Assembly Work Session of September 11, 2025

Okay, we'll go ahead and start the, uh, work session. It's a Kodiak Island Borough Assembly work session of Thursday, September 11th, 2025, and we are in the assembly chambers, and the time is 7:52 PM on there. The first item is citizens' comments, and the local number is 907-486- 3231, toll-free number 855-492-9202. Limited to 3 minutes per speaker, and, uh, but if you're here locally, please sign in, state your name for the record, make sure the little green light comes on the mic and speak directly into it. And if you're calling in, please, uh, turn off any listening devices So, uh, we don't get the feedback.

Sandy, you have the floor.

Good evening, my name is Sandy Dawes and I am a Chiniak resident. I'm a retired school district employee. I am also on the Chiniak School Board Advisory Committee. I am here to talk to you guys regarding the Chiniac water system. I had to kind of chuckle when I opened the board packet and seen the memo in there from 2005 from Bob Tucker.

I actually wrote that memo when I was the maintenance accountant. That's how long this has been going on. We really need to do something with the Chiniac water system. Monique did a really good job of, of you know, talking about some things. She's been in contact with DEC. We as the community are very, we're growing out there.

It's a great community. It's a great place to live. And we, there's a new house for sale out there. We did hit that threshold or close to that threshold this year. We're at 24.

But the unfortunate thing was two of our, a family with two children had to be denied the waiver to come into our community. And that's been tough on the family. They've been out there for 6 years. And this year, um, they had just a few days to make some changes quickly. Unfortunately, that decision wasn't made based on the educational needs of that child.

It was based off of the water system. That's where we really— we need to do something. Um, I, I am going to go to the school board and I am going to ask them to override that denial. I understand the communication, I understand the ability, and I understand why Superintendent Mika did it. I don't fault her at all, um, being— having worked for the district, I get it.

The relationship with the school district and the school board and the borough assembly is very important. So there's a few things I, I would like you guys to consider, is giving a nod to the school district. Let them approve that waiver. We need to start this process. 2020 It's 20 years old, and, and there's, there's even history before that I could go into.

But we can't— like Monique said, we can't start anything until we are there. We've, we've reached out to DEC to ask if we could work on a plan. They won't, they won't go down that road until we actually hit that 25 or more. I do want to thank Mayor Williams, Superintendent Micah. They are working very closely with the Chiniak School Board Advisory.

But we're going to keep talking about this and we're going to keep coming back because we can't, we can't let it go. Think about it, the, the children that were denied the waiver, they weren't even born when this all started, but they're being the ones that are being held responsible for it. I have one more request. I'm going to jump right in. Um, I would like to see this, the assembly and the school board do a joint work session more than just once a year.

You all know, and I know, that by the time you get to that joint work session, you guys are just focused on budget. I was going to come in in March and talk about it, but there was too much going on. It would have been, you know, I understand at that point all you're focusing on is budget. Let's do something earlier because I know Chiniak is not your only facility need with the school board. So I want to thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you. Thank you, Sandy. Anyone else wishing to come forward under citizens' comments, please do so at this time, or if you're wishing to call in. We have no calls, so we're going to go ahead and move on to agenda items. The first one is Kodiak Community Health Center land request discussion.

Staff report, Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In meetings with Kodiak Community Health Center, we have gotten a request from them for land that is owned by the borough. They have a very large grant, just under $7 million, that they are required to have obligated by fall of 2026. Their grant that they have is— was given to them for a possible expansion of the clinic, and they cannot buy land with that grant money.

It's for construction. And so they have looked at all possible options of staying on site, building up, building out. They were very interested when we were looking at building a new tower over at the hospital. As you all know, that did not precipitate. And so now they are asking us for a new site.

Their executive director is here. Or do you— is it CEO, president? She's She's important. Um, is— Olivera is here tonight. Um, in your packet tonight, there is a letter that they have written to the assembly explaining their need and their request.

And then, um, also in your packet tonight is another copy of that hospital space study analysis that we had done. So you can see the results of that, um, as she outlines in her letter as well. So did you wanna say anything as we get started? Yeah, sure.

Okay, all right.

Well, thank you, Amy. Um, good evening, assembly. Uh, thank you for welcoming me here, and thank you for having me. I'm Oliver Wilson. I am the CEO at Kodiak Community Health Center.

And I just really want to start by saying how grateful I am for this opportunity to be here today. Also really grateful for Kodiak community, just really, really a community that's growing, and with that growth comes the need for, you know, this very, very urgent and human need in providing healthcare to the Kodiak Island community. Kodiak Community Health Center, we have been providing compassionate healthcare for this wonderful island community for over 20 years. And we are really at this stage where we have outgrown our space. So as you know, we are co-located with Providence, and we've really tried to see what we can do to expand within our current footprint, and that's just not been feasible.

So 2 years ago, in 2023, we received a grant. It's Amy said, of around $7.8 million. We were very excited for that fund because we were hoping to really use it to expand our footprint and really continue delivering the care that we're doing in the Kodiak community. Unfortunately, you know, we cannot use that funding to purchase an existing building. We cannot use it to purchase land.

The way the grant was awarded, we can only use it to build and construct on an existing space. And so we have explored every opportunity that exists. We thought about building, adding a story on our current space. And so I'd spoken with many architects. They came back and said it was not feasible.

So just really being unsure of how we can move forward. We have a very short timeline. If that fund is not obligated by September of next year, literally a year from today, from this month, we would lose that funding. And so this for me is just a discussion seeking collaboration with the borough. We really want to continue providing the healthcare that we're doing in the community.

If any of you have been to our healthcare facility, you'll see that we're really maxed out. In fact, my office is another storage space for a clinic. And so we are really looking for an opportunity to continue providing this care that we're doing so passionately for the Kodiak Island community. And I, I'm actually new to Kodiak. I moved from Oregon.

I've been in this role for going to 6 months now, and I've really seen a lot of the challenges that this work really brings. And I'm very, very— I've really grown to love this island community, and, and so I'm doing this work with my heart and trying to figure out a way that we can continue providing health care for our community. We're having long wait times, we're having long appointment times because we don't have enough exam rooms, we don't have enough space to continue doing this work that we're very passionate about in doing in this wonderful Kodiak Island community. And so that's why I'm here today, to figure out how we can have conversations about this very— what I would like to say, very important work that we're doing in this community, and see how the borough can really assist us in doing this work that we're doing very, very passionately. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions of her at this time? Bo and then Steve. Steve and then Bo. Talking about land, have you explored any tracts that you're interested in?

Not particularly. We're really just at this point open for whatever is available. For us, you know, I feel like we are beggars, we can't be choosers. We will take whatever we get at this point, yeah, just to save our grant funding. Bo?

I think you have a similar question. And so just to make sure we are clear, I am just a representative of the community. I am not going to make— I would never make a decision based on my thoughts. I am thinking about this as what would be the benefit to the community to make sure you are clear what you are what your organization is requesting is a donation of land from the community through the borough for you to build this facility. Is that correct?

That is correct. Okay. May I follow up, Mr. Mayor? Continue. So I don't— clearly, I don't disagree with what you are pursuing.

