Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting 10-06-26

Assembly. Okay, okay. So is there any objection from the rest of the assembly regarding pulling and rescheduling for the 20th? Madam Clerk, I don't see any objection. Okay, then let's see, uh, Assemblyperson McKee, did you have your hand up for— yeah, uh, 26105.

Okay, I'm sorry, go ahead. Uh, 26105 on the school start date, and that's all.

I'm not sure that she's done. Is she done? Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. She said that's all.

Sorry. Okay, Assemblyperson Sumner. This is for the rest of the agenda. Is that okay? Uh, I would do that next.

Okay, let me— yeah. Is there anything else from the consent agenda?

Okay, now I'll recognize you, sir. Go ahead. Any other changes to the regular agenda? And assembly person Summer. I would like to pull my motion to reconsider Resolution 26-094.

Okay, Madam Clerk, did you get that? Yep. Okay, uh, rest of the assembly weigh in. Uh-huh. Assemblyperson Bowles.

I object. Okay, so we will go— do you want to speak to it, sir? I'll call the question.

Okay, all righty. So is there any objection to calling the question on the change in the agenda?

Okay, you object to the calling the question? Yes. Okay, so we'll need to vote on calling of the question first. And what should we require? Let's see, is Ron on?

Is Assemblyperson Near Deputy Mayor online? Madam Mayor, he is trying to call in. He just needs the passcode apparently, and I am looking for it. Give him a minute. Give me just a second, everybody.

Sorry.

Kayla, can you let us know when he's on?

He's on. Okay, can I explain where we're at? Yeah, please do.

Since Assemblymember Bernier is on the phone, just to verify, Assemblymember Bernier, you've joined us at—. Yes.

8606. Where we're at is Assemblymember Sumner moved to take the reconsideration of Resolution 26094 off the agenda, and then the question has been called for debate. No, no more debate. And that's what we're voting on right now is stopping debate on the pulling of that resolution off the agenda.

If I can get the rest of the members in the room to go ahead and vote.

Assemblymember Bernier, what's your vote on the stopping debate? Yes. Yes.

Madam Mayor, it has passed with Assemblymember Bowles and Nowers opposed. Okay.

So now we're to the point where we're going to consider Um, the motion to pull the reconsideration, correct? Correct. And we have to go right into a vote. Okay, so if I can get the members to go ahead on pulling Resolution 26094 off the agenda. Assemblymember Bernier.

Yes.

Madam Mayor, it has passed with Assemblymember Bowles and Nowers opposed. Okay, thank you. Alrighty, so we're still back to if there's any other changes to the agenda.

Okay, I don't see any other changes. Then the agenda has been approved as changed and presented. You'll all stand, and Mr. Attorney, would you lead us in the Pledge, please? Flag goes over here. 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.

The next item on our agenda is the minutes of preceding meetings. We have an assembly regular meeting minutes from August 18th, September 1st, and also the joint assembly school board meeting minutes from September 8th. Are there any changes to any of these minutes?

Okay, hearing none, then the minutes are approved as presented. The next item is reports and correspondence. Um, agency reports from the cities.

Okay, let's see, we have anything from the cities, from the school district. Can I Can I ask a question?

Uh-huh. On that, um, agency report thing, I wanted to say something about the Barks group. At what point would I do that? Under Assembly Public Relations. Okay, all right.

Okay, all righty. Um, we don't— I don't see anybody from the school district.

The state.

I told him I was going to give him a bad time because about 15 after 5, I sent him an email and he didn't answer me. And he said when he got here, he said, well, I'm here to answer it. So I don't know what kind of response the rest of you people get, but so go ahead, sir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Todd Smolden, Governor's Office.

Members of the assembly, staff, and constituents. I wanted to make sure I responded as quickly and professionally as possible, so I showed up in person.

No, I just knew I was going to be here, Madam Mayor, so I waited. But I just wanted to first say, Manager Brown, normally when I get an invitation for a 2-hour meeting, I'm somewhat reluctant to hit accept. Um, but I did want to, uh, thank you for the Talkeetna erosion meeting that you put together. Um, I wanted to thank you and the staff. Um, it is the fastest 2-hour meeting I've ever participated in.

There was a lot of really good information. It was great to see all the agencies there. Um, and what everyone's working on to try to find a solution for a very difficult problem. So as far as the state goes, if there's anything I can do to help, if you need help with any of the role of the state agencies, I'm happy to assist with that, of course. I also wanted to just say that the governor is very excited about a lot of announcements from the Trump administration on energy-related projects, money coming to the state.

I think all of us who are probably in these chambers understand political posturing and leveraging and, and all of those things that go along with especially election year politics and things like that. But I think that what is really positive about all these announcements is that we do have a federal administration and a president who is very bullish on Alaska as part of his desire to have energy independence and, quite frankly, energy dominance. I think that the military spending that, that is going to happen in Alaska is a really good indicator of what the current administration— how they feel about Alaska as a strategic place militarily. And I think it's something that most of us should celebrate is that we are being considered kind of the forefront, not only economically, strategically, but also militarily. And so I know there's a lot of details, a lot of people have questions about, you know, South Korean involvement potentially in AKLNG, uh, the recent announcement about, um, uh, the transmission lines, um, that I think is very positive for the Matsu.

If you, if you're familiar with the map, that potentially opens up a lot of opportunity for energy projects in the west of Sitna. So there's just a really— there's a lot of positive things happening. I don't have much more than that. I, I do like to try to be here periodically to answer questions if you have any. However, I will not be answering Assemblymember Fanoff any questions about elections because The last time we tried to do that and the room was closed off, we, we got into trouble.

So I apologize for that. But yes, I can take any questions if anybody has any. Any of the assembly personnel, go ahead. Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Thanks for, for coming.

And I was trying to think of some joke again, but it's just funny, the mayor calls and you show up. And, uh, but that's We like that. Um, the news has been very exciting, and I noted the news today about funding for an electric line from Fairbanks to Matsu. There's another line from Kenai to Anchorage, the high voltage direct connection. I know we got the federal funding for that 3 or 4 years ago.

We need a state match. My understanding is that has not move forward, maybe a small amount, but the project hasn't. So, um, all to say a couple things. Um, anything you can do in your power to get the state to move to match those projects, especially the one from Kenai to Anchorage, because they have the cheapest power with the hydro down there. It is good to be connected to Fairbanks, but they have more expensive power than we do.

So It's more— I mean, nothing against Fairbanks, but it's not as much of a benefit to Matsu, even though it benefits the state and should be done. And then the other issue for the whole grid is having unified economic dispatch so that the utilities all work together to make sure that the cheapest power is flowing through those lines. Because right now, Anchorage and Matsu work together, but they're not working with the rest. And so we're not using our resources as efficiently as some might argue we could. So if there's anything in your power you can do to work on those matches, or any more information you can convey to, to us to help to try to get those projects moving forward, because that's a big chunk of federal funding that's going to help a lot if we can just get the rest and get it moving.

Yeah, um, through the mayor to Assemblymember Nauers, I Um, first of all, on the Kenai to Anchorage line, I think my ability to influence that is about as much as yours at this point because the governor will be, um, will be out of office. And so you and I can speak to our legislators about funding that project. But I do agree with you, the more resilient, you know, resiliency we have in our grid, the better. Um, yeah, I will check on this for you, but my understanding is on the second point is that legislation passed this year that equals out some of the tariffs on electricity throughout the grid. Um, so I'm not sure where that's at in terms of with the, with the regulatory commission, but I'll do some— I'll do a little research on that.

Second question.

Okay, are there any questions or concerns? Um, I've got one. Okay, go ahead, sir.

So Saturday I had the pleasure of going down and seeing the commissioning of the Ted Stevens ship out of Whittier, and Dan Sullivan was there, and he had his announcement for later this month about finishing the rail. Can you give us any information on that, Todd?

Uh, through the mayor to Assemblymember Bonnier, and, and no, I don't— I can't speak to, uh, what Senator Sullivan's office may have said at that event. Um, I know the borough is still waiting on news on the grant application, so, but I don't have any additional information.

Okay, supposedly October 19th, there's some good news coming out. Perhaps that is news on the grant. I don't, I don't know, but I would say that there's a lot of money flowing to Alaska right now from the federal government, so Good news, or at least plans to flow.

Thank you, Todd.

And regarding the seminar we had on Telketeño challenges, the thanks goes to the administration. The borough manager put that together, and I agree with you. That was good to address. Anyone else? No, I guess that's it.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Uh, Casey, we have a report from the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Manager Brown, and the assembly members. Uh, my name is Casey Ressler. I'm with the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau. Thanks for the opportunity to speak about tourism marketing and destination marketing. And I'd also like to say thank you.

This is our 40th year of partnership with the Mat-Su Borough, and we don't take that lightly, and we genuinely value that trust and commitment from the borough. So first, I'll give you an update on how the summer season went, and then we'll jump into what the Convention and Visitors Bureau is up to to market the Mat-Su as a visitor destination, and then we'll finish with something a little more exciting with the Gateway Visitor Center. So At this point in the year, the first question I always get asked is how did the summer season go. I'm looking at a couple of data points that we use. I can say that it was flat is probably the best way to put it.

We have to remember that last year though was one of the best years we've ever had, so flat isn't necessarily a bad thing. Looking at bid tax numbers, FY26 was down $6,000 total, which is less than, less than 25% or less than one quarter of 1%. Of the bed tax, and it came in at $2.279 million. So that's pretty well even with last year. And then looking at visitor spending in market through credit card swipes, visitor spending was down about 2%, so pretty much on par with what we were at last year.

And I know flat is not the kind of word we put on banners, but I want to let you know why I'm not discouraged. We've had a lot of uncertainty with rising costs, shrinking budgets, and a lot of, uh, gas price fluctuation. So a lot of, uh, visitors are watching their money very, very, uh, closely. Um, it means that the Mat-Su is still on people's list. They were still coming, they were still spending, but just we didn't see any, uh, gain from last year.

Um, but this is also a time to remember that it's time to still promote the Mat-Su and continue that marketing effort to keep it top of mind. Um, Alaska is still a very magical destination for a lot of travelers. So making sure that the Mat-Su stays on their list is very important.

Which brings me to what we're doing to promote the Mat-Su. So we're putting the finishing touches on our 2027 visitor guide. We'll be printing 75,000 copies of that again. That gets distributed to tour operators, travel agents, and consumers that inquire through our website, the state of Alaska's website. So we exhaust all 75,000 copies of those.

That should be printed in December, and I'll make sure that you each get a copy. The COVID features the Knik River Valley. It's a beautiful shot we got on one of the great summer days we had this summer. In May, we launched a brand new website, which was a major undertaking. The completely redesigned site features stunning photography, information about the destination, itineraries, and links to all 250 of our members.

It's the centerpiece of our digital marketing strategy, which includes a robust pay-per-click advertising campaign that's very targeted, and as well as a big investment in search engine optimization. This summer we partnered with Visit Anchorage and the Alaska Travel Industry Association on several familiarization trips, and these were tour operators, travel agents, and travel media. We host them here in the destination for 2 to 3 days and showcase what we have, with the idea that they turn around and then sell that to their clients. And so that was very successful. We even had a couple of international familiarization trips with Italy and with German-speaking Europe, so that was kind of exciting.

We actually will be attending Alaska Media Roadshow coming up in 2 weeks. That's where I've pre-scheduled meetings with 25 of the top travel journalists in the country. This has been a great opportunity for us in the past to generate a lot of coverage of our destination. Just this summer, I don't know if everybody saw it, we were featured in the USA Today travel section as a small destination that you can't miss when you're traveling. And then looking forward, our board of directors is starting the process of a 5 to 10 year strategic plan that brings in sustainability and how tourism impacts our communities.

So lastly, the Gateway Visitor Center. On June 19th, a dream nearly 2 decades in the making finally became a reality as we opened the doors for the first time, which was very exciting. We hosted a grand opening on July 10th that was very well attended. There were a few challenges to getting it open, to be honest. One was not having a clear date of when we were going to open, some delays on shipping with the exhibits.

We literally had 18 hours notice that we could open, so getting the word out fast was a little bit of a challenge. The second one was missing all of June. That's the busiest month in tourism in Alaska. So opening at the very end of June wasn't ideal. And then if you're driving past looking for the signs, we're still waiting.

Uh, and it hasn't been from a lack of effort from us or the borough. I can assure you that it's been an abyss of bureaucracy trying to get DOT to, to commit to those signs. So they're committed, they're ordered. Now it's just a right-of-way closure permit that is required. So we're hoping that happens very, very soon.

Uh, since we opened the doors, we've had 4,000 visitors come through the center, which has been fun. Um, and what's been impressive to me has been the reception from the community and the residents. Um, the Sit-in-a-Room is a classroom that seats up to 75 people, um, and it's already been booked more than 15 times with 10 more reservations already on the calendar. Um, organizations have been calling almost daily to rent that, that facility. So when I talk about the visitor center not being just for visitors, that's That's it in motion right there.

So basically, a flat year with a brand new front door is a very different thing than a flat year with a missing door. For years, we've asked visitors to find us without a proper welcome, and so this summer we finally got to roll out a welcome mat to the visitors. We're really excited about what a full year of operations means through all four seasons as we welcome visitors not only to the visitor center but to every corner of the borough. Thank you.

And I'll answer any questions or—. Seminole person now. Yeah, thank you, Casey.

The travelers are coming. Are you seeing any trends with international versus in-state versus, you know, U.S.-wide? Was there any kind of discernible—. Yeah, statewide, international is down, and there's a number of reasons for that. The cost is very, very high right now.

But it is encouraging to see, like, at the state level, the Alaska Travel Industry Association kind of investing in those international markets, particularly German-speaking Europe. Coming out of COVID that was something that they had dropped, and they have funding issues as well. So that was an easy one to chop because it is so expensive to reach that market. But they are going back and going after those markets. So we've seen, like, Italians have been showing up a lot more than what I've ever thought.

So yeah, we had 5 Italian journalists in the center here about a week ago, and they were, they were excited. They've been emailing and wanting all, all of our information. So, just wonder with those new Alaska Air routes from direct Athens and Rome to get you to Seattle, and then it's just a short hop up here. Yeah, it definitely cuts down on the long-haul traffic. I mean, they—.

It's still a commitment to get from Europe to the U.S., but opening up those routes, it's only going to help Alaska in the matsue. Thank you. Assemblyperson McKee. Yeah, I graduated with a travel industry management, uh, thing, as you probably know, because I'm very proud of that. I'm very happy about that.

But that time, the Japanese travel— oh, wait a minute— Japanese travel market was the big international. And you're talking now more about— ah, make this go up. Wait a second.

And German, the German market was second. Has that, where does Japanese market come in? So for international markets, German-speaking Europe is our top market. Yeah, that's what I heard you say. And Australia is another one.

Japan kind of dropped off the radar because JAL, the airline, dropped all their direct flights. They had charters from Tokyo to Anchorage. It's about the same time to get from Anchorage to Chicago as it was to Tokyo. But just through a number of different reasons in Japan itself, they cut those routes. So even in terms of a promotion and marketing effort, like the state doesn't have any representation in Japan anymore when they used to have an agency there, you know, in the market.

