, Administration and Personnel, Chapter 2.30, Rules of the Assembly, Section 2.30.100, Miscellaneous, to clarify procedures, limits, and safeguards regarding meeting recesses. Uh, let's see, uh, Mr. Whiteside, move to adopt ordinance number FY 2027-09.

Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. Um, staff report, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the assembly. The purpose of this ordinance is to modernize, clarify, and balance the rules governing meeting recesses within the Kodiak Island Borough Code.

The current language in the code contains operational ambiguities, specifically regarding when a recess can be called, and there is a lack of clear voting mechanics for assembly initiate— initiated breaks. This ordinance replaces the existing text to bring our local rules into full compliance with Robert's Rules of Order. The update establishes a clear and balanced framework Adopting this ordinance protects meeting efficiency, ensures compliance with adopted parliamentary law, and safeguards the democratic rights of individual assembly members during floor debates. I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Any questions before we open public hearing?

Okay. I will recess the regular meeting and open public hearing for anybody wishing to make comments on this ordinance. Phone numbers are 907-400- 463-3231, toll-free 1-855-492-9202.

Anybody in the audience wishing to speak, come on down, and I'll give you the instructions again, or we'll wait a few more seconds for a call.

Any calls? Okay. All right. Well, then I will close the public hearing and open it up to Assembly discussion. Is there any Assembly— any discussion on this item?

Okay. Seeing none, roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Gardner? Yes. Ms. Roberts?

Yes. Mr. Viscotcho? Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes.

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

Motion passes 6-0. All right, thank you. Um, up next, Borough Manager's report. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and assembly members. Uh, we've been working hard on the Rural Health Care Transformation Project.

Um, as you all know, we got $3.8 million for the chiller project. Um, one thing that I think maybe we need to talk about more is that that money needs to be spent, um, completely by June 30th, 2027, and the chiller, the actual chiller itself has a 30-week lead time. And so you're going to see a lot about this over the next couple of meetings. So at the work session next week, you'll see the methodology that we're going to try to use with the contractors that Providence uses that we will also join in agreements with so that their bills go directly to us because that's the way it has to be in order to get this money. And so I feel like it's a foreshadowing or a warning that it's— we're gonna have to do a lot really fast to get this off the ground.

Cody and his team, Providence and their team, have been amazing working out all the details. We have our finance directors involved, and I think That is going very well, but you're going to see a lot over the next few weeks to get that off the ground. Last week I was able to go to the Kodiak Fisheries Development Association meeting. They only meet once a year, so it's neat to see them in person. There was one proposal that they accepted from Royal Aleutian Seafoods.

I have been unsuccessful with coming to an agreement with IBEW for our union contract. We're going to move on to mediation unless something changes on their side. Otherwise, our next step in that is going to be mediation. As was mentioned in public comments, we are continually working on bear management. We've begun moving sections of the permanent exterior fence closer to the maintenance road.

The T-posts were put in and the insulators were added, and then some of the bears just decided it would be fun to go knock over the posts, and so we're gonna have to put those posts deeper than we originally thought. Um, bids for our RFP for hazing during non-operational hours closes tomorrow at 2:30. As we always do, we'll rate those, we'll issue an intent to award. Um, there's a 10-day period where people can say that we did something incorrectly, and then it'll be to the assembly for your review and approval after that. And I put this in the last one and I'm gonna keep putting this in.

I just want to put a special thanks out, out there to the landfill staff and the maintenance staff. They're having to do a lot of extra work to try to meet these requirements from ADEC, and it is a consistent battle. When we keep the bears away from the active face, they are digging all over the landfill, and it's not just fresh trash they're going for. There's a section of 3 to 4 year old trash, there's a section of 8 to 10-year-old trash. They're just digging.

They're like, if you took away this ball, we're gonna go find a new ball somewhere else. And so, um, rightfully so, I think the staff is feeling very frustrated and there's no end in sight. So I was able to get a hold of the Department of Fish and Game, um, this week, and they are working with the troopers. We're shooting for Monday, but we're going to try to do a hazing event at the landfill on Monday. So if you live in the Minocqua area and you hear a lot of gunshots and movement out at the landfill.

We're trying to get bears out, and so we'll see how successful that is or isn't. And but I was really happy that Fish and Game was ready to mobilize and help us do something. On to different topics, there's an emergency management meeting last week called by Chief Ellis to get the emergency management folks together, and we're going to start getting back into a regular pattern of communication community-wide drills. Megan Christianson's last day was yesterday here at the borough. She has been here for 30 years, and so we want to thank Megan for her 30 years of service.

She did not want a party, but we filled her office with balloons and did things to let her know that we wanted to celebrate her on her way out. We have a treatment plant operator for the Leachate Treatment Plant starting on October 12th. We have a new maintenance mechanic starting on October 14th. And we're in the process of reviewing 2 applications for laborers. I just got the GIS analyst job description back from Gallagher, which is the company we use that helps us figure out our classification for payment, and I am working on a new job description for a human resources person.

Megan's job was kind of a catch-all special projects grant writing and then human resources on the side, and we're trying to direct a job just towards human resources and then see if that job needs to be full-time or part-time. In engineering facilities, we're still working on our contract with Alaska Waste. We met on September 10th and we're still waiting for some numbers. I sent an email out earlier in the week and just heard, uh, late this afternoon that they're working on those numbers now. That'll be on the agenda as soon as we are through that negotiation process.

The only change in fuel spill assistance is that for the Karluk spill, Three Chair Alaska, um, had some delays with barge availability. And so they were working on a no-cost change order for review and approval to move that out until spring 2027 after it thaws. For small projects, uh, we're still working on installation and commissioning of the Leachate Treatment Plant Citric Acid Dosing Skid. It's gonna be a complete replacement. The Leachate Treatment Plant has had a, main breaker replacement.

It has suffered a major failure. Um, it was dark most of the day, and, um, that staff out there has been working all kinds of hours and overnight and trying to get it back online. They just got it back online right before the meeting started tonight. So thanks to Kyle and Ryan out there and Cody and Brandon and all the other maintenance staff for all your time that you've put out there. What happens is if that plant doesn't run and it rains, our lagoon soon overflows, and when that happens, uh, DEC gets very angry with us.

And so we're really happy to get it up and running before it rains again. So thanks to those folks for working on that. The Baylor facility was also having some issues today. The KEA main feed and transformer needed replaced, and they're going to replace those in the coming weeks at the Baylor facility. Additionally, we had someone come to do maintenance on the scale without telling anyone they were coming to do maintenance on the scale.

And so we had to take the scale down today. And so people just kind of had to go around the scale for a few hours today. We're gold streaking apart tonight so they can finish up those repairs tomorrow.

