Kenai: 08/05/2026 City Council Meeting

We have add item E1, Ordinance 3534/2026 Amendment Memo, brought to us by Administration. Add item E.3, Ordinance Number 3526/2026 Amendment Memo from Administration. And add item H6, Ordinance 3541/2026 Request to Withdraw Memo, brought to us by Administration. Pleasure of council. Council Member Daniel.

I move to approve the agenda and consent agenda with the late.

Items as read by the mayor and request unanimous consent.

I second that.

At the, at the request of the administration, as provided in the laid out materials, I request agenda item H6, ordinance number 3541-2026, be removed from the agenda and consent agenda. Removal of this item is due to the applicant withdrawing the rezone request.

Are there any objections to removal of Ordinance Number 3541-2026 from the agenda? Hearing or seeing no objections, Ordinance 3541-2026 has been removed from the agenda. Would the clerk please read the consent agenda items into the record? Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. Approval of the regular meeting minutes of July 8th, 2026, brought to you by the city clerk.

Action approval bills to be ratified, brought to.

Brought to you by the administration. Introduction of Ordinance Number 3537-2026, increasing estimated revenue— I'm sorry, increasing estimated fiscal year 2026 revenues and appropriations in the general fund police department and accepting a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation passed through the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities for traffic enforcement overtime expenditures. Brought to you by the administration. Public hearing for on August 19th, 2026. Introduction of Ordinance Number 3538-2026, increasing estimated fiscal year 2026 revenues and appropriations in the general fund, police department, and accepting a grant from the Alaska High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area for drug investigation overtime expenditures.

Brought to you by the administration. Public hearing scheduled for August 19th, 2026. Introduction of Ordinance Number 3539-2026, amending Kenai Municipal Code Section 14.20.030, establishment.

Amendment of Zones and Official Map to Add Airport Light Industrial, brought to you by the administration. Public hearing scheduled for August 19th, 2026. And introduction of Ordinance Number 3540-2026, Accepting and Appropriating a Gift Distribution from Meals on Wheels of America to the Kenai Senior Center, brought to you by the administration. Public hearing scheduled for August 19th, 2026. And that is your consent agenda.

Thank you very much. Are there any public comments on any of the consent agenda items just read into the record by the clerk?

Anyone? Okay, seeing no one, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections?

Hearing no objections, the agenda and consent agenda are amend— as amended, are approved. Now we are down to administrative reports, and we have the oath of office for Ryan Coleman, our new Chief of Police. Ryan, if you want to come up.

Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I— state your name— I, Ryan Coleman, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America— that I will— sorry— I will solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America, the Constitution of the State of Alaska, the Constitution of the State of Alaska, and the laws and ordinance of the City of Kenai, and the laws and ordinances of the City of Kenai, and that I will honestly faithfully and impartially. And I will honestly, faithfully, and impartially perform the duties of Police Chief of the City of Kenai, Alaska, to the best of my ability. Perform the duties of Police Chief of the City of Alaska, of the Police Department of the City of Alaska, to the best of my ability. Very good.

Thank you. Congratulations.

Okay. We'll move on to scheduled public comments. We have one. We have Andy Wink online. He's with Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District to provide a 2026.

Housing assessment report. Mr. Wink?

Yes, hi there. Can you guys hear me? We can hear you fine. Great. Am I able to share my screen?

I can share on my end. Okay, actually, you can share on your end, then you can advance the slides on your own. That would be great. Give me just a moment to make the technology work here.

If you need me to share, I can, and then you can tell me to advance when you need to. No, I think this is going to work just fine.

Okay, sharing screen now.

Okay, you guys can see that? We can see. We have it. Great. Well, thank you very much.

Hello, my name is Andy Wink. I'm here representing KPED tonight. I've got a brief presentation for you about the housing market, most of which covers information in our recent housing report.

Housing Assessment Report. Um, I've only got about 10 minutes here, so I'm going to move kind of quick.

So first slide on population. Kenai grew in 2025. In fact, it was the second highest, uh, in population growth among the borough's 10 largest communities last year. Um, since 2010, it's lagged behind the growth rate for the overall borough, but has been almost double the statewide trend. And even though the Kenai Peninsula has been one of Alaska's fastest-growing places since 2010, you know, we can see that it's above average— or excuse me, that it's only about average compared to national trends.

And this kind of underscores how sluggish population growth has been across Alaska overall, but not so in the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Moving on, the Kenai area saw an influx of new kids in 2025, which is more good news, who we would assume moved to the area with parent or two.

Overall, the Kenai area tends to have more population turnover and tends to be a little bit younger than the borough overall. So again, these things have very important ramifications for the housing market.

Taxable spending was relatively strong in 2025 and in 2024. Wage growth for residents was about in line with the rest of the borough. You know, of course, the nearby Central Peninsula Hospital has been an important employment driver in recent years. Some years of better sockeye runs have brought back more tourists. Unfortunately, this year's sockeye run isn't looking as great as hoped, but overall I think we're seeing pretty, pretty strong local economy relative to a lot of the other areas in the peninsula and certainly beyond.

So I'd like to plug the actual report for just a minute. We created this housing report for two reasons. First, we wanted to inform a variety of audiences about what.

What is happening with the Peninsula's housing market. But secondly, and probably more importantly, we wanted communities, local leaders, and all residents to have a tool that could outline the challenges and opportunities that were unique to each area, something that could provide a comprehensive list of assistance programs and resources because they're out there, but they're all in, you know, dozens of different places. And finally, we wanted to have a collection of case studies because so many other areas are dealing with similar housing challenges, and it just made sense to see what they're doing and what could be learned from those efforts.

Um, let's talk about the housing stock. The housing stock across the Kenai Peninsula is dominated by single-family homes, many of those built in the 1970s and '80s. There's a lot fewer mobile homes around too, and so of.

Of course, this just means there's fewer options for affordable housing to house young workers, seasonal crew, or seniors on a fixed income. So we kind of have that missing middle piece.

Kenai tends to have less expensive homes than elsewhere on the peninsula. However, homes tend to be a bit smaller on average and a bit older on average. So that probably explains the gap with other Central Peninsula communities. And the value per square foot is actually about the same as the borough average. As we kind of go on to the next slide, the value of housing, housing stock in the area has kind of come up and caught up.

So I think we're seeing that stronger local economy and more migration in resulting in, you know, higher appreciating homes. According to Zillow, the value of Kenai Homes.

Homes has increased faster than most other places in the peninsula or Alaska. Homes are selling faster and the market is pretty competitive. So these are kind of the hallmarks of a supply-constrained housing market.