So something to think about. One of the things that they said was that particularly the Japanese people, if they left here, they came to Alaska, and then they went home and they still had money left, they were kind of disappointed because they wanted to leave it here. So I'm thinking maybe Maybe we need to talk to those folks. We hope all visitors feel that way.

Any other questions?

Okay, thank you. Thank you, sir. Um, the next committee report is a Joint Assembly and School Board Committee, since my understanding they have not met in between times. We're now to Assembly Public Relations, and Assemblyperson McKee, did you have a report? Yeah, I've attended a couple of the meetings of the BARCS review.

In case folks have thought that that just went away, all the horribleness of the animals, the sled dogs that were neglected, abused, died, that is very strong. I can't tell you how impressed I am with the people that are running these meetings. There are two professional mushers, a vet, one kind of casual musher, one lady who's kind of like a trainer, very professional. These ladies are awesome. Are after it.

They just go through each line of the SOPs and all of this other stuff and make their changes. They have committees working on— committee like this, you two guys take this. But the thing is, they are absolutely dedicated to it. Now, I thought the first time I went— I will tell you one thing. I thought that because of all the horribleness of that, I thought that it would be overwhelmingly attended with people that we'd have to move it into, I don't know, a big airline hangar.

We had one person show up. One person from the public last time, and this time we didn't have any. So I was absolutely stunned at that. I don't know how come that flared so hard and went away. I will tell you, however, it's in good hands.

Those of you who think that— that even though I was not impressed with the lack of public participation, those ladies don't need it. They've just got it going on. Um, the other thing is, um, the, uh, library. We've had lots and lots of conversations about the library. Um, I'd like to just point out Jillian Morrissey and Mike Brown.

Talked to them the other day. All of this, all of my concerns, uh, have been met. My main, maybe my only concern was children. I don't care what any of you adults do, go for it. But, and apparently the taxpayers are not interested particularly in whether or not the borough purchases and seed materials.

And I think maybe they do, that's Jackie's kind of, that's her purview. But, uh, I don't care that, and the taxpayers don't seem to care. If, if they did Where are they? If you don't want to buy nasty books with your tax dollars, then how come they're not here talking about it? Jackie's just a trooper, and some of the— and Linda, and, and sometimes, uh, Karen.

I don't know why the public is not in much of a furor about that. But having said that, my concerns about notification, uh, to cardholders, uh, upon book checkout, that's been met. Um, the review of the books that the librarians are ordering, they put that list out, and then the public has 30 days to say I don't like that, that, and that. And those books are flagged and sent to the committee. And the committee is kind of like the LCAC, the Library Advisory Committee something or other.

I was first concerned about that. And then when I saw some of the people that are on that committee now— Julie Endle, Marty Kincaid, Warren Spohn, and I don't know some of the others— but those are good people who are after it. They're paying attention. So my thing was— as I'm quoting Vance, stay the hell away from my kids. And that's how I feel about that.

If you've got—. My concerns have been met. So I just wanted you to know that, that we worked really, really hard, particularly— I'll call out Jackie again and Linda. Um, they put in a lot of time on this, and, and it's— I believe it's— I believe that too is in good hands. Okay, any other public relations reports from the assembly?

Okay. Uh, let's see. Mr. Brown, you have a report? No report. Okay.

Mr. Attorney, report? I'm encouraged Alaskan Airlines has direct routes to Athens. That's always a good thing. That's all I have.

Madam Clerk, report? The Clerk's Report is in your red folder with the upcoming meeting schedules, quasi-judicial report, and also attached to it is next Tuesday's Joint Assembly Planning Commission meeting. Okay, thank you. And, uh, are there any comments on the citizens and other correspondence? Okay, seeing and hearing none, and they've been presented, uh, Madam Clerk, would you read the IMs into the record, please?

IM 26185, reporting the conclusion of contract number 2610B with JRF Enterprises for a total contract amount of $102,380.78 for the Birch Creek and Mastodon fish passage improvements project. Are there any comments on the IMs? Hearing none, then they are presented. The next item is audience participation. Looks like we do have a sign-up sheet, so I will call the people that have signed up and then we'll open it up to anybody that hasn't signed up and will go online also.

So, Dawson, Dawson, can I get you to turn the mic on and then you can just leave it on? Thank you very much. Good evening, Madam Mayor. Sorry, Mr. Phan, I've had his hand up. This is a clip from one of the budget meetings this past April.

Sorry, it's not playing.

Great marketing for tourism. I'm not sure how that would expand to other things. That'd probably be a better question. My last question, um, if we were to pass this budget as if it's presented, and on the page 20 over there you'll see that you said it's a fit on average $50 tax decrease. Will we be accused as an assembly by people like Mr. Wyatt for giving ourselves a tax cuts?

I think through the mayor to Mr. Farnoff, you could be subject to criticism of giving a fair amount of people a tax cut. Now I want to caveat that, say that's just area-wide, non-area-wide. So depending on an individual situation, you have to look at the fire and road service to figure out what that total—.

I like joking around. I like having a good time. I actually don't mind being the— I don't mind being the emphasis of a joke. Um, the other— the other day, uh, Mr. Fono and I actually ran into each other in public, and it was an uplifting conversation. He encouraged me to I look for ways and seek for ways I can serve my community.

Now that clip and the conversation with Mr. Fono helped me realize that I can sit back here and I can plead with you guys and I can ask you guys to help me out. But I realized that asking you guys to take me seriously wasn't enough. I'm going to take myself seriously, and I'm going to decide to step up and serve. And so tonight, uh, my name is Dawson White, and I am publicly and officially declaring my candidacy for Matsu Assembly District 5 for the, um, election this November 3rd, uh, 2026. Thank you.

Okay, uh, Daniel Potter. Good evening, Daniel Potter, District 1. Uh, last time I was in here, I brought you printouts of Problem Solver reports and photographs of a road that was not touched by a road contractor for over 7 calendar days. Um, I've been coming here for a year and a half trying to get someone to hold these contractors accountable. Um, I tried my hand at legislation writing because, you know, you guys are the ones who are supposed to be doing this, but I'm also doing the contractor's job of monitoring the roads.

So my proposed amendment would be subsection C4C of Matsuburo Code 38235, authority to debar or suspend. Notwithstanding any other provision of borough code, submission of a report through Matsuburo Problem Reporter shall constitute notice to the road service area contractor. If following such notification, a road maintained by the contractor fails to meet applicable road maintenance standards for 72 consecutive hours, such failure shall constitute prima facie evidence of failure to perform by the contractor. The purchasing officer shall immediately initiate debarment proceedings against the contractor in accordance with this article upon notice of 2 or more separate instances of failure to perform in a contract year. So that is proposed change in Matsuburo Code that would actually do something.

Um, I can't. I'm a private citizen. Um, for a year and a half I've been coming here trying to get you to hold the contractors accountable, and I'm providing evidence that the contractors are not following the contract. Public Works is not doing anything. The purchasing officer isn't doing anything.

I'm coming to you guys You guys can change legislation if you add this in. It is some kind of strict language. I mean, you get on your second offense, you get debarred, but maybe you only have to debar one or two contractors before the rest of the contractors finally figure out to stop bilking tax money from its citizens. I mean, I've, I've brought you, brought you the photos, brought you the Problem Solver report. I've done everything legally to try and do to say, hey, fix this, and Public Works isn't, purchasing officer isn't.

I mean, at this point it's to the legislation. I mean, take this to the borough attorney, be like, hey, this, this is— somebody with a GED and an associate's degree can come up with this. I mean, come on, can we please get something done? Thank you. Andrea Larson.

So I'm just here to talk to you all about the Talkeetna water and sewer upgrade project. And mostly what I want to do today is bring your attention to the fact that there has been quite a bit of community concern and opposition. I put in a request for reconsideration to DNR. I gave them a petition. There were 20— 18 letters written to DNR on the request for reconsideration and conveying the land to the borough.

And it's not that we don't want the land conveyed to the borough. It's just that this particular site is, uh, is of a lot of concern to the community. It has trails, it has historical value. It's really within the town of Talkeetna. And it's one of the last areas of woods that are in the spirit of, you know, what Talkeetna is known for, its natural environment.

And taking this down and plowing it over with gravel between 2 or 3— there's properties surrounding this particular property, 1.4 acres, that are would affect the property owners in this around the bordering areas. There's so many reasons not to do it, but one of them is I have a cabin right next door as well. And so I don't want to be staring at a 375,000-gallon water tank in, in my backyard, and neither do the property owners. Um, so what I'm giving you is, um, I'm asking the Bureau to consider some of this public opposition and community concern, and I don't think it's been addressed. And part of the reason is because you didn't have the petition in your hand.

I know that Mike— Mr. Brown was given the petition by Alan Larson just a couple weeks ago. So it's true that DNR is the one that had all this information, and they told us that no, it's actually the borough's responsibility to take care of all this and to answer all these 18 different letters of concern. So I'm wondering if there's a public meeting that we can have, um, in order to take care of this. And I have spoken with Mr. Bernier this afternoon as well about putting forth— about moving forward with this and having some more communication with Talkeetna. Um, so I provided a letter from the Talkeetna Community Council that was submitted to DNR.

I provided a petition with 300 signatures And actually, I didn't provide the petition. I only provided that I can, I can email that to you. It's a lot of pages. And then also, um, I, uh, there I provided proof of the 18 letters of the conveyance to, or I'm sorry, 18 letters debating this location, Block 26, Lot 3 and 4.

I was going to tell you, there's also a very, very viable option and alternative, and I know that I spoke with Stephanie at one point about alternatives and providing alternatives. The existing site is perfect. It's already set up for a 375,000-gallon water tank, and I have lots more information that I can give y'all. Thank you for listening. Yeah, and please state your name for the record.

Oh, Andrea Larson. Thank you.

Alan. Madam Mayor and assembly, thank you very much for the time. My name is Alan Larson. I am related to her, but We don't count that against me. I have a similar opinion about the fact that, uh, DNR was presented with public opposition.

And when this— before they transferred this property on Front Street to the, to the borough, and I met with them after they made the decision, they said, yeah, but it's not their responsibility what happens to the property. It's their— it's the borough's responsibility to make sure that it can be used for what, you know, the purposes. In that packet there, the first— basically, back up a little bit. 5 Or 6 years ago, they determined that because of the arsenic levels in the water, that maybe we should look into moving the facility to a different site. The other thing that they came up with is that if we put a tank in, we don't have to pressurize the water from the treatment facility, we can just put it in the tank and then take as much as we want.

That's one of the problems is when the fire department uses the water, it overtaxes the arsenic treatment facility. So finding a well with no arsenic in it is one solution and having a tank is the other. The borough hired a very well-known engineering firm and they studied 5 additional sites in Talkeetna. Long story short, all those sites were turned down for one reason or another. Um, at that point, the first, uh, resolution you see there was when the Talkeetna Water and Sewer said we should look at keeping the site in its present location because it's costly and logistically a bad move to move it, and also that we should drill another well on the existing site.

And they thought that if they went deeper, they might find arsenic-free water. Talking to public water folks and stuff, the problem is, is you go shallower to find less arsenic, you find more contamination from surface, but deeper is where the arsenic is mostly, um, done. So, and they said, and the borough then started to look at those options, and they went and decided to drill a well on the other side of town. A test well that's 800 feet away from the site that is proposed to use now, DNR site. And when they got down to 140 feet, which is about the depth of the current well, they found arsenic.

But they also— the drill rig started to collapse, so they pulled the rig up, the pipe up, and tested the water between 80 and 90 and 98 feet, and they found clean water. Sufficient quantity to fill a tank system. So that was good, but it was a well that basically we throw away because we can't use— we're not using that site. Since then there was a resolution— well, the second resolution then is for another time. My phone number's on there if anybody would like to talk to me.

I have talked to Mr. Brown's office and he's been really helpful. But that's what I found out, is that apparently the borough had no idea that there was any public opposition. So that's our request, is that maybe we open it up to the public and see really if that's a good thing to go to that site or to maybe use another site. Thanks for your time. Mm-hmm.

Samuel.

Good evening. Good evening, and thank you for your time. Hello, my name is Samuel Gall. I'm a senior in high school, and I'm the president of Matsu Valley Club America. Our club is a youth movement focused on helping young people understand what it means to be an American and encouraging my generation to become involved in our community and government.

Our mission is to learn about American values and history, become leaders with strong character, build relationships, and serve our community. We want to encourage teens to take initiative, discover their purpose, and make a positive impact in America. I believe one of the most important things we can do right now is invest in my generation. And in the generation coming behind us. We are going, we are going to be the voters, community leaders, business owners, and parents, and elected officials of the future.

But we can't protect the principles of our country if we don't understand where they came from. Club America wants to make the truth behind American history, the Constitution, our freedoms, and our nation's Christian moral foundations interesting to learn and explain why they are important to young people. We want students to understand not only what our rights are, but also the responsibility that comes with having those rights.

1 Timothy 4:12 tells us young people to not let anyone look down on them because of their youth, but to set an example in how they live. That's really what we want this club to be about. Young people realize that they don't have to wait until they're older to lead, serve, and make a difference.

I appreciate this quote from Thomas Jefferson: To develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order. With that in mind, I would like to bring to attention The importance of teaching the youth of the true intentions behind our country's founding. We also want to have fun. Our next meeting is October 9th when we are having a Surrounded debate night when students can— or where students can— will get to defend their opinions while being challenged by the rest of the group. Then on October 23rd, We're having our next meeting, uh, we're holding a mock election giving students a chance to learn how elections work and debate some of the issues voters face.

Middle school and high school students are welcome. We'd love to have more young people join us as we learn, lead, serve, prepare, and become the next generation of American leaders. Thank you for your time. Mm-hmm. Reagan.

Good evening, Matsu Borough Assembly. My name is Reagan Barnes and I'm 15 years old. I'm the vice president of the Matsu Valley Club America, and we're a group of teens who care about American values. One of our club goals is to work on promoting and encouraging voting among those who should exercise their right to vote. Voting is a civic responsibility that is important for the people in this valley to exercise.

Many people do not get out and vote, and yet they need to. If you want the state or borough to be a certain way or things to happen, you have to vote and not complain. Another reason voting is important, and maybe what younger voters need to understand, is that the officials they want and vote for are reflecting the values that they also have. If someone is passing laws or whose values don't align with yours, You have the power through voting to elect someone else. Voting also promotes civic engagement.

This means you are more aware of what is happening within your community. Things such as local laws, policies, and ensuring your elected leaders do what they promised. In conclusion, we aim to raise awareness of the civic duties that people have, what they can do with them, and their effects. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Jackie?

Greetings, Madam Mayor and assembly members. My name is Jackie Goldfarth. It is very interesting how proper verbal skills can get a script flipped, and let me tell you what I mean. The reason I do this is because the people who are trying to sexualize, groom our children, and mutilate them is the American Library Association and their sycophants groups, the Friends of the Library. And now October is now LGBTQ History Month, in case you weren't aware of that.