Okay, that's enough of that bad news. Designs. North Star Roof is 100% in going to the ARB. Our pool small-scale repair is 65% and also going to the ARB. East Elementary roof is currently paused, but we're going to have to continue discussions with the school board if we shouldn't turn that back on.

Um, our automatic transfer switches, switches at the hospital, um, are at 65%. It was reviewed and approved, already approved by the ARB. Um, the reverse osmosis and steam generation is in an internal review at Providence. And then we are working on a project to dredge the Leachate Lagoon. Tetra Tech has provided the final updates to the landfill documents, and we're working on finalizing the design.

All of the solids in that lagoon just kind of fall at the bottom. If you're ever out there when there's a really low level, you'll see that there's a big level of sludge. It would be nice to get out of there so it doesn't get taken back into the plant. Tonight we're looking at the recycled metal shipping with Mattson. And as I mentioned earlier, on October 8th and 15th, you're going to be looking at contracts with AMC and Davis.

It'll be two separate contracts for the Rural Health Transformation Program. And we're pretty excited to get that through with this version of the assembly because if you can imagine being a brand new assembly member and walking into that discussion, I imagine it would be a little overwhelming. I mean, they're still going to get to hear it, but, um, Yeah, I think it's— it would be a lot. Uh, we have an HFAB meeting scheduled for the 13th, and the next ARB is scheduled for the 8th. Because our meeting was canceled last week, we didn't get the projects report attached, so you'll see the September projects report attached to the back of this.

In finance, for those of you that didn't make timely first half, uh, payments by August 15th, the full 2026 property tax payment is due on or before October 15th. And there's something special that I think we need to talk about. Um, the US Postal Service changed the way that they do business. Postmark now will show the date where item is first processed at an automated regional facility rather than the day it was dropped off. So if you're close to your deadline, you need to hand walk it in and see someone who actually works there and have them stamp it.

If you drop it off in a box, it will wait until it goes all the way to Anchorage to get stamped. So, and that, you know, weather delays, whatever might happen, if you're right at the deadline, please walk in and get it stamped. We can't tell you what to do, but we can certainly recommend that you take that extra step so it gets stamped. Um, our fiscal year '26 audit, uh, auditors were here the week of September 14th. Um, we still continue narrative responses and supporting information to questions that they have.

Once all those questions are completed, the report will be prepared, and we usually get it, uh, in the third week of November, right before Thanksgiving. No changes to the property assessment and taxation implementation project for finance or online property access. In IT, they spent much of the week migrating to a new server system. Their staff stayed after hours to get that done. Uh, that's been completed, so thanks to their staff for their extra time.

Uh, they replaced it with a lower cost solution and began installing a Starlink out at Women's Bay Fire. That'll be a cheaper internet system for them as well. IT is continuing strengthening the borough's network security. They're moving wireless network traffic onto our new firewall system and continuing to set up secure remote access for employees. Um, GIS analyst position has been vacant since the 31st, but we're getting very close to being able to advertise that now.

In assessing, uh, properties are being reviewed inside of city limits. They are working on renewals for high-rise and the B&B bar for the clerks and AMCO. Uh, for senior citizen disabled veteran exceptions, we still have 17 with no PFD and 16 that are undetermined. Good cause hearings scheduled for October 15th are canceled because we didn't have any late filers that were able to provide good cause evidence, uh, to the assessor by the September 21st due date, so we will not be having those good cause hearings. For exemption appeals, we're awaiting the court's decision on legal fees.

For reconsiderations, there is a reconsideration scheduled for the Kodiak Maritime Museum on October 6th. And assessing wants to thank our building official Ted Hanson. Ted's been a huge help in gathering information that is needed to complete the Tyler computer-assisted mass appraisal software portion of the program. It's going to affect all commercial properties, and it's really taken a lot of Ted's time, and so CIMA wanted to be sure that he knows that we very much appreciate his help. In community development, we're in our annual review for the multi-jurisdictional, multi-hazard mitigation plan.

There's a couple of links there. The website includes approved hazard mitigation plan as well other emergency planning and response documents. Earlier, I think last Friday, I sent you the first chapter of Plan 45. The Planning and Zoning Commission has reviewed the first two chapters of the plan. We have scheduled October 8th work session to review the first chapter.

That's the introduction chapter, and it will kind of tell you what a comprehensive plan is and what it does. And I know you've gotten, um, some emails about that, so our Community Development Director will be at that meeting next week to answer any questions you might have Um, one of the previous, um, assembly members asked for a quarterly code enforcement update. They included that this week, over the first quarter of fiscal year '27, the code enforcement officers responded to 30 complaints with approximately 50% resulting in staff investigations, with 5 cases resulting in enforcement actions such as courtesy and advisory notices or notices of violation. Those remaining complaints were forwarded to other jurisdictions such as the City of Kodiak or the State of Alaska. 8 Junk vehicles were disposed of during the quarter through the junk vehicle program.

7 Abandoned vehicles were removed from borough right-of-way. The code enforcement officer also conducted litter cleanup activities at White Sands Beach parking area, Mill Bay Beach parking area, and Pillar Creek Beach parking area. Thank you, Casey. Casey comes back with buckets of nails, and so thank you to him for his efforts. Community Development has also been helping out the clerk's office with their license review assistance And Chris listed the B&B bar here tonight.

After that, you will just have your Projects Office report for September, and I am happy to answer any questions that you might have. Any questions for the Manager?

Okay. I just have one. Amy, you had mentioned, I think— oh, my gosh, I can't remember when. In regards to like the North Star roof and the pool repair, DEED made an announcement this week about bonds.

They did. So DEED put out an email. I think that it might have been forwarded to the entire assembly today, and it talks about the steps necessary if you want to have an election so you can take on more school bond debt. The state reimbursement rate right now is 50%, um, and that probably doesn't mean anything to you, but if you knew about all of the history of our school bond debt, some of them are as much as 70%. And so a lot of the high school stuff was at 70% and 60% when we did it, and now they're offering 50%.

If we are going to do any major projects, which we certainly are, we need siding and windows and painting out at Old Harbor. Akiak is going to need that as well. And then depending, once we get some more information from the school board, if we move forward with the east roof project, we do have an opportunity for the state to pay for half of that. So that requires it to be elected. We can't take on that kind of debt without an election.

And so that is something that we should probably start talking about to see if that's the direction we want to go. Yeah, correct. So something to, to think about, those of you staying on, staying on the assembly Thank you for that, Amy. Let's see, messages from the mayor. So as Bo mentioned, Assemblymember Whiteside and I went to a Washington, D.C. trip to do some lobbying and advocacy with the city, with the city mayor and the city manager and City Councilman Mangini.