My concern is the amount of the award. If you were to— so we have competing interests. Let me rewind a little bit. Strong need for land disposable for residential development. If the borough were to identify a lot suitable for development for your facility, likely it would meet a lot of criteria that would also be met for residential development, specifically in my opinion for multi-unit dwellings.

So your grant award, while it's a generous amount of money, I'm not sure I guess the concern is, is it enough to— even if the land was donated by the community through the borough to your organization, is that— does your— do you feel that that's enough to develop that land and build a facility? That's my concern, is if we give up community land for this purpose, which is a great need, as you stated and I agree with, I'm concerned that's not enough funding for you to even develop, much less build a facility? Yeah, no, I think that's a really good question. So yes, I know that $7.8 million is not enough to build anything really in Kodiak, but we have funders that are willing to support our work and support us with funding. The issue is they really want us to have like a plan, an architectural design.

They want us to have a a space, a land, and we cannot apply for the funding if we don't have the space, if we don't have the architectural design. And also with this one big beautiful bill, there's the $50 billion Rural Health Care Transformation Fund. I've requested for a minimum of $15 million from the state to help add to whatever we have, the $7.8 million that we have. So I'm really hoping that that In addition to other funders that have said, we will support the work you're doing, we just need to see a plan. And we cannot— we don't have a plan if we don't have a space or if we don't have an architectural design.

So it's kind of a very, you know, tough, challenging situation to be in. But I definitely agree with you that that's not enough money to build what we're asking for. But there is a path forward if we can secure the land. Go ahead. And, and so one, one last question, um, from, from me is, is the question that I'm anticipating coming from the community is what type of services or what expansion of services would they be receiving by, by the borough donating community land for your organization?

What could they expect to receive from that? Yeah, so obviously, you know, like I said, we are having very long wait times with appointments booking out weeks, months out. So definitely we'll create more access with the services we provide. We have medical services, we do behavioral health, we just launched a pharmacy at our clinic, and we're really growing. And we have plans to continue to provide more services that we believe that's really needed in the Kodiak community.

And so I, I think that We are able to supply that. We just need the opportunity to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Steve.

The grant you have, does it require you to own the land or could you enter a long-term lease agreement? Or do you not know? Good question. It does not require us to own the land. It just requires us to have a space that we can build on.

And so we can do a long-term lease, whatever pathway is viable, as long as we have something to build on. Yeah. And then the follow-up one would be, have you talked to the city about any of the parcels on Near Island? I have reached out. I have not gotten any feedback yet, so I am still really trying to explore every opportunity that I can.

For this work. Dave. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on that, Steve, because I appreciate the comment. Yeah, I'm a big fan of not disposing of public land in a permanent fashion when possible.

So especially, I believe this would become a tax-exempt property as well. A long-term lease that offsets some of that, I think, would be a good use of taxpayer resources and borough land. Thank you. Thank you. Besides the City of Kodiak, you mentioned you've talked to them, is there any other property that you might have sought out by other owners?

No, I have not. I mean, I'm trying to have conversations with the college Those conversations are just very, very early days conversations. They've not even said, hey, we have XYZ to give you. It's just exploratory conversations. So nothing's really secured anywhere.

Okay, because basically the property at the college was given to them from the Pearl, Kodiak Island Pearl. Oh, okay. To the university. So any other—. It's not the college, it's the university.

Yeah. And they're in Fairbanks. Yeah, we don't get to talk to them. Yes, I tried to make that clear, but thank you for that. Yeah.

Any other questions anybody has? Jared? Um, there are, um, I have heard there are meetings that have been set to, to look at this at the— in Fairbanks. Or at least in Anchorage. Anchorage first.

So, and I imagine you would probably want parcels that are in the city or close to the city, maybe not out in Chiniak as much as maybe they would love a health center out there. We have land. There is land out there. No utilities. In the flats.

But yeah, yeah. Yeah, what is your— what is the drop— is there a drop-dead date for securing land before the grant expires next September? Yeah, so I kind of put a timeline in the packet that I had sent to the assembly, and we're— I know it's a very, very short timeline just because we're trying to really get this money obligated before September.

Ideally, if we can have something by December, maybe January, I know, again, very, very short timeline, just really looking at what we're working with. I actually had a meeting with HRSA, federal government, trying to see if they can extend the timeline for us for this grant, and they basically told me with all the changes happening right now with this new administration, they cannot say if we can extend that timeline. And so I know it's a very short timeline. I'm really just trying to work with what I have available right now. [Speaker:PB HARMON ZUCKERMAN] And thank you for that.

Yeah, I think that's a good note to make right there. We've talked about like possibly doing a land lease, long-term lease, which I like too.

If we were to, you know, hand over this land in a deal, like how else would you envision KCHC partnering with the borough or the school district to, again, you know, kind of give more— give back to the community in lieu of maybe some of the property tax value we might lose from giving land? [Speaker:COMMISSIONER ARKOOSH] Yeah, really good question. One of the things we're thinking about is continue doing the work we're already doing. We do free sports physicals at the high school. We do that every year, uh, expanding that as well, um, doing that with the, the school district and trying to ensure that we're able to give back to our community that way.

We're also open to having conversations about what the borough would like us to do in terms of partnership, uh, so that it kind of feels like a win-win. We're very, very open to that. Opportunity for partnership. One thing we hear a lot, and I think this is part of your— if you get the space, this is part of kind of your expansion of services plan, is for more healthcare, mental healthcare, right? Yes.

Yes. So we offer behavioral health services, and we've really been trying to expand that service line. We've not really been able to do that because, again, space. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] And so that is something that's really at the forefront of our minds for if we have this dream space that we can have everything we want together, we'll be able to offer that services more. Because we've done needs assessment for Kodiak, and that's one of the things that we've seen that's a huge need for the community, behavioral health, behavioral health services.

And so that is something that we are really looking at expanding for the community here. Yeah, it's— it always shows up. It's always in like the top 3 things when various organizations ask what do we need more of in Kodiak, that's always in the top 3. So if that's something that we can support since the borough does have health powers to an extent, this is something that, yeah, we could do with land or with facilities. Or something.

So I think that it seems like it's a good plan to ensure that taxpayers' interest, even though we may not get the full value of that land back to us, but the plans, the commitments that are kind of in place there, I think are an overall net benefit for the community. But still, I think Dave's idea of Really looking at that long-term land lease is a win-win. Yes, and if I may add, so we are a federally qualified health center, and what that means is basically we see everyone. Everyone that walks through our door, we will see them regardless of their ability to pay. So if someone doesn't have health insurance, we will still see you, and that is a really huge need in the community.

That is a service that we're very proud to offer this this wonderful Kodiak Island. And that's why we really feel like it's important for this mission, for this work that we're doing. I mean, you've heard of all the Medicaid cuts that's coming, but we are still ready to see everyone and anyone that walks through our doors. And that is one of the, the amazing things that makes me really passionate about this work I'm doing here at KCHC. Steve, um, if I read this properly Your ideal would be Option A, which would be 3 to 4 acres because it's 3 plus.