I didn't even know they had a library division. Next, I want to tell you exactly what happened at the August meeting with the Borough Library Board. This is what a library board member said. You can speak up, but nothing happens. And there's a lot of people who no longer want anything that they have to say to be public because of the assault on social media.

And so they're just choosing not to use the library. People are not challenging. They've given up. And it's not just a few. And I can vouch for that.

I have had dozens of people approach me, and the reason why is because I'm willing to take the heat. It's kind of like trying to vote in the South just after the Civil War if you weren't the proper color. Do you understand what I'm saying? People are afraid of the heat. They do not want to be assaulted.

And then—. And once something's posted on social media, it's pretty violent, and that should not be happening. If it's a small community, you run the risk of being on the post office board, on the coffee shop. People in the community need to be able to voice their concerns without fear. And so what's happening is people are not using our libraries, and I wondered if that was true.

Because I'm from the Postal Service, and if they wanted to increase their mail volume, they ran the mail through 3 times. I can tell you how this works. I'm an auditor. So I sent a request in, a FOIA, and I asked, how do we count the people who come through our building? And I'm not interested in the Friends of the Library with their visitors count.

When they say we've had 100,000 visitors to Wasilla, that is garbage. I have 100,000 visits— I mean, I have 7 visits to my bathroom in a day. Everyone does. It's an average. It doesn't mean I had 7 individual visitors in my bathroom.

And I happen to know that if you go in and out of the counter, it's going to count you, even if you do it for fun for an hour so you can add numbers. If people are not trustworthy, you don't trust them. Now, here's my answer. Yeah, we get the number, but it's not maintained in a printable format. Sorry, you just gotta root trust us.

Really?

Really? Really? By the way, the moment I sent a FOIA in asking for these numbers, on social media something came out saying, please everyone get a library card, we got to make sure and protect our libraries. They're having the same people go in that building over and over and over again. They're losing the conservatives.

That's why I wanted the library board to be fair and non-biased. Why would you send your children to a place where they're LGBTQ month again? They're grooming, sexualizing children. That book I have challenged is a grooming document, and they know it. They cannot escape it.

So don't let them flip the script that people are not going because they don't care. Thank you. Michelle.

Madam Mayor and members of the assembly, can I have you pull the mic down? Thank you. Madam Mayor and members of the assembly, my name is Michelle Stevens and I'm president of the Alaska Snow Machine Alliance, and I'm here in support of Assemblyman member Bonalds. Amendment RS-26072 to the adopted OR-2689. At the last meeting, your borough attorney said you call this trail Hoogly Boogly Boo, and the federal government still could not come in and control borough land.

You can call it Hoogly Boogly Boo if you want, but the name of the trail is the Alaska Long Trail. The Alaska Long Trail has already been through a federal National Scenic Trail feasibility process. The Alaska Snow Machine Alliance, Alaska Outdoor Council, Tugiat Backcountry Freeriders, Alaska Outdoor Access Alliance, and others participated in that process to oppose the National Scenic Trail designation and protect— and to protect traditional access, motorized use, and local control. That concern did not disappear because the designation was put on pause. A change in the congressional or federal priorities could revive that effort and put the Alaska Long Trail back on a path towards National Scenic Trail designation.

Assemblymember Gamble knows this history. In 2024, ASA brought the same concerns to Assemblymember Gamble while working on RS 24099. He thanked us publicly for the work and due diligence we had done on the National Scenic Trail issue. He later worked with ASA again to address these concerns in the borough's federal priorities, protecting borough authority and protecting traditional motorized use. So I was surprised when the same concerns were called a political scare tactic.

They were not a political scare tactic in 2024, and they are not political scare tactic today. Mr. Gamble once told me something I have not forgotten. He said he would trust someone who is not paid to advocate before he trusts someone who is. That is the Alaska Snow Machine Alliance. Alaska Trails receives funding to coordinate and advance the Alaska Long Trail and has worked with the Matsu Borough to promote this gateway.

ASA receives no funding to oppose it. We have no financial interest in the outcome. Our interest is protecting Alaska's trails, traditional motorized access, and keeping those opportunities available for the Alaskans. By supporting Assemblymember Fonov's amendment to RS26072, you are not creating a new borough policy. You are simply making clear that the borough can support the Alaska Long Trail without supporting its designation as a National Scenic Trail.

Accepting this grant should not change that distinction. Happy trails. Travis.

Hello, my name is Travis Friesen. I live in the valley in Palmer.

Um, a few meetings ago, I attended They were talking about the industrial park in Houston, and finally it's been moved to somewhere else, and I'm kind of glad about that. I mean, Point McKenzie is a more suitable location, but I still have some questions.

I don't want to see all that farmland replaced, so I want to— I don't expect you to answer my questions, here. But, you know, I don't want anything bad to happen to it. So what do you plan on doing? And also, I, I've heard about all sorts of industries, you know, logistics hubs and manufacturing centers and, and all sorts of stuff. I've asked a few people about it that are in charge of it.

All, all I've got is some vague answers, you know, like they've said, Oh, some, some company from Vietnam wants to manufacture furniture here.

And I thought to myself, as if it's— it'll be more expensive to make stuff in Vietnam than in the US. Yeah, you know, again, I would like some answers. Now, as for the data centers, those are the most controversial because, you know, they take up a lot of space. They take up a lot of water and stuff like that. And I'm not good at predicting the future, but what I predict what will happen in the future is that technology will advance to the point where they'll be obsolete.

You know, you can get, you know, have data centers in space, it'll be much more cheaper that way. And I see what I see, the decline of the data centers on Earth as compared— being comparable to cities in the Rust Belt where they moved all manufacturing overseas and, and all you're left with is, um, dilapidated, um, derelict old factories. That's what I see what could happen in the— with those data centers on Earth. The same thing with the shopping malls, you know. Now they have to— now the question is how they're going to be repurposed and, and all that, all that, um, rigmarole.

So, so there's a lot of, there's a lot of questions, um, you know, that I would like answered. And man, I think the public deserves to know what, what's going on in these, um, in these, uh, these industrial parks. And, and I'll And on Facebook, you know, I put some images of, you know, what data centers could look like in the future, you know, how we can spread them out more, more efficiently. If data centers need to be built, they should be built responsibly. Thank you.

Linda.

My name is Linda Spohn. I've been testifying at the borough assembly meetings for 3 years on the corruption in the taxpayer-funded libraries. Now the Department of Education doesn't even hide the fact that they are promoting LGBTQ ideology, yet they don't want to be held accountable for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. A sign at the Butte, a dashboard at your White Elephant in Big Lake, or a long trail doesn't seem very important when our children and minors are being poisoned in our schools, libraries, and museums. The problems are multiplying.

Where is the accountability? You set up boards and committees to look into these problems while your borough employees and local Marxists disrupt the volunteers' meetings, putting them on a circular gerbil wheel, going round and round on repeated policy and procedures that your borough employees keep changing without telling anyone. They lie and deceive and put it out there on social media to harm the good intentions of anyone fighting these issues. You have departments that need complete investigation. In regards to Assemblymember Dee McKee's remarks, I can tell you why the public isn't interested in obscenity in the libraries.

I have talked to several families who no longer go near the libraries because of the obscenity. And they aren't going to fight it. They are just walking away. Same with the schools. There is an excellent article in the Alaska Watchman today, 10/6/26, by Jim Minnery of the Alaska Family Council that you desperately need to read, the entire article.

I am sorry I don't have time to cover it here. It's going to take every single one of us to protect and save the children and minors from this vile, evil perversion. May God help us through Christ Jesus our Savior. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

Uh, Lisa Agnew.

Hi, my name's Lisa. This is Mabel. You guys seen me up here before many times. It probably won't be my last. I advocate for access, recreational access on trails.

I'm here to speak to Mr. Fonov's amendment to Resolution 26-072 and his amendment. Um, I'm not asking you guys to oppose park improvements, but I'm simply asking for some safeguards. So that we can make sure that the record cannot be later used as a local support for a National Scenic Trail designation. This has already happened on paper once before. We've worked very hard, me and many others, to make sure that it did not reach Congress so that access remained open on all our trails.

Support letters for the Alaska Long Trail feasibility record were treated as support even though many of them did not use the words National Scenic Trail and many were written before Congress directed the study in December of 2022. Several were requests for grant money or capital budget money, and the Matsu Assembly also pushed a resolution opposing a designation. A gateway sign underneath the grant may undercut that vote. Um, in regards to a National Scenic Trail designation, The only National Scenic Trail I just wanted to help understand better is the Continental Divide Trail that allows motorized access currently, the only National Scenic Trail in the US. That trail used to be 80% more motorized than what it is today.

It is now down to 19%, and over 600 miles of motorized access has been cut along that trail. Some examples are the Chalice-Bradley Gulch. The Helena National Forest Divide Travel Plan and the Gila National Forest Realignment and the 2009 management plan completely deleted the motor vehicle section. There's many examples along the Continental Divide and groups that I have personally met with that have had their motorized access taken away along that trail. And there's active, they're actively removing it.

So it's not about accepting money from the feds, it's the distinction between administration and management. And I'm simply asking the assembly to adopt clear language in the resolution that would, uh, prevent the— prevent conveying or misconstruing support for a National Scenic Trail designation in future applications. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes the people that signed up, so now we'll open it up to— yeah, come.

Uh, good evening, Madam Mayor. My name is Rod Hanson. I'm with North Lakes Community Council. Um, I, I want to recognize the young man. I don't see him here now, but he was wearing a red shirt and he stood up and talked about the importance of young people getting involved in voting, and he talked about holding elected officials accountable to represent their constituents.

I'm going to invite that young man to a community council meeting. I think, uh, that is so encouraging to see. Um, I had intended to come up tonight with, uh, kind of some what I would call professional persuasion about the southern route versus the northern route, and instead I'm going to try to make my comments more of a professional frustration. Um, I don't believe Mr. Sumner has changed his mind that the northern route is way too expensive. I think you're all thinking that.

And yet, that's what you just decided, is to leave that decision stand. That's pretty frustrating to me to see, to see that happen. Maybe he has changed his mind, maybe I've got that wrong. The question I guess I would ask you to kind of think about a little bit is, what is the single most frustrating and concerning discussion you've heard over the last several years about traffic safety concern, and where is it? And I would submit it's probably Bogart and Hingstrom.

Um, you just pretty much went on record with a decision that, um, I think you probably have zero intent of funding. Who wants to pay 10— I'm sorry, $20 to $30 million for that project, which I don't think is ever going to happen? I believe that you don't have any intent to do— to follow through and do that. I think that the assembly has ignored that question I just asked you to think about. And if you look back at previous assemblies, uh, TIP 21 put the southern route on the— the assembly put that project on the TIP 21 list through an amendment at this dais.

It was put on there because somebody was listening to the community's concerns about that, that area of Bogard. And that intersection. Um, you just decided not to move forward with the project that would actually address better than the northern route traffic at that location. Since then, since 2021, traffic has increased over 5,000 vehicles a day on Bogart. And coming out of this discussion, basically nothing's going to happen now for years with regard to that problem.

So it's, it's extremely frustrating. My intent tonight— I would encourage you to look at the material that I handed out— but my intent was to ask you to endorse the southern route, to ask then to have you ask Tom and his team to go out and figure out what's that's really going to cost, do some fair, good faith negotiations, and come back to you with a cost and a schedule, and apparently that's water under the bridge now. So excuse my frustration.

Good evening, Assembly, Madam Mayor, Borough, Borough staff. My name is John Miller. I'm going to follow up on that last discussion about the southern route versus the northern route. I've lived out in Wolf Lake area and driven that road for the last 43 years. Um, it's, it's actually dangerous now.

I never look forward to coming to that, that intersection. I think I was probably 15-20 minutes late today just because I was trying to get through traffic.

I think We are missing a great big opportunity here. We have a piece of property where the owners are willing to partner with the borough in giving that land— the right-of-way to that land. There's a pile of gravel right there next to the road where the road would go. There's all the equipment and machinery that is needed to put a road in. If we hesitate, the cost is just going to go up.

In the last 5 years, it's gone from $2.5 million to an estimated $10 million. And I think that we are looking right now at, um, uh, putting on the ballot the, uh, what's it called the, um, uh, road—. Roads.

What's that?

Yeah, where we're trying to look ahead. The borough is looking ahead, trying to buy land in advance for future projects. Right now we have the opportunity to put our money into something that would be very, very beneficial solve a lot of problems, relieve a lot of the congestion, which the roundabout is not supposed to do, give us an alternative route out of the area in the case of an emergency or a pileup, or if there's— when they're constructing something on the road, I'll be— you know, you have to wind through the subdivisions to get out, and the flow of traffic going on that roundabout is it's going to be bottlenecked. So, um, I would ask you to reconsider the southern route. I think it makes way more sense, and it's an opportunity that I think the borough should jump on.

Thank you.

Anyone else would like to address it?

Good evening, Mayor and Assembly. My name is Sharon Johnson. When will the Matsuburo decide to make a difference to the Bogart-Angstrom intersection in a timely manner? The southern connector would finally provide the much-needed traffic relief at a significantly reduced cost compared to the northern route. The Bogart corridor is begging for relief.

Please, let's look at the quickest and most cost-effective choice available. What a relief it would be to not have to go through that intersection with a hope and a prayer that no accident occurs when maneuvering through it, be it myself or someone else. Look at the school impact on Bogart-Seldon corridor: Academy Charter, Palmer High, Colony High, Colony Middle School, Matsu Central School, Pioneer Peak, Finger Lake Elementary, Teeland Middle School, Career and Technical Education Center, Fronteras, Birch Tree Charter, Tenina Elementary, Twindley Bridge. Now let's look at the other schools also off of Bogart or Selden directly or indirectly: Sherwood, Swanson, Palmer Middle School, Butte Elementary, Cottonwood Elementary, Matsu Day School, Wasilla High, Wasilla Middle School, Shaw Elementary. That is 22 schools who are using the Bogart-Selden corridor.

Now add all the traffic going to other entities—. Work, play, daycare, shopping, etc. It is time to do something like the Southern Connector. My last point is looking at parcel view today. It looks like the Olson family already has once been there for the cause of road construction, the building of Trunk Road.

Now we're going to look at eminent domain for their land, but potentially, how many times do they have to give? Let's do the right thing and build the Southern Connector. Thank you for your time. Anyone else?

Good evening, I'm Colleen Vague and I'm here to speak to the Engstrom, um, I guess it's a kind of a debacle right now. Um, so I live, um, on a, on a cul-de-sac that comes in and out on Bogart Road. I drove that road. I live between Peck and Seward Meridian. I am in the Colony School District, believe it or not.

I have 2 children who I drove to Colony High School every day down Bogard Road for many, many years. I currently have a grandson who is in the homeschool, and I do it twice a week. Now, I will tell you that when this initially went in, it was to resolve the issues on Bogard. Bogard is the problem. Engstrom is not the problem until it reaches Bogard.

