Cordova: October 21 Council work session, public hearing, and regular meeting

I've been hearing every TikTok in the world, which is that song about Josh Allen, tackle Josh Allen. The only one getting all those TikToks? I don't need TikTok. Not on my algorithm. It is in my algorithm.

Oh my God. I've been meaning to talk to Colette about it. It's so cute. I can't keep away from them when they come on. I like them.

I'm probably live streaming myself talking about that right now.

Oh, I'm the only one that can hear you, Susan. Good. Perfect. Now, but we could be on YouTube, so who knows? Except why is it giving me this?

This is new. Hola.

Just close it.

There's two tabs there.

I'm going—. Can you just close that tab?

Maybe, but just not to be— need to be on there. It was already online, just not that many of us. That's all that matters. Nothing—. You can send the video.

Why is it so weird though? It's like the element— like the house connected to— where's Deb? Your video's not coming tonight. Who's that? Deb is not coming.

Aaron's coming in person. The other 3.

Kasey's, I think he said work session, probably regular, maybe not.

Thank you. You're welcome.

It's different.

Course, I don't know if I got the right species of crane on the picture.

They look like sand hills. Oh, they're the ones with the redheads.

There are Florida cranes, and I said, where do they— I Googled that the other day. Where do they live in the winter? They live here year round. The weather's conducive, they said.

Only the Alaska ones get the heck out. The Florida ones are the ones, Sarasota everywhere. They're loud. We were there last time for Christmas listening to them.

They sound like our cranes? Yeah, but they're like on the ground.

Golf course, walking next to you, kind of.

Did you gather? I'm going to. Okay, are we— we're ready? Yes. Okay, all right.

I am calling to order the City Council work session of October 21st, 2026, and I will ask the clerk to call the roll. Mayor Smith? Here. Debra Adams is absent. Lee Collins?

Here. Aaron Hansen? Absent. Kasey Kinsman?

Mike Mickelson here.

Did you just call me? I actually— I have got no audio from your end.

You can't hear us right now? I can hear you now. I couldn't hear you before. All right, so you're present. I am present, yes.

That is a form. Great, thank you. Which is not necessary for a work session, but good to have. Excellent, thank you.

Okay, so the work session topic— there are a couple topics. Um, first First one is the 2027 budget development big picture, and the second one, Parks and Rec nonprofit facility use and fee schedule. And we've got a memo in the packet from the city manager and the finance director. Thank you. And Sheryl's here with us in the room, and folks online, maybe you can see that if you've got questions.

Um, so yeah, I am going to turn it over to the city manager. That looks so— oh yeah, maybe I—. Yeah, um, so I think we're do the big picture first, and, um, Sheryl will probably leave after that. This is her first adventure into the office again, so, uh, I think I think I'm going to let Sheryl go through kind of the thought process, what we need to do to make this happen, and unless somebody wants to start with questions right away.

Okay. Okay. So we have the $1.6 million in unbudgeted funds that came in for forestry seeds and fish tax this year. So there's some things in '26 that we already know we've allocated out, and we will bring budget amendments forward. That being the additional $181,000 to the school district— that wasn't an additional ask from what was approved prior in the resolution.

That was just like you guys approved it, but we didn't figure out how we were paying for it. So we need to do a budget amendment for that, and it will come out of the, the extra revenue that we received. Um, we do know that goods and services have increased this year with inflation. Um, that part, kind of getting a ballpark figure of what I think we're going to end the year at, um, but it's not, it's not firmed up yet. Um, potential sales tax by the next meeting, we— or by the November 4th meeting, we should have an idea of where third quarter came in on, um, for that.

So hopefully it's not some grand number. That last look showed that while it was down, the remote sales tax was up, so it netted about a $20,000 decrease from when— where we were this time of last year. We did budget a little higher this year, so on the remote sales tax from last year. So that comparison isn't like a true, like, year-to-date to budget comparison. It was a—.

This is where we were at this time last year. And then we did have some things come up since the development of this memo that we know about a boiler. Is it boiler or that one? Yeah, boiler in the Public Safety Building. So we're going to have to replace the boiler that is there.

It's— and it's an urgent need. Yeah. So we're getting a final estimated quote on that to see where that looks like. Uh, rough— rough numbers were $65,000, but wasn't confirmed whether it was freight on board to Cordova and loaded, demoted, because you got to get one out, get get one in, it's very large. So, um, so those are the things that we're thinking are going to come up in '26 to use that unexpected revenue.

'27? '26. Oh, this year. Yep. So we want—.

We need to leave some of that in '26, but a conservative number was $600,000. $426 Million. So that leaves another million to get through '27 because we know that fish tax is going to be unprecedentedly low.

My recommendation is that we hold that and we actually do a budget amendment to move it to budgeted reserves for next year and then infuse it into '27's revenue budget.

Um, so that's one of the assumptions that I would like to go forward with, and I kind of wanted to run that past everyone, make sure that that sounds like a sound decision to council. Um, without that million in there, honestly, I don't have— I don't have a plan B at this point. I'm not going to say I can't come up with something, but it's not going to be something that—. Yeah. Let's cross that bridge if y'all say this does not sound reasonable.

But don't say that. Exactly. So the other assumptions that I would like to move forward with is assuming that this year's fishing season is not going to be repeated into next year. I don't think that we have anything that would lead us to believe that it would be, so Yeah. And then the carryforward revenue that I just spoke about.

Tomorrow is the meeting to know whether or not the insurance savings for health insurance for employees is going to be for all employees. So in the next couple of days, we're hoping for good news on that. And then, yeah, the fish tax revenue heard from the last meeting that we're going to lower that to $300,000. That sounds like a responsible way to handle next year. Yeah, just wanted feedback on if we can go forward with those assumptions from council.

Members have questions or comments about any of those?

Sam Greenwood. It's just one question, just for clarification, because I couldn't remember. The $181,000, is that counting for the school's fiscal year '27 budget or '26? And is that included in that $600,000? It is included in the $600,000, and it's for their '27 budget, which has already begun.

Their '27 budget started July 1st of this year. Um, it'll be in the city's 26 budget, correct? Yep. Yeah, because we have that half-year overlap between our fiscal budgets. It's our 26, their 27, but in the calendar year of 26.

Yeah. Okay, thanks. Yeah. Any, uh, questions from folks online? This is Council Member Zastrow.

No, I, I think these are great assumptions to move forward on, especially item Number 4, budgeting a $300,000 raw fish hack revenue, as we discussed last council meeting. Not, not getting too big eyes for what might— we might possibly get, but being a little bit more conservative. And I certainly agree with the holding over the $1 million. That, that makes good sense. So these seems like good solid assumptions to move forward on with developing a budget to me.

I agree.

Thank you.

Okay, that sounded like 5. Yep. Okay, uh, the last thing I want to talk about though is the maintenance. Like, I want to make sure that we're all on the same page. Um, operational maintenance, I tried to define it in a way that we could all kind of get on board with.

We certainly already have a long list of capital improvement projects that we all know about. So I just want to be— make sure everybody's good with that definition of operational maintenance. It's things that we're funding in the budget. Chip seal, as requested, will be in the budget. But things like fixing the fridge in the Cordova Center kitchen, those kinds of things will also be put in there.

So it's just preventative maintenance basically to keep it—. Things moving forward. And then when we have a boiler that goes out, we'll have to—. Yeah, yeah, just stinks to have to put more money into that building. I mean, I know we don't have much of a choice, nothing's happening anytime soon, but pay the call, pay the call.

I will Councilmember Zastrow. Thank you, Mayor Smith. Yeah, yeah, the boiler thing. Gosh, we sure having collapsing boilers within the city, aren't we, with the— what's going on with the pool as well. A question about the pool boiler issue.

As I heard, I think it was a fuel pump and a manifold or something along those lines that needed to be replaced. Is that coming out of the original funds that we had already set aside for the pool maintenance this year? It's coming out of that $100,000 that you all set aside to do full work. Yes. Okay, great.

Yeah. And thank you, Sam, for the definitions on maintenance. I, I know from my past history in my career, this is something that can be pretty confusing to folks too. So I'll just say for my part, when I'm mentioning making sure we have maintenance dollars for the different parts of city operations, it's operational maintenance that comes to my mind, knowing that deferred maintenance is something quite different. So making sure we have operational maintenance dollars is definitely the, the base level bottom line thing we should hopefully be able to provide for the departments.

Yeah, I just wanted to ask, I know the term maintenance came up a couple times in our past meetings when we were talking about the budget, and I'm just wondering if people had specific things in mind when they talked about maintenance, like specific concerns. So, so, Sam?

Yeah, no, not directly. I mean, when we went through the budget cycle last year, you know, that was one of the chopping block items, and capital projects. I, I completely understand how this is broken down and what we have to fund just to function. Um, My comments were more towards extra funding should be reallocated, adding those maintenance budgets that were cut so that the entities that operate can maintain the equipment above, you know, it broke, let's fix it. Um, I think everyone understands, as you That's where I was pushing them.

So if we get small windfalls or small increases that we weren't anticipating, potentially, um, for example, we know that we have things end of life like boilers, and proactively trying to replace those versus reactive, which is the situation that we're in. And I understand that we're not in a financial position to make those They're not action items now because we don't have the budget to do it.

We can maintain. Okay, thank you.

Okay, are there any questions for the manager on maintenance or budget schedule?