Um, I think the service is needed, so therefore, I mean, a 3— if we were to sell a 3-acre piece, when you put in the cost of developing roads, utilities, everything else to a developer to put houses on would have to sell it fairly cheap. So I could realistically see trying to find an arrangement where there is a lease, but— and Amy, you can correct me if I'm wrong— medical facilities are property tax exempt. Yes, that would basically make up what we would expect to get for property tax, so therefore it would just the land wouldn't be used for houses, but probably the best suited for you would be more on a main road, if there is such a lot, that isn't quite as good for single-family housing anyway. But we wouldn't have to worry about losing property tax either if we could come up with a lease arrangement that would cover that and whatever else. Obviously, any leasing The borough's had trouble with some leases and making sure everybody's— both parties are well covered.

So that would have to be researched properly. But I would be much more in favor of just owning the land and not a building. We've done that with the hospital, and I think it would be better to just own the land and lease it. That's my opinion. Jared, and then Bo.

Just a quick question. Amy reminded me, have you looked at North Star? Have you looked at North Star's footprint? Yes, and I think I kind of reached out to Amy, who just talked a little bit about it. And I think what we were wanting was if we could kind of turn that to an all-encompassing help center for what we're looking for.

But I I think from Amy's response, you know, she had said something about if we wanted some office spaces. We do have another admin site building on Mill Bay Road, and what we really wanted was to have all of our staff together in one building. And so not having like some admin staff one place and another place, and so that really doesn't solve our problem, only if we can have it as a health center. We're also open to, you know, if there's any building that we can kind of renovate, that would be a cheaper pathway for us. If there's a building somewhere that the borough owns that we can kind of turn that into a health center, that would be an easier pathway for us.

So I'm not sure, you know, I'm I'm still new to this island. I don't know all the spaces and all the buildings that are available, but we are very open to an opportunity like that. [SPEAKING CHINESE] Thank you. I think my fellow Assembly members, maybe not exactly the same thought pathway, but leading me in that direction as well, as we have a very large facility that we have not identified what to do with. We also have a very large, very flat lot across from Canna that would make this part of a collective complex where all of our medical care facilities would be within roughly 1 mile or less of each other.

So I think, just thinking ahead, this timeline is very brief. What does the assembly, mayor, manager, community want us to prioritize? If healthcare is a priority, which we have heard that, We have two options that, in my opinion, would be worth looking at. Clearly would be contentious within the community as far as repurposing those— the use for the Cannonball Field or the North Star facility. But given the timeline, I don't know how many other options we have for a facility that would be flat and ready to go.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] That's a problem all in itself. I'm sorry. The other issue on the Clarny Hills property is you're looking at $2 to $3 million in development costs to get the utilities in there because it does not have the utilities, and you would have to also put some roads in. And so— and that's the problem with what we own. Now, the— as we've heard on the community college, The easiest and most readily available is the corner of Mill Bay and Benny Benson.

You got sewer, water, and access on there. That to me is a much clearer and much quicker thing than anything we've got on there. So I'm just being upfront with you from, from the logistics and the money on there, because it's the development cost. But when you got those utilities there and you got the road there You're saving millions right there. So I throw that out that as I'm seeing, you know, we don't have a large enough trunk somewhere that we can do that with that's ready to go.

We got problems with utilities most everywhere. The city of Kodiak does have property on Near Island. That's an option there that there is utilities. Roads on. But the community college property, that corner, is, is an option.

And I think that what I'm seeing and listening is that's the most viable option at this time. Is it feasible? I don't, don't know, but I'm hoping you'll find out sooner rather than later because unfortunately government moves slowly. So that's the thing. Steve.

Well, that's a lot from the university. And I think if with the university, they would also— they should also consider the corner of Rezanov and Woody Way, which is again part of the university, but water and stuff is readily available. Just a thought. Yeah, there's some complications with that, with that area there. It's an option, yeah, but it's not quite as accessible as the Mill Bay parcel on Mill Bay and Benny Benson intersection there up against Firth Terrace.

So Seeing none, I want to thank you for coming forward, and we'll be talking about things. And also, please keep us updated on the discussions with the community college and also looking at the city of Kodiak with some of the property that they have with utilities readily available and access. Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next item we have is update on the status of the Chiniac School water system. Staff report, Borough Manager Amy Williams. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As we heard in a couple of public comments, the— we'll be talking about the Chiniac School water system tonight. The system is currently classified as a non-potable public system.

This is an acceptable classification if the water system is serving 24 people or less. Once the system is serving— I should say, because it specifically says regularly serving 25 people or more— it is required to be upgraded to a public water system. For the fiscal year '25-'26 school year, there is a family in Chiniak that had been homeschooling previously but is now sending their 3 children to the school this unexpected change in enrollment, in addition to the fact that the teacher that is coming this month is bringing a school-aged child with them, has pushed the school enrollment to the limit of 24. In order to not cross the threshold of the water system serving 24 and under to the point where it's serving 25 or more, the Kodiak Island Borough School District has denied waivers for students from the Bells Flats area to be transported out to the Chuníak School. The waiver denial resulted in questions about the water system and, as Sandy said earlier, has caused an emotional outcry from several residents.

I was able to attend a Chiniak Advisory School Board meeting on August 28th to better understand the situations. Members of the Advisory School Board and Superintendent Micah were online for the meeting. KAB staff is also reaching out to Alaska Aerospace, who has a public water system out there, and we are trying to get a hold of Friends by the Ocean because they're going to be crossing over that 25-person limit as well to see what they're doing for their water system. In your packet tonight, you have the history all the way back from 2005 at the Chugiak Water System, everything that Patricia could find in the system all the way up to when it was just moved to a non-public water system. In 2017, and then there is also the study in there that we had done a couple of years ago about what those interim systems would have to look like, with a couple of options in there with the reverse osmosis system and a cartridge filtration system, and then the prices for those are in there as well.

I know it was kind of hard to hear Monique when she called in, but she was saying that what they were asking for is that they want the 25th student and more to be allowed to go to school there so that ADC would actually look at the system. Until we cross 25 regular people using a system, ADC won't even look at the system or make suggestions. Um, in conversations with the superintendent, I agreed with her decision to not allow the waivers for right now because we do really understand what the fiscal impact of that is right now. And so that's why we wanted to make it a discussion item with the assembly so we had a better understanding of what was happening and why those decisions were being made. Um, in previous years, whether it was students from town or students from the Flats, we have to send buses out regardless because if a student lives more than 2 miles away from the school, we provide bus service.

So as we sent the buses out to the school system, we had students from town and the Flats go out for that school, and those are the students that Sandy was talking about from the Flats. Previously, before that, we used to keep a bus out in Shinniack, and we would bus, uh, some of the older students into middle school and high school so they could attend school here. So we had buses going back and forth, moving students all over the place. So this year, two of the students that lived in the Flats were denied the ability to go out there to make sure that we didn't cross over that 25. So that's the information that you have in front of you, and that advisory school board has asked that we have more communications with the school board and make sure that we all understand what's going on with those waivers.