So here we sit. If this new north route goes through, here's what it's going to help the people on Bogard do. I can drive down Bogard until I get to Engstrom and then take a 3-mile loop and get back on Bogard, having avoided 1/2 mile of a road. Or because I live near Peck, I can get out of my, my house, my cul-de-sac, take a— go west, go up Peck, go down, um, Wasilla Fishhook Road until I'm about 7 miles out of my way to the Texel interchange. I'm at this point farther away from my destination than I was when I left my house.

Because I still get to go another 5 or 6 miles until I get to the Ingstrom Cut-Off, where I can then get the trunk road where I can be on Bogard Road again. Does any of that sound reasonable to you, to the people, the thousands and tens of thousands of people that live in cul-de-sacs currently on Bogard Road? Not a very good solution to that problem. Bogard is the problem. If you're not listening to former assemblies and you're not listening to the voters who voted for this to go through 5 years ago, not a long time ago, and if you're not going to listen to the people who live on Bogart, my question: who are you listening to?

In this country, we value personal property rights. Constitutionally, we consider it the path to happiness. Pursuit of happiness is all about that. In the Massu Borough, we very highly value personal property rights, to the point where if you talk about zoning or anything that even resembles a zoning discussion, you're banned. And yet we are now talking about taking people's property, which to me seems to be the ultimate denial of personal property rights, for a road that has other options.

Two other options came up last— at the last meeting that were completely ignored. We don't know if they'll work or not, but you know what, we don't know if this one will either, because a northern route hasn't really been that fully developed. It hasn't been voted on. There hasn't been a bond. We are looking at another 10 years before we're even going to think about doing anything.

What do you think the price is going to be then? If 5 years ago the southern route was 1/5 of what it is now, and that was at, what, $2,500,000? And now they're saying it's between $10 and $12 million. 5 Or 10 years from now, what's that $30 million going to be to do the northern route? I'm just asking the question because Bogart's the problem.

Thank you. Anyone else that would like to address the assembly on any subject?

My name is Simon Gilland. You probably all recognize me by this point. Um, I had different comments that I was going to present tonight, but After, uh, hearing what happened during the agenda, um, and, uh, I'm curious to know why the, uh, reconsideration was pulled and then so quickly put to a vote. Um, and I guess Max is the only one who knows that in his own mind. Um, I would like to thank the two of you who did object to not having discussion on pulling it.

Um, as people, uh, previous to me have stated, um, we're voting to spend 3 times as much money for basically the same amount of traffic on a road. Um, that's irresponsible. Um, that is an assault to the, uh, the private property owners who pay taxes in this borough. Um, it is, uh, very irritating to someone who has spent a lot of time looking at this, not as someone who's going to actually lose land to eminent domain, which is where it's headed. I mean, you guys can say anything you want, that's where this is headed, and, um, it's going to Maybe it doesn't fall under any of your, uh, tenures on the assembly when this boondoggle of a cost project that would, uh, gets funded.

But, uh, spend them on our taxpayers' money more wisely. The MPO had, give or take, 7-10% same cost upgrading Storm Road as it is to build this northern route. And by your own consultants' estimations for traffic, Ingstrom Road carries 5 times or more traffic than this northern route would.

I don't know really what else to say other than, um, I'm very disappointed that it was pulled. And that there was absolutely no discussion. There was really not allowed to be any discussion on— you don't put something back on the agenda and then you pull it unless there's a real, real good reason. I mean, I would be very curious to know what that really good reason is to put something up for reconsideration and then immediately pull it.

Good night.

Anyone else?

Okay, do we have— okay, ready? Go ahead, whoever's online first, go ahead.

Hello, thank you, assembly members. My name is Louis Calandri, and I have a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about tonight. The motion to reconsider RS26094, the selection of the northern route. Thank you for pulling it from the agenda. Hopefully it is not unknown reasons and it reappears at a later date.

The northern route is the better long-term fix to address growth in this area, move the traffic from where it's at out sooner than making it go through the subdivision down long winding Ingstrom Road. The Matsu Borough has long-term plans for a reason, and the southern route is not on it. The other thing I'd like to talk is campground upgrades. Matsu Borough adopted Resolution 24-099, which opposes the designation of Alaska Long Trail as a scenic trail on borough-owned land. The gateway sign under this grant undercuts that vote.

Motorized access is the wording that matters. I ask assemblies to adopt clear language in Resolution 26072 and in the record on Ordinance 26089 that acceptance of this grant and the campground work and any Alaska Long Trail name and borough property is not in support of a National Scenic Trail designation. It is not for the federal feasibility study and shall not be cited or submitted as such. The borough position in Resolution 24-099 remains in force. Thank you for your time.

Have a good night.

The next person online, please.

Good evening, this is Esther Huddleston, and I'm calling in regards to Ordinance 26-089. Resolution 26-072. I'm asking the Mat-Su Borough Assembly to please support Dimitri Von Hoff's amendment opposing the Alaska Long Trail as a National Scenic Trail. I'm concerned about the Alaska Long Trail Gateway, that it will become the plague of the Mat-Su Borough. If you build a trail that the federal government can take control of, the Mat-Su Borough is at risk of losing their rights to mineral development near the trail, logging near the trail, and other types of development would be prohibited near that trail if it becomes a national designation.

Also, motorized crossing the trail to access other areas would also be prohibited. In Assembly District 7, many people rely on trails as their road. And they use snow machines and four-wheelers to access their remote cabins or homes. And this would put a threat to Alaska lifestyle. So please support Dimitri Von Hoff's amendment opposing Alaska Long Trail as a National Scenic Trail.

And I'm also calling to speak out about Resolution 26-20.

-105. I'd like to thank Michael Bulls for bringing this forward, that school starts a day after Labor Day. Uh, May is too early to allow students out. It's still too cold. You can't do anything.

Allowing students out for summer break in June makes more sense. The school district is starting school in the middle of August, and many high schoolers are missing opportunities to work at the fair. And also, there's a lot of booths at the fair, and they're fundraiser booths. So all of the money that is made at the fundraiser booth goes back to the community. And now people who have churches that own these booths, the retired seniors have to work these booths and they don't have our youth helping out these booths because they got to be in school.

And also in August, you have 4-H, you have hunting, fishing, harvesting gardens, berry picking, canning goods. It doesn't make sense to have schools start in the middle of August. Alaska is unique. The cost of living is high, and by starting school in the middle of August, you're putting more of a burden on people and their families, and it just makes sense to have school start the day after Labor Day.

See anybody else online, sir? One last chance for anybody that hasn't addressed the assembly, would like to address the assembly at this time on any subject.

Okay, I'll close audience participation, and I'm going to go ahead and take a break, and we'll come back at— see what— 7:40.

So let's—.

So make sure he presses on your agenda if you have— make sure he presses star 3. Okay, can I go ahead and have the assembly come back to order, please?

Um, somebody ask me a question.

Okay, we come back.

Madam Clerk, go ahead please. Ordinance 26108, an ordinance accepting and appropriating funds for a grant in the amount of $500 from the Best Friends Animal Society, with accompanying Resolution 2698, a resolution approving the scope of work and budget for a grant from Best Friends Animal Society for the Animal Care Division Facility Programs Capital Project. If you're on the phone and want to speak to this, press star 3. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing for Ordinance 26-108 and Resolution 26-098, and we do not have a sign-up sheet.

Um, so is there anybody that would like to testify on either this ordinance or this resolution?

Do we have anybody online? No. Okay, I'm going to close the public hearing and, um, assembly person hours.

I move to adopt Ordinance 26-108 and Resolution 26-008. Okay, discussion by the assembly?

Is there any objection by the assembly? Okay, hearing no objection, the legislation passes. Madam Clerk, Ordinance 26-109, an ordinance appropriating $238,000 of interest earnings on the 2022 Series A taxable general obligation transportation bonds to fund 430 community transportation projects. If you're on the phone and would like to speak to this, press star 3. Okay, I'll go ahead and open the public hearing on Ordinance 26-109.

We do not have a sign-up sheet. Anybody like to testify on this ordinance?

We have anybody online, sir? We do not. Okay, I'll close the public hearing. And, um, you know, assembly person rolls. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move to adopt Ordinance 26-109. Discussion by the assembly? Is there any objection by the assembly? Hearing no objection, the legislation passes. Madam Clerk, Ordinance 26-110, an ordinance accepting and appropriating $331,569 in fiscal year 2027 Community Assistance Program funding with accompanying Resolution 26-102, Resolution approving the scope of work and budget for the Community Assistance Program and authorizing the manager to enter into agreements with 21 unincorporated communities within the borough.

If you're on the phone, would like to speak to this, press star 3.

Sir, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. And, uh, see anybody? We do not have a sign-up sheet again.

Okay, we do have somebody on the phone. Oh, okay. Go ahead, whoever on the phone, please.

Hi, I apologize. My name is Lori Clandry. I missed the public comments. This is my first time calling in and didn't understand how to work this. I'll just make very, very brief comments in regards to Ingstrom Road.

The—. Ma'am, the comments that were made—. Ma'am, yes, when we get to audience participation, which is right after this public hearing, please raise your hand again. Because this is not what we're not talking about, Ingstrom Road, right now. We're on a different public hearing, so audience participation is coming right around the corner.

Okay, thank you. Uh-huh. Okay, so if anyone would like to testify on Ordinance 26-110 or Resolution 26-102, I don't see anybody. We do not have anybody online. Go ahead and close, uh, public hearing.

And Councilman Bowles, go ahead. I move to adopt Ordinance 26-110 and Resolution 26-102. Okay, discussion by the assembly?

Any objection by the assembly? Hearing none, then the legislation has passed. And then we are to audience participation again. Do we have another signup sheet? No.

Okay. And now, already, ma'am, go ahead online.

Hi again, my name is Lori Klandry, um, and I just want to follow up on a letter I wrote to my representative, Mr. Gamble, in regards to Ingstrom Road. And listening to the comments tonight, I'd like to add something to that. Um, one thing to consider with the northern route, and I appreciate that people are concerned about eminent domain to provide that access. One thing that I haven't heard anybody mention is that if you go with the southern route, Ingstrom Road is wholly undersized for the traffic existing now, and it's just going to get worse. So that means Ingstrom Road will have to be widened and improved, and in doing so, that will require you to do eminent domain or purchase those properties and tear down people's homes.

So the southern route is not any better, you know, from that aspect, and that's just going to cost additional money. So it's not cheaper, it's not better, it's just kicking the can down the road. And unfortunately, my opinion of the borough is that you're— that that's something that happens a lot here, and it really needs to stop. Money needs to be spent towards actually improving our traffic systems through Wasilla now is just horrendous. And my understanding that that whole Wasilla bypass has been mothballed again, and that's a significant problem to the taxpaying residents of this borough.

Um, also, I'm just going to throw my comment in here on the Resolution 26072 and let you know that I support that and would like to see the borough maintain access for the residents A big part of how we enjoy Alaska here is using motorized equipment, and to have that potentially be taken away by something that— some simple decision that's made now is just unacceptable. Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

You did very well, so we hope to hear from you again sometime. Thank you. Uh-huh. Yeah, is that the only person online? Oh, okay.

Go ahead, whoever's next online, please.

My name is Greg Sint. I tried calling in the first comment period and couldn't get in. I plan to thank you for reconsidering Resolution 26-094 regarding the proposed Angstrom Trunk Connector. I think it was obvious that some Assembly members were confused at the December 15th meeting and did not really know what they were voting on. Pulling this item from the agenda tonight seems very unusual and disturbing.

I'll present my comments as I had planned prior to the agenda revision to get this information on record. Approximately 1.5 miles of the northern Route 1 cuts through our property owned by my wife Patricia's family. I am also a civil engineer with 45 years experience as a professional engineering consultant. The following are my opinions based on a technical review of the Route Selection Report and other considerations. If you had decided to construct Connector Road tonight, you should select the southern route.

That's my opinion. The traffic analysis in the consultant's route selection report indicates the southern route provides better relief from the congestion near the Bogart intersection. Therefore, the southern route is technically a better alternative based on the report. The report was slanted towards the selection of the northern route. It appears the port may have been written from the perspective of having a conclusion reached before the report was written.

Route selection report includes a map with planned residential developments. Only one planned development is located south of Texal. All other large developments are located north of Texal and would surely utilize the planned Texal connection to the Fish Hooks rather than travel south on Engstrom to the northern Route 1 connector. Therefore, it appears the northern route would primarily benefit only one development. This raises the question of what really drove the Public Works staff to push the northern route.

The southern route has additional advantages: significantly less cost, it can be constructed sooner, provides relief from truck traffic issues at the new gravel pit on Bogart, property owners are willing to sell right away, and the majority of the public supported. The southern route is a feasibly feasible and technically preferable alternative to the northern Route 1. The taking of our property for Northern Route 1 construction is not justified. An alternative decision tonight could be to construct neither the Northern Route 1 or Southern Route in the near future. The impacts of the planned improvements along the textile extension to provide a connector to Palmer Fishhook and Wasilla Fishhook would be evaluated prior to deciding if an Engstrom trunk connector road is needed.

I sincerely feel you are making a wrong decision regarding selection of Northern Route 1. We suggest the following alternative approach: construct Southern Route 1 now, the southern route now, complete projects currently in the design phase including Texel Drive extension, Engstrom extension, Texel Drive, and the Engstrom-Bogart roundabout. Then evaluate the need for and location of an additional collector connector after these improvements are completed. Thank you for listening to this.

We have another person on the line. Go ahead.

Yeah, this is Mike Blexley from Willow. I'm speaking for the amendment to RS26072. The assembly has already passed the resolution stating that it does not endorse a National Scenic Trail designation for the Alaska Long Trail due to the overreach from the federal government on usage But it's important to realize that the Matsu Borough asked for money to put up the Alaska Long Trail Gateway sign. That could easily be interpreted as supporting all that comes with it. Adding this amendment to RS26072 would make sure that the borough manager has not given away the borough's position in order to get a grant from the Rasmussen Foundation.

Thank you. Is that the last person on the line? Okay, anybody else?

Can I get you to turn the mic on? It's the button right there. Thank you. My name is Jolene Coleman, and I would have talked earlier, but I was a little bit upset. We've worked really hard talking with many people about trying to get in a better alternative than stealing somebody's property.

How would you like it if it was your property and we determined that your property was needed more for other people and not you? All of a sudden your rights become less needy than because other people need it. Is that owning your property? That is not owning your property. I understand if there was no other way and that was the only thing that could be done, but there has been a presentation for a cheaper, faster done route.

It might not be perfect, but neither is $30,000 or $30 million and waiting how many years. By the time that it gets approved, now is it $60 million? No one's going to pay that. We take somebody's property away, and the flippant way it was said that, oh, we have lawyers, it could happen fast— that's not okay.

Why would I even want to stay living in the Matsu borough if I have to worry about you guys deciding that my property is needed for everybody else? Thank you.

Anyone else?