We got a lot of input from local stakeholders across two different days of roundtable meetings, and, uh, we'll— in our report also summarizes what the city is already doing You know, in general, residents are competing with non-residents for housing and land. Many homes have a lot of deferred maintenance needs. And as you all know, the city is seeking to rezone parcels for higher-density housing and has donated land for housing developments. Not enough time to cover everything. A lot of— a lot is being done, but there's a lot more in the report.

This one is about the, you know, the LNG project and what can happen with that. As we wait to see if the Alaska LNG project goes through, I wanted to highlight the Queensland and Valdez case studies in our report. In the early 2010s, a large LNG project was built on Curtis Island near Queensland, Australia. The housing market there got overbuilt and it crashed soon after the project was completed. A lot of homes lost 75% of their value from the peak.

Valdez, on the other hand, was able to weather a huge surge of pipeline workers in the mid-'70s much better as far as its housing market went. And in Valdez, the housing was mostly intended to be temporary, you know, a lot of modular mobile homes that were moved after construction, whereas in Queensland, you had pretty much too much permanent housing was built. And this ended up really hurting existing homeowners who had nothing to do.

To do with the LNG project. So I think this is a good case study, you know, and timely, obviously. There's also a good one in there about how Bozeman, Montana expanded affordable housing largely through the use of zoning incentives and tax increment financing. So I think that's worth checking out. That is all I have for you guys, and I think I kept it under 10 minutes, so apologize if I was going too fast.

Thank you, Mr. Wink. Any questions or comments from council?

I appreciate the report. And, uh, Madam Clerk, we'll have a copy of, of that too. Yes, we have a copy. Thank you very much for that. And, uh, are you, uh, if we had some questions, uh, later Is your contact information available to us?

Yes, I believe the clerk has my contact info. Thank you very much. Thank you for the presentation.

You bet. Thank you, guys. Are you able to take the share away from me?

You should have a button that says end share. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry.

All right, no problem. Wouldn't be right without a technology glitch.

A technology issue, now would it?

So now we're down to public— unscheduled public comments. Are there any members of the public who would like to speak on any item not appearing on the agenda? Mr. Baseman, expected you tonight. Good evening, Mayor, council members, administration.

Hello. I think over the last week you've received some, some emails from me, at least the council members and the mayor have, concerning escalation property taxes that, that I think that we need to address. And tonight, I know this is not a question and answer type situation, but I'm asking the council if they would address the residential property tax and what we can do specifically to put some exemptions in place to help the the escalating and compounding effect that's taken place over the last 4 or 5 years and also what I think we're gonna see in the near.

Future to help our property owners. My personal example, I provided to you with my own home and what my taxes— and how much it's increased over the last 5 years. And it's not, it's not a problem that you deal with specifically because assessing has to do fair market value. I understand that. But whenever we don't address it, we see these escalating prices.

And what I fear is that specifically our seniors, whether you're looking at our disabled veterans and just your young homeowners, the price of this, of the tax that we're going to see on an annual basis increase, they're not going to be able to afford and they're going to have to choose to do other things. And I won't speak more tonight except for, I mean, later tonight I know there's another open comment. I might come back and give a little more details, but I'm hoping that with what I provided to you is that it's at least enough to get started with the administration to provide all the details that you're going to need. I know the city manager can, can reach out to the borough and bring.

Bring in all the tax information. My goal here is to not hurt the city when it comes to the taxes that we need to do the basic services. But I would like to see some effort given to our property owners and what's happening there at that level. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Basin. If you want to wait a moment, because we have some questions for you. But I wanted to thank you for your emails and your examples. It was very clear and explicit. And I guess it also provided the information that we kind of— we're all feeling, all of us that are homeowners, you know, as the values have been increasing rapidly.

I don't know if they're going to continue to do that, which is a good and a bad thing. But I do appreciate your—.

If we were in Vegas, I would bet that we're going to see the exact same increase. Increases take place over the next 4 or 5 years. And I would bet a lot of money on that if this was.

If gambling was allowed in this situation. I think I would win that bet. We can have a gentleman's bet. Is there any questions of Mr. Basin from council?

Just similarly, appreciate you bringing this up and providing the details that you did. This is a thing I don't think a lot about personally, and so I don't have a lot of this information that you shared, so it's nice to have that as a reference and a lot of what looks like groundwork done. So yeah, thanks again for always being a member of the community and being involved in one way or another and sharing this information with us. I appreciate it, and I appreciate what you guys do because I know, I know what you do. And just, just quickly, just so the public can hear it, you know, my home increased over 18.5% over the last 5 years.

That's a big.

Increase. And I know that I'm not seeing that on my own. And if you rent, you're seeing it through rent that, that the, uh, the owners are paying. So again, it's, it's something that's happening. And if, if at a minimum— you guys know that I was at the assembly a year ago and we did, we increased the $50,000 to $75,000— even that at a minimum, my numbers would show that in 2 years, you'd be back to— I would be back to paying more taxes on my property.

Just basically, I would get a year of relief, and suddenly it would still start to escalate. So that's the issue. If you look at this one way, if you guys could take this on and do something, all you're doing is slowing it down. You're not stopping it, and you're still going to be getting more revenue. I guarantee that.

Thank you, Mr. Bazelon. And I want you to know too, since you're going to leave the seat, and I know that Mr. Banach is poised to come forward, but I think, I think this is, this is something that we will be taking up pretty shortly.

That's my intent. Thank you, Mayor. If you wait a few minutes. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Manek.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. Thank you. I'm going to follow up a little bit, if I may, from my friend Mr. Basden, who brought this subject to me a couple of weeks ago. In your memo that he wrote you, there is a paragraph near the bottom talking about the idea of a citizen-led initiative. I find that to be abhorrent.

Quite frankly, I hate citizen-led initiatives. Never supported one in my life, and I really don't want to break that track record. And I would love for this council to take this issue and make it their own issue. Several of you have met with me privately, and a common question has been, "What can we do for you?" Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Basen has packaged up and provided for you something that you can do, not just for me, but for each and every homeowner here on the Kenai Peninsula. I find it delightful.

Some of the information that I did not know about the city of Kenai tonight that was provided by KPED. More people coming into town is against the tide so far, uh, with the rest of Alaska. What does that do to housing costs? So when you question the idea, will housing costs continue to escalate, I think if you would have asked, uh, your guest earlier, based on numbers of more people moving here, what does that do to inventory? Perhaps you can ask Mr. Hall what's going to happen, how many more homes will be built.

But finally, the number one reason that I am here to support this isn't because I want to save $300. My property tax bill went down this year, not because of you good people, but because of what the borough did. The amount of discount this year from last on my borough side was greater than the amount.

Of increase from you. So while I can say thank you, my borough taxes are less this year, honestly, I can't give you the thanks for that. I'm going to give that thanks to the borough. The die is already set. Go talk to the mayor.