Thank you. Any questions? Dave. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, you know, my heart goes out to the kids who wanted to be in Chiniac and couldn't.

My heart goes out to all the kids who were in Northstar and are no longer there. You know, decisions have financial implications. And because of that, you know, when Cheneak hits 25, we as an assembly will have an obligation to start working on that. I think it would be prudent for next year's budget to start looking at what that Class 1 operator might cost in case Cheneak does go over 25. But from my perspective, at least, um, you know, if they've got 25 or more kids in Cheneyak, then we're going to have to figure something out.

Um, beyond that, um, you know, it was a nice thing to be able to do, but again, having my kid at Northstar was nice as well. And I, I don't mean— I don't say that to be glib But, you know, the, the school district is in financial straits. Um, our borough's not flush with cash, so, um, it's not our decision anyway. It's the school district's, um, it's the superintendent's as to whether to grant that waiver. But, um, I'm glad they went the route they did with this.

For now. Thank you.

Scott.

I'm unsure about a lot of the stuff about this. We had a system before that did work and something fell apart, and then somebody stole a transformer, which was pretty expensive. Right, that was just the pump for the well, and that's been replaced. I don't know how they got in to get it in the first place. That was pretty strange.

A master key. Really? One of those, the cut bolt cutters. Bolt cutters. Well, I guess that's where we live.

And, uh, um, if they have more than 25 students, we got to do the water. There's no choice. And We need to do it for several reasons. Number one, it's the law. And number two, we want kids to be healthy.

So that's, that's the answer, I think. I don't think we've had good luck with osmosis killing of bacteria. I'm not sure about that. Maybe the science on it is better than it was when they were building the Fisheries Research Building, but it didn't work there very well. So, I think we might be able to share personnel with the facility where the winery was and the spaceport if they all have the same kind of system going.

So that might save some money, but I guess we're going to have to bite the will it and do it. Something to look into.

Jarrod and then Dave. Thanks. Yeah, a couple of questions. So what does that timeline look like once we hit 25 and we notify DC?

DC will tell us once we hit. Oh, geez. Okay. That is part of the problem. Yeah, that is why it is really frustrating is because we that like DC won't even talk to us about it.

[Speaker:MICHAEL] Sure. [Speaker:JESSICA] And so right now, even with that teacher bringing a student with her, she start— I think it's very soon if she's not already there. We were— the Juniack area was at 23 students, but then the superintendent allowed one student to get bussed in, I think just like on Monday mornings from town out to— They allowed one person from town, and now they are at that 24. And so they went to the max that they could with waivers and then stopped. [Speaker:COMMISSIONER ARKOOSH] So we don't really— just because I am just trying to get a sense of once that 25 marker hits and then we start working on it, what, you know, what would— what is a reasonable deadline to have everything in place?

But what if it goes up to 25 one year and then dips back down to 22? And then, right, all of that work that we've done, do we still continue on with that work? So I guess I'm asking, um, I think we should look at— I'm sure this has happened in other villages around the state, something like this happening. And it sounds pretty rare, right, that the school populations actually go coming up.

But it also sounds like Chinniack, or the school, still has a water problem even if they don't hit 25.

I was trying to listen to what, what Monique was saying, and that in terms of like testing, I would have to check on that. I am unaware of the testing not being adequate, but I I won't doubt Monique because that's her world. Right, exactly. But I would want to see those tests and be able to gather that information. And looking at the packet, it seems like there have been previous, not complaints, but tests that have not been, have not gone well.

They had to do boil orders from time to time. So it still sounds like something still needs to be done, but what that is, for other people to figure out, I guess. And it's— as regards to the busing, the state pays most or all of that? Most. Most of it, yes.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Dave, then Steve, then Bo.

Thank you. I think the testing thing, my understanding at least, is that, you know, I have a well at my house. I have no testing requirements because it's just for my family. Everybody in Chiniak has a well. They have no testing requirements because it's their family.

Our school has no testing requirements because it doesn't have 25 or more. Now, we elect to have testing done, but if there were to hit 25, then it's a whole new batch of regulations. Not that there's anything wrong with the water, it's just those regulations change.

One thing I did want to kind of point out, and it's not— I'm not saying it's something that can, or I'm not saying it's something that should be done, but it's absolutely something that is done throughout the state, is that there aren't a lot of school buildings on road systems for 25 or less kids. You know, growing up on the Kenai Peninsula, I had friends who were bused bust in from Cooper Landing every day. I had friends who were bused in from Moose Pass every day. So I'm not advocating for that solution, but I'm saying an idea that they hit 25 and there's an obligation to create a water system is also not accurate. There are other options is all I wanted to point out.

Correct. Steve and then Bo.

I think what you said in the fact that busing is an option to bring, even if we had to chinack people in, which they probably wouldn't appreciate, but it is an option because I know for years South Nacnac would fly students across the river all winter back and forth because there wasn't a school in South Nacnac. So there are Alaska things you just have to deal with, um, along with the water situation. I know when the well was down, getting water there was very difficult, but if there are more than 25, can the well supply everything except potable water and then give drinking bottles to kids who want— as a short-term solution, I'm not talking long term. Well, I think any of those are possible as a short-term solution, but I think what the discussion we're trying to have is what is our— what's the long-term solution going to be if we cross 25, right? So when the transformer was missing and we didn't have access to the well, the school district was hauling water out.

Correct. Even the tanks that they have out there weren't rated to— I mean, they weren't cleaned enough. They weren't cleaned every day. So there were issues just with hauling water out there, and that would just last a few days, and then they would be hauling out again. So that became very burdensome, having that sloshing water in the back of your truck all the way out to Chiniak.

But they figured it out, and it worked for a while. But that's definitely not a long-term solution. Yeah. No, it's a short-term. I just wondered whether separating potable and non-potable could be done.

Then there's another serious question I think Related to this is if the borough is actually going to open up lots in Chinniack and try to sell some, it's going to make this problem worse. So the question is, if they do that and you can only have 25, basically Chinniack itself limits the buying pool just because of the commute and driving. If you also say, well, your kids aren't going to be able to go to school here, that's going to eliminate the buying pool also. So if Chiniac's going to expand as a little community, I think we need to take into consideration the school water. Um, I think the issues are kind of related.

Thank you. Bo. Thank you. Um, while I'm extremely sensitive to the kids wanting school choice, I also enjoyed a 2-hour and 45-minute round trip daily when my parents moved me to the wonderful canyon in Las Placitas, New Mexico. So riding a bus to school is not enjoyable for extended period, but that's a decision that families make to choose where they reside.

I don't feel that that is something that necessarily— and again, I'm extremely sympathetic to this scenario because it is not enjoyable. However, I don't think that the borough is responsible for reconciling that choice. But that said, I'm unclear on if we— I don't know, I'm not willing to compel the school district to do anything. I feel that that's inappropriate. We are separate entities for a reason.

But that considered, should the school district or school board— I don't know exactly— school district, I suppose, grant the waivers, who would be responsible for any upgrades to that water system? Would it be the school district or the borough, which I guess when it comes to funding is one and the same? Same taxpayers. But, uh, so if we consider it major maintenance, it'll definitely be over $50,000 and fall on the borough.