And one of the major subjects throughout the trip was something called the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, DCIP. For those who don't know what that is, it's a program administered by the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation within the Department of Defense or the Department of War, depending on who you're talking to. The concept is fairly straightforward. When a military installation depends on infrastructure in the surrounding civilian DCIP allows the federal government to help fund that infrastructure when it supports military readiness. And that sounds perfect for Kodiak, right?

But the problem is, is that Coast Guard is not part of DOD. And so Coast Guard communities don't, you know, fit very neatly into that program. So we met with Senator Dan Sullivan, and he updated us on his work to change that by making Coast Guard communities eligible for DCIP. And this is the 4th year. It's in the Senate.

I think it's going to get stalled in the House again, but we'll see. But DPO Whiteside and I, we had the opportunity to meet directly with senior bipartisan staff from the Senate Armed Services Committee on kind of relatively short notice. It was really kind of cool that they were able to meet with us, and they work on DSIP. And those are some very useful conversations about both the opportunity and the challenges of getting the Coast Guard eligibility through through Congress.

And we learned that that's not just a Kodiak problem. About 40% of Coast Guard bases are already located in rural communities, so they don't sit inside large metropolitan areas that have these deep utility systems and major hospitals and transportation networks and tax base that can more easily absorb some of this growth. And we're going to be experiencing quite a bit of defense and national security growth over the next few years.

So that relationship is much more direct here, and I think we made that case pretty strongly while we were there. We received a lot of positive feedback and encouragement from virtually everybody that we, that we talked to.

We have that, you know, growing Navy presence in Kodiak, and so including the Naval Special Warfare activities, and so I think Beau in his comments will talk to this because talk about this because we were able to meet directly with Navy representatives. I couldn't, I was either sick or traveling. I had to bail because I was not feeling good. And so, I'll let Beau talk about that, talk about that more. But I think there's an avenue into DSIP right through the Navy, and so we need to get together with our partners, especially KEA, on how we can, access some of that and put some relief on the grid that we have here.

And from what I heard too, the meeting with Senator Murkowski also encouraged us to think beyond simply just adding Coast Guard to the DSIP, that very competitive DSIP program. And she even asked our lobbyist to write some legislation to create a DSIP-like infrastructure program specifically for Coast Guard communities.

That I think that might be an opportunity there through DHS rather than DOD. That might open up some funding opportunities for us. But there's a little turf warfare and Kodiak's kind of right in the middle of it. I say, we say turf, statutory complications, I think was the term that was thrown around. We received a substantial update from Coast Guard leadership from Coast Guard Command while we were there.

They made that announcement— the day that we had the meeting was the day the announcement came out of the over $300 million in dock and waterfront investment that's moving forward at Base Kodiak, in addition to all the other investments associated with the ASCs and Coast Guard growth. One need that came through very, very clearly, and this is for us to consider and for Lands Committee is the need for higher density housing is just— is going to grow. And it's more appropriate for those— is the term like junior enlisted personnel? Is that the term, Amy? I'm looking at you.

Non-rates. Non-rates. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. E-1s through E-3s.

So it was great to have the city there with us because we were able to automatically start brainstorming about land, potential land swaps, other kinds of things. That we could work on to support more development with the land that both the borough and the city has. And that raised another kind of potential avenue that we need to pursue. And this was brought up by a couple of people that we spoke with in D.C. is that we need to get some kind of— we need to get like a firm kind of intergovernmental support agreement, you know, going on between everything that's that's going to be going on here in Kodiak. And so that we have a more formal mechanism, right, where we can— through which like the federal installation, you know, that's here that, you know, we can help more readily identify services that we need, infrastructure places.

We met with the Army Corps of Engineers. It was a busy 2 days. Sorry, I'm going. We were going meeting after meeting after meeting. I don't think I've used an Uber so much over those 2 days than— than when we were in D.C. and cabs.

We were able to talk about Russian River with a couple of folks there, too. I think our— my takeaway from the Army Corps meeting was that we should move as quickly as possible to secure authorization for a federal study and then work towards an appropriation in FY '27 through the earmarking process.

But it seems like it's a good project. It's obviously a public safety thing. But I think we're encouraged to also make the argument that it's a defense and national security related issue too because it's the only highway that connects out to the Pacific Spaceport Complex out there and the areas immediately adjacent to the Coast Guard base. So it's not just a neighborhood infrastructure concern. There is probably a national security resilience.

Concern that goes along with that. So they seem to— Representative Begich really kind of latched on to that and was really supportive of that angle. We were—. I was able to connect us with the Artemis Group, which is the lobbyist for Alaska Aerospace Corporation in D.C. And so we were able to meet with them and connect our lobbyist with Alaska Aerospace's lobbyist. And it was a good conversation.

They didn't know a whole lot about our needs associated with the growth that's happening out at the aerospace complex, but we were able to identify a lot of overlapping needs so that, that we could team up and lobby together when it comes to contracts and infrastructure deals and, and PILT even. We talked quite a bit about PILT, so it was good to talk to people where your interests kind of align And, you know, the more we have on our side, the better. They encourage us to participate in SpaceCom in January in Orlando.

And they have one day where they have their programming is specifically focused on spaceports. So it's a day kind of just for us to connect with other municipalities that have spaceports there too. I'll take a look at that. I don't know. I don't know if I want to go anywhere in January, but that was another opportunity to connect with other aerospace communities for us.

Somebody else may want to go to Orlando, go to Florida in January.

One relationship that we really need to cultivate is the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation itself. We got a couple of names to follow up on.

There's these programs and there's these grants, but it's really, really helpful to already be talking to the people who administer these grants. And we were able to meet with some of them, but we got some names because helping people face-to-face understand this unusual federal footprint. That we have here in Kodiak was extremely helpful. Um, and, uh, so I think we're in a good position for, for some projects over the next, um, over the next few years. Uh, let's see.

Oh my gosh. Um, what else? Um, I mean, overall the feedback we got was, I think, very encouraging. No, I didn't come home— none of us came home with, you know, a multi-million dollar check or anything. That's obviously not how it works.

But across, I think, every one of these offices that we met, I think we made an unusually strong case. Even our lobbyist was, I think, impressed with the case that we were able to make. What I haven't even talked about is all of the work that we did supporting the city on St. Herman's Harbor and the Short Trail. We were able to talk about trash waivers when it comes to, you know, cruise ships. So there's a lot on the city side too that we were able to go there and to support the city in their requests because their needs are our needs and our needs are their needs.

So in many of these cases, so a lot of interest about the trail. And so I came back very encouraged. And so we have work to do and avenues to follow. So I'll be working with Amy and some of our other partners to kind of put some put some things together.