I've criticized you. I've asked you, uh, publicly, why don't you bring Mayor Peter Machicki over here to help you? Because he has done a great job in budgeting. And finally, I leave you with this. Many, many years ago, the last time I thought it was a good idea for me to be an elected official, not very many people did, but I did.

I used the phrase downward pressure on the budget. One of the easiest things in the world to do as a councilmember, I know this for a fact, is to spend OPM, other people's money. And you have a lot of it. You have a lot of other people's money. You have no downward pressure on your budget.

You have no budgetary.

Scary problems. It's time to reset where these last 5 years have taken property values and increased your revenues. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Banach. Any council questions of Mr. Banach?

Thank you for your presentation.

Are there, uh, Any other comments from the public on anything that's not on the agenda? Please come forward, state your name and generally where you live.

Yes, my name is Jim Harpring and I have— I live at 35001 Waterfront Way. Out of Saldanha, and I have no dog in this fight. I'm gonna be just— I'm just going to speak to it from.

40-Plus years of background. Mr. Mason was eloquent enough this afternoon to forward his position this afternoon that he was going to present here. It was a laydown. I read through the numbers very quickly. I also have been following this procedures as far as what the borough's taxation ages is, as well as the Saldana versus the Kenai versus the Homer versus everybody else over the years.

And with your budget reserve that you have available to you and the possibility of the oil— I mean, the gas pipeline terminus being here, the building boom, and especially after listening to the presentation tonight with the number of housing units that may be needed in the future in this area, you really might want to consider consulting with an outside independent person under contract to bring recommendations forward. I know in my previous professions, I didn't— if I didn't know the answer, staff didn't have a good answer to me, immediately go with a consultant that I really trusted.

Had the credentials and bring that package forward independent of what I may think or they may think or whatever. And especially if you have political pressure bearing on you to get a project under completion on time, under budget, on whole works, those independent consultants, if they're the right person for the right niche in your needs, serve a multitude of purposes. It's not only the political protection of what your decisions are made from,, but they also bring you ideas that may have not been considered to that point. And with that, that's all I have to say. Again, I have no dog in this fight whatsoever.

It's just that James and I go way back in other professions. And when I heard him speak on the talk show this morning, I said, oh my, this is right up my alley. And especially with this, looking at the numbers that he was able to make available to me this afternoon. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Would you mind sitting for any questions that council might have?

See any? Thank you very much. You're most welcome.

Are there any other public comments on any other items that have— are not on the consent agenda? On the agenda? Seeing none, before we move on, I think I think what I like to do is, uh, is move forward. If there's a— if we're trying to get something on the, on the ballot this fall, which may or may not be able to happen because of the timing, what we can probably do is that we'd like to direct the, the city manager to bring forward the ordinance for introduction at our next meeting. And I'll be happy to sponsor that with, with the idea that Mr. Basin has that for a $75,000.

$100,000 Property tax exemption in the city of Kenai. And with that, I'd like to also have a work session because there's a lot of moving parts here, you know, of our fiscal— physical— a fiscal analysis essentially. And, uh, you know, the city is in pretty good shape, but we're also looking at a new fire station or police station on the horizon, and that is going to require some bonding. It may— there may be some other tax issues with that. There may be some other, other points, but that's what I like to do is put that on the, on the city manager.

And also, uh, Jim that was just speaking, he, he suggested an outside council of some sort. Do we have the— do we have the, uh, the folks here within the city that can provide the information that you need that I'm requesting?

For next meeting. Mr. Eubank.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of.

Council, I do believe we can do a good analysis on enactment of a $75K primary residence exemption.

You know, I think there's always room for other ideas, but if we focus on that, I definitely think we could have a very good conversation if you want to have a work session before the next council meeting.

I would like to have a work session before the next meeting, and I think something like this is going to take more than an hour. And maybe not more than 2 hours. But let's— if we could, uh, you know, you haven't had a chance to think about it, but 4 o'clock, say, at the— before the next meeting, have a work session.

And Victoria and Deborah, if you're online, you can hear.

So 4 o'clock on the 19th is what we're thinking. Is the 19th the next meeting? Thank you. That could work.

Works for me.

Okay, uh, Councilmember Askin, or Vice Mayor Askin? Yes, that time will work fine for me.

Is Councilmember Sonnart still with us? Okay.

So Council Member Gremmie, I think so. I am not 100% sure because I have a conference call that afternoon, but I can find out for sure tomorrow. Okay, well, we'll, uh, we'll schedule it for, for 4 o'clock on that date, and hopefully it can work for everybody, even those that aren't here tonight.

Okay, um.

That brings us to public hearings. The first public hearing before us tonight is Ordinance Number 3534-2026, amending Kenai Municipal Code 7.25.030 and budgeted appropriations to allow the city manager to appropriate donations and grants under $10,000, brought to us by Askin and Gremy. Council Member Gremy.

This was brought forward in— after—. Can you make a motion? Motion on it? Didn't give me that. She didn't give me—.

I can make a motion. I move to enact Ordinance Number 3534-2026.

I guess I need to second that then. She didn't— I didn't get my script. Sorry, sorry for that. But I, you know, since you were the sponsor of it, I was just giving you the opportunity. So it's been moved and motioned and seconded.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak.

To Ordinance 3534-2026?

Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to Council. Council Member Gremme. Are you sure? That's positive. Okay.

This was put forward by Vice Mayor Askin and myself after conversation with the administration Um, and just within our experience on council, the amount of time that is spent by council and city staff, um, bringing donation and grant information before this council, um, sometimes for, you know, $500 or a couple hundred dollars, and often in upwards of several thousand dollars. Um, and that takes a lot of time by the council and by staff that could be better spent.

Doing other more substantive work. Um, so in an effort to streamline that process, um, and make better use of, of staff time and council time, this ordinance is being suggested.

Thank you. Uh, overall, I think for, uh, operational efficiency, I don't disagree. I think what I'd like to ask is if, if there's still a way for staff to report these case, um, maybe at least in the packet or in, in your, uh, your update at the end. One thing I really like about these coming in front of council is it gives us an opportunity to recognize, um, you know, members of the community or efforts of our team to get those grants, or those in the community who donate to us. And so, um, I still want to have that opportunity to recognize them and acknowledge that.

, Without, yeah, sitting there and running through ordinances for every one of them. But we just have a lot of generous folks here, and I don't want to miss out on that. Oh, uh, City Manager, you can probably answer that question, that concern. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So, um, page 7 of the packet, um, myself, City Attorney, and our City Clerk, Miss Sainer, sat down and talked about a process, that we would propose to council, um, under this new framework.