Hi, thank you, assembly. Uh, my name is Lane Stiers. I'm here to talk on behalf of ordinance 26, 107, accepting and appropriating the funds from the Matsu Health Foundation for the installation of a refrigerated arena dashboard and plexiglass system at the Big Lake Lions Recreation Center. Uh, I am the coach of Houston High School hockey team. I was born and raised in Big Lake.

I was there when the rink was put in. I worked there in high school. I still take my hockey team— we volunteer there every year to help things run smoothly. Unfortunately, over the last few years, the weather does not cooperate with us very much. So because of that, we've had to schedule the majority of our games at other rinks.

We get warm spells during the winter, we got to pull, pull kids out of school early just so we can get practice time at the other rinks. And, you know, Houston High School, we're also combined— our hockey team's also Redington High School. Aansuu Valley High School.

Um, so this improvement would help us tremendously, uh, be able to have an official home rink that our team can call home. Um, I also coach, um, multiple different, um, youth teams in the valley, and we're always hurting for more ice, right? We always can't find ice time. And, uh, I know it's been tough trying to convince people because for years I'm trying to convince other associations of people, hey, come out to Big Lake. But there's the risk.

They get the ice and then next week it's 45 degrees, we don't have ice anymore. So they don't like taking that gamble on going and getting ice at Big Lake. But I know if we have refrigeration there, and I know if we have better dashers and the facilities a little better, that the other organizations will schedule ice time there. And I, I think it will be a, a great addition to the valley. There is a lot of interest in hockey from Talkeetna to Big Lake.

A big issue is the amount they have to drive to get, to get to hockey practice, right? Because the closest rink is in Wasilla. So getting a nice reliable rink with refrigeration in Big Lake I think is a huge improvement for the Valley and for the youth around. So thank you.

Anyone else?

Do we have anybody else online, sir?

No. Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and close audience participation.

And Madam Clerk, I guess we're You will present agenda. Okay. Yeah. Resolution 26-101, a resolution amending the scope of work and improving the amended budget for the lowboy replacement project, the Cell 4 expansion project, and the solid waste enterprise funds for the design and build of the Central Landfill Household Hazardous Waste Facility project. Resolution 26-106, a resolution authorizing the borough manager to enter into an agreement with Drennan Construction and Consulting to extract approximately 50,000 tons of borough-owned pit-run material from either the Alsop and turn into Turrum Materials District, or Lorraine Materials site, for the Port McKenzie Barge Ramp Construction Project.

AM 26-134, approval of final completion date extension for contract number 25-191B with Valley General Construction to August 31st, 2027, for the Crimson View and Heavenly Meadows Street improvement projects. AM— excuse me— 26-135, awarded bid number 27-19B to Rosenbauer General Fire Apparatus in the contract amount of $641,917 for the purchase of a water tender for the Talkeetna area. Okay, Assemblyperson Bowles. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move to approve the consent agenda as read into the record by the clerk.

Okay, is there any objection from the assembly? Madam Mayor? Yeah, uh, you know, it didn't jump out at me at first until they read out, but I have bought gravel from Valley General. I don't know how much, probably several thousand— thousands of dollars worth, and they're on this action memorandum. So I guess I would disclose that potential conflict and ask for your ruling.

I don't think it has any bearing on my decision. And which one was that on, sir, did you say? Which—. That was, uh, action memorandum 26-134 with Valley General Construction. I've probably bought several thousand dollars worth of gravel from them this, this fiscal year.

Okay, and you've done work with them now or anticipate, right? They have a gravel pit and I've bought gravel, and I mean, it's like going to a Quick Stop, you know, they got the gravel, you need it.

I think you're fun. Anybody Okay, any other? Okay, um, so we have a motion then, or no objections, I guess, right? So the consent agenda as read has been approved. But now, Madam Clerk, you have some others.

Resolution 26-105, a resolution requesting the Manaus-Cusco-Neville School District change the date of the first day of school for all schools throughout the borough to the day after Labor Day. Pulled by Assemblymember McKee. Okay, that's my person. McKee, would you please move the resolution and then present your thoughts? Yeah, I moved Resolution 26-105 and I would like to speak briefly to it.

Okay, now go ahead and discuss it. Well, I taught for over a quarter of a century in this, in this borough, and I started out with the you go in after Labor Day and you finish up a little bit later in the year. And it was fine because kids are at the end of the year in May, they're already on the step. They're getting up early every day. They just sort of cruise on out and it's easier to keep doing what you're doing than all of a sudden in the way they changed it around now, the way they've had for the last many, many years.

Yeah, they get out earlier, but geez Louise, they come back when the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the fair is going and blah, blah, blah. I understand it, I approve of it, I argued about it for 100 years— no, 26 years actually. I was surprised at the number of parents that wanted this going back before labor. In fact, I was stunned. I didn't hear very many.

I thought all of our arguments— yours, Mr. Bowles, and mine, if I can talk to you— my thoughts on it made perfect sense. But I'm just wondering, is this something that we should— I know it's a resolution, but is this something that the parents get to vote on? Because they are the ones getting the kids up and off to school. I just wonder if we run into anything by approving this, because I'm 110% approval. Who do I— of whom do I ask that question?

Assemblyperson Bull. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Assemblywoman McKee. Um, so this, this is really more of, you know, we don't have any authority of the school board. This is more of a conversation starter. This is myself and my school board member and some other people that— how this conversation started was all these school bus cancellations, and we're racking our brains, how do we, how do we do that, how do we address that?

And then it grew into, well, what about farmers? We did a—. So my wife and I and some others took a farm tour at VanderWeel and they were talking about, yeah, all of our helpers just went back to school and, and so it just kind of grew from there. And so that's, that's where this came from. And my wife, born and raised here, and she talks about how it used to be when she would go to school after Labor Day and her youngest brother was 20 years younger, didn't get that opportunity and couldn't go hunting with their dad, my father-in-law.

And, um, missed that opportunity. And so, um, you know, at the, at the last joint school board meeting with us, um, uh, School Board Member Berge made some comments that, you know, technology is great, moving forward is great, but sometimes it's not always great. Sometimes you got to look at things, just say it was better back in the old days. And, and, um, so that's kind of, that's, that's kind of, that's the I guess, story behind this. As far as, um, fam— or, you know, parents deciding and those sorts of things, I, I think this is a discussion starter.

I think that that's a great discussion to have. Hopefully the school board takes this up. Hopefully we pass it, goes to school board, they discuss it, family members show up and they discuss this. And maybe the answer is, well, in Palmer this works, but Wasilla it doesn't. Or, or, you know, or, you know, so, um, I, I don't have that answer.

Another question that I received was Well, when will school end? Well, that wasn't— yes, yeah, and so that's not— and I didn't want to put that in there because that's not our decision. This really is a conversation starter, and hey, 20 years ago this worked, and, you know, this will help out ag, this will help out CTE, 4-H, Future Farmers of America, and maybe it'll help out the school bus cancellations. And so, yeah, so I think very good question, excellent question. But I think that one is probably, hopefully, part of the discussion further down the line.

Okay, so we're basically then just cheerleading this on. And I will tell you another thing, as a teacher and you're looking out at 40 desks and, you know, there are 15 of them that aren't filled because the kids are working at the fair or doing all this other stuff— I think it's a lousy idea in the first place. Good on you for bringing it. I hope I'll certainly support it.

Okay, further assembly person Gamble, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, and you touched on that by when is the school year going to end, because we're going to be starting school approximately 2 weeks or more later. So that's going to push the end of the school year back to June. So now we're going to get into fishing season where a lot of kids go out and help their family at fish camp and stuff like that, and a lot of families in Alaska start vacations in, in June.

So you're absolutely right, I don't mind having a discussion. It's something that we should to hear what the parents have to say, but there is a cause and effect. So yeah, we just need to think about that. Thank you. Assemblyperson, follow-up?

Um, question to Lonnie: when is our next joint meeting between occurring? As it says now, if you may find— because I find this topic with having 6 kids myself, that I think it'd be good to hear, um, from parents. It'd be a good discussion to have with the the school board. And if we, I think, put that as one of the items for discussion when we do have the next meeting, I think that would be very appropriate time. Because if we take this position with— without really hearing them or discussing it with them, it might put us in a, um, in a position where we took a position without, like, being informed the reasons why and everything done.

So I'm just a little bit hesitant to, um rush with that discussion to have. I absolutely support, and I would— I think it actually will probably align more with internationally how the summer breaks are being done. So there's a lot of valid points that have been made, but I think we'll hear from parents. We might get a really a lot of support towards it, but I'd like to have that discussion with the school board and have it put on maybe as an agenda item when we have the next joint meeting. And I think we'd probably get decent amount of turnout and, and parents.

And then we'll hear it from administration how realistic it is too, because I'm sure there's more than just us writing a resolution. Assemblyperson Gamble. Yeah, just one last thing. Also, Assemblymember McKee knows this, they have snow days during the year where they have to close schools, and so those all get added on to the end of the school year also. So we could really be pushing the end of the school year out quite a bit.

Thank you. Okay, Assemblyperson McKee. And sometimes even with the snow days, they say, "Nah, this is Alaska, forget it," and they don't extend it. And sometimes they do, and I cannot give you any rationale for that. I'm hope—.

It's not—. Are you—. I—. Are we going to make an amendment to this to wait until the next school board meeting? Because that might be— gives a little more traction.

I, I think that might be a good idea.

I would support that.

I would support an amendment like that. Well, does somebody want to make it, or was it just a suggestion, or— I— well, Mr. Fono brought it up, so you should probably make it. I would like to get an answer from Miss Clerk on a date. December 8th. December 8th.

So I think it's, uh, not unreasonable to schedule— postpone this to past that meeting. And then after we have the discussion with the school board, and then depending on this, then we'll be very well informed, uh, whichever the meeting falls right after that, our general meeting, and make a decision if we want to take that position. And that, I think, that would be wise thing to do. That's how I would— so I would like to make the amendment to postpone to what What would be the next meeting in December following the school board joint meeting, Miss Clerk? December 15th.

15Th. Okay, so, and then I have two people that want to speak before, so Assemblyperson Bowles and then Assemblyperson Nellers. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So not in disagreement or agreement, just if we do, we probably need to amend it to remove the language I, I think I put it in starting 2027, so maybe we would need to amend the resolution starting at the next school year, um, because obviously, um, if it, if it's first discussed at a joint meeting and then it gets pushed off, pushed off, 6 months isn't a whole lot of time for a school district to prepare. Um, I was— my thought was if we pass it on to the school board now, the school board works on it within a month or two.

Um, and so just, just a thought. Maybe, maybe we do it, maybe we don't. But right now, um, if it does go all the way through, the school board agrees, the date's 2027. So the next school year starting in 2027. So I just wanted to throw that out there.

Okay. So, Assemblyperson Howard, I just—. I take this like this is just a conversation starter, and at the, the end of the day, it's the school board that's going to make the decision. So I think they would get our intent, like, hey, let's take a look at it. You got the busing situation, you got some other things.

Um, I don't think we need to have like a meeting here with the school board and then parents have to go to the school board. I think we could send this to them and then they can have the, the meeting with the parents and, and go from there since it is in their court. So let me be sure, and Assemblyperson Bowles, Madam Clerk, do we need to do that secondary amendment then to change those dates and then do the postponement? Or give me some instructions, please.

Madam Mayor, you could postpone it. You could amend it and postpone it. It's up to you. Okay. All right.

So for the assembly, do you want to consider doing the amendment for the change of the school year prior to considering the postponement? Or in this, uh, do we have an amendment on the floor? That was my question. No, he suggested it. Oh, okay.

Assemblyperson Sumner hasn't spoken yet. Let me get his in. Yeah, I'd just like to point out we're spending an awful lot of time up here discussing what is just a request to the school board. We have no power. I mean, you could— you'd accomplish this each of us individually, but just calling up the school board members and telling them we feel this way.

So I, I call the question, whatever the question is.

Okay, well, the question I believe is to postpone.

The question is to adopt. There was never a motion to postpone, Mayor. Oh no, I thought Assemblyperson Faulkner made it. I, I did made it, but you didn't fully kind of— I guess I was kind of hanging left hanging out, and I think he was willing to make a secondary amendment, and we never really got it going. He asked for a date and he never made the motion, Madam Mayor.

Oh, okay. So when you suggest— told him the date, he didn't agree with you? Okay, so, uh, let's take—. Right now we're on the calling of the question. There's no debate at this point.

We need to move to calling for the question, right? So, is it— do we have objection for calling? Yeah. Okay, so we do have objection for calling the question. Okay, if I can get the members in the room to go ahead and vote on calling for the question.

Assemblymember Bernier. No, and I'd like to talk at one point. Okay, Madam Mayor, it has failed with Assemblymember Sumner. Gamble, Bowles, and Nowerson support. Okay, all righty.

So Assemblyperson Bonner, go ahead since you haven't discussed yet.

No, they have to have 5 votes to stop debate. You have to have 5 votes. So Assemblyperson Bonner, go ahead.

I would like to move forward Demetrius amendment. Okay. And as far as a secondary amendment, I think we can make that December 15th meeting. So it would just be Dimitri's amendment. Okay.

So that way it gives feedback from the public, the school board, and then by December 15th we should know.

Well, I thought that's what Deputy Mayor just said. He wanted to make that motion to do the postponement. He didn't? He wanted to do the last amendment. He never moved it.

Can we have a motion on the floor? I thought, I thought he said he wanted—. I would like to move Dimitri's—. That's what he said. Yeah, amendment.

He wants—. So let's clarify. You want to move to postpone Until 12— what is it? What's the date? 15.

Thank you. 12:15. Thank you. That's what I was waiting for, Madam Mayor. I would never say that.

Oh, I understood he had said it. Okay, already. So there is an amendment now on the floor to postpone. So the discussion is on that. Assemblyperson McKee and then Sumner.

I'm kind of back to Jump Street on this thing. It's right. This is simply putting it out there that maybe this is a good idea to do this. It's not really our job to do it. It's the school districts, whatever process that they use to make this happen.

We don't really have any input on that. I think this is just letting everybody know, hello out there, we really think this is a great idea and nothing more than that. So I'm just going right back to the beginning and voting against the amendment and for the Uh, whatever that is, resolution. Okay, Assemblyperson Sumner, I call the question.

Yeah, so okay, so there's a question now has been called, right? Okay, as clerk says, that's what has happened. Okay. I can get the members to go ahead and vote. I'm calling for the question, and I think we have an objection to the question.

Yeah, so they do have to vote. Assemblymember Bernier?

Yes. Madam Mayor, it is passed with Assemblymember Bowles and Nowers opposed. Okay, let me get this down real quick. Sure.

Now we are on the end of the postponement manner, Madam Mayor, to postpone to 12:15. Okay, so now in the amendment, you can't— we can't discuss because it said discussion is done with, so you have to vote on postponement. If I can get the members in the room to go ahead and vote. Assemblymember Vernier.

Yes, Madam Mayor, it has failed with Assemblymember Fanoff, Sumner, and Bernier in support. Okay, and Assemblyperson Bowles, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, um, the intent is to pass this to the school board and allow them to discuss it since this is their jurisdiction, and then they can decide to put it on the joint assembly meeting agenda if they'd like, or they can say go kick rocks. So that's the intent, is to start the conversation.