You know, there's some issue with that schedule. You have your notes? I do, but I'm not sure if we should talk about it now or at an agenda of the regular. Whatever you want to do. But it's in the memo.

Okay, so 10/28 is a Wednesday, but we're moving that one to Thursday the 29th because we can't have this whole room on the 28th. Renters— we have renters and we don't turn away money. So the whole meeting will be— and on the 28th is not a regular meeting, work session. If it was going to just be a work session, we'd like to stick to Wednesdays, but we're going to push that one to Thursday the 29th, as long as enough of you can make that. 6 PM Thursday the 29th.

I can't.

Oh, not sure about Casey. Casey, you not here? Be here when we need to. I will be out of town, and I might be able to attend too, but Um, well, we can do the 28th. It's just going to be in the smaller room.

What were you worried about? All the walls right there. I know. And so, Steph, we've done— you can do it in the education. It's both.

This is the only room available on the 28th. Yeah. Are you—. You guys found the 28th? Was— be in Anchorage.

So I was going to say, I know he's freaking here, could probably use his phone. I know. I'll also be gone that day, but I can call him on the 29th. You can, but I'll be gone both days, so either one doesn't matter. I can call him.

I'll be in town both days.

And so Lee would be phone or Zoom? Over Zoom, yeah. 28Th or 29th, either one. Okay, mostly, but you can't come at all on the 29th? Yeah, fine.

What do you guys want to do?

Well, it seems like the— is the mayor's conference room available? Usually people— that's too small. Yes, if this is too small, that's too small.

Well, I mean, sounds like the school superintendent is raising her hand. Just going to say, if there's space over in the high school where we have our boardroom, it works. I don't know how much hassle it is moving equipment, but it's not a hassle. I don't know.

You're the only person who's not going to be here on the 29th as far as we know. Yeah, potentially. Or who cannot attend on the 29th. I don't know about Casey.

What part? You're only available on Wednesday? The 28th.

Not Tuesday the 27th? Tuesday the 27th is a possibility, but the room was not—. It's not—. No. Okay, well, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know. We could see if Kasey and Debra are going to be here or not. And okay, they're not here tonight. We'll lean towards the 29th and see, as long as the other two still make it.

Right. Oh, and then the 4th looks fine. The 11th is a holiday. But if Wednesdays work for you guys, I don't know. Do you just not want to make your staff come?

Is that why you would lean away from the holiday? Well, yeah, I would. So we could do that on the 12th instead, which is a Thursday. So how does everybody feel about Thursday, November 12th, 6 PM, instead of the 11th? It'd be better for me because I got to take all the flights.

Okay, that's better. Yeah, that works. Okay. Yep, I'm good with that.

And then the guest speaker item from tonight happens to have been canceled. I think maybe you all heard about that, and so that is getting rescheduled for the 17th, will be the public meeting they have, then the 18th they're going to speak at our meeting as they were supposed to tonight. So that's just an aside, I guess.

And that's all. We don't have to talk about the ones after because they're not going to be— if we do, right, we're going to aim for closing this out on 12/2. It's a goal. Hit or no? Work sessions are at 6.

Say again? Work sessions are at 6. Yes, um, they may be 5:45 if we have a public hearing. If And I believe if the first read ordinance tonight goes, there will be on the 4th a public hearing, so that— but, uh, work session will be at 5:45 again.

We have the first read tonight. We did. Yeah, 911. No, no, another flat set.

Good to go. Yeah, that sounds good. First day of guns. Welcome back. Thank you, Sheryl.

All right, so do you want to move on to the Parks and Rec? Yep.

So I think, um, seems like there, there's a little, there's a little confusion. Even after Samantha and I went back and talked through it, we felt like there was that as well. I think the confusion lies like this is two different topics. One topic is the programs that are separated from nonprofit facility uses and fees and staffing and operation capacity. We just wanted to explain that the pool mission of teaching kids how to swim and and survive, you know, survival suits and those kind of things is being done with the school and the city doing that.

And that's how it's always been done, is through the school and the city. This is not a nonprofit, um, activity. Activity. It's just school and city, um, working together to get that done. And then just wanted to give you all an example, and, and Samantha can elaborate on this if you would like, on the capacity, the scheduling capacity with the meaning where we're at right now.

And just so that it was understood that, you know, we, we're doing the best we can with what we have, and this is what we can maintain, the funding that we have, and you have to live within those means. So that was that part, and I should have really done it as two separate items. It really is two very separate things. Um, but I'm gonna let Samantha talk about this, the rest of it, and she can elaborate on anything in there.

Yeah, I just wanted to separate, um, like Sam said, the, the first one we've already gone over that, that it is a school use. We're committed to that. The original purpose of the pool was to provide that for students. Um, this year we actually added one day onto it, so Fridays. So they're projected to use about 650 hours this year of rental time.

That's for the school. So Um, for the nonprofits, um, back in April I was asked to meet with, um, the Little League, and I've tried to communicate with them and have been unable to successfully meet with them. So I'm coming back to council to, uh, bring up the subject again so I can move forward with our fee schedule about what that looks like for '27 for the fee schedule. Um, if they— if we are subsidizing all of it if we are going to do a discount based on the discount, I gave 3 different options and I also provided a snapshot of what we typically see in a year as, uh, for nonprofit rental usage. So that's all nonprofits, ICE Forum was included in this, Little League, all the facilities.

So that's what we're looking at is that's, um, an average year, I would say maybe a little less than an average year because I have had to turn away the Cordova Family Resource Center this year. We didn't have capacity to help them out in a way that they needed. There's been a few things. So other—. The $45,000.

Yeah, the $45,000 is what we usually typically see in a year for usage. For everything. For everything. For all facilities, parks, for nonprofits. So, and yeah, it's a little bit— I think it's a little bit lower than maybe if we were at— if we did have enough staff, I would definitely be able to do some more things.

So just to name a few nonprofits in the years that we're talking about, it's NGE, the Cordova Family Resource Center, the Chamber, the Science Center. We all, we help them all with rentals. They use our facilities and parks.

So I've gave 3 different options. I don't expect anything from it tonight. I just wanted to lay out some ideas. Of how they're going to handle this so that we can move forward with our fee schedule with Parks and Rec.

Can I go by the one— the material that you provided that's on the pool, are you— is that just informational? Are you looking for a decision specifically? Just informational. Okay.

Just the only decision we're looking for is those three options. What do you want to do to move forward with the fee schedule? The fee schedule? Yeah, because we, you know, we need to move forward, right, through the budgeting process. And so, um, it's pretty important.

Yeah, and we're lining it out. Yeah. And I'm, you know, keeping— I try to keep an objective view on all of this. You know, like all of it is important. No, like, I like swimming.

I'm trying to keep it objective.

My kids have done all the things, but yeah, I don't think looking at it sometimes when it's— you can't choose one over the other. It's impossible. They're all very important to us.

And as far as the capacity for the full year, we did include the October schedule. Um, with that, November is going to look a little different than October. We're working through that. We did have our full-time lifeguard just put in his 2 weeks, so he'll be done soon. And then we have another one.

He's, you know, they're doing great things. We had another opportunity. We're really happy to have him when we did. So yeah, November, we're working through what November looks like.

I have a quick question, Madam Mayor, if that's allowed. Please go ahead.

Maybe I missed it in your packet, Sam, but I mean, I understand those are nonprofits, but what are the nonprofits that are actually using the school? Is Iceworm Swim Team one of them? But I just was kind of unclear who that was, and not that it necessarily matters, but I think when we're weighing this, it seems like the pool has some fixed costs that are maybe different than some of the other services that the city provides. And so I, I think that bears discussion, if nothing else, and that's why I'm bringing it up.

Are you asking me if the Iceworms are part of the nonprofit use of the pool? I'm just asking who the nonprofits are that are using the pool. Pool, I guess, just, just to help have some clarity when we're looking at what our options are here. Yeah, sorry. So some of the nonprofits historically that have used the pool when it was open, so the Science Center uses it for the RLV Challenge every year.

There was another neurodiverse support group that was a nonprofit that we had that they came in and used it. I think we were— accommodated them once a week— I mean, once a month for that. So I'm trying to see—. And then the icebergs.

And I think the NVE has used it in the past too.

Okay, thank you.

And, and then to be clear, the other uses of the pool, as you identified on item 2, the first page, Mount Eccles Elementary School swim program and CHS Wolverine swim team. So those are the—. Those are what are in the schedule, right? Not on— so they're not school uses separate from nonprofits. That is a service that the city and the school provide.

Yeah, okay, just, just making— just putting that flag in that that is a separate thing than the entities you just, uh, outlined, which is Iceworm Swim Team, Science Center, NeuroDiverse— those three, those three entities. There's nothing— there's no other nonprofits that have used the pool then in the past? Right off the top of my head, I could look, but, um, trying to think. There are occasional users. Yeah, there are occasional, consistent users.

Um, and for like our parks and other facilities, I think the Family Resource Center— we had the Pioneers run this year. Um, so in the past it's been opened up for practice for the Survival Suit Race. I don't know if that gets rented by anybody or if that's We, we do provide that, right? So yeah, a few regular user nonprofits and then a handful of others from time to time. Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, so it seems like the big question is how do we— yeah, Councilor Hansen. So the Ice Worm swim team, they are required to have pool passes. Is that correct? They have in the past.