Um, basically what would happen, um, is, uh, within the council, like currently, um, under, uh, new business, um, there are items, um, action approval items. Um, any grant or donation of, uh, under $10,000 would get reported here, um, on a list.

We, we also discussed today, the clerk and I, that rather than doing a single list like we do for purchase orders greater than $35,000 are all on a single list, we would propose to list them individually here as an action approval item, that they be placed on the consent agenda. By placing them individually on the consent agenda, you can list who the donor is and the amount It also would allow, because we allow public comment on the consent agenda items, it would allow the public to then testify if they didn't think something was appropriate. If a council member wanted to speak to something, provide the recognition you're talking about being on the consent agenda, and I'm getting into Shelley's wheelhouse here, so Miss, I can stop and you can do this, or I can do this and you can correct me. You'll correct me? Okay.

Because they're on the consent agenda,.

If you wanted to specifically recognize the donor or a staff member for who applied for the grant, whatever you wanna do, you'd have to remove it from the consent agenda in order to do that. The other option is during council comments at the end of the meeting, council can have any comments they want in their time at the end. That's the process we would propose. That way it's still providing public notice of what the grants and donations are, what those amounts are.

There would be an accompanying memo for each of those that would describe what it's being appropriated for and what its use would be. And then Council can, if there's objection from the public, it can be removed from the consent agenda. And if it doesn't pass on the consent agenda, that just means the administration will bring back an ordinance like we do today for Council's consideration at a later meeting.

Well, thanks for explaining that way better. Yeah, uh, yeah, and thank you both for your work to sort that out ahead of time and explain that to me at least.

Councilmember Green, I just—. To assuage your concerns, the converse— we had multiple conversations with administration to make sure that this was crafted in a way that didn't alienate council in this process. Or eliminate any level of public transparency, because I think they're both integral to this process. And I, I think what has been suggested meets that need.

Vice Mayor Askin, I hear you had your hand out—. Hand up.

Yes, I did, but, um, but Terry answered what, what I was just going to reaffirm, that this was not to take away from any of the donations that we get. It was just simply making it easier for us to move forward. Thank you.

Any further discussion? Council Member Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxtad. I fully support this, uh, but I do have an amendment I'd like to make that basically changes the amount from less than $10,000 to $10,000 or less, as to capture those few extras that may fall right at that $10,000 mark. And I will read it as follows.

It's going to be a minute. All right, amend Ordinance 3534-2026 to change the authorized amount from less than $10,000 to $10,000 or less.

Title to read: An ordinance amending Kenai Municipal Code 7.25.030, Unbudgeted Appropriations, to allow the city manager to appropriate donations and grants of $10,000 or less. The third whereas to read: Whereas amending KMC 7.25.030 to allow the city manager to appropriate grants and donations of $10,000 or less will reduce administrative effort and legislative preparation.

Operations streamline council meetings and allow for greater efficiency in appropriating grants and donations by eliminating the typical two-meeting ordinance process. And Section 1 to read: 7.25.030, un-budget appropriations. For any expenditures not provided, provided an authorization in the budget for the fiscal year except as provided below, the council shall authorize such expenditures by ordinance making the required appropriation. For donations and grants to the city or any of its departments of $10,000 or less, the council conditionally delegates appropriation authority to the city manager, who will report all such intended appropriations to the council at a council meeting prior to the appropriation being made, at which time any council member may object to the inter— the intended appropriation by the city manager, and the appropriation will be brought to the council at a future meeting by ordinance. If no objection is received when presented to the council The city manager may make the appropriation.

Do we have a motion? Do we have a second? I'll second. Council discussion? Council Member Gritty.

Your— the amendment indicates the word many. Um, our grants or donations are at the $10,000 mark. Um, I think the word many is subjective in this in this frame, there really aren't many. There's been 3 since 2023. 2 Of them are in front of us today, and one of them was in 2023.

I don't find that to be a substantive enough difference to make it worthwhile to backpedal and make changes. And I think it's important to— there has to be a line someplace. So if today it's $9,999, we want to push it to $10,000. In 6 months? Is it $14,999?

Is it $19,999? There has to be a line someplace. And based on the information that was provided by the administration.

— And it's in the original ordinance— how many requests have been received under the $10,000 mark over the last 3 years, moving that line is not making a big difference for $1. Vice Mayor Askin. Thank you, Mayor Nixted. I agree with Council Member Grieme. I like the idea that these automatically appropriated by our city managers under $10,000 because there are so few over $10,000 that we get.

That, and I think we should leave the wording the way it is. Thank you.

Any further discussion? I, uh, I tend to agree with, with the, with the amendment, and actually it was, it was my idea in the first place, but, um, amongst some others that didn't come forward. And, uh, so we're going to spend some time talking about $1.

I guess, but grants do come in often in increments. It could be $1,000, $5,000, something that sometimes it's, it's different. And like was pointed out, we have 2 or 3 even tonight. And so it seems like a reasonable minor change to make, and I don't see it backpedaling because it's— we haven't enacted this ordinance yet. We're preparing it now, and we could always amend it later to a higher amount if it is appropriate.

But I think adding a dollar to, uh, to our ordinance is, uh, is reasonable and fair. Any further discussion? Councilmember Creamy, to your point, if we can amend it later, then I would say that would support the argument to not amend it. To $10,000 and under because if we're faced with a whole bunch of grants or donations right at the $10,000 mark and we feel like.

That $1 is making a difference, then we have the ability to make that change then.

Yeah, and, and to point out, we can always change code down the road. That's what I meant. Any further discussion on the, on the amendment? Clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Daniel?

Yes. Councilmember Grimme? No. Vice Mayor Askin? No.

Councilmember Petty is absent. Councilmember Kucena? Yes. Councilmember Sonnart?

No. And Mayor Naxted? Yes. You have— and Student Representative Bolling, sorry. I abstain if I'm allowed to.

You can. You have 3 yes votes and 3 no votes. The motion to amend fails. Okay, thank you very much. So now we have Ordinance 3534-2026 as amended.

Any further discussion?

Oh yeah, it hasn't been amended. Any further discussion?

I just want to say that I appreciate administration's work on outlining how this ordinance will move forward. The ordinance itself doesn't tell us how it will be utilized, and I technically, I agree with the ordinance and I'll be supporting it. But what I was concerned about was primarily was the public process and allowing individuals from the public to to see it and have an opportunity to comment on it. And it becomes a little more cumbersome for us, though, for us to discuss it because we'll have to take it off the consent agenda. And we'll be taking off a number of them as we move forward because I think it's our duty and responsibility to thank— when Hill Corp gives the Senior Center $6,500 for the Thanksgiving dinner, when Friends of the Library give $4,000, and then there's some other.