Then the school board, who has the authority, could say, hey, I like this idea, or no, we don't like this idea, or let's pull it apart or add to it. So we really aren't the decision makers. I think that we should pass this on to the school board so they can read it, and if they want to put it on the December agenda, that's the more appropriate thing for that. That was the whole purpose of this, was to get it to them, and then they can say, yes, we like this idea, we don't like this idea. And, and then go from there.

I don't think we should try to be deciding anything for the school board other than starting this conversation. So I hope that we'll pass this today and get it to the school board. Okay, Assemblyperson Sumner. I'd just like to point out I could have called every single school board member in less time than we've taken discussing this and told them to talk about this. So I'm calling the question again.

Okay, already the question has been called. Is there an objection to— yes, there is an objection to the question being called. Can I have the members vote on calling for the question?

Okay, Assemblymember Bernier.

Yes. Madam Mayor, it is passed with Assemblymember Fonhoff opposed.

Okay, we are on the main motion, Madam Mayor.

Is there— is there objection to the main motion?

No. Oh, Assemblyperson Sumner. Okay, I can get the members in the room to go ahead and vote on the main motion.

Assemblymember Vernier?

No. Madam Mayor, it's passed with Assemblymember Sumner and Vernier opposed. Okay.

The clerk a minute. I don't know if we have another consent agenda. We do not, Madam Mayor. That is it.

Okay, so now we're to the unfinished business then. Is that where we are? I'll give you a minute. Yeah, we're on unfinished business. Okay, first item, unfinished business, is AM 26-125, awarded bid number 27-1B to Orion Construction in the contract amount of $5,487,300 to construct a household hazardous waste facility.

Okay, there is a main motion on the floor. Discussion on the main motion? Assemblyperson Sumner. Madam Mayor, I also like to declare a potential conflict. I Didn't realize it before, but, uh, we— my company has used Orion Crane, who may be a subsidiary of Orion Construction, and we've used their crane services for thousands of dollars, but I've never contacted the owners or scheduled the cranes myself.

So I would ask for your ruling on, on that.

Okay, further discussion? Okay.

Yeah, yes, conflict of interest.

Okay, so on the floor is the main— I mean, on the floor is the main motion.

Discussion from the assembly on that. Assemblyperson Bowles. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, um, the price tag is, is big, right? But so this, uh, I just want clarification from the manager, if you don't mind, sir.

Answer. Um, this, this fund is not from area-wide taxes, right? This is fun. This is money. The money that's going to pay for this is, is from the money that's received through fees at, um, the landfill.

Um, also, I want to say I've had quite a few calls over the last couple months about the expansion of the landfill and, and the growth in the valley. And, um, I, I just, I, I think that this is an effort to get ahead of the growth Um, so on paper, this is a really— I think this is a good idea after reading more about this and talking with folks at District 1. The price tag though, I think, is, um, people balk at that. So if we could just get some clarification on that.

Through the mayor to the assembly, it is funded through the enterprise fund, which is not funded by property tax. Okay, so your property taxes are not going to this. So, yep, Assemblyperson McKee, is there going to be— oh, is there going to be more— I'm going to use the word encroachment, but that's not a good word— any more encroachment of the landfill into Crevasse Marine, where a lot of people recreate, including myself, horses and hikes and all that sort of thing? Is it going to take more area?

Through the mayor to the assembly, no, it will not. This relocates the hazardous— household hazardous waste up to where the new entrance is and supports it within that area, as opposed to where it's currently located at the old entrance on 49th State Street.

Okay, thanks. Okay, Deputy Mayor, are you trying to get in to discuss? I am. Okay, all righty, you got the floor. Is there— so I have a question there for staff.

Okay, we have this building. What? Okay, we have both staff here, so one of the staff is coming and you can ask your question. Did you hear Deputy Mayor's question here? You want him to repeat it for the side?

Yeah, I think that was for the size of the building. Is that what the question was? Is that what Deputy Mayor— that's one of them, he said. Yes. Yeah, so, um, first of all, Jeff Smith, Solid Waste Division Manager.

So there's a— there's generally, just speaking, the total size is 5,000 square foot of indoor space and the balance is storage. Uh, the design of the building is set up for a couple of reasons. It's for safety, it's for storing lithium batteries, it's for all the hazardous waste collection that we do in the borough. Our current structure is undersized, and what it's required us to do is have sea containers around the landfill. We store things in on pallets and in, uh, uh, side, uh, side curtain containers around the landfill.

So it causes people to move around and that sort of thing. What this building does, it puts everything in one place, makes it more convenient for residents and easier drop-off point, and keeps everything at the one facility. So now I don't need equipment or manpower to move things around the landfill. We have this design for the building, should be available for the next 40 or 50 years. As long as the building lasts, it's going to be useful and it's the right size for that.

So not only does it meet our current needs, it allows us the opportunity to meet our long-term needs in the borough. And to just to make sure everyone's aware of that, that what we do is we take the hazardous waste. I was asked this question earlier today. It's all taken for free. So we encourage residents to do that and to bring it to the landfill so that it doesn't get thrown into the trash.

And the reason for that is, is the fires that take place. Just last week, we had 3 fires on the tipping floor, which was actually a good thing because it happened instead of in the landfill, causing the major fires that we've had in the past to be controlled in an environment we could do. And those were simply because of rechargeable batteries. They, they, one of them was a vape pen that actually blew and caused a small fire inside that tipping floor. So that tipping floor has helped us.

To add to that, the DEC has asked us to continue to pursue this and they're asking us to even do more to mitigate what goes into the landfill cells. So this is one of those opportunities to get more material out of the trash that doesn't belong there into the right place, and we're going to try to come up with more methods, uh, perhaps more signage, more things that will help people realize that dropping off this material is at no cost. So this building is something that's very valuable to the community, very valuable to the manpower and the safety of employees, and, um, also for the fire safety that's we've had occurrences of it. I don't know if you had other questions you wanted to ask me, but that kind of a long-winded answer for how big the building is. Actually, okay, so that, that's $1,100 a square foot.

Is this a metal building? It is a metal structure, but it's designed with, um, a lot of extra, uh, concrete walls and things to protect from fires and hazardous. We had to build a, uh, some room, one particular room had to be double-walled for fire safety hazard. Some of the cost incurrences for this, almost a million dollars is going into just the fire safety for the building. Currently, our building is under-equipped for that.

It doesn't meet the current code limits, and when we had fire come in, we learned that as we were doing the design, that we had to build something with more fire impact in order to make sure that if fire occurred that it would be safe to get people out. So there's, there's a huge cost that was added just because of the fire structure loan. To give— so part of that is, is we had to add a— I believe it's a $40,000 water tank and a 35,000-gallon storage tank for the water that would be emitted if a fire took place.

Wow. Further questions, Deputy Mayor?

That's a lot of money. Um, no further questions. Yeah, if I may, thank you. Just to add to that, so it is a lot of money, but in order to keep everyone safe, if there's hazardous waste in the building and something was catching on fire, you got to get it taken care of before it causes a problem for someone. So it's got to be handled very quickly.

So it is a lot of money, there's no question about it. Uh, but it's absolutely critical, and the only way it can be built in the future is to be built with that kind of a fire suppression system. Okay. Assemblyperson McKee, do you have questions of staff? Yeah, just kind of briefly, if we don't do it now and we wait till later, it's like everything else we talk about, it's going to cost an awful lot more money then.

And we kind of tend in this valley not to do that because we didn't foresee the explosive growth. So just for that alone, I think that that's something should, should we just should do, but also I like the idea that it's the enterprise fund because it pays for itself. Thanks. Okay, Assemblyperson Gamble, go ahead. Yeah, and to add on to what Assemblymember McKee said, is the liability for the borough if we don't do this is going to be a lot higher than what that price tag is right there.

Thank you. Um, okay, any other questions from staff? I guess not. Thank you, sir. So the motion is on the floor for adoption.

Is there objection?

Okay, I don't see any objection. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, Deputy Mayor, I guess, injected. So members in the room to go ahead and vote.

Assemblymember Vernier.

No, Madam Mayor, it passed with Assemblymember Bernier opposed and Assemblymember Sumner recused. Okay, Mr. Sparopoulos, would you mind grabbing Assemblymember Sumner? Thank you, sir.

And then the AM26, right? Yeah, and we've got AM26-120, authorization to provide the Butte Community Council $15,000 from the assembly reserve for the restoration of the Butte Community sign. Okay, so the main motion is on the floor, and there was some handouts, I think, that were requested, uh, that were in your packet. So further discussion?

Okay. Is there any objection? Assemblyperson Fana. For which one we're at right now? AM 26120.

Yeah, I, I want to have discussion. Okay.

Um, last Is it okay? Um, last meeting, uh, I glanced, uh, just briefly on their Facebook because there was like a formal report coming up, and I think if you have in the folder, there is a, um, over like, I don't know, close to $54,000 that they are sitting, the Butte Community Council, um, pass-through grants, um, is also each year is, uh, over that amount. So I think, uh, if they would like to, um, do this, they should be able to just, uh, pay it for themselves. Um, because that's when you're sitting, um, on the over $50,000 and then we're putting $15,000 towards the sign. I think that's really unreasonable to ask.

Any further discussion? Assemblyperson Sumner, go ahead. Yeah, I think I'm kind of aligned with Mr. Farnhoff on this one. It's, you know, we're asking to spend area-wide funds on a specific community council, and it's, it's out of the budget cycle. And it very easily, you know, the sign's been there for how many decades?

It could wait another few months until the next budget cycle. And these kind of, uh, Specific appropriations can be— I mean, I don't know how else to put it besides continence with the rest of the assembly, you know, for everyone else's asks. I would of course be voting for no on all of them, like most budgets. But, uh, so for that reason, I'd be opposed to this. Assemblyperson McKee, this is our third go-round on this, and I've thought about it every time, and I always think the same thing.

I don't think it will bring one more tourist or one more resident to the Butte, which is kind of what you want to do when you want to advertise what you got, your product. They go there anyway or they don't, has nothing to do with the sign. Uh, I just—. I—. When we are asking our communities to pay more money for groceries, gas, and every other thing, maybe $15,000 isn't much to some people, but it's a chunk of change for me.

And I just simply think there's a better way to spend this money. I absolutely— and not only that, we bankrupt or assembly reserve. So if the folks want it, get out your hammers and your saws and take care of it yourselves, and you will take great pride in that. And then maybe somebody in Dubuque can be— it will add to the cultural— look what those people did, because that's one of the reasons we're doing it, the cultural thing of the community. Look what we did versus look what we asked other people to do for ourselves.

Deputy Mayor, I'm following Dee exactly like that, except I I would like to add, you know, this would make an awesome Eagle Scout program or project for, you know, this would really, whether it's Eagle Scouts, FFA, the community themselves come together and make a sign, I would I'm not going to support the $15,000.

Okay, Assemblyperson Bowles, and then Stephanie. Oh, I don't know. That's the way— that's the way it's here. All right, sometimes I follow directions. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, so no, I appreciate the concerns, and yes, and you know me, I, I don't like to spend other people's money either. This came by request, um, of a member of the Butte Community Council, and, um, You know, the sign was part of a series, uh, back that was put up back in 1986, I believe. Um, and, um, kind of the idea was also to honor the, the representative at the time that got this done, that got this funded in the 6 different communities. Um, so yes, it's actually, it's like $13,900 is the quote. Um, it is a lot of money.

It's a dilapidated sign. Um, it's right there in the Butte Fire Department area in the parking lot. And there is a lot of growth happening. And so the idea is to, you know, really make the sign back to what it was, make it shine as the Butte grows as well, Butte area. So I hope that if this doesn't pass, that maybe the— this project gets on the next budget for Butte.

But, uh, I think that this would be a good thing. I think this, this would honor the request from Butte. If it does not pass, I do like this idea, and I can bring the ideas back to the Butte Community Council as far as the suggestions on eagle projects. I was an Eagle Scout, and I know all about that. Um, I am an Eagle Scout, and, um, so yep, I completely understand the concerns, but I will be thankful if you do decide to change your minds and pass this.

Assembly person hours. I was just gonna say that is very a landmark sign. I know driving the Butte, especially in years past when there was less going on on the Butte, and I guess I'm with Mr. Bernier. Like, I think this is a great community project, and any of these communities that come before us, what I'm looking for them is their, their stake in it. You know what they've done first to show us like, hey, we've done all this work.

Work. So like when I was on Gateway Community Council, the school was putting in a garden for the kids and they asked us for some funding for the lumber and tools and stuff like that, but they were doing all the work and they, they showed us how it was going to be. And so any of these groups— I say this more for the groups that are coming to us— if I think, you know, from my— well, I guess I won't be here, but somebody else might have the similar perspective that if you show us how much stake you put into it, and, you know, you just need 1,000 to get over the hump and get it done. It has a lot more appeal, I think, than— it just makes it more appealing project. Further discussion?

Assemblyperson Fawna? I guess a question to sponsor. Why didn't the community council want to spend the money that they have an account for it?

Assemblyperson McKee, do you have the answer? I don't, but I— because I think what you did was really good. Oh, okay. So, all right, excuse me. All right.

Oh, gee whiz. Well, okay, let's leave it on now. Those young folks that just stood up at the beginning of the meeting, gee whiz, they sound like this is something they would jump on and they could do that. So there's just all kinds of possibilities. It will really be good for the culture and the feeling of the community.

Enough said. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, um, this, this was, um, it's not that the Community Council doesn't want to pay for it. It's that this was my first attempt on how to get this funded. There was discussions on getting it on the CIP, but as we know, CIPs kind of fluctuate on the list, and, you know, this might take 5 to 10 years, and it'd be really nice if this one particular person Taylor can see this get done.

Um, and so, um, really trying to help this man out and the Butte Community Council in that area. Um, so this is my first attempt at getting this thing funded, and I figured that this would be a, a faster route, a less bureaucratic route. And, um, if not, then it's back to the drawing board. I guess that answers the question in some ways. I just think they will be very hesitant to spend $15,000 of their own money, and they'll probably find a way to involve community and maybe the younger, you know, generation or somehow make it as a project and save that.

But when it's somebody else's money, it's kind of like, I think that's not the best thing. But, um, that's why I think if they didn't have the money on the account, that would be a different discussion. And then at that time, you That's still a high price tag, but because they do, I think that benefits the community the most. They have that money and they should use it.

Okay, so I assume there is an objection to passing the motion. So, Madam Clerk, if you get the members to go ahead and vote.

Assemblymember Bowles. Or excuse me, Assemblymember Bernier. I'm sorry, there was a B in front of me. No, no, Madam Mayor, it has failed with Assemblymember Fonoff and Bowles in support.

Oh, sorry, I didn't see you have the phone.

Can we redo that?