Continue, Paul. Thank you. Um, so, so to an earlier point made, um decisions, really challenging decisions that have had an adverse impact on the community, to close an entire school. Um, that was very recent. Um, I'm reluctant at the moment, without knowing exactly what we're looking at, to spend a large amount of money to accommodate a small handful of students, while acknowledging I know where they're coming from.

I can certainly relate, but that's where I'm at now. I'm reluctant to commit a large amount of money to upgrading that system. Yeah, one of the— there's multiple problems here. We've got our school bond debt reimbursement did not happen at 100%. We lost 25%, then we found out we lost another $200-some thousand.

So we're behind at least $1.5 million in there. Question is, what's it going to do next year? Now, that comes out of— we didn't raise property taxes for it. That's basically going to come out of the fund. We were fortunate to get it back before, and I'm hoping that sometime the state will get a little windfall and pay that back again.

The— fortunately, the The debt reimbursement is half of what it was just 10 years ago. So it's not near the impact on the state, but it was enough that it was the legislature that cut it this time, not the governor, at least for the first 25%. So we know we have a lot of issues on the pool, and those are very expensive issues that we're going to have to look at. I think that the waivers can't support the waivers on there, and at some time you end up looking at busing like we did years ago, some of the kids into town in the higher grades. And there was a time that the school district had an employee with the, the water certificate, which made it easier, and they have that option.

Of doing part of that and then looking into this. So, but it takes time to get that certificate. That don't happen overnight either. So there's a lot of things to look at here. I like the idea of talking with the spaceport as far as what they're doing.

Also, you've got Gerald and Brenda Friend, Friends on the Ocean there. So We got some things we can look at, but for this year, it's not an option. So that's my feel.

Any further discussion? Okay.

Then next thing will be the packet review. As part of the packet review, the first thing, awards and presentations. Proclamation declaring September 15th through 19th Kodiak Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. Second one is proclamation and recognition of the National Assessors Day. Then we have a, a public hearing, which is ordinance number FY 2026-5, and this is amending Kodiak Island Borough Code Title 3, Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.35, Real Property Tax, Section 3.35.050, Board of Equalization.

Staff report, Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This change will make it so the Board of Equalization cannot raise an assessment on the current year unless the appellant requests an increase. Also, if an appellant provides a long-form fee appraisal and the board does not rule in favor of the appellant The board shall make specific findings on the record to support their decision.

Any questions?

Seeing none, we'll move on to contracts. This is contract number FY 2026-13, purchase of enterprise storage from USI Corporation. Staff report, Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Kodiak Island Borough currently utilizes on-premise systems which require high-performing enterprise storage.

This storage is in the form of an HP Nimble Storage array, which is rack-mounted, highly redundant disk-based storage that is assessed by KAB— sorry, accessed by KAB servers and stores its critical compute and networking systems. The current Nimble array is over 7 years old and has reached end-of-life status, requiring that it be replaced and upgraded. The quote will provide an upgrade to the current Nimble array. It will replace the drives and controllers as part of the upgrade, and it includes a year of support as part of the cost. The current array is our main storage system, and there— should there be an outage with this equipment, KIB systems would be severely impacted until it was repaired.

This one-time cost of $52,786 would purchase the equipment, and it should have an approximate 7-year lifespan.

Any questions, staff? Seeing none, move on to ordinances for introduction. This is Ordinance Number FY 2026-7, amending Kodiak Island Borough Code, Title 2, Administration and Personnel, Chapter 2.10, Appointment of Officers, Commissions, and Committees, Section 2.10.030, Compensation for Regulatory and Quasi-Judicial Boards and commissions. Staff report. Amy.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Board of Equalization for Valuation typically meets twice a year in May to hear valuation appeals and approve those appeals. The board consists of 5 members and 2 alternate members, each serving 3-year terms. According to borough records, the last time this board's compensation was reviewed and increased was in 2008.

The board chair is requesting the compensation amount be raised from $100 to $175 per meeting. Any questions or discussion on that? Seeing none, move on to— this is another ordinance for introduction. Ordinance number FY 2026-8, amending Kodiak Island Borough Code, Title 3, Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.35, Real Property Tax, Section 3.35.030, Real and Personal Property Exemption from Taxation Regarding Good Cause Appeal Hearings. Staff report, Amy.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This ordinance updates the process in which good cause hearings shall follow. This ordinance clarifies the role of the assessor, the borough clerk, and the claimant, and the procedure that the assembly will follow for the public. This is the procedure that we currently use. However, it has never been placed in code in this manner.

If you have questions, CIMA is here tonight to answer anything. Any questions? Move on to next ordinance for introduction is 2026-9, amending Kodiak Island Borough Code Title 3, Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.35, Real Property Tax, Section 3.

35.040, Method of assessment regarding correction of the assessment roll. Staff reporting. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Senate Bill 179 describes specific information for assessors' roles in assisting the public during the appeal period after notice of values are mailed and how errors and omissions may be corrected. The first part of this ordinance is for optional exemptions to be added, and the second changes clarifies how errors or omissions will be handled.

Again, Seema is here tonight if you have any questions about these changes. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, move on to the last ordinance for introduction. That's 2026-10, Determining the Disposition of Tax Foreclosed Properties Acquired by Clerk's Deed in 2024 and Establishing Attention to Surplus and Sales Set properties by finding that a public need does not exist for the properties and authorizing the properties for immediate disposal. Staff report.

Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On July 12th, the borough acquired a clerk's deed for 4 properties via the foreclosure process established by borough code and state statutes. Of these 4 properties, only 2 currently remain unredeemed. Those 2 unredeemed properties were presented to the Planning and Zoning Board during their August 13th work session and August 20th regular meeting, where they were determined that a public need does not exist.

This ordinance accepts the Planning and Zoning Board's findings, classifies the properties as surplus to the borough, gives permission for the properties to be sold, and establishes the conditions of sale. The conditions of sale set in the ordinance are that the sale is conducted by a sealed bid auction. The bid shall contain a 10% deposit based on the minimum bid amount listed in the bid packet. The minimum bid is the amount owed to the borough, including the cost of sale. Remaining bid balance must be paid within 30 days of bid acceptance, and the highest bidder takes ownership.

If the property remains unsold after being offered for sale by sealed bid, the property may be listed online for sale to any approved party for the minimum bid. A sale date has not been set. As you'll see in the listing, there is one remote one property inside of city limits. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, we'll move on to other items.

This is review of the State of Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office beverage dispensary license renewal application for El Chicano Incorporated, doing business as El Chicano Mexican Restaurant, license number 3299, combined renewal notice for for 2025-2026 renewal cycle. Staff report, Nova. Thank you, Miss—. Oh, next one. Thank you, Miss.

So I'm going to have to look. It's going to be a little acrobatic, but okay. Um, so this gets a little complicated. I want to give you a heads up on what's going on here. We received a renewal for the license.