Donors and some names in there, even if it's anonymous. We need to, we need to thank those individuals. They're listening and they're appreciated. And also the staff members in the city that reached out and got the grants and brought them in. And some of them are, you know, maybe not a lot of money, but it was, it was the effort.

And sometimes it's accumulated. The library often does that. So I see us You know, if this ordinance passes, and I think that it will, that we will be taking things off the consent agenda frequently and going through that process because I think it's the right thing for us to be doing. And I do agree that it's not a lot of money that we spend a lot of time on, you know, but we're talking with people and a $1,000 donation is a $1,000 donation. We need to account for that.

That. So any further discussion? Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Grimme? Yes.

Vice Mayor Askin?

Vice Mayor Askins? Sorry, yes. Council Member Kusena? Yes. Council Member Sonnart?

Yes. Mayor Naxted? Yes. Council Member Daniel? Yes.

Student Representative Bowling? Yes. You have 7 yes votes. Ordinance number 3534-2026 is enacted. Thank you.

Now we are on item E2. Ordinance Number 352026, removing public purpose designations on Kenai Peninsula borough parcel numbers 04711308, 04711309, 04711310, 04711311, 04711312, and 04108003.

3 To accommodate this disposal recommendations in the City of Kenai Land Management Plan brought to us by administration. Pleasure of council. Councilmember Daniel, move to enact ordinance number 3535-2026.

Yeah, I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to ordinance 3535-2026?

2026. Council Member Sona, we are, uh, talking about, uh, 3535-2026. Can you get yourself seated?

Appreciate you using the phone all the way here, although you weren't driving.

We're getting that loaded up. The, uh, the ordinance has been moved and seconded, and we haven't— we don't have any public comment. So bring it back to council now. And while you're still loading up, Mr. Eubank, if you want to give us a kind of a rundown on what we're doing here.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So June of '22, Kenai City Council approved what is currently the city's land management plan. Uh, that land management plan, um, provides, um, some important recommendations within it. Um, one of those recommendations is whether the city should retain or dispose of, um, each parcel. So each parcel of city-owned land is in that plan.

Within that plan, um, there were.

A number of parcels, um, Parcels 04711308 through 04711312, which are on Peninsula Avenue, um, were all labeled in the land management plan as dispose. Um, one thing that's prohibiting potential disposal right now is that, um, when that land was received from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, it was received as, um, tax foreclosures, uh, the city applied a public purpose designation on that property to be used for, um, potential use during the bluff erosion project and later to be used, um, potentially as a park. Um, that public purpose— those— that public purpose designation and the recommendation.

To retain are in conflict. Um, also, um, a parcel, uh, 04108003, which is out near the corner of Beaver Loop and the Spur Highway, um, is a parcel again in the plan discussed and labeled for disposal. However, in 1979, The city of Kenai placed a public purpose designation on that property for potential uses of a future fire station for the city. Again, in conflict. One thing staff is doing right now is preparing an update to the land management plan.

So we're trying to clean up some of these inconsistencies regarding the Peninsula Avenue properties. Um, the bluff erosion project construction was completed last year, as council knows. I don't believe those parcels will be needed for that project. And we just completed the city's Parks and Rec Master Plan, and it did not denote.

Those parcels is needed for a public park, and we're recommending that we remove those public purpose, um, that public purpose designation on those parcels. Um, that will align the, um, dispose recommendation of the plan with— so that doesn't have the public purpose designations. And then, uh, the parcel off of Beaver Loop, um, the administration reviewed that. We don't believe it is a sufficient size. I believe it's right at an acre, just under an acre.

Kevin, it is 1 acre. I don't believe it's a sufficient size for use as a future fire station, and removing that public purpose designation will align it with the intent of the plan that was approved by council back in 2022. So that's what this ordinance is trying to— or will, if adopted, will change. And I'm happy to try to answer any other.

Questions. Any, any discussions or any questions from the city manager?

I have, I have one, especially since we have the planner here, and I was going to look it up, but the, the, uh, the 5 lots on Peninsula Avenue, um, they are, uh, they're zoned, uh, Central Commercial, and, uh, I just wanted a clarification of what kind of buildings could be put on, central commercial if it can be residential as well? In particular, through the city manager, Mayor Nexted, uh, the primary use cannot be residential in the central commercial. Um, it can be a secondary. So if it was potentially one or two stories and if it had like ground floor retail with an apartment above, something like that would be appropriate. But as it's zoned now, it would be more potentially something like a doctor's office or, uh, coffee shop, some of that nature.

Thank you for the clarification.

Any, uh, any further discussion? Seeing none, please call the roll.

Vice Mayor Askin?

Yes. Council Member Kucena? Yes. Council Member Sonnart? Yes.

Mayor Nackstedt? Yes. Council Member Daniel? Yes. Council Member Grimme?

Yes. Student Representative Bohlen? Yes. You have 6 yes votes. Ordinance number 3535-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. Next, we are on item E3, Ordinance number 3536-2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the municipality roadway improvement capital fund for the partial construction of water sewer on 6th Street, accepting a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant passed through the State of Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, and accepting.

Funding from the Kenai Peninsula Housing Initiative brought to us by administration. This is being brought to us through KMC 1.15070D, which allows an ordinance making, appealing, or transferring, or otherwise changing an appropriation may be done in the same, same meeting. And this is time sensitive, so that is why we are, are doing it this way. Um, so I'm looking for a motion for introduction.

I move to introduce Ordinance Number 3536-2026 and request unanimous consent.

Looking for a second. I'll second. Are there any objections to unanimous consent? Seeing none, the motion— it has— the ordinance has been introduced. So now we'll move to— I'll look for a motion for a second reading.

I move to— I move for a second reading of Ordinance Number 3536-2026.

Request unanimous consent.

I'll second. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, Ordinance Number 3536-2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the Municipal Roadway Improvement Capital Fund for for the partial construction of water, sewer, and 6th Street, accepted— accepting a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant passed through the State of Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, and accepting funding from the Kenai Peninsula Housing Initiative brought to us by administration. So now I am looking for a motion to enact.

I move to enact Ordinance Number 3536-2026. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3536-2026?

Seeing no one, bring it back to council.

City Manager Eubank, you want to give us a— yeah, I'll see. Oh, Dave is— Dana. Dana. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. Um, so this ordinance, uh, as council knows, uh, along Readout Avenue here in the city, the city has don't donated a number of parcels to Kenai Peninsula Housing Initiative, on which they've constructed senior housing and some rent control, both rent control senior and not rent controlled senior.

They currently have a project going on right now where they're building additional units on land that was donated by the city. The city originally had partnered with KPHI.