I think my big thing with the Ice Worm was one or the other— require pool pass or require a fee but not to require both.

And I think that that did generate a lot of pool passes.

I could run numbers on it, but I can tell you that since we have our wellness program here in the community, that a lot of the swimmers already had family passes to the pool. So there were only a handful of ones that just had pool passes for just like the child that was swimming. Sure. So if that makes sense. No question.

All right. And I know I'm very grateful for that. So many families have passes. In the past, Ice Worms took care of ourselves, like we supplied our own coaches and lifeguards. But you're not— but now it's required to have city employees there during that time.

I would be open to them having the volunteer, um, if they met those parameters. I know right now we're on lifeguards. Um, but yes, around 2022 I think is when we started phasing in our own lifeguards for them and the school, uh, because we were having, um, some incidences. So coaches and lifeguards are two separate things. Like, the lifeguard's in the chair, the coach is in the water.

They're not lifeguarding on the water. That's the big distinction that Samantha's trying to get across, is like the safety element. Of somebody focused on watching versus somebody focused on coaching and trying to watch. But if they provided their own certified— they're going to have to be certified lifeguard and with a coach—. If the city wouldn't have to staff that, we wouldn't need one city employee in the building at that time.

Okay, because we didn't used to. Yeah, no, but it's, uh, it, you know, I think things change and you learn in the science of everything, just keeping up with it. I, in my quarterly report, I really lined out what like goes into deciding these things. Yeah. Um, and we're, we're a Red Cross training facility, which I am very grateful for, and I want to hold that certification.

It's what we— being a training facility lets us have the school come in too, so we need to follow what they their guidelines, their recommendations. They're never going to say you have to do this, but they definitely recommend it. It's up to us to make those decisions, those risk management decisions. Would still be a savings if high school was fielding one lifeguard.

And I am going to go to, you know, on the 7th and get, uh, get my certification. Redone to be a lifeguard instructor and then play phase in a lifeguard class soon, um, where it will be open to anyone that would like to volunteer for that. I would love to have someone. They do need to come to in-service training and follow the same onboarding than the city has here, which includes drug testing and a background check.

So definitely an option.

So do folks have questions about the, I mean, it seems like the really big question is how do we account for this 45, I would guess it's 45 to 55,000, like you said, if we add more staff and we're trying to provide more options or more hours, that number is going to go up. So. Somewhere in that neighborhood. But how do we— how does the council want to— what, what, what policy do you want to set in terms of how we cover that expense? It's a big question.

Are we— I'm not ready to answer that. I, I mean, I need to think of this, think a little longer. It's great information, but—. So at our next meeting on the 29th, this is coming back up. Yeah, because I mean, I, I understand it's a lot to think about.

Trust me, I've been thinking about it a lot too, but we have to make a decision at some point and we have to stick with it. So consistency. Yes. So if you don't want to do it, don't do it. If you want to cut the fees in half that were presented last time, do it.

But I would, I would say that's the consistency part of it. Um, since I've been here, even for almost 5 years now, we have charged nonprofits and we've always had a fee schedule for it. And some people were getting charged and some weren't. And it's not fair, you know, like deciding that. So a consistency in it would be ideal either way.

I want— I guess I want to clarify, when you say you've been unable to reach Little League, You've been, you've been reaching out and just not heard back? I emailed 3 different times to set meetings with them. I'm also attached. Yeah, 2 of your board are attached. Okay, I just want both to know, like, unable means have not gotten response.

Yeah, not just— yeah, 2 of board being there. Yes. And so I have not heard back from them. I can, um, forward this something. Yeah, I've also personally reached out to board members to try and get something to come back to us.

Yeah, okay, you know, I definitely am open to working with— I care about all of this very deeply and want to learn from—. Yeah, I, I will add, when we had this discussion, the intent was to have a meeting prior to budget so that we knew what we were doing. Let me create an MOU, create whatever avenue to have the discussion, and, and not find ourselves in April. Yeah, yeah, being told, yeah, they have failed on that side of things.

Yeah, I do think what's super helpful about this table and having these numbers is the fact that we are quantifying, like, finally actually have a number on what is the service that the city provides and how do we pay for it. And it's, and it's, it's labor, it's facilities, it's maintenance on facilities, it's all of those things. So I think it's really, really great that you're able to, like I said, to quantify this. I do have to shout out to everybody that does like the school, the swim team, you know, that even the, uh, The Wolverines right now, even Little League this summer, they, they reserved everything on CivicRec and you can just see that it's so much easier. I can pull a report on this and show how much they're using, how much everyone's using.

It's, it's just been really great to see everyone like really just go ahead and doing it. So it's awesome. That is one criteria that we want. Support from city council is even if there are no things that people use CivicRec, if we're going to apply for grants and we're going to try to get money, we need to, you know, create a report that comes from a software that's tracking use, creates a report that looks like a professional document to be able to submit. So that is super important to have data.

It also helps with, um, all the maintenance part of it, they're able to pull it up and see who's renting it for the day, or we can block things off. And before that was just like, you know, we weren't— nobody knew if it was fertilized and they were digging on the field. And so now, now you can— they can see whose reserve fields on what days and they plan their maintenance around it, or they block it off and vice versa. So it's been really helpful just for that. Communication part of it.

Yeah, I think just, yeah, getting things into the system so that we have data so that you have schedules, you can check on things, you can, like you said, see who used the facility.

And yeah, so yes, those are, those are huge leaps forward. Same thing. Thank you for the information. Yeah, appreciate it. We could at some point too supply a table that shows these fibers.

That would be amazing. And I think, I mean, we could probably email it out the next couple days.

There's just having the other two.

Madam Mayor. Yes. Um, well, I, I guess this is sort of a question about, you know, looking towards the future and, and looking at grants. I know it's so many other aspects of things like this. If we structure our fee schedule so it's an in-kind match.

So, for example, like with the Iceworm, which I participated in a long time ago when the rules were slightly different for pool usage.

You know, if they're providing one lifeguard, we'll provide the other, but we're not going to provide both or something, something like that. Would that make any difference in applying for grant funds? Or is it just kind of moot, I guess, is my question.

I think it depends on—. So if we are not charging 100% of the cost, then you could in theory say that whatever the amount that we're not charging for could potentially be used as a match. If Iceworm is providing a lifeguard, that's not a city resource, you know, then Iceworm is providing labor for a match. Which maybe that counts, maybe it doesn't, depends on the funder. So yeah, it would depend, I think, on where—.

Yeah, and I think also that this, the fees don't cover the cost to run the pool, right? It's just trying to help with the cost of use because even this number doesn't include permanent staff, right? This is just temporary employees and one permanent lifeguard. For how many hours? For the hours that they are—.

Were used. So this is just like direct cost. This doesn't even account for the indirect cost. This is like your time or having the insurance or—. Right, that's what our rental fee is.

Right, so there's other— another layer of stuff that's— that we're not even—. Oh yeah, this is just a small—. Right, yeah, right, small piece of the life. We're still subset adding. Yeah, so— Yeah, go ahead.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, no, I just want to add this topic of in-kind. I do like the idea of in-kind, but one thing that jumps out at me is consistency. So say that the Iceworm team was going to provide a lifeguard. I wouldn't want to see it being kind of haphazardly applied, like, one session they have a lifeguard, then the next session they need a city lifeguard, a city employee.

So I think in-kind has to be managed as strictly as monies would be managed and not have it just be, you know, when they happen to have somebody available. But yeah, it has to be consistent, as I hear the manager and our Parks and Rec director are saying. Consistency is huge. And I think we need to determine what we're going to do ahead of time, be sure that if something like in-kind is going to be applied, that it's understood and adhered to well.

It becomes, you know, we still have to have a city employee there. And then if they don't have a lifeguard, are we telling them to go home? Well, my thought was more of, you know, looking at grants that they would have to pay for that second lifeguard. Like, we would provide one, but they're providing the other, or some way of splitting the services. So when you could go looking for grants, we could say, hey, we're doing a match here, we're trying to find a way to fund this other part, or something of that nature.

And maybe that's completely unrelated. So no, no, I hear you, Mike. I think that makes a lot of sense to me too. I guess I was referring more just to the operational aspect of day-to-day use of the pool by nonprofits. I will also say that I also appreciate what has been provided here by you, Sam, and Samantha, as far as what we have to consider here, having these three particular options.

In particular, the option three, the phased-in for nonprofit contribution, which I think I'm leaning into more. What that number is, I don't know. We certainly will be discussing, but This has gotten at least me a lot further down the line on what I would feel comfortable as a council member establishing that we will stick to throughout the fiscal year. I guess so for us, it would be really helpful to understand, A, what do you need now to move forward? With making a decision.

So on the 28th, which is not a regular meeting, it is another work session, what do you need so that we can have a— I mean, sounds like we're done discussing, sort of. Um, what do you need? I hear people saying they just need to think about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, uh, a little more consideration before we meet again.

Okay, if you come up with questions or concerns, it would be helpful to have them before the meeting. I'd like to be productive at the meeting and be able to, you know, to wrap it up as— because we really are— we're getting there quickly to needing to be—. So because you want to know what number you can plug in. Well, yeah, it's right. I mean, not just really right.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and it doesn't matter what it is. Like, if you don't want to do it, don't do it. I'm not saying we have to do it, but we have to make a decision, right?