We all know that El Chicano right now is operating off Rezanov, right? But this license, the liquor license address is on Marineway, which is right next to the Mecca Jewelry. I think they meant to acquire that corner area there. So the address that's attached to this license is that Marine Way address. So when the review came in from the fire marshal, they have some issues about sprinklers and stuff like that at that location.

Immediately after receiving the transfer, we also— or the renewal, this renewal. We received a transfer application for this license. They're transferring the ownership, they're also transferring the location. So I just want you to be clear on what's going on here because at the next meeting you're going to see the transfer. Okay, I'm confused.

It is very confusing. So If you'd like me to go slowly or repeat what's going on, I can. We received a renewal for a license, and the license location states that it's on Marineway. So when we had— when we investigated, we went to the fire marshal, and the fire marshal says that at that location there are some issues. That's why they are proposing to the borough and the city that we protest with condition, okay, to fix their sprinkler system.

However, we have a pending transfer that's transferring the ownership of this license to new owners, to the daughter and the daughter is planning to operate on Reznov. So that's the— that's what's going on with this license. Okay. So with this one, we have a recommendation that you either voice non-protest, knowing that it's going to be potentially transferred to a new location, or you can voice protest with condition. And I'm going to give you a third option also, which is just a voice to protest the whole thing.

So given what I've told you, I'll let you simmer on this a little bit. Okay. And then make that decision at the next meeting. Steve and then Scott.

Okay, and having been through kind of a situation with a different license, it came out that you can renew if you have an intent to use it, which is what they had when they were working on the Marine Way building, which they were working on. Then some complications came up. Mm-hmm. So then it's been sitting idle at the moment. Mm-hmm.

Is it presently active? I believe it's not being used as of the moment. I know it's up for renewal, but has it expired? No, it's—. No.

It's— well, AMCO is behind with processing the applications. This is for 2025 to 2026. It's already September. We're almost halfway there. So now, aside from this coming up, before you were also processing the biannual, which is checking the continued operation of this license.

So it's just— well, yeah, very interesting. I guess I'm asking that because I didn't— I don't really have a problem with the continuous operation. It hasn't been, but The way the law was written, if you're—. They haven't—. Intending to open and work, which came out in the other one, they obviously were.

They put money into that building, they were working with it, they ran into a complication. So that's not a problem to me. And if they actually applied to transfer before it was expired, then I don't know why it shouldn't proceed to the transfer process.

If it had already expired, then that would be a different issue. But if the—. It's an active license legitimately and they're trying to transfer it, do we need to renew it so they can transfer it, or because it was already applied, would Would it go through even if we protest and it's not renewed? We can protest, but it's really up to AMCO on what they—. Okay.

—Want to do. I know AMCO is very confusing to deal with. I think we have 4 waivers on this license already. We're on the 4th waiver. Okay.

Which means that it hasn't been operated for more than 240 hours for each waiver. Of those years, for 4 years. For 4 years. Yeah, the building where they were going, it's been sitting empty because of the fire thing, and that's why they moved— I don't know what to call the building— under the old Eugene's. And— but they still have a lease on the building, last I knew, even though they weren't doing anything with it because they were tied into it.

And they really did go into it with good faith of opening there. Um, and if it's a good active license that's clean, then I said no reason why the transfer shouldn't proceed. And I don't even see why we should protest this per se, because they're trying to move on. Thank you. Scott.

I'm confused by all of the ins and outs of this. It seems to me the best thing to do is to deep-six it and start all over again. But what Steve's saying makes sense to a degree as well, is, you know, have they screwed up so badly in this that we have to do that? And the answer is apparently no. So I guess we go forward.

Deal with it. I would much prefer to have this clean, especially after the last one we had to deal with, with AMCO. But the fact of the matter is that most of these state departments aren't functioning well because they don't have enough personnel. And it's not just that, it's ADEC as well. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, I would correct— it's not up to AMCO, it's up to the ABC board. I meant Okay. Bo? Thank you. So just to make sure I understand the sequence of events leading up to this request is they were operating in that downtown area where Aqua Marine— [SPEAKING RUSSIAN] Yep.

There were some issues with renovating to get up to code. They moved their restaurant to the Rezanov location. Their intent is to also, with that movement, stay in that location and bring that license over to that location and transfer to a family member. Is that all correct? Okay, to me it sounds like they're, they're making progress.

They ran into a snag, um, but they didn't just stop. Um, that was a— I am mildly concerned about the length of time 4 years. But since they have moved beyond that to a new location, that's a moot point to me currently. So I don't have any reason to oppose this or protest it. Amy, did you want to—.

Amy, you got it. There's a step in there where they cooked out of the Tony's Kitchen for a long time. There was health problems with one of them, so their plans to to move at that corner location between the bingo hall and Meckle Jewelry did not precipitate how they wanted to because of medical problems. They wanted to keep the restaurant alive and open. They weren't able— you had to buy your alcohol from Tony's, obviously, but food from them.

So it's been through a lot of different iterations until they found somewhere where they could actually stay. So I think this is the first time they found somewhere they could actually, like, grow roots at. Great. Thank you. Dave.

I think the manager answered my question, but I just want to make sure I'm clear because this is confusing.

This has nothing to do with the location they're at right now in Reznov, correct? So this is about a location they intend to move to that's been delayed due to fire code issues. Thank you. Okay, any other? I just, um, Mr. Mayor, members of the assembly, I just wanted to be upfront and let you know what you're gonna see in the next few meetings, um, and I didn't want to be remiss in not mentioning that, what's gonna be happening in the next few meetings.

Thank you. The rest of the story. So, okay, we'll move on to approval of the revised planning and zoning Commission bylaws. Staff report, is that Nova?

Yeah, I can, um, yeah. So the Planning and Zoning Commission have revised their bylaws, and our code says that whenever they do that, you— we need to present them to you for approval. The main, uh content or the variations were derived from actually the Assembly making changes and allowing electronic participation at meetings. So they're allowing that. They also put in limitations.

They have updated cross-references that were outdated and not existent anymore in the code. So it's— it— I reviewed it and it looks good, and, um, they approved it. Any questions? Seeing none, move on. Appointment of the October 7th, 2025 regular municipal election officials.

Staff report. No. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am really thankful that I have a great team of workers that come back every year.

They're very experienced. We're actually having training next week. We have this city precinct workers training on Monday, and then we have this— the borough precincts training on Tuesday. So I, I am really fortunate and I am very thankful to the list of our election workers, our receiving team, and our canvas team. Thank you.

Thank you, Noah. Next item is manager's report. Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Arnton and I were asked to meet with gubernatorial candidate Klick Bishop last week while he was in Kodiak over Labor Day weekend. We were able to meet with him and learn a little bit about his campaign on September 2nd. The lease for the left side of the cottage, which I had addressed today, Suite 102, is being reviewed by the president and CEO of YMCA Alaska. We expect to have the new YMCA offices being set up inside of that building. Starting next week.

I attended a strategic planning meeting for the Kodiak Economic Development Corporation where we looked at the organization's role in the community and the role of the board members. This morning was the Kodiak Fisheries Development Association meeting. That just happens once a year. Great meeting. There is one City of Kodiak seat open for a crab harvester representative.