To, um, apply for this, um, CDBG grant to help install the, uh, road, water, and sewer infrastructure. Um, the original grant request, I believe, was for $850,000. Um, what was awarded was $525,000, which, um, changed the scope of the project that we're able to complete Another change that was discovered during this process is that this— what the city initially envisioned was constructing 6th Street past where the KPHI development is going on, extending water and sewer to that point, and then extending water over to 5th Street and tying in and looping water in. What was determined when working with the granting agency is that.

The granting agency— those funds can only be used to get water and sewer to the existing buildings that are under construction. The grant will not pay, even though we've conditionally donated the land to KPHI for future buildings. They will not allow for that extension. So it's a little bit less of a scope. Under the terms of the grant, the city has to do the procurement and the city has to do the construction administration on this.

So our Public Works Department will be doing both.

This is going to— if you look on page 16 of your packet, um, at the top of the page there, you see an engineer drawing here that the light gray section— the dark gray is Readout Avenue, I believe, and the light gray is what will be being constructed. So this will also require KPHI to give the city an easement because this is what's called a hammerhead turnaround. So 6th Street will come up And we'll have— for our emergency vehicles, we'll have to come up and.

Back into their property or turn into their property and back up the road in order to turn around. Um, but, uh, that's what is going on here. And, uh, I would also— I know it's probably in the script, but there is a requested amendment because there was a math error when this, uh, ordinance was put together.

Thank you. Council Member Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxted. Uh, just quick housekeeping amendment. Uh, I would like to amend ordinance number 3536-2026, section 3 by correcting the total amount in the increased estimated revenues paragraph and the total amount in the increased appropriations paragraph from $725,000 to $775,000.

Any question? I ask consent.

I'll second. Anonymous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, we have, uh, ordinance number 3536-2023.

26 As amended before us. Any further discussion?

Clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Kucena? Yes. Councilmember Sonnert? Yes.

Mayor Nackstedt? Yes. Councilmember Daniel? Yes. Councilmember Grimme?

Yes. Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Student Representative Bowling? Yes.

You have 6 yes votes. Ordinance number 3536-2026 as amended is enacted. Thank you very much. That brings us to item—. Student representative abstaining.

Victoria, Councilmember Askin, did you—. Sorry, nope. Okay, that brings us to item E4, resolution 2026-54 authorizing a contract.

To purchase computer equipment brought to us by administration. Pleasure of council. Councilman McDaniel. I move to adopt Resolution Number 2026-54 and request unanimous consent. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-54?

Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion. I had a question. I don't know if you are able to answer this, City Manager, but, um, and I know this, um, is coming in slightly below what was budgeted for that. Um, does the city take advantage of the, the DAR credit process through Dell since all these systems are being ordered through Dell now?

Are we, are we receiving credits for our outdated machines that we can then apply to our future purchases if we're sticking with Dell as our main supplier? City Manager Eubank. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Council Member Girmay, I, I don't know the answer to that question. I would assume that staff.

Our staff are taking care of or taking advantage of every discount that we can. We're utilizing NASBO pricing on this, which is— anyways, that guarantees a decent value. But I don't know the answer to that question, but I certainly can find out for you. I only ask because maybe we can stretch that savings from the budgeted amount a little bit more. Very good.

Any further discussion? Councilmember Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Next. Just a quick question, uh, for the city manager, possibly finance. Um, I know computer equipment has gotten more expensive in recent months due to AI.

Were we able to purchase everything we needed with that budget amount, uh, or do we have to cut back at all? City Manager Eubank. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Councilmember Daniel, um, no, I believe.

I believe we were able to purchase everything that we're scheduled to replace this year and came in under budget.

Any further discussion?

Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, Resolution 2026-54 is adopted. We have no unfinished business. That brings us down to item I, commission reports.

Council on Aging, Vice Mayor Askin. Thank you. Um, we met last month, I can't remember the day exactly, but, um, the— on the agenda was we reviewed our goals for this year and started some preliminary steps towards reaching those goals. Also, shortly after this last meeting, our Council on Aging chair lost her son, so we extend our condolences to her, and our next meeting on August 13th is canceled.

Airport Commission, Councilmember Soenart. The Airport Commission did not have a meeting in July since our last meeting, and so their next meeting is Thursday, August 13th. Parks and Recreation Commission, Councilmember Gremmie. Parks and Rec has not had a meeting since our last council meeting. There is a work session scheduled for August 27th that will primarily be a tour of several different parks and rec facilities in Kenai.

And then the regular scheduled Parks and Rec meeting is on September 3rd. And Parks and Rec recently put out on social media an all-call for volunteers to help weed some of the flower beds around Kenai, especially the cement planters on the spur. So if you find yourself with a couple extra minutes, please go pull some weeds. Okay, Planning and Zoning Commission, Councilmember Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxted.

Uh, so unfortunately.

Personally, Planning and Zoning was unable to conduct business at the last meeting due to a lack of a quorum. They will meet again hopefully next week on Wednesday.

Okay, Council Member Petty is not here, so we will not have a report on the Beautification Committee. Pardon me? Oh, you do? Oh good. Beautification has a tour work session on August 11th.

Thank you. We did have a report. So that brings us to report of the mayor. I just have a couple of things, but first I'd like to welcome Ryan Coleman as our new chief. And, um, and sounds like he hit the ground running this week.

Heard you on the radio and there's things going on, and it hasn't even been a full week for you yet. So, uh, did good. Thank you, and look forward to working with you. Going back, it's been a long time since our last meeting, so I got a date of July 11th. You might recall that we, the City of Kenai,.

I didn't win with the city of Soldotna or the food drive. But what I did get to do though is go to the Oilers game. Cost me 3 cans of food, which was fine. And then I roasted hot dogs even though the game was delayed because of rain, but they did play. And the Soldotna mayor actually had a nephew or something, somebody like that anyway, they threw the pitch in and all that.

So it wasn't a real heavy night with a lot of people. There, but we all had fun anyway. It didn't rain that hard. And so really, that's all I have to report other than our red run this year, as most of us probably know, has been pretty bleak. It was looking really good.

I don't know where 3 million fish went, but the commercial guys are not— the drifters are not finding them, so they went somewhere or they weren't there. And so that's kind of a hardship for the drifters.

And the, and the processors.

Um, so that brings us down to administrative reports. City Manager Eubank.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I do have a number of items to report on tonight. Um, on the staffing and recruitment front, I am pleased to announce that, uh, Mr. Rick Johnson has accepted the position as airport manager. Rick brings more than 30 years of aviation experience, including leadership roles at several regional airports and more than 30 42 years of military service. He's scheduled to begin work with us here on September 14th, and we, we look forward to welcoming him to Kenai.