So I think we're— there are no vetoes. So, Madam Clerk, we're ready for the introductions. Introduction for public hearing on October 20th, Ordinance 26-107 with accompanying Resolution 26-097. And Ordinance 26111 with accompanying Resolution 26104. Okay, Assemblyperson Bowles.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move to introduce the legislation as read into the record by the clerk and set the public hearings for October 20th, 2026. Discussion by the assembly.

Any objection by the assembly?

Hearing none, the legislation has been introduced. Uh, Assemblyperson Bowles, vacancy report.

I move to confirm the mayor's recommendations as follows: Planning Commission Maxim Zagorny, uh, Knick RSA number 17, resignation of Joe Kisek. Okay, discussion by the assembly. Oh, sorry, and thank you, Madam Mayor. And I actually move to separate the question. I would like to pull the Planning Commission, um, recommendation aside and, and speak to that separately.

Okay, is there objection to dividing the question? Did you have your hand up down there, sir?

No. Okay, so there— well, I haven't heard that there apparently is no objection to dividing the question, so, uh, go ahead, uh, Councilperson. First we gotta vote on one. Hold on just a second. Okay.

Okay.

Just a minute.

Sorry, Mr. Mayor.

The first segment, Madam Mayor, is the appointment of Keith Seville— no, I fibbed. The appointment of, or the resignation of, Joe Sisek to RSA 17. So we have to take care of the first segment. Okay, is there any objection, Madam Mayor? Is there any objection?

Okay, I don't see any objection. Now, Madam Mayor, we are on the appointment of the Planning Commissioner, and we get— the assembly can debate that. Okay, I am— there's apparently an objection to the appointment for— in the assembly for some bowls. Go ahead. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So I just, um, before we decide on, on this, this person Um, I am curious if this person has any familial ties to any member on the assembly or any other position in the borough prior to moving forward. These concerns arise from, um, it— there's been a lot of, uh, appointments conducted recently with familial ties, and I think that we need to ensure the efforts made to make sure that there aren't as many familial ties to keep it as ethical as possible moving forward. So I would ask if anybody here works with this person or is related to this person that they let us know so that we can make an informed decision. Okay. And also, I think attached to the vacancy report is the, uh, the application for this person, and that person should state that on there.

But also, I will ask for the assemblies also. But yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I have no relation to him, but he is my electrician, which I, I didn't— I don't know if that's a conflict or not. I guess I was going to bring that up. But so he does work, he does, he does do some work for me.

Yeah, but that's how I know. Okay. And on, on his— on the front page of his application, there should say Um, you are— you, you know, does it say something there? It says no. No.

Okay, so on the application there's no— does anybody want to answer us? Assemblyperson Faroff, go ahead, answer. I don't have any relationship. I do not do business with him. I do know personally, uh, and he has been on the Planning Commission for District 6 before he moved to District 4.

He resigned the seat voluntarily because of the move to a different district, and then there was a different commissioner there that stepped down, and he was willing— he was willing to serve while he moved, but that time he resigned from District 6. So he was unanimously approved last time he was up for discussion, and, um, and, and it was a good representation for District 6. That's what I can say about him previously. Madam Mayor, if I could clarify, he does have a brother that's on a Gold Trails RSA board. Okay, assembly person hours.

I don't have an objection, but, um, I just would like to keep a close eye on the people who are serving on the Planning Commission. We did have somebody from one district who didn't show up for for multiple, multiple meetings and finally was asked to leave the body. So just as a general thing about the Planning Commission, that the people who do sign up to serve on it, that they're doing it, and if they aren't showing up, that somehow that message gets back to the assembly and we take action on it, because it did go on too long in the previous person's instance. And I won't go into who it was or why, but it's just, um, that's a really important board. Board, and we should have people who are able to spend the time on it.

Assemblyperson Sumner. Yeah, I mean, I just wanted to— I mean, it obviously has no familial ties to this assembly, but just like to point out, we have appointed people to do have family ties to the assembly, to boards and commissions before. I mean, ultimately, you know, you're trying to find members of the community that are willing to volunteer their time, a significant amount of time, and be committed to the position. And of course you're going to pull from people you know. So, uh, I guess I don't really understand the line of questioning.

Deputy Mayor, did I hear you trying to get on?

Yes, ma'am. I, I believe if he represented District 6 and did a great job, I'm all for him representing District 4.

That's what I've got. Okay, Assemblyperson Bowles. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So I, I do have some concerns. Um, the, the members, um, of this assembly are listed as his references.

He works with Assemblymember Sumner. Um, he's friends and sounds like, uh, he visits with Assemblymember Faunov regularly. I'm curious why this man, Stephen Bergen, was not recommended. And maybe we should switch out these names tonight and move, um, Mr. Bergen forward instead of this other person, just to make sure there's no ties there. I do feel that recently in the borough there have been a lot of ties to the same names, same last names, same associations, and I think that we really should probably take a very deeper dive into that, a deeper look into that, and then make sure that we are actually appointing people to these positions that aren't all coordinating things at the same time outside of, outside of meetings and things like that.

Okay, Madam Clerk, go ahead. Just to remind the assembly, these— the, the mayor makes appointments and moves them forward. The assembly does not do that. The assembly either accepts or rejects the applicants. I just want to clarify that.

Okay, Assemblyperson Sumner. Yeah, I mean, I can clarify this easily. I asked Max— his name's also Max— to apply for this position. You know, he did a good job in Assembly District 6, which was Mr. Farnhoff's district. I mean, I think everyone was disappointed when he had to— when he moved out of district and had to resign.

And when, you know, the person I asked to join the Planning Commission in District 4 couldn't honor the commitment any longer, you know, and resigned. This is the guy I immediately went to to ask to apply. And so, I mean, it makes a lot of sense that, you know, the guy that I asked to apply is also the guy that the mayor is asking to appoint, you know, uh, because this is my district and that's the guy I think would do the best job. Assemblyperson Nowers. Um, I, I was confused by this initially because I saw that he served in District 6 and then It was like, well, how is he doing District 4?

He served on District 6 for like 2 months, so I don't know that we have a great track record. Just so that— I don't, I don't know anything otherwise. And like I said, I don't have an objection to him, but I agree with Assemblymember Bowles that there is an issue of perception with this assembly and the bodies, the decision-making bodies, which is the Planning Board and the Planning Board are the key ones. There's a couple others. But those are bodies that actually make decisions for assemblies.

And if all the people are kind of in the same group coming from the same perspective, you know, I think it behooves us. It is hard to find people to serve, but you work at it and you can find people that, you know, will fairly represent the community. If they're all from one industry, all connected to one family, you start to, you start to have a perception problem. And where I, I think, and I objected when Mr. Farnoff's, you know, family members were put forward, because I just think it leads a bad perception. Not because I have something against those people, but if it's a Farnoff and a Farnoff and a Farnoff and a Sumner and a Farnoff endorsed person, you only have 14 people serving on those boards.

There's only 7 in each of the boards, you just, you start to have a perception, not anything else. But I think you start to have a perception that the people that are listening to you maybe aren't giving you a fair shake. Assemblyperson Sumner, go ahead. I mean, this feels like déjà vu. I think we had this discussion before.

You know, I don't— a perception is not a reason to keep the best man for the job out of the position. And I don't really care what his last name is or his first name or his industry. He's going to do a good job. That's the person I want on the commission. And as I think Mr. Farnhoff said before, elections have consequences.

You know, like, you know, us as elected representatives of our communities are also out there, you know, hitting the ditches trying to get people on these boards and commissions. So of course it makes sense that they are people that we know. That just—. I mean, who are we going to go up to strangers and ask them to get on boards and commissions? I don't know how that would work.

Assemblyperson Campbell, next. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Well, Max, I actually have done that, gone up and asked strangers to serve on boards that I have heard through the grapevine about their experiences. And I share your concerns, I really do. If his brother was on something other than an RSA board, I mean, it's They have almost no interaction with the Planning Commission or the Planning Board.

It's always through the road service supervisors or through the administration. And so I do share your concerns, but I don't think this is an issue at all. Thank you.

Okay, so, I have you down next, and then the—. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, yep. And so I don't doubt the quality of work that this man provides. The issue here is optics, and we have a responsibility as elected officials.

I— people call me regularly, they have concerns. The term has been used— the term that's being used is they are stacking the deck in their favor. And so there is an optic out there that these boards and commissions are being filled by a small group of people so that they can get things done in their favor. That may or may not be true, but that is an optic, that is a perception. So, um, it's out there.

And I think that, you know, uh, we have another candidate here, and so maybe we should postpone this. And maybe, um, I don't know, Madam Mayor, if you would be willing to maybe have personal interviews. I have recommended him, and what I would say to you and to anybody else If they say to you, uh, you guys are stacking the deck, ask them if they have applied or volunteered for one of the boards or commissions, and you'll find out that the majority of them will not do that. And so, and that's the problem you have. But go ahead, anything else?

I understand. So I'm not going to withdraw the nomination. No, I understand. And I have, I've had, I've asked multiple people to, to join as well, as you know. And so again, I'm putting it out there.

I've—. It's been a concern that's been brought to me. So as their representative, I'm putting it out there that there is that perception out there. So Assemblyperson McKee, just on a lighter note, some of you may recall my husband was on the borough for like 6 years, and shortly after I got elected to the borough, I had my opinion on something. He comes and stands there podium and disagrees with me.

So I'm telling you, just because you got the same last name doesn't really mean anything. So I, I, I'm— okay, um, Deputy Mayor, I call the question. Okay, is there objection to calling the question? Okay, we do have an objection to calling the question. If I can get the members to vote on calling the question, please.

Yes. Assemblymember Bernier?

Yes, yes, yes.

Madam Mayor, it has passed with Assemblymember Fanoff and Nowers opposed.

Okay, so the question's been called, so they—. On the main motion—. Give the clerk a minute. Are you ready? Okay.

So we need to vote then on the vacancy report. Assemblymember Bernier?

Yes. Madam Mayor, it has passed with Assemblymember Bowles and Nowers opposed.

Okay, all righty, then the next item is, uh, let's see, other new business. So there's a motion to amend something previously adopted. Madam Clerk, ordinance 26089, an ordinance accepting and appropriating $300,000 from the Rasmussen Foundation for the Matanuska River Park and Campground upgrades and the Alaska Long Trail Gateway installation, with accompanying resolution 26072, a resolution approving the scope of work and budget for the $300,000 grant from the Rasmussen Foundation for the Matanuska River Park and Campground upgrades in the Alaska Long Trail Gateway installation. Okay, I understand that there is an amendment.

I would go to Assemblymember Bowles first. Assemblymember Bowles, do you have an amendment? Madam Mayor, can I pass to Assemblymember Fonoff? Um, because I believe we are in agreement. Okay, so you don't have an amendment yourself?

Not at this time, I do not. Okay, so Assemblyperson Farnhoff then.

Does it need to be moved or it's already, uh, I'd like to move ordinance, um, uh, OR-26089, and I think, um, amendment's been in your folder, and I'm going to have ask Lonnie to read the things. Sure, so this is just an amendment. The main motion has already been adopted. Assemblymember Farnhoff moves to amend Resolution 26072 that was previously adopted by inserting another whereas clause which reads the Assembly opposes the designation of Alaska Long Trail as a National Scenic Trail because of the use restrictions and loss of local control over the trail. Okay, so now does he need to say he moves that or he didn't?

He asked me to move it, so I said Assemblyman—. So we move? Okay, good. Yeah, I'll briefly speak on that. Um, we had people spoke up, um, earlier and even the previous meeting, and I think there was something that was not very clear and connecting.

Um, I think in the previous, if you look at the references, uh, we've done several times where we took this position, but in this specific accepting, we just needed to make it clear that we are not, um, doing this designation and we opposed it, actually, as a matter of fact. So I think after talking to some of the community members that spoke earlier today and their organizations, they— to them, that was a big sticking point, and I understood why. And talk to Mr. Manager Brown, and he helped me to put this together where it's— I don't think it puts the grant in any risk, but yet it makes our position clear. Okay, further discussion on the amendment?

Is there objection to the amendment?

Okay, seeing and hearing no objection, then the amendment passes. Okay, the next item on the agenda is referrals, and we do not have any referrals, and the reconsideration was pulled. So we're to the point of parting comments. Mr. Attorney—. I'm sorry, it was a motion to amend something previously adopted.

The main motion's already been passed.

Yep. Okay, so we are parting comments. Mr. Attorney, no parting comment. Okay, Assemblyperson McKee, parting comments? Emily Porson Sumner.

Um, I think the surest way to piss off everyone is to flip-flop on an issue. Um, I, uh, it was a mistake for me to file a reconsideration and then pull at the beginning of the meeting, uh, without shutting down discussion. I apologize for that. Uh, also to the public, I did not realize there were that many people that came out to speak about it. Uh, my rationale for calling the question immediately was that we spent, I think, an hour and a half on it the previous meeting, which did have a public comment.

This, because it was a motion reconsider, would not have had a comment period specifically for it. So there was no, uh, diminishment of public comment period by pulling it, was my thought. But just the same, I did have second thoughts about, uh my reconsideration. Um, I, uh, did not— I think the southern route, uh, the southern Angstrom Connector route would be a waste of money, uh, for the reasons we went over the last time. And the northern route has plenty of opportunity to discuss in the future because we have not funded it yet, so it's not a foregone conclusion that that is even built.

And, uh, so I guess I apologize everyone that came out to talk about Uh, or I guess, yeah, I apologize everyone that came out thinking that there would be further discussion on the Angstrom-Bogart Connector tonight and for cutting that short. Um, Deputy Mayor, parting comments?

Yes, I'd like to thank everybody for coming out, and I just wanted to touch a little bit on The Ted Stevens destroyer was a really great thing to see. See our men and women in arms there, and it was just really a good way to remember Ted Stevens and what he did for Alaska.

On that note, I just wanted to thank everybody again. Thank you, Lord, for blessing the Valley. Thank you for blessing our state. Please help our first responders and our military. Lord, you know our needs.

We thank you. We praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Assemblyperson Nowens, parting comments? Yeah, I was at the Palmer Chamber the other week, and the borough staff was giving a great presentation on things that are happening in the borough, which was terrific.

And I think one of the key takeaways for me was they were asking how we can partner with people in the community. And so it really was a good discussion, and I thought that was a great thing to do. So hopefully it wasn't too onerous to be up there in front of all the, the chamber folks, but I really appreciated it. Um, one of the things that was mentioned at that meeting, um, was— and this concerns me— is that Title 43 that is being reworked. And, um, that was part of the suggestion in the, uh, growth solution study program that the borough was going to take a look at Title 43.

But then, on talking to staff, I learned that they're reworking it, but then a specific Assemblymember Sumner is going to carry the legislation. And I found that concerning because Title 483 is something that just affects everything in the borough. It affects how we do— it's basically our way that we do land use in the borough, and it doesn't seem right to have a single assembly member bringing the legislation forward and having kind of a first cut at what's included or not included. And so I'd like to direct the manager to have staff bring forward what they think is good for the borough. I think Mr. Sumner could bring, you know, his own suggestions, but I think those really should be separate on this issue.