So you can get it and stick to whatever that decision is. I will add, I really appreciate all the time you guys have put into this and laying it out. I did also— sorry, I interrupted, but I also want to say that If I do a class and we get volunteers, like, I'm always here to support the Iceberg when they are in there in the pool. I've gone in and like, right before them, like, I want this to work, right? And so all the training and everything that resources that we have as a city, I try to really put out there for them too.

So if they did have a volunteer lifeguard that fit the parameters, then I would be more than happy to, um, put them in the class and train them, get them started. And as of right now, we have not heard or been asked by anyone for hours at the pool. Yeah, they usually start in November, so sure. Well, they're just finishing up the Wolverines right now, so it's the same people. So, so are we, uh, how do you want to handle?

I mean, if they start in November, this— that's '26, and, and we're talking about a different fee schedule potentially for '27. So for '26, we don't have the staff, and we—. Yeah, we don't have the staff to do it. I mean, that's just what it comes down to. Don't have the staff to do—.

To do the schedule that's in place right now and put the IS-1 number in there. So they can't use it at all, or they could use it in the school slots Will school be done? To be determined. I'm working on it. Okay.

We are working on it. I mean, there's any thought hurts right now. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I, I want to get them in there. It's going to work.

I want to be during the day this year. This school will get lifeguarded. Yeah. So then go from there with ours. So we have 3 lifeguards, so So yeah, we—.

Well, I, I feel that we, we establish, right, the priority, and the school is the priority by design. So as like everything else that we're dealing with, it's, it's tiered. So I completely understand the position of where The Wolverines already are cut, were cut this year. That's a hard call. You know, like they are doing 3 days a week instead of their usual 6.

So, not, you know, it's not easy, but they, they worked with me and they were amazing. Yeah, they see the issue too.

So, yeah.

The pool's opening. Oh, it's great. Yeah, Madam Mayor, thanks. Yeah, so since we have Samantha sitting there— yeah, what is the upshot on the pool? We're opening tomorrow with regular hours.

The part came in yesterday afternoon and, uh, was installed, and it came up to temperature today, uh, so it took a while to warm it up again, but it's looking Awesome. So the parts and pieces, were they found here in Alaska or they have to be shipped up from lower 48 or? They were in this country, so it just like, it just was a perfect storm. I mean, I couldn't be more grateful to everyone involved in it. The parts were here and I just couldn't even believe it when they told me that they were going to be here yesterday.

I'm like, I don't really believe this. That's great news. Thank you.

Ojiwana. So no, it worked out great.

I'm going to blow them out.

Okay, thanks.

Your questions? I'm available. Okay, thank you. Thanks so much.

Okay, so we're— people are gonna noodle on this and be prepared to make a decision next week, and then we'll— that will help get Sam a number that she can plug into the budget.

Okay, any other questions?

Anything else you want to add, Sam?

I don't think so. We're, we're moving forward. It'll be super helpful with the decision tonight. That's—. We've been kind of holding, and tomorrow or Friday hopefully we'll hear on the exams.

Yeah, that'll be a huge—. Yeah, well, actually This is a bigger decision. The thought of moving forward without $1 million into '27 is—. Oh, you mean for the— right, I, I was still thinking about facility leases, but right, overall, yes. Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah.

So on that, we can say yes. So, so the— so I think council has agreed to the budget assumptions on page 2 of the packet, is that right?

The work session packet about—.

Yeah, the work session schedule about—. Now, the general fund budget assumptions Cheryl was talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so that's huge. Carrying a million over.

Yeah, it's huge. Yeah, yeah. And then it'll be— it'll be Awesome. Can get the exams in. Yeah, it's another savings with a different name.

But well, do we want to take a 10-minute recess before the public hearing?

Let's do that. The whole work session.

I never know exactly what I'm doing when I do that.

We're taking a roll on the public hearing mic. Are you there?

David Zastrow, are you present for the public hearing? Sorry, present, yes. Thank you. Okay, so we're having a public hearing on, uh, Ordinance 1242, an ordinance of the Council of the City of Cordova, Alaska, repealing and reenacting Cordova Municipal Code Chapter 8.04, Animals, and amending Cordova Municipal Code 1.28. 10-08-5C Minor Offense Schedule to modernize the animal control impoundment, bite and attack response, potentially dangerous and vicious dog procedures, quarantine, human disposition, enforcement, and penalties.

And we're also taking, um, public comment on Resolution 10-26-30, a resolution of the Council of the City of Cordova, Alaska, establishing the City of Cordova Enhanced 911 surcharge effective January 1st, 2027. Um, the ordinance will repeal and supersede resolutions 08-10-49 and 03-12-20 and provide for collection, accounting, and legal review. Anybody in the public want to come comment on animal control or enhanced 911?

Jeremiah Becker, 611 Second Street, Cordova Telephone. I hear your comment on the E911. First, I want to start off that we fully support public safety and communications in Cordova. Most recently, this last weekend, we had several staff supporting the search and rescue as well as our drone. Um, so we actively participate, and, uh, we're excited to hear that they're looking to improve 911 location services.

Um, I saw the ordinance in there, uh, this weekend, and we haven't had any discussions with the city, and I don't think all the information is clear in the ordinance of what you're taking on. So we just wanted to provide some information, um, so that you have just a little bit more info as you're defining that ordinance. These are just notes. We're going to send a formal letter probably next week, breaking down the next packet that will summarize these notes. So the first thing I wanted to make sure everyone knew is that this tax—.

It is a tax—. Can only be applied to local exchange carriers within the municipality city limits. So this means you can only collect the tax from Cordova Telecom, Cordova Wireless, and Copper Valley. All the other phones— AT&T, FirstNet, Verizon, GCI— you cannot collect the tax from because they are not in the local exchange. So collectively, between CTC, Cordova Wireless, and Copper Valley, there's roughly 2,570 local lines, which equates to, if you did the maximum tax, $62,000 a year.

So that is based on current records from us in Copper Valley. We did not filter out lines outside, like at the end of Hardy Bay and places like that, but it's a fairly close number. Um, second thing we want to point out is that, uh, you're only taxing the local exchange. You're basically taxing people to shop local, just to be clear. It is a local shopping tax, essentially, on communications.

Um, and then the impact could be different to different groups. We have a couple dozen Lifeline customers in Cordova. They pay $1 a month, and sometimes they can't even make that payment. So adding a $2 surcharge to Lifeline customers would triple their costs. So we highly recommend excluding Lifeline customers.

Um, we also want you to keep in mind that modern families might have lots of phones. Think of a family with multiple high school students and they all have a cell phone. A family could have 5 or more phones and you're essentially adding a tax that might be the equivalent of one of their online other services that they use. So you might want to consider a per-household limit. How we could actually calculate that might be difficult for us, but something to consider.

Uh, and then businesses, um, several businesses in town have dozens and dozens of lines. There is a cap built into the federal statutory rules. I believe it's 150. You'd have to check that, and I, I think for the most part no one would exceed that count, but we just want to make you aware of that. And then, um, Finally, we haven't been engaged about this technology or service.

By default, we are required to support E911, but we're in the middle of an accounting and mapping migration that won't be done until the middle of next year. So I don't even know if we can actually provide you the data to map a phone number to an address or a cell phone to a location at this time. We'll, of course, support whatever you request, but we don't have a capital project plan. We've never gone through the exercise with the vendor to understand how to get you the data. And the data also has to be maintained.

People move all the time. They might be in one apartment one year and a different apartment another year. So keep that in mind that you have a heavy dependency on us to have accurate data to feed that system and to maintain the system long-term. And outside of that, like, we really support the initiative. We think it's overdue for Cordova.

We just wanted to make sure you had that information as you're defining the ordinance. So hopefully we can, um, be aware of those that aren't in the same financial position that might be overwhelmed by it, and to ensure that your timeline expectations with planning the project take into consideration the dependency on us to provide you the data. That's it. Be glad to answer any questions. Around.

I guess I do have a question that— I mean, the E911 is for addressing so that a responder can get there quickly. And is— if, if the charge is attached to somebody's cell phone, I guess they— so they're calling and saying, I'm at such and such an address. Cell phones inherently have a GPS location identified into them. Yeah, if they're in Cordova proper, there's multiple towers, we can triangulate right where they are. Right.

If they're out the road, they're probably only attached to one tower, so the coordinates might, might not be as exact as you need. Um, and that's a good point too. Uh, I don't know the exact count, but I bet you only 80% of town has a wireline phone. Um, the mobility integration is separate from wireline integration. They're two different, like, technology efforts on our part.

Yeah, I was just trying to think about how— I, I actually honestly haven't thought that much about how the E911 connection works. I mean, what—. You're tracking somebody to where they're actually physically located based on their phone, or is it—. Yeah, I believe the software basically does a query to our system to pull out the information because it's not going to come over on the phone, right? Okay, okay.

And that would require integration and probably development on our side, and it's something we can plan. So fully supported, but when you set those expectations with the community or public safety of when it's going to be implemented Yeah, um, it's great if you have a list now with addresses and phone numbers, but those will inherently change, and that doesn't cover mobility. Yeah, okay, thank you. Yeah, yeah, we're excited to see the progress. Thanks.

I guess I should have asked if anybody else had questions for General Hansen.

Okay, um, other public comments about the Ordinance 1242, Animal Control, or the E91— B911 surcharge?

This will recess for a few more minutes.

All right, we will recess for 7 minutes.