Locally, a couple of things in terms of like emergency services. I sent an email out earlier today and I kind of— oh, am I out of time? Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate that. Or is it feeding time?

It's probably feeding time. Is— KMXT is going to be off the air from October 9th through October 14th for some important technology and equipment upgrades. And so we are working with our emergency services partners to make sure that if something comes up, there'll be some things on the internet, but KMXT will, will be off and maybe rebroadcasting some other things. Amy and I and the city mayor will be meeting with Captain Hood. Yeah, Captain Hood from the Coast Guard Base Kodiak tomorrow, hopefully to go over some of the things that we learned about in Washington, D.C. And then I neglected to say something about Jeremiah Myers over the past couple of weeks, how much we miss him here in our community.

And then also this week, the sudden passing of Susan Smith is kind of a shock to a lot of us and especially to the Brother Francis Shelter So I want to be thinking about that organization this week as they mourn a good leader. She was a great advocate. She came and spoke to us many times throughout the year to give us updates about Brother Francis and their services. So that's quite a hit. So they are all in our thoughts today.

Okay, are we done? All right, I am done. Thank you for that. The written DC report, I will send that to the clerks and that will be printed with the agenda and the minutes there. But thanks for allowing me to go and it was great.

Yeah. We were able to pack in a lot. So I really appreciate that from you all. Okay. All right.

That is enough from me. Moving on to— Oh yes, Bo. Did you want me to—. You know what, um, let me ask the assembly, um, since I was talking about the DC trip, is it okay if I give Bo some time to kind of piggyback on that and give us his two cents? Okay, yeah, go ahead, Bo.

Thanks. Um, so additional meetings we had, so I went into most of these meetings, um, clearly communicate that, you know, we're grateful for all of these defense buildouts. Um, so, you know, the spaceport Coast Guard expansion, naval expansion, but I was clear in communicating that I was frustrated that there's very little funding coming outside of the fence or outside of the gates to support our community's infrastructure. So, one positive outcome that came from that is when I was able to meet with the Navy Special Operations Command, so we did receive a briefing on what's going on on going on out at Spruce Cape. We will be getting some official— I requested an official correspondence from, from Navy SOCOM, so we should be getting that probably through Seb, our lobbyist, but they are going to issue formal correspondence on what they're doing out there.

It is classified, but what they could tell us is confirm that it is no type of data center or information center They did communicate that it is an offshore underwater-based project and that it is tied to the buildout on Spruce Cape. Um, so we could speculate all we want, but, um, it is not an information center, data center, but it is an offshore underwater facility or project that is being powered by the facility on Spruce Cape. So with that being said, I took the information we got from this Senate Armed Services Committee staff and asked about PSEP through the Navy. And because that buildout on the Navy is going to require 2 kilowatt-hours of power once they flip that switch on— their timeline is 2028— that will be a, you know, I keep having to do the math, but 70% of our total capacity is going to come from that facility once they flip that switch. So fortunately, and the mayor touched on OLDC, those are the liaisons between municipal and state governments and the feds for these types of projects through DSIP, and their representative was there in the room.

So we do have that direct contact with Navy SOCOM now. Um, I requested that we apply for a project now, and that, um, their representative was nodding her head and said it was— they're actually surprised this discussion hasn't happened yet. And I, um, jokingly, not so jokingly, said, well, we I have no idea what you all are doing out there. But they said that they're very receptive to that and would clearly sponsor it. Senator Sullivan's senior staffer for defense liaison folks was in the room as well.

So they would be ready to sponsor this application as well. But what it's going to take is we're going to need to move quickly with KEA to— I imagine this would be a very easy to win for any design costs for energy expansion. That's something we can apply for now to expand and get designs ready and approved and paid for so we're not absorbing that through another rate increase, which we just got another one here. I don't know if we heard about that just yet, but that's for another time. So we have a pathway now for funding through DSIP with the Navy, which is fantastic.

We met with Senator Murkowski. I pressed that button again. She actually agreed and said, "Why aren't you more frustrated about this?" And I said, "Well, the frustration exists. I'm tired of being told no when we're plotting the amount of defense spending happening in our community, but not a dime of it is going outside of the gate." So she agreed and leaned over towards Seb, our lobbyist, to identify opportunities through appropriations for infrastructure spending, whether it's water/sewer, transportation-based, etc. We can go around— DSIP isn't our only option for getting infrastructure spending.

We also met with DOT— DOT infrastructure folks with some talking about the harbor and those needs. Are touching on the amount of jobs the harbor supports. And so I brought up some talking points about the number of processing plants, cannery workers, associated businesses that are reliant on a functioning harbor. And so they identified we have another pathway to apply for funding through the Build program. So we have two pathways we can apply for funding now, and we should jump on those pretty quickly.

My time is limited to do that. I've offered some help them to the city for, um, as a citizen, or however you want to classify me when I'm not in assembly, to help facilitate that discussion for the bill grant to get us some more money for local infrastructure. And that could be housing-related, water sewer infrastructure, transportation, anything associated with the harbor or employment that it supports. So another great one there. I will say, you all sitting there that will be here after October and the new assembly, the mayor, the manager, I spoke to another person who's heavily involved in DC, especially on the DHS side with the Coast Guard, very knowledgeable person.

He said we should jump at the chance of pushing DHS to create DCIP. He said there are enough communities that would immediately sign on. We are the first ones to plant that seed that he's aware of in DC. We need to get on that. DHS has been increasing their funding the past few years through the current federal administration.

That's not going to slow down anytime soon. So this is a perfect opportunity for those involved going forward to push our federal delegation to not so subtly nudge DHS to create a VSIP program. Um, person I spoke with said it would easily, uh, attract bipartisan support in Congress. So that's not an issue. It's more of a, we're not gonna get past the DOD version of this program.

DHS needs to create one. We have, um, clear case for advocating for that. So I recommend you all, um, pursue that strongly moving forward. But, um, enough talking for me. Um, my voice isn't great, but, um, very successful, but we have some things to move on here quickly.

Great. Thank you, Beau. Yeah, and I've offered to work with Seb, our lobbyist, to help write that legislation to create that DHS DSIP program, which could be fun.

Okay. All right. Let us know, yeah, if you have any questions or anything. A lot of these things are going to be coming back up more and more.

All right. We have one contract to consider tonight. Contract number FY2027-45, approval of a 1-year contract with Matson Navigation Company for recycled metals shipping. Mr. Whiteside.