Um, we also recently welcomed Peter Reipold. He's the city's new controller. Um, and, um, Seth Ballantine as a new police officer. Uh, in the Public Works Department, Mr. Justin Wick was promoted to lead operator.

Our friend John Burton has returned to the city as a utility operator. John worked for us for about 2 years in the past. And we are currently recruiting for another police officer and a part-time administrative assistant at the police department.

Um, the administration is coordinating with Public Works on issuing an RFP, request for proposal, to develop the city's strategic plan that council appropriated in FY27. So this would be the city's first 5-year strategic plan. The plan will establish the city's vision, strategic priorities, measurable goals, and an implementation framework to guide future decisions. The request for proposals available on the city's website and through BidExpress. On the housing initiative front, the administration, we met with representatives from the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation to discuss opportunities to increase housing in Kenai.

Including programs that support first-time homebuyers, housing development, and new construction. We appreciate AHFC's partnership and look forward to continuing these discussions. Alaska command scenario planning has been going on. So the administration, we've been participating with ALCOM, is the abbreviation for, to evaluate the Kenai Airport as a potential forward operating location. Kenai was one of approximately a dozen locations statewide being evaluated.

Uh, we provided information about airport facilities and infrastructure and participated in scenario planning meetings. Um, this planning effort does not commit the city or Alaska, um, Command to any future action, but it highlights the strategic value of the Kenai Municipal Airport and ensures the city is, uh, represented in these statewide planning efforts that move forward. Um, regarding the Kenai Central High School.

Pool. Uh, I did, uh, meet with the representatives from the Piranhas swim team and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District administration on the 21st of, um, July to discuss, um, the district submitting a formal funding request to the city for pool operations, um, in place of the Piranhas. Um, the district is in the process of developing a proposal outlining the requested funding, hours the pool will be open to the public, and proposed user fees. Um, water system improvement grant. So Public Works, uh, received notice from the state that the city is eligible for $1,460,000 in funding from the Alaska Drinking Water Fund to install, um, fire hydrants at dead-end water mains to enhance annual flushing and remove iron and tannin buildup in the water mains.

Funding is provided as a loan, um, with the loan having 100%.

Forgiveness provisions. So that's really good news for us, and let us work on some of these dead-end runs. I do want to call attention for council in my city manager's report on pages 71 through 77 of the packet. Um, the Kenai Senior Center does their annual survey, and I think there's some things in there worth noting. Um, some of those: 91% of seniors rate the quality of meals as good or excellent.

And a significant portion of those are in the excellent column. 95% Of seniors say that the Kenai Senior Center provides help most or all of the time in allowing them the ability to age in place. Um, 95% rate the overall quality of service received at the Kenai Senior Center as good or excellent. And again, the majority of those are in the excellent column. So.

I just want to congratulate Kathy and her staff for getting survey results like that. Regarding the PU fishery, it ended as scheduled on July 31st. Revenue was a little slow to start in the fishery this year, I think, along with the fish counts. Revenue did come in towards the end of the season, and I would estimate we're probably We're within 1 or 2% of budget, plus or minus. So, but I would also like to recognize the efforts of Salmon Frenzy, which is a volunteer group that does a lot of service for us down there, directing traffic and cleaning up the beaches.

And also the KCHS ski team, who assist us with the cleanup efforts down there. And so, but I do believe everything has been taken down and put away for another year, and I'd like to appreciate those— that help. Some upcoming events of note: Kenai Library Summer Reading Celebration. The library recently completed another successful summer reading program.

Program with approximately 750 participants and more than 1,250 program engagements. During the program, the library also distributed 2,282 meals in partnership with the Food Bank of Alaska. The program concludes with a free community celebration on Thursday, August 6th. That's tomorrow, from 2 to 4 at the library. Families are invited to enjoy free books, food, and activities at the Kenai Library.

Our public surplus auction, the city's online surplus auction, opens August 9th, 5 PM, and closes on August 23rd at 5 PM. There's a variety of surplus items including office furniture, vehicles, and equipment will be, will be available for purchase. Additional information is available on the city's website and at publicsurplus.com. And then on Friday, August 28th,.

The Kenai Senior Center will be hosting the Kenai Area-Wide Old-Timers Luncheon. That's on a Friday. It's an annual event, celebrates the peninsula's history and provides an opportunity for longtime residents to reconnect. Reservations are requested through the Kenai Senior Center. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions of the city manager?

I was wondering if you might be able to elaborate more on, in the packet under the City Manager's report, the data center that may be installed near us. Oh, I think that was the only thing that was in there. Yep, yep. It was of interest to me. It was hard to put it together based on the description that was there, what it was going to look like, but it's a subsea generator.

For a data center. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, um, council members, page 48 of your packet, uh, the city was provided notice, um, uh, this.

This is regarding a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filing to construct a data center in Cook Inlet. This would be a submerged data center. It would take place in the forelands area, I believe. You can read the filing out in the Nikiski Range.

The— The data center would use the water of Cook Inlet as its cooling sink to cool the data center. It also is planned to, or it's proposed to use tidal action to generate the power to power the data center. We were just provided notice of this as a community within a certain range. But you can read more about that on pages, like I said, page starts on page 48 packet. I thought it was interesting, and I know there's.

There's a lot of opinions out there about data centers, but I think that's—. That's good. I guess the question I had was if it was going to impact residents of our area, and necessarily East Kenai in some way. Data centers kind of have a— I don't know if it's a reputation, but this is something that's not on ground, it's underwater for the most part, so I'm not sure exactly if that's something we would even see. Or if it's going to draw power from our grid somehow.

And I don't know if that was in the application.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, I, as far as is it going to impact us here locally, I think that's up to everybody to decide. Um, but, uh, the, the proposal is again, yes, it would be a submerged facility and it would use tidal action to generate the power for it. Um, so I, I don't know a whole lot more than that.

I'm certainly not an expert in this field, but I thought it was interesting to receive this, and I wanted to put it in the packet. I appreciate that. I didn't mean to put you on the spot with the details because it's not our application. It's not even in the city. But what is kind of cool about it though is subsea power generation, which might be something we might want to consider, the state might want to in our area.

Um, any more questions of the city manager? Um, is Mr. Bloom online? Mr. Bloom?

Mr. Bloom?

Mr. Bloom, are you available?

Madam Clerk, we can, we can go to you, and if he gets online, then we can go backwards. Go ahead. Okay, I have a couple of things. Um, just to let you all know that we frequently get calls about placements in the Leif Hanson Memorial Park wanting to know where somebody is. So we've been working on digital maps and documenting who's there, and we were able to, on a really nice day, go over there and actually walk through and make sure that our maps were correct.