To adjourn it or recess? You're recessing the public hearing. Recessing the public hearing.

Council Member Zastrow and his Show Us the Red Line added 50 pages to this packet also. Yeehaw! Thank you. Oh, giving you the credit.

Hey, so, um, I'm going to call the meeting to order. Just adjourn the public. Oh, okay, because I had it. Okay, so any further— anybody else want to testify, comment on, um, Ordinance 1242 or Resolution 1026-30, uh, animal control or the enhanced 911 surcharge? Okay, we will during the public hearing, and we will call the regular City Council meeting to order.

Will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of the United States of America, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I didn't hear David.

I bet he's not either.

Ask him. Um, will the clerk take the roll? Uh, Mayor Smith. Here. Debra Adams is absent.

Lee Collins. Here. Aaron Hansen. Here. Kasey Kinsman is absent.

Mike Mickelson. Here. Wendy Ranney. Here. And David Zastrow.

Here. That's quorum. Yes, thank you. Um, so council members, we have an agenda before us. Are there any, um, we— yeah, are there any amendments to the agenda as presented?

Hearing no amendments, we'll consider the agenda approved. As presented. Are there any disclosures of conflicts of interest and ex parte communications to be made about any items on tonight's agenda?

Don't see any hands or hear anything online. Um, communications by and petitions from visitors. Our guest speaker has been rescheduled. We can take audience comments from folks regarding agenda items. Does anybody want to comment on an agenda item?

Okay. Chairpersons and representatives of boards and commissions, we have, um, information in the packet, highlights from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council September 2026 meeting in the packet, and we have a, uh, the library board chair memo to the council and to the FCC supporting the e-rate, supporting funding for the e-rate program.

I don't see anybody else from the school district or the medical center. Okay, we will move on to the consent calendar with 5 items. So does that look good to folks? Nothing being pulled. I will take the roll on the consent calendar.

Aaron Hansen? Yes. Debra Adams is absent. Dave Zastrow? Yes.

Mike Mickelson?

Yes. Kasey Kinsman is absent. Wendy Ranney? Yes. Lee Collins?

Yes. So the consent calendar is approved. Great.

Okay.

You guys are all done.

Let's see, approval of minutes, we don't have any consideration of bids, proposals, and contracts. We don't have any of those reports of officers. I did not submit a written mayor's report. I still haven't heard anything back from the AMHS about extra— shouldn't even call them extra— about some savings to cover the service gap. For the Aurora, um, for this fall?

Yes, Mayor. So when Representative Stutes was here, she gave an update to that, um, because the dock in Whittier can't be used as they originally were looking because of the fire. They're now looking at the possibility of a sailing to Seward once a month, which would still give us a longer drive to Anchorage, but it would be a once-a-month sailing. So The sailing still is on the table. They're just looking at coordinating to go from Cordova to Seward instead of Cordova was the last we heard.

So thank you.

Yeah, I am going to be working on some STIP comments or to submit to DOT. I'm going to follow up again on the 2024 fisheries disaster relief. I think it probably would be good for the city to also do a letter to the FCC about the e-rate program.

So I can do that because I have a great template that Maryann put together.

And I think those are mostly Things I've been working on— I, I worked on doing the, um, trying to compile the responses from your evaluations for the clerk and city manager. We will go over that later. I did print that stuff, it's here. Okay, for you, thank you. Yeah, so I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Um, we can then go on to the city manager's report. Okay, I'll cross it off the pool update because we already have that. Um, but Kevin wanted to come up and talk about the STIP a little bit too because we've been talking with, um, DOT on our projects and about things that could be helpful for that.

What is that? I forgot. I know where the skeletons are. I see.

Uh, good evening, Council. Kevin Johnson, Public Works Director. Um, did not get this into the packet but wanted to make sure that everybody is aware that the Alaska Department of Transportation, uh, SIP— that's their Transportation Improvement Program— list is— draft is open for public comment currently. Uh, the city specifically has two projects that is on that list, and it is crucial that, um, everybody comments on those projects. Um, I will be commenting on behalf of the city.

I would request that the council members comment individually as members of the community, and we will be doing our best to promote it over the next week for the community to come as well. Uh, the two projects that are on the STIP that are specifically city-related is the Second Street Reconstruction project, that's project number 32378, and the Whiteshed Road, uh, Whiteshed Road and Pedestrian Improvements project number 27049.

Excuse me. The important points to consider about these projects are both of these projects need full funding in 2027. The current STIP shows a significant amount of funding for them in 2027, but it does not currently show full funding for them in 2027. The reason that this is important is that both of these projects are shovel-ready. The Whitefish project is not only design complete, but the project has been put out to bid, contractor selected.

The second street project, the design is complete and we are ready to go out to bid here starting in December, pending Federal Highway approval, which is being submitted currently.

So with both of those projects being shovel-ready, we are ready to begin those projects in spring 2024.

The delay of fully funding these projects would be a— would mean an increase in cost. As we all know, the longer you wait to fund a project and push it down the road, the more those projects increase in cost. So that is going to be an undue burden for community because not only does that mean that the project price is going to increase in general, it means that the community's mass burden is going to increase unnecessarily. So again, I request that everybody in the community please comment on the STIP and let the state know that these projects are ready to roll coming up in just a couple of months and they need to ensure that they have full project funding. That's the question.

When you say they're not fully funded, are they going to do 100% of the work in 2027? My understanding is that both projects are anticipated to be a one construction season project. Okay. Specifically, I know for sure the Second Street project is intended to be a one season project, mostly because it does have so many constraints, which usually constraints would mean that it's going to be a longer process, but they want to reduce the impact that those constraints cause. Yeah.

So yeah, they are intended to be one projects. Right, we really do need all that money in one year. Yeah, in one budget cycle. The Second Street project is almost fully funded in the STIP. The Whitefish project is close to fully funded, but quite a gap between actual project cost and what they're showing in the '27 budget.

So, um, our conversations with, uh, state staff has been the state is very willing to, uh, fund those projects They just need that little extra nudge to, uh, make that final decision. So, uh, as Cordovans are known to do, get out, comment, let them know. So, okay, thank you.

And this is not, um, one of those two projects, but are they still talking about replacing the, um, ODAC culvert this fall? Yeah, um, it's not listed as a STIP project. I think it has a different funding source. I believe it's on there. Yeah, so it has a different funding source.

It is on the schedule for them to be doing next year. I've been actively doing some finalizing of project design with them because we do have the water line that goes through there. So that is still, from my understanding, going to be moving forward next year. They have the fish window to deal with. Between that and a couple other delays, they were going to be starting it this fall, um, but they decided to defer that to next year.

All right, so also the spring of '27? I don't know if it's spring, but '27.

So we are going to have a busy, busy year of construction. I'm going to just preemptively ask all Cordovans to be very patient. It's going to be a, uh, short amount of pain for a lot of benefit for this community. But there is going to be some major disruptions in '27 while all these projects are going on. Also be a lot of construction crews spending money in town.

Yes, I say bring it. Have you heard—. I just recently heard about the raising of Cordova Road. Is that a 2023— is that a project that's on the books yet, or is that just in its— where did you hear that? From the surveyors that were surveying the road.

So we received an initial notification that they are preparing that project. My understanding is that currently the project scope just includes a resurfacing of the road, which I believe means actually tearing up the existing surface and resurfacing from base grade up. I need to actually confirm what the comment period is for that when it comes to the public comment period. Because I, at least from the city's perspective, I, I do have some concerns about the current project scope. They want to just resurface this roadway while not addressing the storm surge damage that continues to happen.

Obviously, I think we can all agree that resurfacing the road without addressing the armoring that needs to happen is throwing good money after bad that they'll only be back here fixing that when it gets damaged eventually. I just haven't seen anything on a comment period or any information at all on the project till I had surveyors in my yard. Yeah, um, I can't confirm whether the public comment period on that is open or not yet. I just know that we did receive that early notification. I just need to look into it a little bit further, but I will make sure that, uh, at one of our next meetings I'll let you know what that, uh, project status is.

Thank you. I did make sure the commissioner saw all that when he was here in September for the Confluence Summit, like I don't know, people— maybe he said something like, oh yeah, the mayor gave me the pothole tour, which I did, show them all the rough spots. But I definitely pointed out all those eroded— the places where it's eroding through the fog line. Yeah, I, I made sure to do the same thing. Um, I knew the, the state crew was coming in because they were looking at some of our projects as well.

I walked part of that corridor with them and I made sure to put my comments into them directly that As you can see, you are only going to be out here redoing this work if you do not handle the entire problem at the beginning. So, and I know they were not coordinating with the Shepherd Point Road connection and that had to be re-engineered. And so there's just a lot of conversations happening around us. And since that's the only way to access our property, I kind of like to be at that table. Yeah, I mean, there will be the normal public comment period process.

I mean, we, like I said, We just also received, you know, this was the first notification, so we're all, we're all just learning about this currently.

Yeah. Okay, any further questions for Public Works Director?

Thank you. Great, thank you.

I don't have anything to add, uh, other than appreciate the moving forward on the budget, um, thing. That's going to make everybody's life easier, and I just think it's the right thing to do.

Um, that's about all unless anyone has some questions. There's more budget So, okay, so that's the city manager's report. The clerk's report, I think I'll just reiterate what I think Amanda was whispering about, is that I just wanted you guys to understand that, uh, your final flat resolution within the consent calendar. It gets approved all in one vote, so you guys are good to go. All right, and I think that's what Amanda just explained also.