Move to authorize the Borough Manager to execute contract number FY2027-45, with Matson Navigation Company for recycled metals shipping. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. Uh, Manager Williams. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

The borough's previous contract with Matson for recycled metals shipping services expired yesterday. Prior to the contract expiration, Matson contacted the borough to propose a new 1-year agreement. Upon previous contract renewal, staff investigated other local shipping companies to obtain quotes. After investigation, Staff learned that the borough would be required to provide its own open-top containers for transport rotation. However, the borough doesn't currently own such containers, so that makes Matson the only way that we can ship metals off.

Uh, the contract is included in your packet tonight. The new proposed contract per container rate is $2,287 compared to last year's at $2,127. There is a general increase rate of 7.5%. And our ENF director, Cody Allen, is here tonight if you have any specific questions. Great, thank you.

Um, any questions or discussion? Mr. Woods. If we were to have our own containers, uh, what would that rate be? I don't know what that rate would be, but we would have to ship them back empty, and so it, it becomes more expensive. And then also, if they get damaged, then we have to repair them either there or here.

This way, as long as they're not damaged when they get to Mattson, as long as we don't damage them when we're filling them, then that responsibility is all on their side.

Anyone else?

Okay. All right. Roll call vote on the motion then. Miss Roberts. Ms. Williams?

Yes. Mr. Viscacho? Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes.

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

Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes unanimously. Okay, we have one ordinance for introduction. Ordinance number FY2027-11, reestablishing boards, committees, and commissions as established in the Kodiak Island Borough Code of Ordinances, Title 2, Administration and Personnel, Chapter 2.100, Boards, Committees and Commissions.

Mr. Whiteside, please. Move to introduce ordinance number FY2027-11 and advance it to public hearing at the next regular meeting of the assembly. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. Um, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the assembly. All boards, committees and commissions established under Title 2 of the Borough Code, with the exception of those mandated by state law, shall terminate by operation of law 3 years from the date of passage unless affirmatively, um, reestablished or continued by the assembly for a period not to exceed 3 years. The boards and committees and commissions reestablished per this ordinance will be for 3 years, from December 31, 2026 until December 31, 2029. 2029. The 5 committees— boards and committees— are the Emergency Services Council, Parks and Rec Committee, Architectural Engineering Review Board, Solid Waste Advisory Board, and the Borough Lands Committee.

In case you are wondering, we also have Planning and Zoning under Title II. However, that is one of the boards that's mandated, mandated by state law that we have to have it. For Alaska Statutes 2940.010, second-class boroughs shall establish a planning and zoning commission. So that's why, in case you are wondering, um, planning and zoning is under Title 2, but it's not on this list that's before you. So the notice of termination will be advertised on the Kodiak Daily Mirror twice.

We are going to do an outreach tomorrow to the different boards and committees, committee members, in case they would like to provide comments about the urging you to continue these boards and committees. So you will see this again under public hearing at the next regular meeting. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you, Nova. Yeah, we weren't able to talk about these at the work session last week, and but it will be on the work session the following week too.

But any questions or discussion on these committees?

Okay. All right. Roll call vote on the motion then. Mr. Viscotchio. Yes.

Mr. Whiteside. Yes. Mr. Woods. Yes. Mr. Ames.

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

Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes unanimously. All right. And our final item for discussion is authorization for the purchase of a Polaris Ranger Glacier HD XP1000 fire and rescue vehicle for the Women's Bay Fire Department. Mr. Whiteside.

Move to authorize the borough manager to purchase a Polaris Ranger Glacier HD XP1000 fire and rescue vehicle for the Women's Bay Fire Department. Is there a second? Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded.

Staff report, Manager Williams. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Women's Bay Fire Department is requesting to procure a Polaris Ranger fire and rescue vehicle to enhance and improve the off-road remote fire and rescue capabilities for the service area and mutual aid partners. The department responds to wildland fire responses associated with a cooperative agreement with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry. They're part of the Kenai Kodiak Division for initial responses for wildland fires on the road system.

The procurement will allow better access to the urban interface that exists for the defined borough and city fire service areas, as well as remote off-road areas where a UTV or ATV is required for direct access. For many years, members have used their personal ATVs or UTV units to respond to wildland fires and calls for medical assistance off the road system. The attached quote from Polaris Sales Incorporated Government Services section has been bid through the SourceWell Cooperative Purchasing Program for Municipalities. The quoted price for the Polaris, including freight to Kodiak, is $70,919.05. It will be outfitted with a fire and rescue combo skid, which combines a rescue litter with a firefighting copolymer water tank, a Waterax Verksax pump, 9-horsepower electric start with 60-gallon capacity tank, a hose to reel— with a reel to create a versatile system for fire and rescue missions.

Its foldable ladder— litter platform allows the vehicle's tailgate to close when not in use, and it comes standard with a drafting kit. In your packet tonight are the source well documents, the Women's Bay Service Board minutes. You'll see where they— the board has approved a purchase not to exceed $100,000. They also let me know that this is the cheapest way they found to be able to meet this need and still be able to get maintenance and service, um, from a local vendor. You'll see a letter, uh, from the Women's Bay Fire Department Fire Chief.

Chief Conrad is not able to be here tonight, so he wanted to make sure you knew his thoughts. And then you'll see a letter of support from the Bayside Fire Chief, Chief Ellis. Um, and Cody spent some time talking to Chief Conrad as well, and he's here in case you have any questions that I'm I can't answer. So if you have questions, we're happy to try to answer on their behalf. Okay.

Mr. Gardner. A couple of small concerns about this. I want these guys to have the equipment they want, but when we adopted SourceWell initially, I was— I seem to recall that we also had a bit of a provision in there that whenever possible that we would try to procure something locally. We have a Polaris dealer down the street. Even if we paid 5% more, I would have liked to see that go through the local shop if at all possible rather than ordering it from off island.

I mean, they're going to order from off island anyways. They're not going to have a fire rescue vehicle on hand, but that keeps the money on the island even if we're spending just a little bit more. And my other— I don't want to call it a problem, but it stands to be answered. The budget for Women's Bay Fire Department's snow removal, sanding, maintenance repair far exceeds all the other borough areas to the tune of $110,000. So I'm not sure why we've budgeted so much money out there and they need to have a vehicle capable of plowing the whole area, and why in the past that, uh, it's not getting done to the point that I'm sure they're telling the truth, that they're having to bring their own personal equipment in to plow when the contractor is not available.

So, uh, Those two issues kind of bother me about this. Plus, um, awesome for them to have this machine for rural rescue, and you know, somebody gets hurt at Sultry or whatever, but a terrible amount of wear and tear goes on to a machine like this when you start plowing with it. I know because I break mine all the time. So, um, I would prefer to not see them plowing with this if we are going to be spending this kind of money. So just my thoughts here.