So if anyone knows someone that is harvesting crab and wants to sit on that board, It is the easiest board ever, literally once a year. Northstar Elementary, we are still working on the determining the reason for the fire alarm issues. Got an email from Fire Chief Ellis this morning saying that they were no longer going to send the entire fire department over every time that alarm goes off because it's happening so many times. They still will reply with their duty officer, but they're not going to unless someone reports seeing smoke or flames, or there's a water sensor or a heat sensor or something else that goes off besides the alarm, they'll just be sending the duty officer. Our code enforcement officer, uh, turned in his resignation this week.

James Dixon has been with the borough for just over 5 years. His last day of work is going to be September 19th, and we wish him well on his move to Florida.

Um, in community development, Planning and Zoning Commission had a work session last Last night the work session continued discussion on short-term rental-related use definitions and a review of current staff report format. The packet review included discussion of the CIP list, Maritime Museum parking variances, a land disposal by lease review for the fairgrounds, and a review of code amendment to Title 17 related to child care uses. Not in the report, but you will be happy to hear the city and I are setting up a meeting the third week of September to talk about that short-term rental software. Software, and the city is excited about it. We're figuring out which modules to investigate more.

So we are moving forward on that. For Plan 2045, the Parks and Rec are having a— well, we're having a meeting on October 8th, 2025, from 10 to 12. There'll be an open house on parks, recreation, open spaces, and trails. There is a link there posted. The survey opened on September 2nd.

It's on the Plan 2045 webpage. If you're looking online at the manager report, the link is active there. We also had a meeting with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, PEL study for the Russian River and Sergeant Creek bridges. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities And also the contractor HGR met with us. They told us about where they were in the project.

They have a website just for that project, so if you want to learn about the bridges, it's at KodiakPL.com. We have our— we had a first advisory committee meeting on September 9th with them. We also were given a first look at the public use study or plan that Koniag is looking at for that area. So lots of exciting things happening out in the Flats. In finance, the next property tax deadline for those wishing to make a full payment, or if they paid their half payment after the due date of August 15th, your, your payment is due on Wednesday, October 15th.

For our property assessment and taxation implementation project with Tyler, we're on our final testing of calculations, entry screens, report reports and forms. From September 11th through September 22nd, staff is not going to be able to enter any transactions into either Harris or Tyler while the final database transfer from our legacy system to the new system is completed. So everything we're doing is having to be written down to be added to the new system on our go-live date. Our go-live date is still planned for September 23rd. Um, and then If you look at that same topic down in assessing, you'll see that Tyler is going to send some staff here to Kodiak between September 19th and October 3rd.

We'll try to get them in here and introduce them to you on October 2nd, but they understand this is gonna be a difficult switch for us, so they're coming up to help, which is wonderful. Our auditors are here next week, September 15th through 19th for final audit work. So finance has been working on that for the last couple of weeks in assessing. We have 16 applications, either senior citizen or disabled veteran, undetermined. We have village trips with Canna for application filing scheduled for the week of November 17th, and we're doing two things in town for senior citizens, disabled veterans.

There's applications during Canna coffee hour on December 3rd and 10th, and we'll be at the senior center on November 19th, December 19th, and January 13th. I think we've talked about the Aleutic Heritage Foundation enough tonight, so we'll look at information technology. Uh, IT is working on transmitting our PACS data to Tyler for the migration, uh, set up— setting up the servers and systems for the landfill network and the hardware upgrade. GIS has been busy completing maps for community development comprehensive plan for Old Harbor, Uzinki, and is also working, uh, with all of the migration data for the assessing systems. In engineering facilities, we had a new maintenance coordinator.

His name is Brandon Mast— Mastaler. I hope I'm saying that right. Uh, I met him. He's great. He's already assisted the staff with resolving a pump failure at KFRC.

Uh, tonight we got the resignation of ENF Director Allen, uh, with a request to move back to project manager. So we'll likely be advertising advertising for a new ENF director next week. The Regional Solid Waste Management Plan survey, um, we wanted to congratulate Rochelle Ferris. She's the one that won the $100 worth of produce from Kodiak Harvest Food Company and thank the 150 community members and businesses who took time to take the survey. That is what makes that plan go, so thank you for taking the time to do that.

There is a fall commercial hazardous waste disposable— disposal event on October 1st and 2nd. There's a flyer attached to the report tonight for more information. At the KFRC, we had a lighting circuit fail and we had a small fire in an egress stairwell over the weekend. Nodak Electric came and helped us look at the electric system, is actually going to be replacing the light fixtures in both egress areas. The total cost of that is going to be $5,973.98.

At the landfill, our regional solid waste management plan, uh, we had a workshop this week with internal stakeholders on the 9th. The workshop goals were to review the project objectives where we talked about options for recycling and waste priorities and constraints. We discussed timelines and deliverables. Went very well. It took about 2 hours.

Um, the new landfill fence energizer was installed and small fence penetrations are being repaired. I know you have a letter from DEC tonight about their concern about the bears in there. Um, we were hoping to be able to move forward with our new contractor on those fence repairs, but now we don't really have a facilities contract, so we'll have to go out for a new project to get those, um, repairs made. And we're still hoping to get those done by October 31st. Um, preparation of the exterior has been completed out in Chiniak, and they started the primer.

They have the front side, and they have wrapped around just on the bottom half of the building with primer, so they're waiting for it to dry out a little bit before they can finish the primer, but that's going well. They might have to have a little bit of weather delay time added into that project. Because YMCA is moving into the old projects offices, we are— we have a request for quotes out to get the stairs replaced on the left-hand side, just like we did for when Red Cross moved in. We also have the Mill Bay stairs replacement and the landfill scale shack platform ready so we can have that ready for the summer 2026 construction. And then we have a list of committee and board meetings that are coming up.

We have the Health and Facilities Advisory Board meeting on the 22nd. Also, the Architectural Review Board is also meeting on the 22nd. And then on September 30th, we have the Solid Waste Contract Committee. And the Solid Waste Advisory Board. So those are the upcoming, and then you have the flyer for the commercial hazardous waste event attached.

And with that, I'm happy to ask any questions— any questions— or answer any questions. Thank you. Thinking about the, the fence repairs at the landfill, and, and we don't have a contractor in place currently. I can't speak for the assembly, but I can, I guess, reiterate the sense of urgency behind getting those done in time. And the reason I say that is we are going to start getting fined.

AADC is not going to wait for us beyond this before they start fining us. So we either pay now, pay later, including fines. As I understand it, this has been forwarded to the Alaska State— Alaska Wildlife Troopers. Whether or not they choose to cite us is up to them, but I imagine patience is waning on their end as well. And I'm not very comfortable that Kodiak is now being— our tourism is now being— the focal point is our landfill.

It's all over social media, and, and there are people crowding the road out there. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but it's all over social media. People are crowding the road. That is the newest latest and greatest tourist attraction of Kodiak Island, of Kodiak Island, is our dump. It's not the streams where the bears are catching salmon.