Um, and then the only thing I put in the packet was the notice about, um, boards of commissions, and we received one application from a library board existing member who wants to re-up, which is great. But, um, hopefully the staff to boards and commissions have been sending information to their members who might be coming off or interested in staying on, and I'll get those applications. But also anybody else from the public who's listening, you're interested, please get in touch with the clerk's office. And then I think I still got it wrong on the calendar. Sorry, but the early voting has begun.

It's been 3 days so far. I know they had about 35 people on the first day. I haven't really even talked to them much on these last 2 days, but it's 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM upstairs in the atrium, 10 to 4. They'll be here on weekdays leading up to the election on November 3rd. So I think Monday the 2nd is the last day of early voting.

There's also still ways to do absentee. State has a great website. We can help you out here at City Hall. Call us or go to the Division of Elections, State of Alaska website. They can help you out too.

That is all I have to report. Thank you. Any questions for the clerk?

Okay, let's go on. See, um, we've got some correspondence in the packet. No, no, I'm sorry, staff reports. For staff reports, yes, we have some great staff reports in the packet. So, um, yeah, do folks have any questions or comments about any of that material?

I really appreciate those. Mhm, super helpful. Yeah, I agree.

Uh, Madam Mayor, um, yeah, yeah, I really appreciate all these reports, as I know all the council members do. Um, really fantastic information. I mean, uh, I, I've gone through them all, they're great. I did have just one question about the report from the fire chief talking about SCBA and the potential solution to have for the incompatibility and aging SCBA equipment. In his report, he spoke about a surplus equipment opportunity, and I just was curious if there's a little more information.

I bring that up because SCBA is a pretty important part of their, their gear. It's what keeps those individual firefighters safe when they're entering a building and they're on supplied oxygen. So Um, I, I just want to be sure that they're getting that type of equipment taken care of well.

Council Member Zastrow, can you hear me all right? Yes, I can. Chief Phillips is not in the room. That's okay. This is something that he included in his report, but pretty much falls under my jurisdiction.

Uh, we have located some surplus equipment through, uh, one of our major suppliers and we have gone and gone forward with the purchase of that equipment. Uh, this will satisfy our current deficiencies in SCBA issues. Uh, the money came from a different fund outside of our normal operating fund that we were able to source and use for procurement. So that problem is currently no longer an issue. Uh, as far as compatibility goes, uh, we, uh, use an upgrade kit on our RIT kit, which is a It's a life-saving device for a down firefighter inside of a house, um, so that is now forward and backward compatible with all of our SCBAs as well as any SCBAs from other manufacturers, uh, that are 2018 and newer.

Uh, the ones specifically in town, the only ones which I can think of, are the SCBAs on the Coast Guard Cutter because they use a different manufacturer, and those are now all compatible as well. That is great news. Yeah, I know this came up during the last quarterly meeting as well, and Really glad to hear you have a solution now in place that's already taken care of that issue. Thank you for that. Yeah, I think these reports are a great window into— they give us a lot more sense of what happens on a day-to-day basis and the range of programs and the things that city staff do.

And even the comment about the Samaritan's Purse people helping out with something that I saw in here. In public works code? Me, I mean, that was it, right? Oh yeah, um, and I know they've helped out in a lot of ways because they helped me with the Alaska Salmon Run. So that group of volunteers has been a really great asset to town.

But yeah, but the staff reports are, are a big help in keeping— helping us, like I said, understand what happens in a little bit more detail. So that's Great. Any questions online?

Now we can go on to correspondence. Um, I guess actually only have— it's the print, right? We don't even have any— yes, correct. Okay.

Oh, that was— I put it under library's— of course, yeah, library board chair. Okay, okay. Ordinances and resolutions. Ordinance 1242 is the next thing on our agenda. I would entertain a motion.

What's that? There's— yeah, recommended motion on page 151. Madam Mayor, I move to approve Ordinance 1242, an ordinance of City Council of City of Cordova, Alaska, repealing and reenacting Cordova Municipal Code Chapter 8.04, Animals, and amending Cordova Municipal Code 1.28.085, Minor Offense Fee Schedule, to modernize animal control in impoundment, fright and attack response, potentially dangerous and vicious dog procedures, quarantine, humane disposition, enforcement and penalties. I'll second. It's been moved, um, Council Member Ranney and seconded by Zastrow.

Thank you. And, Council Member Ranney, you want to speak to this? I just think we need to do whatever we need to do to help public safety, help the community. And this is a move towards that.

Yes, I concur with Council Member Ranney, and I also appreciate the red line very much. It's nice to have that just both for us and for the community to see exactly what was changed. So, same comments from last meeting during the first reading. It's a necessary move to update our municipal code.

Any other questions or comments from? Council members, discussion? Okay, but this one is our second reading, so let's have a— we'll have a roll call. Yes, a roll on adoption of Ordinance 1242. Wendy Ranney, yes.

You're first. Mike Mickelson, yes. Aaron Hansen? Yes. Kasey Kinsman is absent.

Lee Collins? Yes. Debra Adams is absent. David Zastrow? Yes.

And motion carries 5-0.

Great, thank you. So the next item is Ordinance 1243, page 224, and I welcome a motion.

Madam Mayor? Yes, I move to approve Ordinance 1243, an ordinance of the Council of City of Cordova, Alaska, authorizing the city manager to enter in— into a lease with option to purchase agreement with David Evans for a portion of Lots 1-14, Block 32, original town site.

Second. Great, um, it's been moved and seconded. Council Member Hansen, do you want to speak to the motion? Yeah, so we, we talked about this previously, and, um, it appears that, you know, he's here to develop and move forward, and I think it's great for Cordova to allow people that are willing to, uh, construct new property, let them grow it. Councilmember Collins.

Yeah, same comments as Councilmember Hansen there. I think this is great to have a builder who really has shown that he's committed to projects we've been doing in this community, and that great, great addition to our, to our housing situation for him to start getting development going on these lots.

Other council comments or questions?

Anybody online?

All right, all those in favor of Ordinance 1243, um, the motion is to authorize the city manager to enter into a lease with option to purchase with David Evans to purchase Lots 11, 12, 13, and 14, 32 original town sites. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Same sign.

Motion carries.

Okay, um, Resolution 10-26-30. Yes, Council Member Ranney. I move to approve Ordinance 10-26-30, an ordinance of City Council, City of Cordova, Alaska, to reinstate the previously repealed E911 surcharge for purposes of purchasing, equipping, and maintaining an E911/NG911 system to meet the needs of Cordova Department of Public Safety and modernize the first responder response in Cordova.

Second. Moved, uh, Wendy Ranney, and seconded, David Zastrow. Council Member Ranney. Um, I am definitely in support of getting the E911 system online, and I want to acknowledge the work that Brian has put into this. Um, it's a tremendous effort, uh, of information gathering, but I do have, um, some questions.

I know Valdez implements this tax, um, and I do have this— concerns that were brought forth by the, uh, general manager for CTC. And just looking at, we not make this another hardship on Cordova residents, um, and look at some exemptions like the Lifeline customers, where the tax is actually more than it costs for them to have the service, and multi-family taxes. So I would like to see some more work done on the ordinance before it's put in place, but I am in support of repealing this. I just think there needs to be some verbiage added to cover it so that we're not adding a hardship tax onto folks that we're trying to upgrade. Emergency response time.

Thank you. Um, Council Member Zastrow? Uh, yes, I concur with everything Council Member Ranney just said. I— it was good to hear Jeremiah Beckett come up and, and illuminate us on a few items. Again, as, uh, um, Council Member Ranney just mentioned, um, having to do with, you know, Lifeline customers, multiple phones in a single resident.

Um, obviously this is a great thing to do. I really appreciate, uh, both the the police chief and Brian over at the dispatch center and their thoughts on it. It is definitely a game changer when you're trying to respond to emergency calls and you've got, you know, limited time to get to a location to deal with something, especially golden hour situations when you're talking about life and death for people. So definitely anything we can do to improve that, we should be doing. But I also would like to probably find a way where we can look a little deeper into what we need to do to pay for this, but not make an additional burden on individual members of the community.

Thank you. Other council comments?

Questions? I have another one, if I might, Mayor.

Sure. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anybody. Um, uh, just along the same lines as, uh, um, Mr. Beckett brought up on the ability for CTTs to be able to do the locating and finding, it sounds like there are some issues with that. I, I guess it would be good to know. Sounds like these are potentially temporary issues that can be resolved over time, but it would be good to know more about the timeline on the realities of this working as well as we'd like it to.

My comments were kind of along the same line. I also wear the hat of being a CTC board member, and I know that the conversations with this technology and this, um, the actual system hasn't really been discussed. I mean, is it a plug-and-play system? Is it, is it going to have to operational funds for CTC to be able to manage it. I just think a little bit more conversation needs to happen, but I really am excited that this is moving forward and I want to do whatever we can to, to get it in place without it turning into, you know, we're sitting on technology we can't use and we're putting a burden on folks in the community that it's designed to help.

Council Member Collins, it looks like maybe you Yeah, mostly echoing the same comments from other council members that I think this seems like a really important step to get a system like this online, but just the same concerns. We want to make sure that, yeah, that for one it's effective, that we're not burdening whether it's CTC or members of the community with those costs. But yeah, I really appreciate the work that Brian and all the other staff put into getting all this stuff, I think, super important. All these things that can speed up responses in any way are extremely important for public safety.