Amy, any— Well, I'm not sure what the question was. So the—. I don't think there was really a question except other than why— I think one question, the first question was why wasn't this put out to local or local bid rather than through Sourcewell. I'm not sure if they looked at local or not. Cody, did they say anything to you?

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So the Sourcewell, this is bought through Polaris, which is vendor direct services. So the local Polaris vendor offers things similar to this, but this is very different.

This is through a government purchase agreement, and so like this vehicle isn't available to the general public. And so we don't have an account or anything with them to obtain this locally. This is something that's going to be— I looked it up myself, and you have to log on through the .gov Polaris, and it's flashing lights, placard. It's no different than like if you're trying to order like a police car. It's quite literally the cost of a vehicle, but it's just micro-sized with a bunch of different accessories and things specific to fire.

And that's when we, when we worked with Chief Conrad on this, we're looking source well to see what other options were there. And the decision, as I understood it, was this was the best to fit their needs. That's all I got though for that.

Oh yeah, Mr. Mayor, may I? I'm gonna let Gardner, uh, do a little quick follow-up and then I'll hit you, Mr. Whiteside. Yeah, I'll be quick. Sure thing. Um, yeah, no, I looked it up as well and I could tell it was a, you know, government official sort of vehicle, but It also had seemed like it might be able to go through the local, but I'm sure you did your research as always, Mr. Allen.

But again, the other question on that is I'm confused as to why we're purchasing a plow-ready vehicle for the Women's Bay Fire Department when we already have a contract that I believe we adopted on the 17th. For snow removal for them. So can somebody enlighten me? In Chief Conrad's letter, he says that it's to do snow removal when the board has not called out the service area, so— or the service area contractor. So the way that Women's Bay does it is when they get a certain amount of snow, they will go out, but if it's a little bit of snow, they might not go out.

And I think that Chief Conrad prefers any snow to be removed. I think that he's very particular on making sure that that station is ready at all times just because of the emergency nature, and so they're trying to get it cleared all the time. I'll buy that. A little bit of snow at my house turns into ice quick. I just wanted to add to that, in the discussions that I had with Chief Conrad, I didn't take it as this would be a substitute to using the contractor.

It's— that's an IDIQ contract. We're going to use it as we need for indefinite delivering definite quantity, right? However, and this was like, if, if the— they need to get down the trail and they're moving snow, or they need to clear out because they can't get the truck out, that's another resource or a tool in this toolbox. That's how I interpreted it. I might have misinterpreted it, but seems to align with the intent.

Good answers. It makes me feel better about it. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Whiteside and then Mr. Woods. Thank you.

Um, well, most if not all of you know I'm, I'm clearly supportive of spending for our first responders responders and making sure they have the capacity to do the job. This one I'm confused about is, and it's unfortunate we don't have someone there from the fire department, is the— I share the same plow concerns. I would prefer to have a plow installed on one of the vehicles there instead of beating up a $70,000 first response vehicle that's really specialized in nature for rescue and fire operations. But I'm also curious, is there any data behind— and I'm not saying they need to justify the expenditure, but what kind of— I'm confused at what kind of access. I've spent a lot of time in the flats, and I'm unsure what this tool would provide that a standard pickup truck couldn't out there in the flats for their service area.

Like, what types of calls are they getting that would go unfilled or risk safety or human life if they didn't have this tool.

Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So they're a part of that State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, and it's the Keenai Kodiak group that goes together. And so it's just not the Flats, it's anywhere there's a wildfire they're asked to respond to. So recently there have been kids doing fireworks you know, Jack and Lee Lakes behind the Flats that they've gone out to.

They had another kid do bottle rockets out on Sometimes Island, um, up on top that you couldn't have gotten a pickup to. You would have had to take— and they took ATVs up to— they— the tides wouldn't allow any kind of fire truck access to go across there. So the idea is to be prepared for that whole on-road system, and the way that they've been responding before is using their own personal vehicles. And so ATVs, and so there's liability around that too. So I think they're just trying to have a resource there.

And then you'll see in Chief Ellis's letter that he is planning on benefiting from this purchase as well, and he's, you know, that it can— that vehicle can be used anywhere that there's a— that kind of a response needed. So through mutual aid. Okay, that's helpful. Um, I guess I'll just— a quick follow-up, Mr. Mayor, if you don't mind, is that Appreciate that. I do support it, but I still agree with Mr. Gardner in that if they need additional snow removal, let's— how about they put in for fitting one of their trucks with a plow, and let's save this for when it's really important.

That's going to beat that really fancy side-by-side out plowing with it.

Thank you. Mr. Woods.

So reading through this, and at first, $70,000 price tag kind of raised some eyebrows for me, but then I started looking through what the actual equipment is and reflecting on some different either search and rescue or wildland fire issues we've had here locally, or some of which I've been a part of, including some fire scenes I've been a part of and I've had standby for in my previous capacity. Big issue you have in the winter when you're putting water on a structure fire is ice buildup. It's—. And it tends to build up in uncomfortable areas that tend to be a traffic hazard for getting equipment in and out. So for that reason, I do like the ability to plow with it in limited capacity.

I've literally watched icebergs form as these happen in the wintertime. It's not a great situation to find ourselves in. Also, we've had, to my recollection, at least two significant wildland fires on or around borough property in the last 10 years. We had the one out in Chiniak, which was adjacent to borough property, which burned a whole bunch of ground. Then we also had the Jack Lakes Fire, which burnt a couple hundred acres on the Mistaken.

I think it was similar to that tune. Correct me if I'm wrong, somebody. Um, additionally, I've— one of my very first calls when I was a police officer was to go get a gentleman out from the backside of Russian Ridge who had broken some ribs during a, uh, jumping a dirt bike— not a dirt bike, a mountain bike— off a ramp he shouldn't have. And I then got to spend a significant portion of my day strapped to a one-wheeled gurney trying to get him out of there, which was nice. Quick nor efficient.

Um, having the rescue access and being able to get a small piece of equipment, even with just a small pump, in a lot of these areas can only be extremely valuable. So I will be supporting this. Thank you. Ms. Roberts. When I initially saw this, I was definitely shocked by the almost $71,000 sticker price, especially since on August 20th we approved expenditures for 2 trucks at $56,000 and $41,000.

So questioned why a golf cart size off-road vehicle was way more than that. And then you start looking at the breakdown of it and seeing how much everything is in installation. Another thing that I noticed was the freight to ship this side-by-side is $7,100, and to ship the trucks, it was under $3,000 for each of those. And so I was a little bit confused as to why that was twice as much as the trucks. I don't know if it's coming from further or what is happening with that.