So it's just a direct manner on Title 43 changes. The legislation coming forward would come forward from administration. Interject? Sure. I requested some changes to Title 43 as my own legislation.

If staff wants to bring their own legislation forward, I would not at all be opposed to that. But I mean, I will not have staff dictating to me what my legislation would be. So, I'm not suggesting that, but 2 different legislations. My understanding was that staff had started because this growth solution study mentions Title 43. They were on their own doing a rewrite of Title 43.

So, I think they should come forward with something, and you can— it's no— you can bring whatever you want, but I think that should come to the assembly clean of any particular assembly, any assembly member. Bring it forward. I think there's some conflation here because I separately before that study had asked for a specific set of Title 43 changes that the planning director had accumulated over the years. I sat down with him and some other industry professionals and reviewed the whole thing, and the majority of the planning director's recommendations I agreed with and said that, yeah, we should work on this. Title 43 thing.

You know, it's taken— I've been on the seat for 2 years. It's taken this long to get it moving forward because it's been a backlog of other legislation. So I think the Title 43 changes you were talking about are a separate thing, and they could run concurrently or simultaneously or consecutively or however you want them. Okay, this will be the last of this. Yeah, I would just note, so in that growth solution study, there is an appendix that specifically makes Title 43 changes, which is the recommended changes, and to the subdivision construction manual, which are something that staff came up with to recommend changes to us.

So I do think— I still agree, um, that you can bring forward whatever you want to bring forward, but any Title 43 effort should come from staff clean to the assembly, and then we can all debate what we think is the right way to go on it.

Okay, any party comments? That's a motion. Okay, Marty, I would just like to say that, um, I appreciate the staff that we have at the Bureau very, very much, but policy comes from this body. It does not come— policy does not come from staff. So if there are policy changes on 43 that needs to be done, it needs to come from the elected officials and not from staff.

The staff follows our—. Yours—. Decisions. Okay, Assemblyperson Sumner. I would agree with that.

I'm not opposed to another assembly member also, you know, championing those Title 43 changes that are outlined in that study, but should probably be another assembly member. I didn't agree with quite a few of them myself, so I wouldn't be that assembly member.

Any further discussion on the motion to have staff bring forth— go ahead, Assemblyperson Fono. So I, I mean, when the motion is this long, it's kind of hard to say. Even I think Mr. Brown is like, uh, was a little bit confused. What is the motion, to get a competing by a staff. I thought staff, we work with them and they help us implement what sometimes we ran or was idea, obviously.

And sometimes Mr. Attorney just shoots our ideas down because they just don't work. I've said that many times, and there were genius ideas in my head, but— or somebody that— or somebody else who brought it up to me, but then I found out that's not kind of how it works, or that's just plain illegal. So Um, from that perspective, I think, like Mr. Sumner said, if somebody has opposing legislation to change something, uh, champion on that, uh, bring them forward. But you have a staff competing against elected member undermining what they intend is— I think that's a pretty dangerous territory to go to. Okay, further discussion?

I'll just say that, um, I agree with you that this body sets policy, and the intent was not to, um, let staff do it. Staff could bring what is in those recommendations to us, and then the body as a whole can work those. I just think Title 43 is such a crucial piece of the, the puzzle in the borough that all of us— like, I mean, I guess, I guess we can all have competing legislation and ideas. It just seems messy and if we're going to open up Title 43, it made more sense to me, like, take those recommendations in the growth solution study there and bring those forward to us. So I guess I still stick with, you know, that I think that is— it again comes back to just kind of how the process works.

Um, and I mean, we can, we can do it that way too, have it have— I mean, I don't know what you're going to come up with. You know, it just— I think we could have staff bring forward suggestion to us, and then we set the policy. All day long, we set the policy. Assemblyperson Sumner. I mean, I'm going to vote no on this because it's repetitive.

I mean, you could at any time go to the staff and say, let's bring forward this, you know, write this legislation for me, and they will. So you don't need us to approve it. You just can introduce the legislation. That's the power of every assembly member to introduce their own legislation.

Further discussion?

Okay, doesn't Deputy Mayor— are you trying—. Doesn't the staff— yes, doesn't the staff usually ask the assembly person to sponsor something if they want changes? Me to take that one? Go ahead. Through the mayor, uh, to the assembly, sometimes, I mean, if it's a policy call, I typically try to defer to the assembly because you're the policy board essentially.

And so when it comes to like land use, for example, we tend to allow you to work that out. And, and some of the bigger rewrites, like for Title 43 for example, have been done by committee. Right? Like, they've involved community input. It's been a long, arduous process.

And, and the community growth solutions, I think we briefed that out like over a year ago, right? So if, if the motion was go bring all of those forward, like, manager, go figure those out and bring them individually forward, like, for us to consider, we could do that. I don't think that's the intent. Certainly planning has some items on their list, some of which they would probably characterize housekeeping and some that are probably otherwise. And certainly any one of us can bring those forward, but I typically leave that to the policymakers.

But I can go work with staff and bring some changes forward if that's what you want me to do. Um, but yeah, so there's only, there's only, uh, 9 of us that can sponsor legislation. 7 Assembly members, the mayor, and me, right? So staff can't just go out and arbitrarily bring forward what they want. They've got to get my buy-in as to whether or not that's something I want to put before the assembly.

But there's— I'm only one-ninth of this, so, and I'm not one of the policymakers. And so, you know, I, I can certainly work with staff and bring some things forward. It's just I want a little bit of clarity about what's the scope of that effort, uh, because That could be a lot.

So what you're suggesting is all the Title 43 changes mentioned in the Community Growth Solutions study? That was the starting point. Okay. Yeah, I can understand that. Okay, further discussion on motion?

Is there objection to the motion? Okay, there's objection to the motion. I can get the members to go ahead and vote.

Assemblymember Bernier?

No. Madam Mayor, it has failed with Assemblymember Bowles and Nowers in support. Okay, thank you.

I'm sorry, your mic's not on. What were you trying to say? Just finished my comments. She has Assemblymember comments. Much more comments.

Yeah. Um, On the, the appointments, I, after hearing that the person works with Mr. Sumner, that even gives me a little bit more qualm about it, that he— and I don't know how much, we don't have to get into it, but again, perception of the public. If this person relies on you for a part of their income, I think that is, that is a real, like, I mean if you were sitting there and the people judging you were all, you know, connected to each other and especially financially reliant, I think that could raise a question in their mind about how that person made their decision. It just raises the— so I do think that's something we need to watch out for. I have had the same troubles trying to find somebody.

You can— there are a lot of people in this valley and a lot of good people, and sometimes you just need to twist their arm a little bit that, hey, you could, you could be on this board and you could do it. So I don't think it's so limited that we only can pick family members and people we work with. Um, and then just on the Engstrom Road, I would ask that everybody take a look at that growth solution study that the clerk sent, which has a list of recommendations for things we could be doing to avoid the kind of situation we have at Engstrom and Trunk. Some of them are very simple, like the mandatory land use permit, asking the people subdividing land what their actual plan is. Is it going to be residential, commercial, or a multi-family, so that we actually forecast traffic?

And the development nodes, looking at these fast-growing areas, Big Lake and Parks Highway, what's happening there? Can we get ahead of it? Trunk and Palmer Sola, um, because we're spending a lot of money to fix a problem after the fact. So that $30 million, if it's $30 million, is $800 out of everybody's pocket. So we're saving on the front end, but we're not addressing things that we could be doing, um, that could reduce the cost for taxpayers.

It's just a shifting of cost burden, in my opinion. So, um, I would ask everybody just take a look at those solutions. If we're going to be taking people's land Let's start talking about some of those things in there, and I'm looking to the assembly members that are supporting this, the northern route, because, um, it's going to take more than me, obviously, to support some of these things. So, um, if we're serious about taking somebody's land, let's get serious about some of these non-ownery things we can do to avoid another Bogart and Engstrom.

Parting comments, sir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just a couple things. First of all, thanks to Houston Coach for coming out. It is helpful to hear how the things that we do or don't do impact others, and so I appreciate you telling us a little bit of a story and giving us some insight as to what it means for the Houston community and stuff.

That's, that's really cool, so I appreciate that. I have two things. One of them is an update on upgrading, uh, the tax and assessment system. So there'll be an update in tomorrow's weekly post about it. Just want to give you a highlight so if you hear anything, that's the backside system that feeds all the property data into My Property and Parcel Viewer.

So that data is going to become stale because it's going to get paused here on, uh, the October 8th. It will resume after October 20th. And so I just want to assure folks, the application's there. We gotta update the backside, so we're going to pause updates to the system. So it'll still be available to folks, but it won't be updating information over the next couple of weeks while we upside upgrade the backside system that we use to feed into Property Viewer or Parcel Viewer in MyProperty.

So I just wanted to call that to your attention. Those are heavy, heavily utilized applications, right? So I just wanted to make that, put that on the record so folks are aware of it, and we'll provide that update in writing tomorrow in the weekly post. And then my last update, I need to publicly own a mistake. Um, so, uh, on the— there was a— I think I saw some public testimony or public opinion that talked about the intent of staff to undermine the Library Advisory Board.

And I want to clarify, that's not the intent. What happened is, frankly, I'm just going to kind of be a little bit candid here, I'm a little frustrated with the amount of staff time that we're spending on things that are library— that are outside of actually serving patrons in libraries. Um, and so I, I got with Community Development Director and talked a little bit about how can we streamline some things to kind of move things forward. Like, I feel like we're a little bit stuck in a couple spots, um, and so I made some directing changes that resulted in a decision being rendered on 11 books that were flagged by the Library Advisory Board that should have gone back to the board for their formal review, whereas the decision was made before the review. And these are materials that are not in libraries.

These are materials that we were considering buying. Okay, so I just want to be clear on that. I'm going to let it stand because I don't think it's going to fundamentally affect anything, and in the end, I'm not sure the review would have changed the decision. But if the library board can provide that input next week if they want, it's my mistake, it is not Community Development's mistake. But I am going to continue to be involved and work on trying to make sure we're not committing loads of staff time to things that we don't provide externally facing services to the public.

And so I just need to own that so that you know it if you see that stuff and are reading into it. Um, yeah, and I'm gonna— we're gonna make a couple website changes and a couple of other things here by next week, so you might hear some more rumblings, um, and it's probably my fault as well. So if you have questions or concerns, let me know. Sorry to end on that note, but figured I needed to own that. So that's all I got, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Parting comments? Just a reminder, and I think you already did, a week from tonight we'll all command appearance here. Assemblyperson Bowles, parting comment? Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I just, uh, just— there, there's As elected officials, we have a responsibility to make sure that we are looking at everything from an ethical perspective. Um, one of the questions I was asked when I was running for this job was, if you're faced with an ethical dilemma, um, are you just going to stay quiet or are you going to say something? And I told that person, I'm going to say something. And for me personally, uh, when multiple people in my district throughout the last 6 months or so come to me with concerns that there are multiple people that are associated together, that work together, that, um, you know, they're— they have familial ties, they're getting all these positions, then, then it starts to kind of look like nepotism and those sorts of things. And so it's not personal.

I have a duty in this position to serve District 1. And, um, so, you know, this is— this is now the third or so person or fourth person that's come before me that's associated with this small group of people. And I just, I think that we need to make sure that we are trying to keep the, the pool of people very large that are making decisions. When the pool is very small, then you have discussions on work sites, you have discussions around the table eating meals on Saturday. I'm not saying they're OMA violations, but these things happen because we're human beings, we talk, we talk and we have friends, um, and that's— that can be inappropriate.

So that's where I'm coming from on that. Um, uh, so District 1, um, couple more weeks. I appreciate you putting me in the seat. I'm going to do the best job for you for the next 3 weeks until, um, the next person's here. Um, thank you.

I appreciate this privilege of, of serving you.

Boarding comments, Assemblyperson Campbell. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I also would like to thank the coach for coming out and telling us, you know, the far-reaching effects that that facility has on the borough, as far north as Sioux Valley High School, as far south as Reddington High School, you know, Houston, both the senior and the middle school, Big Lake Elementary, K'nit Goose Bay, um, schools, both of those elementary schools, kids from all over. And that's what this is really about. It's about the kids.

And giving them something to do and getting their parents out there with them, you know, in these programs that keep them off the streets and keep them out of trouble. And, um, I just thank you for coming out and, and sharing that. Yeah, having ice year-round is just going to be phenomenal for Big Lake, Houston, Willow, further north, Meadow Lakes, you know, K'nit Goose Bay. Just, it's going to be a good thing. Also, I'd like to comment on the, um, Bogart and Ingstrom thing.

I agree with the lady that spoke here earlier tonight. You know, the real fix is Bogart. I mean, that's the problem. I said that at the last meeting. You know, these other little fixes that we're doing, they're great, but the real fix is going to be when we get Bogart, you know, widened and get traffic moving on that road.

That's going to be the big fix. Thank you. Assemblyperson, final parting comments. Yeah, I don't think we finished the discussion of Ingstrom Bogart extension. I think that's going to continuum, and it might be meetings, it might be years from now.

So I do think once the roundabout is functional, like, we'll have a very good impact in how much that helped, what it improved. And then from that, we will still have plenty of time, not only just from the financial side of it, but from the input from the community before we ever get to the next stage before the shuttle hits the ground on either of those routes. I've asked actually staff, in the best-case scenario, even for the southern route, which people advocate for to be a lot quicker, how quick can that move? It's still a years-away project. It's not like that could be turned out in one year.

So there's a lot that— and I understand the Community Council and some of the individual people taking a position, but I also had phone calls privately that people reached out, said that, that what we chose is really long-term vision, not necessarily just towards immediate. But I do believe the roundabout will have a positive impact on that. As far as the appointment goes, I didn't expect it to go that because Mayor has been really good at getting the input from the elected official, which is somebody who ran for election and who is in a position for assemblyman to get their input before she moves candidate. Ultimately, it's her decision, but she's always been great to communicate with us and to get— and even to say, hey, this place is—. This is—.

Because the seat is vacant, do you have plans to make it? And you know what, it is hard to find people to step up and serve, especially in the middle of the day, to take, uh, every 2 weeks to take a whole afternoon or whatever it is off for pretty much for, for nothing, to be able to, uh, it takes a very special kind of group. And then you finally get somebody to step up who is willing to do it and to want to show up, and then we almost kind of start damaging their, um, maybe a character in some ways by doing that. I've been very vocal about getting people involved. Mr. Dawson spoke up earlier.

I ran into him just last week in the grocery store and I talked to him about being involved. That is the person. So I, Mr. Gimble, I did approach people. When I see people with common sense and they want to be involved, I said, always I showed to a vacancy report. I said, mayor has this much, put your application in, have him consider it.

Have interviewed them. I know some of my family members went through a rigorous process, including being interviewed by a mayor, you know. So, so I am saying, and there was many times that between even my own family, when they took one position on a planning commission, we took a different position. So that does not mean just because you have same last name, now you're going to be simultaneously robots thinking copy alike. So I do, in my own experience, once I got a seat, there was, uh, some positions that are filled for 3 years for Planning and Planning Commission.

So you could.