Uh, it's a step in the right direction. Uh, it's getting the— getting the movement and figuring out, you know, what pieces of the puzzle have to be established to remain functional. So that's my question, is what do we have to do to, to make this operational? I mean, sounds like there's still some questions that need to be worked out. Would you like to talk about—.

Sure, yeah, yeah.

Good evening, Councilor. Uh, this is Supervisor Brian Wildrick, um, who does not get enough credit for the amount of time and effort, uh, he has put into research, the coordination, and the outreach to different vendors and the like.

Um, Brian does have, uh, answers to the questions that you've asked here tonight, uh, so I'll go ahead and let him take it away.

Brian, would you like to take it? Hold the microphone up a little closer, that way people listening online can follow it. Thanks. Okay, um, so which question would you like me to answer first?

Well, I think The part about, I mean, I guess I hear two questions. What's the reality of the timeline and getting this to work the way we want it to? And how do we, yeah, what steps have to happen to really make it operational? We heard Jeremiah Beckett was here earlier and talked about things like mostly like some families have lots of phones. And so is there a way to do a household limits.

Some businesses also have many multiple lines. And then just some of the work that has to be done to get the data, like to get the systems to talk to each other. Project that they would need to complete. Okay. I spoke with Jeremiah about this before as well.

As far as being ready to have Phase 2 data compliant for wireless, calls, that should be plug and play. The landlines will be a little bit of a different thing where their mapping project is coming in and the trunks of them. The different ways that those landlines will communicate through CTC is a little bit more involved. The letters also say it can be completed in a reason— as soon as reasonably possible. So however long it takes, then it's okay.

But what I've been led to believe and watched in the demonstration with Central Square doing the Vertex 911 call handling solution, when we get that infrastructure set, that will give us the ability to get the wireless information directly. And then there's an overlay of— it's called Rapid SOS that's built in, and I've started a free account with them as well. So they've got all of our information And basically, as a redundancy to get as close as possible to the location of a wireless caller, regardless of where their carrier is. They can be from out of state, from Canada, and they could be lost in the woods, and we would get their ping if they were able to call 911. So this is a huge benefit to the community, especially if you're lost or if you're having a heart attack, you can't talk, or any anything like that, and also to help our first responders actually get to where they're going, be able to direct the ambulance drivers a little bit more precisely.

So to request the data, also, we are required to have the infrastructure in place as well. And so reinstating the surcharge will absolutely help the sustainability of this project for the long term. Which helps the community and the first responders get the best quality care that they can get when there's an emergency.

Something else to consider is that in this day and age, wireline telephones are not the majority of the use cases. Approximately, probably 90% of the calls CPD receives is that from cell phones. So in taking your questions into consideration and the information that Mr. Beckett provided here today, as far as their information and mapping transition that they're doing to be completed sometime middle of next year, if in place, because we do receive most of our our calls via non-emergency and emergency through wireless telephones. Um, that would be plug and play, at least that's what we've been led to believe based on the conversations that we have. And, um, as far as your question about who manages the system, that's installed at CPD by Central Square technicians, and that's also managed by Central Square.

So outside of maybe some management of a wireline system that CTC would do, that kind of 90% stake, um, would be managed by Central Square and Plug and Play. Yeah, so it's kind of like hiring Arctic IT as a contractor for providing a service. Yes, yes, much like that. And, uh, to speak to, to speak to, uh, other communities that have this technology, the Vertex911 call handling solution in particular. Valdez is the only place in Alaska that has it now, but I spoke with their dispatchers and the dispatch supervisor, and they like it a lot.

They rarely have issues with it. The IT people in their department really like it as well. They don't have a lot of issues with that, and the customer service has been really good for them. And that's what I've experienced also. I also called Anchorage Airport dispatch, who uses Central Square products.

It's not the Vertex911 911, uh, because it's a, it's a CAD system, which is like a records management system. But, uh, both Anchorage Airport and Fairbanks Airport use this company, um, and they really like it. We also had a demo of the Pro Suite CAD that, uh, the airports use. Um, and so I, I know that the Vertex technology is integratable with their, their CAD if we were to ever move to that as well. And so basically both airports had really good things to say about this company.

Um, and so it speaks to the customer service, the usability, the functionality. Um, and honestly, the price that I got from them is, is the best that you can get. And I've, I've got the 3 quotes there that you can see. So, um, yes. Um, thank you.

That answers all of my technology questions on the, on the, the system itself. I guess the other issue I have still outstanding is more of a city issue, and that's can we exempt the Lifeline customers where the tax is going to be more than the service that they pay for? I don't have a problem with necessarily businesses or multiple family lines. You know, if all your kids are going to have cell phones, then there's going to be costs equated to that. But when you pay $1 for a service and you're taxed $2 on top of that, I do have an issue with that and want to see them exempted somehow.

In, in the tax zone. Okay, well, that's, that's the language I think you could probably put in there for certain people, because it says, uh, that you're allowed to charge up to $2. So if you wanted to exempt people or make $1.50 instead of $2, um, you know, or if, if the council decides that they would rather see a dollar or a dollar fifty, um, that's good. However, I would like to say that the importance of Collecting the surcharge to further the future readiness of Cordova emergency response is very important, and $2 was implemented in 2011 through the beginning of 2013. So just about one year, it was like at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2013.

So, you know, I would, I would like to see the $2 for the majority of people. Um, but I think there was a, a, like, a limit on the hotels to how many rooms, or like, if you have more than X amount of lines, like 100 lines, you would only get a bill for so many. Um, so that is something that if you'd like to look at, we could probably change the language for that. Um, and like, direction as to what numbers you would find appropriate for the Lifeline customers, um, and the hotels or other businesses that I have multiple wives. Also, on the other side of that, keep in mind that this is in place to serve the community, and it's all of our family members, it's all the kids that might have those extra cell phones, all that kind of stuff.

You would get the pinpoints of all those cell phones with this technology. And that's, uh, with the budgetary problems that the city has sometimes, uh, having this implemented telephone bill, I think is worth the cost. I don't disagree. I think it's very important to move forward with this. I'm basically concerned with the Lifeline customers.

And if we approve this wording for the first read, is there an opportunity to add that before the second read so that we don't stop the forward motion of this? Or are we limited to the verbiage that's in this after the first read? Read to come forward to the second read. Like, I'm really looking at trying to make sure we don't have folks that are paying for a service getting charged double for a tax on top of their service. Um, the rest of it, I 100% agree that the community needs the service, and that's one— that's a way to fund it.

But I'm concerned about our lifeline customers. They're not—. It's not a majority of customers, it's, it's a minimal amount, but I'd like to see verbiage that specifically addresses that. I think we would have to look into it. I don't, I don't know, Susan, is it substantial?

It's a resolution, first of all, so it's only getting one reading. Oh, that's okay. But I believe because it talks about surcharge— does it say up to? No, no, it says $2. $2.

It says equal rates of up up to $2 monthly. Now, that's, uh, page 249, right? And that's what the statutory, uh, regulation accounts for— up to $2, no more. That's not to say that it can be— that's not to say it can't be less. So we don't even need to change the verb.

I think it's a reasonable concern. Lifeline customers need not be taxed 2 times more than their actual abilities. Or whichever other demographic we deem vulnerable in some sense. I think that's totally reasonable. And whatever number is determined, I do think though it's important to remember that in the end, if this is all set in motion and it's implemented, this is a self-sustaining measure.

Um, the way, uh, the numbers line up at this time is— excuse me, um, the way the numbers line up currently, uh, with the money that is currently, um, in the original E911 surcharge coffers, that is our purchase monies. And then whatever is brought in with the surcharge after reinstatement annually, that will cover annual costs moving forward. So whichever— we don't want to— and again, this is, it's of course the Department of Public Safety kind of championing, championing this— we don't want to cut ourselves off at the knees by making a rate so low that we can't cover annual costs to keep this thing So Sam, would this, would this go into our favorite documented fee schedule? I was just gonna say, I think that's exactly what we can do. We should put it in the fee schedule and we can, because then the language can just say up to $2 and then fee schedule, we can make different categories or definitions or whatever.

But exemptions are always a hassle to organize, so we'll be careful in how we word it so that it's easiest, especially because we're relying on vendors to do the collecting. Because the whereas has up to, but the resolution at the bottom, the surcharges are will, shall, and post. Shall and post. So you hereby impose it. Yeah.

So I just, I just want to make sure we're protecting the vulnerable. Well, it says on each eligible wireless telephone number billed to an address. I still believe we have to be okay. To make those changes in the fee schedule. Let's move this down and then fee schedule.

Yeah, I don't want to stop the forward momentum, but I want to make sure that we're not locking ourselves into an issue.

Understand.

Any other clarification needed by Council? No, thank you. Those—. That was perfect. Thank you for your time.

Appreciate it. Okay, any further discussion on this resolution?

All those in favor of Resolution, um, 10-26-30, establishing an enhanced 911 surcharge starting No earlier than January 1st, 2027. Please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. The opposed, same sign.

And Nori Vasquez.

Okay, so the next item is accompanying this resolution, that's 1-10-26-31, and I would welcome a motion.