Do you have any insight? I think the trucks were just coming on the ferry or getting them there, or their destination charges. And Polaris is in Minnesota. I don't know if it's coming from Minnesota or where it's coming from, but I would imagine it's coming via a different transportation method. And then my other thought was, I mean, how many normal side-by-sides could you buy for $70,000 that weren't outfitted with the fire equipment?

I do understand they need some of the fire equipment, but I don't know, it's hard for me to fully understand, um, the price point on some of these things, and I do wish someone was here from the fire department to explain it, because I'm sure they would be able to explain it and convince me. But right now, a $7,000 freight charge and installation charges of $3,500, the total price of close to $71,000 is pretty hard for me to swallow. Mr. Ames. Uh, I too had a problem with the price tag, but unfortunately the pumps and setups going on it Whenever you put the word fire equipment on it, the price tag goes up like aircraft parts, and that's just the way it is. The plow, I do have a little question, and that is I hope even if they get, you know, go through as is, they will seriously consider looking at the difference of having the plow and not having the plow.

Ground clearance, because I know on several vehicles it makes a big difference on ground clearance. And if we want this vehicle to go anywhere, then as much— even if they in the winter, as much as possible, the undercarriage frame should be taken off during the summer. But I really think they need to balance out the restrictions having a plow on, ground clearance. I've owned one with a plow and it totally changes where you can go. And is an available plow worth giving up that ground clearance to get to nowhere land, which is the reason we're buying it?

Thank you, Mr. Gardner. I'm pretty sure, Mr. Ames, that the plow attachment on this bad boy comes on and off in a matter of approximately 10 seconds. I think it's just like the Honda one, and it's just like that. I'm still not convinced about having the plow.

I think I side with Mr. Whiteside. I see some potential small benefits for it, but I don't think it's a good idea to use this thing to plow. So again, I also would love to talk to somebody from the fire department. I don't think we're— are we actually voting on the authorization tonight? It looks like we are.

It's been moved and seconded, so it's an active action item right now.

Amy, yeah, could you provide some additional context for us? Well, I don't know about context, but I just— it's— we're in that super awkward position where one elected board is making a decision on what another elected board has researched and decided on. And I, I tend to trust the, the service area board who is in charge of the services that they're supposed to offer out there. And I think because they gave the authorization not to exceed $100,000 and they are clearly below that, I feel like this is an approval of saying that, hey, Servicery Board, we trust you. If it was something that was— and I live out there, and as I look at Assemblymember Roberts, so does she, and I understand it's a little bit painful knowing that your tax money is going there.

But also, I use all the trails out there. We're not getting a fire truck or a pickup truck back on the trails. Where I'm at, if I get hurt, it kind of is nice to know that something could get back there and get me, snowplow or not. So I, um, while I am not voting, I really do support this purchase. I think that it can be used through our mutual aid partners, and you'll see that sentiment from Fire Chief Ellis as well.

Yeah, I agree with Manager Williams, but I have Mr. Woods and then Mr. Ames. Yeah, and I think too we're almost getting to the point where we're maybe overstepping with how we're suggesting the utilization of equipment. Um, whether we hope somebody would or would not plow with a piece of equipment, that's really more a decision for the fire chief, um, really not us to backseat quarterback. Um, if we are unhappy with how much we're spending on things, that can be looked down later on the road. If things continue to be— to breaking, that's obviously becoming a performance issue.

I don't necessarily know it's really for us to, at this stage, to try and dictate how they use equipment, um, frankly, because even though we're all relatively familiar with how an ATV-mounted snowplow works, we don't have the greatest familiarization with the use case for which they're asking for it. Um, I just, like, I don't know the necessary steps for installing one of these pumps they, they want on this machine. However, I can absolutely see how a pump for a fire scene would be useful, and having seen fire scenes in the winter, I can absolutely I can see how getting a snowplow into different places, even for very minor plowing, could certainly be the difference between getting equipment out or not getting equipment out. So I think that's just kind of where we're at. Mr.

Ames. I guess, Amy, it's my understanding that really when we use the term spending our money, it's actually the service District's money, is that correct? Versus—. Yes, this is— so there is one board for Women's Bay. It covers both the service area and the fire protection area.

It's not like Service Area 1, but I do have their fund balance information that I can share with you on a Post-it note way back here. That's not necessary. Okay, no, what I was going to say is they have the money. They want it. We just have to approve that they can spend it.

And if that's what the board has decided, then I think we more or less have to approve it. And people in the service district don't like that much being spent, and they should take that up with the board or beyond the board. So really, I think this is just a paper process and should not be a huge discussion on our part. Thank you. Yeah, I think it's our job is just to make sure the procurement process is followed and, you know, everything is on the up and up.

So any other comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, roll call motion— roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Whiteside?

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

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

Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes unanimously. All right, thank you everyone. We have come to our next opportunity for citizens' comments.

For those who wish to call in, the local number is 907-486-3231, toll-free 1-855-492-9237. 202, And please turn off your radio or any listening device to prevent feedback. And for those in the room who wish to speak, come on down to the podium, sign in, turn on the microphone, make sure the green light is on, state your name for the record, and please address all remarks to the Assembly as a body and not to any member thereof.

Good evening. My name is Carleen McChesney.

Several things.

I wasn't getting information about the data centers. I kept getting conflicting things, and so I just had to pray about it and let it go. But the very next day I ran into the board of directors of KEA, the president, and discussed it with him. And I told him that it seems like I don't know what's going on because it was just like being bamboozled. And he said, well, the military is no longer calling it a data center.

At Spruce Cape. And so my thought is that a rose by any other name is still a rose. And then I had gone to the FERC meeting the evening before, and I don't know if he went to it. There was one the next day. But I learned— why I went to that was because I read about the underwater data center in the Cook Inlet off of Nakiski.

And they mentioned FERC there, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, so that's why I went to that meeting. And then the lady from KEA was able to show me notebooks and pictures and explain the hydroturbines to me. And there are 3 of them, 11.3 megawatts each. One is the newer one. Smaller, they have no capacity to put another one there, and that they just can't do it.

And so then I read in the Kodiak Daily Mirror— it was maybe yesterday— that our rates are going to go up starting October 1st to November 1st. We won't see it until November 1st because we've been burning diesel The hydro, Terra Lake, gives us about 85% of our energy. The other 15% comes from the wind turbines. And so we've been burning oil, so that's why the rates will go up. And the oil costs us about $1 million a month.

Hopefully the oil prices will stay the same. So now they're calling it an offshore underwater project. And the data center off of Nakiski, I don't know if that's going to happen. I don't know if that will also be an offshore underwater project. But some really neat news is the Lynch Complex.