Those are now available on our website under the Leif Hanson Park, and you can word search it and find where somebody's plaque is based on the mark— the map. I have bigger aspirations for maps in the future, but at this point these PDF copies with circles are available. And also wanted to let everybody know that absentee voting is going on for the primary election right now. It is not happening here at City Hall. It is over at the State of Alaska Division of Elections office in the Kenai Mall.

And for those of us that have been here as long as I have, the old Carr's Mall. And then City of Kenai candidate filing packets are available here at City Hall for.

For people to pick up, and they're on our website. And the candidate filing opens on August 16th and closes on August 31st at 4:30 PM. And I'm available for questions. Any questions of the clerk?

I did get a card from the state of Alaska regarding elections, and it wasn't about the early voting. It was after— and I'm in District 2, which I think you're in also— and that those elections will happen at the high school, which is unusual, at least for me. And I didn't know if that's something that the city is going to— we're going to be in the same place in the future elections. So what's going on there? Thank you for the question.

Yeah, all voters in the city of Kenai should have received a postcard indicating that their polling locations have changed. Kenai 1 is still going to be at the Kenai Mall. Kenai 2 is going to be at the high school, and Kenai 3 is going to be at the visitor center.

When it comes to November when we have our election, are we going to be in the same place? Yeah, the state of Alaska determines our polling location, so what you receive from the state is the, the place you're going to go for to vote on Election Day. Absentee locations are going to vary a little bit. Thank you. Is Mr. Bloom— Thank you, sorry about that, I was having a hard time unmuting.

Um, no problem, Mayor Knaxton, council members. I don't have anything to report, but I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much. I don't see any questions. Have a nice night. Thank you, you too.

That brings us to council comments. Student Rep Bowling. Good afternoon, Mayor Naxton, council members. Congratulations, Chief— I forgot your name, but Chief, please don't pull me over. School starts the 19th, so yeah, have a good night, everybody.

All right, Council Member Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxted. Just a couple quick things. Yes, congratulations, Chief. Looking forward to working with you.

I really appreciate, uh, Mr. Basin and Mr. Banach coming forth and giving some testimony tonight. That's the best part of this process, that public input, and we really appreciate it. And I really appreciate you coming forth, and everybody else who also testified, I really appreciate that, um, you guys coming forth and discussing these issues. It really makes, makes us, it keeps us in the loop, so thank you for that. Council Member Stonhart.

Thank you, Mayor Nexted. First of all, congratulations to Chief Coleman. Look forward to working with you. Um, again, echoing what Council Member Daniels said, uh, thank you to Mr. Basden and to Mr. Banach for coming here personally tonight. I was trying to listen to both of you in the car as I was coming up Cape Beach, and, um, it kept throwing me off, but I'd come back in, and I'm going to go back to YouTube and listen to everything you had to say.

But I heard a little snippet of each of you,.

, And I realize that you've taken your time to come here and to talk with us, and we appreciate it. Thank you. And Vice Mayor Askin.

Thank you, Mayor Nagstad. I apologize, I forgot to hit the button earlier. Um, congratulations, Chief Coleman. Um, I look forward to working with you, as has been said already. Um, I'm sorry to hear about the dismal salmon run.

I hope that we get some better news on that. And again, thank you to Mr. Basden and Mr. Banach for bringing this forward. I look forward to working with both of you. Um, have a good night. Thanks, Councilmember Gramey.

Chief Coleman, congratulations. But I also— I know your family already left, but I wanted to give a special thank you to your family, your wife, and your, your fam— the rest of your family. Being a law enforcement officer is not a job. It's a lifestyle and it has a dramatic impact on your, your daily life and that of your family. And, and I don't think that you'd be able to.

Do the job that you do without the love and support of them and their willingness to be flexible and support you in your career choice. So I just wanted to make sure that they knew that we thank them for giving you what they do so that you can give us what we ask of you. Um, I also wanted to remind everybody, as City Manager noted, that the, um, summer reading program is ending soon. I submitted my 82 hours of reading, put my stars on the board, And I will be going with my bingo card tomorrow. I hope others will be there as well.

And I completed my Central Peninsula parade trifecta this weekend. I attended the Kenai Fourth of July parade. I attended the Soldotna Progress Days parade a couple weekends ago, and then the Nakiski Days parade this last weekend. So I love seeing all of our communities doing so much and having so many things for people on the peninsula to get out and do.

Especially because they enjoyed much better weather for their parades than we did for ours.

Thank you. Councilmember Cassano. Thanks. It feels like it's been a long time since we've been here, so it's nice to be back. And it's— I would say congrats to Chief Coleman.

I'll remember your name in case I need to know that later, but maybe you can remind student liaison bowling next time you pull them over. So, um, also, yeah, it's nice to have our first meeting back and have some of our regular attendees, but a number of other attendees, both just to observe the process and be involved, and then also those who spoke. So yeah, thanks for being here, everyone, and those of you online who might be watching. So thank you. I need to back up half a step and Go back to additional public comments.

Are there any members from the public who.

Would like to address the council at this time on anything? Councilmember Dan— you're not a councilmember anymore, you're not even an assemblyman anymore. James Basin, Mr. Basin, Kenai citizen. I was going to call a point of order from the seats out here, and I don't know if you would recognize me or not for doing that. Look, thanks everybody.

Local government works, that's where it's at here. Your friends, you're my neighbors. I appreciate everything you do. My kids went to school with your guys. I got neighbors.

The mayor and I, we sat together here and had discourse at times, but I think by the time we finished the city council, we both became better friends, and that's what I like. I want to thank the clerk and the city manager for working with me some today. I really appreciate that. So based on what I heard the mayor and the council agree to doing a work session, I think is great. We can get the public to come in.

And, and the city manager, of course, will have a lot of data for you and stuff. And I really appreciate you.

Doing that. I didn't mean to do it in this type of situation. I really meant to be engaged back when you guys were doing a budget, but retirement's hard.

And I hope you guys get there. Some of you are there, but it's hard. And every day's a Saturday, and I just— I literally, I was out goofing off, and I meant to get in here. It didn't hit me until I paid my property tax, and I sent in a big check in. Like, I should have done that.

And I meant to come in and have conversations with you guys. So with that, I know you guys do great work work here, and I appreciate that because now everything that Shelly give me, I'm not going to move forward with that because no matter what you do at the work session, I'll support it. So I appreciate that. Thank you, guys. Thank you.

I just wanted to, uh, wish Mr. Basin his condolences on his retirement, and I wish you the best. Uh, in somewhere around 25 years, I hope to also experience that. So.

It's dangerous to retire, and I'm older than he is, so I don't know. Is there, uh, are there any other members of the public that would like to address the council at this time on any item? Seeing no one, uh, we have no executive session, we have no pending items. With no further business, this body is adjourned.