Yes, move for group resolution N-26-31, a resolution of the Council of the City of Cordova, Alaska, authorizing city manager to enter into a sole source contract with the Central Square Technologies LLC the acquisition of the Vertex E911 call handling solutions. I'll second. Great, it's been moved and seconded. Do you need a dollar amount in there? No.

Okay, okay. Um, Council Member Hansen, do you want to speak to the motion? I believe that the conversation on previous resolution, um, pretty much gave us all the information for this.

Um, Council Member May, I agree. All right, any other comments or questions?

I just— I have the one question. It sound— it said in the materials in the packet information that you got several quotes, and maybe I missed it, about why this needs to be a sole source contract. If you'd like. Well, because we didn't create an RFP, Brian was investigating all the opportunities, but it's a sole source, um, based on professional service, which city council can, uh, do without competition. We did our homework, right?

Um, you're taking—. But we're ready. Yeah, it didn't go out in an official Okay, but you can document all the research and contacting other—. City Council can— what you're doing right here is saying you're agreeing to do this without competitive, right? Right.

But yes, we'll do our research and reach out hard. Okay, thank you. That was just Brian.

Yeah. Okay, okay. Any other questions?

All right, all those in favor of Resolution 10-26-31, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Same sign.

That motion passes too.

We don't have any unfinished business. Um, we do have some new business.

On page 263, other property disposal request.

Folks on ATS 220 are keeping the surveyor busy, which is good because that is a little warren of property lines down in, um, Yeah, so is there a motion? Motion? Um, yes, I move to dispose of requested portion of ATS 220, approximately 1,116 square feet in size, as outlined in Cordova Municipal Code 7.40.060, by negotiating an agreement with the party who submitted the letter of interest to lease or purchase the property. Second. It's been moved and seconded.

Wendy Ranney and Collins— Council Member Ranney, who said to speak. I just— that whole area down there is pretty tight, and this makes a lot of sense to get property owners their access point. So I don't see it as anything that needs to be put out to bid if they're willing to purchase that tack onto their property. Same negotiator. Council Member Collins.

Yeah, similar comment. I think it's just the same, same situation as we already approved for the Rutzers, which is they get this little sliver of the right of way. Now, you know, I wouldn't expect anyone else to ever be interested in purchasing this property separately, so makes sense just to appreciate what they know. Madam Mayor? Yes.

I also want to say I do, um, either attend or watch most of the, um, P&Z meetings, and I do, uh, greatly appreciate the time and effort that they put into their recommendations to us. And so I take that also into account that PHC recommended we do that with this property, and I'm willing to go that route.

Any other council comments or questions? This is Council Member Zastrow. Go ahead. Yeah, just a comment. I concur with Council Member Ranney.

Also, the Harbor Commission recommended that we do a negotiated to negotiate with the landowner for this access. And also too, I noted in the description of the information that this would have to be replatted to be part of the overall lot in order for it not to be outside of requirements for what a lot has to be as far as size and everything. So that would be a stipulation, it sounds like, in order for this person to buy it, right?

Yeah, it seems like a real no-brainer. So, and it doesn't seem to affect anything going on down there. So yeah, any further comment, discussion on the motion? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Same sign. Great. Motion passes.

Um, yeah, excuse again. Um, pending agenda. Is it anything else we need to cover for pending agenda? Do you just want to reiterate those? Yeah, I—.

So at the budget work session, we looked at the schedule and we made a few edits.

Um, in a week and a day, we'll have another budget work session, not on the 28th because this room isn't available, so we're going with Thursday the 29th at 6 PM. Um, then in November, the week between regular meetings is the 11th, which is a holiday. So I'm going to investigate with the members who are absent right now to ensure that 12th at 6 PM will work for enough of you. And I may be in touch with you and be herding cats about that otherwise, but we'll have meetings in between so we can always talk about it afterwards. So there won't be any herding.

That's nice. That's about it, you know, otherwise. We're just having a lot of budget work sessions, I know, Valerie, but that's for a good reason. And then we'll be done with it early in December. Like us all have.

Housing Supply Group, I think, meets again December 1st. Sounds right. And I do believe Fisheries is supposed to be October 27th. I've been meaning to get in touch with them and to see if there's items for that.

Agenda. Otherwise, that's it. That's all I have. Oh my gosh, I can finally take this thing off of Resolution 12-1836, Grade E-911. We'll be back when a plan has been made.

The plan has been made. I can't wait. I won't have a B, and the whole two lines of the, of the page. How exciting. Okay, love that.

Not till like 10th. Great. Okay, um, so that's our pending agenda on the calendar.

And everybody knows, I think, that there are several seats coming open on, um Harbor Planning and Historic Preservation and Library. So, and tell your friends and neighbors, great way to get involved. Parks and Rec. Oh, thank you. Okay, all right, let's go on to audience participation.

3 Minutes per speaker. Does anybody want to talk about any topic at all?

Thank you. Kevin Johnson, Public Works Director. Not a public comment, I just need to tack on to my earlier comments. I left off a key piece of information. Uh, the STIF comments are due by the 29th, which is next Thursday.

So yeah, that's all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Did I put it in the last packet? I must— yes, yes, I got it. Darn, I wish I had put it again. Sorry.

Uh, okay, let's, um, go then to council comments. We have some executive session time coming up, so we'll do council comments first and maybe take a 5-minute break, and then, and then we'll, um, have our executive sessions. So council comments, let me start with Lee.

Yeah, I appreciate every meeting, the work done by city staff, but this, it shows just how much work the city is doing, and, uh, really impressed by that. And super helpful having all this information.

Say enough about how much service the work being done from these. And again, appreciate all the thoughtful discussion and comments from the public. And, um, yeah, this was— even, even putting together this packet, impressed by it. That is, do this and keep it organized. This— Councilmember Hansen.

Uh, the same, um, Thank you all for all the effort and work that is put into this and how it is presented. Appreciate all your guys' time. I'd also like to say thank you, Cordova, uh, Sunday's efforts, community support, um, it's truly amazing.

Thank you. Public safety is here to hear that. Um, Council Member Zastrow. Uh, yeah, thanks. I, I, I love quarterly, uh, report-out meetings.

These are— this is awesome. Having all these, uh, uh, quarterly reports is fantastic. Um, I just want to say I really appreciate our work session. I appreciate too how we're approaching budget this year. I love the big picture view of making some decisions on assumptions moving forward and being consistent.

I think some of the things that get us a little sideways in budget talks in past years was not, not as a group agreeing on certain things before we move forward, and it gets pretty chaotic if we're not all on the same page on some basic assumptions. So I'm really glad to see how we're moving into the budget cycle the way we are. Really appreciate that particular packet to the information provided in the work session, uh, was very helpful in moving forward and how we're going to be dealing with some of our fee schedule decisions. Um, and I really appreciate also to the work that Chief Hayden and that Brian Warwick over at the dispatch center put into the E911 upgrade and all the work they're putting in to make this a better system. It's hugely important, and one of the— probably one of the basic things we as a city and we as council members should be doing is looking out for the safety of our community.

And just thank everybody else on staff that's provided all this information.

Thank you. Council Member Mickelson. Yeah, I would echo all the comments of my fellow council members. Yeah, I, I'm looking forward to talking through some of these, these budget issues. I do feel like we have a little better handle on it than we did last year, even though we've had some, some greater challenges this year.

So anyway, and I would encourage the community to come out and speak up for what you value and, and how you would like to pay for it. So anyway, thanks. You have some of the reading. Yeah, first of all, I did not pick my packet up because it is actually weighs more than I'm allowed to hold on my new shoulder side. So, big packet this time.

Appreciate the hard work. The E911 is extremely exciting. I'm really proud of what Brian and Chief Hayden have done with their research and bringing us the information, answered all the questions I had and made it easy to make a decision that would forward on that. So I really appreciate your efforts there and coming in with it. Thanks to staff.

I, I love the quarterly reports. I appreciate the, the thought processes and the discussions that happen in PMZ and Harbor and Parks and Rec and all the work that folks are doing. I think collectively the city staff and this council can I feel like we are working towards a better community as a whole, and I think that's our goal, and I'm pleased to see that, you know, our conversations are productive and positive, and we move forward with decisions quickly. Thank you all.

All right.

Why don't we're on a few minutes to get ready for executive session, maybe we need a motion first and then we can take recess.

So, um, would someone be going to make a motion? Or two? We do—. Do it all as one. Yeah, you can say it all those two.

Yeah, someone would offer a motion. Um, the language is on the bottom. One of 4 categories, one of which is— well, it's right there in item 19. Oh, right, I write it right out for you guys.

That's— Madam Mayor? Yes, Council Member Root? I move we move into executive session, um, to discuss the council annual evaluation of City Manager Sam Greenwood. Is subject to tends to prejudice the reputation and character of a person, provided that that person may request a public discussion. A public discussion has not been requested.

And should I go into 20 as well? Yeah. Uh, council annual evaluation of city clerk Susan Bourgeois, subject to tends to prejudice the reputation and character of a person, provided that that person may request a public discussion. And the city clerk has not requested a public discussion. Thank you.

Is there a second? Second. Great. Moved and seconded to go into executive session. And why don't we take, what, a 5-minute recess?

Okay, all in favor? I'm sorry, you can say no objection. Is there, is there any discussion about the motion?

Uh, um, all those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you.

Okay, let's take a 5-minute recess and we will come back. And if I please leave the classroom and you can just record.