I spoke with the men downtown September 27th. Second, and that's really coming along. Someone from NASA was going to be here in about a week and a half or 2 weeks. That was on September 22nd, and he explained the horizontal launches because I read about that in the paper but I don't understand what that's about. So he explained that it's like an airplane that takes off and then it launches, and then the plane comes back and lands, so you're not losing equipment.

So it's really interesting, but the interesting part is the launch complexes.

Really, they're doing the work right now. So thank you. Thank you, Carleen. Anyone else?

Hello everybody, this is Sandra West. Vote time! Get out and vote! I want— I wish, you know, almost 8 PM, some people are asleep, but everybody who's listening, please get out and vote. You can vote from 10 to 4 tomorrow on Friday, and on Monday from 10 to 4 here.

Just walk right into the borough, and Tuesday all day is vote day. Let's Do it. Thank you, Sandra. Are there any calls? Anyone else wishing to make comments?

All right, we're moving on into assembly members' comments. I'll start up on the screen with you, Mr. Whiteside, if that's okay, so I don't forget about you, really. Sure. Thank you. Sorry I couldn't be there in person.

I just wanted to contain this, this lovely cold I'm, I'm on the back end of, but Uh, so yeah, it was a great week last week in DC. I think we have a lot of meaningful progress that I'm going to nudge folks to pursue pretty aggressively. We do have a couple irons in the fire that are already in the works, but, um, aside from that, I'll— I agree with, uh, Councilmember West in that let's get out and vote. I say this every year, it literally takes longer to make a pot of coffee than it does to vote here in our municipality, and certainly takes Way less time to vote here than it does to drive up and get a coffee at a coffee stand or go to a coffee shop. So take 3 to 5 minutes of your life to choose who's going to make decisions on school funding, on how much your property taxes are going to be year to year, what facilities should get attention, and many other things that require your tax dollars.

And the people sitting on the dais get to move those dollars around. So it's really important that you get out and choose your leaders. Thanks. Thank you. Mr. Gardner.

Couple things I want to touch on tonight. I haven't actually seen it myself, but I've heard it from several people that our landfill guys are getting a little bit lambasted on social media, and some of this bear issue has been kind of pushed on them with some not-so-nice words, and I just wanted to publicly We thank the landfill guys. I know they're kicking butt. They're doing way more than normal. They're trying their hardest.

Everybody at the borough is trying their hardest to get the landfill situation taken care of. But show some grace for the landfill guys. They're dealing with an exceptional and very unique problem, and they're working really hard at it. So show some grace. And then I want to piggyback on what Mr. Tosi came to talk to us about earlier today.

Um, if you didn't see it, we had a bear right over here by the school just the other day, right across from my shop. I saw the bear myself. Um, you know, it just feels like these problems are compounding. And, um, in the words of other people who are maybe work on this problem quite a bit. Uh, a reactive or adaptive strategy was advised, and I disagree.

I think we need a proactive strategy, and I'm going to hammer it every single week on Assemblymember's comments because I'm a firm believer that something really bad is going to happen to somebody. We've already seen some pretty bad stuff happen this summer to people out in the the Flats. And, you know, Mr. Tosi almost had a terrible situation in his very own home. And if we don't do something, something terrible is going to happen, and everybody's going to wish that we had done something. So we needed to start thinking much more proactively on this situation.

I know it's not a comfortable conversation for a lot of people to have, but it's a conversation that has to be had until it's too late. So be safe out there, carry your bear spray, have a great night. Thank you. Mr. Vizcocho. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I just want to say, uh, echo what Mr. Garner said about the Lamppost Crew. Keep doing what you're doing. We're proud of you, so stay focused. We'll figure out a way to figure out that problem. But also thank you to Mr. Tosa for stepping up because that's what we need.

For our community to step up in this type of meetings and let us know what is going on in our community. Also, um, tomorrow's football. Go out and support our Bears. Uh, they're going to be facing a very, very talented team, but I think our Bears will pull through because they're not just a football team, they're a family. They're a Kodak family.

And also, on October 6th, Again, your voice matters, so go out and vote. To the entire Kore community and to the Filipino community as well, please go out and vote. I encourage you. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr.

Ames. Let's see where to start on the list. It's a short one. The landfill people are doing a lot. They do deserve respect.

The borough and the land is in a really tough situation. Situation with all the regulatory commissions pushing, and they're doing the best they can. The bear issue in town and in the outskirts in the borough, unfortunately, this year is an exceedingly bad bear year, so we're probably going to see a little more than normal activity. What I'm— hopefully is not happening is that there's trained bears. Because they were forced to this year to come back next year because, hey, wait a minute, that worked.

So yes, I really hope we need to keep an eye on the whole situation and keep in touch with agencies. And the last thing is vote.

I know from experience a few votes can make a big difference. Very often members up here win by 3, 4, 5 votes. So if you think your vote doesn't matter, it does. If you—. Especially if you want someone in particular, vote.

Thank you. Ms. Roberts. Thank you. Yeah, I think our bears are getting national attention at this point. We were in the New York Times this week, so I do agree it's an important issue that we need to continue talking about, and I think we are.

Uh, thank you to the landfill staff for everything that they're doing, and all the borough staff. And repeating what everyone says, go vote. Your voice counts. It matters. Thank you.

And Mr. Woods. Thank you, Cody, Sima, Amy, and Nova and crew. You guys are amazing. I love how at this point we've come to accept the fact that, uh, you guys are pretty much going to be on top of your stuff and already have answers anticipated for us. I kind of love it.

It's kind of awesome. Uh, thank you so much for what you guys do. Um, with regards to the bears, yes, an issue. However, we live in a cool place where bear season opens October 25th. Uh, so, uh, if someone is so inclined to do that, make sure you obey all federal, state, local laws and pay attention to who owns property where you're at and be safe.

Uh, it's a cool time of year, a lot of hunters out there. Please be safe. Please, please, please, please, please please, please leave float plans and good luck. Be safe. Thank you, everyone.

The next assembly work session is scheduled for Thursday, October 8th at 6:30 PM, and the next assembly regular meeting will be held on Thursday, October 15th at 6:30 PM in the Borough Assembly Chambers. And yes, early voting for the upcoming October 6th, 2026 municipal election is still available from 10 AM to 4 PM Monday through Friday. Just a couple more days. Last day to vote early is this coming Monday, October 5th. And on Election Day, the voting precincts will be open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

So please go out and vote on Election Day. Is there a motion to adjourn, Mr. Whiteside? Move to adjourn the meeting. Second. It's moved and seconded.

We must do a roll call vote on the motion. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Woods? Yes. Mr. Ames?

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

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

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Okay, we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone. Thanks.

Good night.