It's not the hillsides where they're eating berries or cruising the beaches. It's our landfill. Is this the image we want to portray for our community? And then more important than all of those is the public and staff safety. In addition to the bears, a lot of these bears probably are going to die because of of if they keep denning in there and they move into town once they're kicked out, something's going to have to be done if they're interacting in a poor way with our community.

So I understand everything has been done that is within our limitations at this point, but I just can't emphasize enough the sense of urgency that we need to get this done or there's going to be some pretty major repercussions coming our way in addition to paying for the repairs. So it's extremely time-sensitive. Sensitive. Any other questions of the manager? Seeing none, we'll move on to clerk's comments.

Nova. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, the write-in candidacy period is still open. It will be— it will close at 3 PM on September 30th. Nominating forms are available in the clerk's office, and they can also be downloaded from the elections page.

The election pamphlets were mailed way ahead of time. You probably have seen yours, and if you didn't get one in the mail, they're available at the stores. We dropped off copies in Filipino language and English language at the canneries as well. So they're all over the place. You can also view the pamphlet online on our website and also on Facebook, both in English and the Filipino language.

We have mailed out 706 by-mail ballots to registered voters in Chiniac and the outlying communities, so those should start showing up in the mail tomorrow or next week. To those who didn't get their ballots in the mail, they can early vote or contact the clerk's office if they need a ballot, and we'll resend one to them. Early voting will be available starting on Monday, September 22nd, and it will end on Monday, October 6th. Tomorrow we will be doing our logic and accuracy test on— of our voting machines here in this room at 9:00 AM. Anyone who's interested, they can come in and, and see how we program our machines.

We also manually marked our test ballots, and then we're going to run them through the machines and at the end, we need to compare and make sure that they are accurate. And so we will be confirming that the printed results reports match the expected results of the pre-marked ballots. We make sure— we make sure also that the reject codes are in place for overvotes and blank votes, and that any ballots with write-ins are separated by the machine. Liquor licenses, there's a few that are on our roster that we are processing. I just want to remind the assembly that if you are taking leave and that you would like to participate via electronic participation, please let me know before 24 hours before the meeting.

If you do not let me know within or 24 hours before the meeting, you need to talk to the mayor and get this authorization so you can participate that day. Uh, we held another peer training session, Coffee with the Clerks, on September 3, uh, with staff members, with the secretaries, and we focused on parliamentary procedures and Robert's Rules of Order. It was about an hour and a half I felt that it was a successful peer-to-peer training. Our next meeting will be held in November, and we're going to be discussing meeting minutes and the role of the clerk secretaries at meetings.

The online code has been updated and the paper supplements were distributed last month. That's all I have. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Any questions of Nova? Seeing none, we will move on to Assemblymember comments.

And, Bo, I am going to let you start and continue with your comments. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to just reflect on the events of September 11th and how that day has and will always affect our country and those whose lives were lost, the first responders who perished and those that are still struggling with the aftereffects of rushing in to aid people during that day. I'm also— have given a lot of thought to current events in the political realm and how people locally are responding to that.

There's a lot of— I don't necessarily categorize it as hostile, but angry and, and uncomfortable discussions that are happening both in person, on social media, and Just reminding folks that it's okay to disagree. I'm up here every week. I disagree with these weirdos often. Kidding aside, we will always disagree, but we come back the week later, we greet each other with courtesy and respect, and I learn from them every week regardless of any disagreements we have had previously. And for that, I'm very grateful to my fellow assembly members, the mayor, our staff, our clerks, that we can agree to disagree at times.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Conflict isn't always negative. We can always learn from it. And I think it'd be quite boring if everyone about us up here always voted the same way every time and agreed on everything. I don't think that's how we grow as a community.

Um, so I guess ultimately the takeaway is it's okay to have disagreements with each other. We can always still be courteous and kind. Um, so Just keep that in mind. Thank you, Bo. Jarrett.

Just building on what Bo said real quick, I think it was Socrates who like inferred that truth is reached through conflict. Actually, I think the word he used was agony. We get to the right and the good through agonizing with each other. And that's very true. But yeah, let's tone down the political violence rhetoric.

Please. I agree with one of our commenters today more. We do need more joint work sessions with the school district and the city, or the city quarterly, I think, would be great. And just a note, because I heard this and I still hear this today, the school is called the Kodiak College of the University of Alaska Anchorage. It hasn't been Kodiak Community College in about 40 years.

But so yes, we are a 4-year degree-granting arm of the university.

That's just nitpicking. And then today I had the fortune of spending an hour with 6th graders and talking to them about civics and how the borough and the city are organized. And we were talking about taxes as allowance. And the kids all said that they would use their allowance for— to fix the pool. So I'm just throwing that out there and holding them to that.

And they also learned what PILT means, which was great.

Dave. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Yeah, going off what Bo said, I was a little disappointed, I guess you could say, to hear several— you know, both a call-in and a public comment tonight that seemed to insinuate that borough staff is doing all they can on this landfill issue and the assembly is somehow not providing the resources. Um, I've only been here a year, but I've certainly never voted against any resource request for the landfill. Um, we've talked about it already in the last couple months, and, um, I said at the time I thought I saw that as kind of critical infrastructure. Um, it sounds like this is an emergency to me, and that gives, um, certain authority for, um, expediting contracts, and I would hope to see that, um, come forward sooner sooner than later because I agree that it's essential we get this figured out before they start denning up. I will counter one point that was made.

When I was in high school, Kodiak was a great destination to come to, specifically to go to the landfill and watch the bears. So that's not necessarily a new development in Kodiak, but it's not one we'd like to see or hope to see continue.

We spoke about Kodiak Community Health Center and their need for land so they can start executing a grant. I certainly hope we don't let that die on the vine. I agree that the lot identified on the Kodiak— Stop it. On Kodiak College's property seems like a great option, but I I also recognize there's other lots, a couple borough lots right across the street. I'm not a land developer, so I don't know if they're feasible or not, but I would hope that those conversations continue and a proposal gets brought forward to the assembly if other options at Kodiak College don't work out.

Yeah, I'd also like to thank my fellow assembly members for thoughtful discussion and civilized disagreement. It's really disheartening to see what civic engagement is starting to look like in this country. If we can't disagree, then we can't have a society that functions very well. So yeah, I certainly hope that people will use recent events as an opportunity to step step back from the precipice or the, uh, the edge of where we're finding ourselves and, um, remember how to disagree with people whose, uh, views differ from yours and, God forbid, even compromise. Thank you, Steve.

Um, let's see. Well, I guess I'll join them in saying that Disagreeing is fine, and let's keep it civil. I'll keep that short. And I had a comment, but it slipped through out of my head, so I guess no comment. No further comment.

Thank you, Steve. Scott. Um, where to start?

I think it might be good for the assembly through the mayor to write a letter to the University of Alaska supporting land at the Kodiak Community College site for KCHC. I think there would also be an augmentation of some of the programs at the college. Nursing is the one that comes to mind, but there's others as well. I think it would also be an interesting juxtaposition between Kodiak, KCHC, and KANA's building right next door. I think that would be attractive for us.

About the bears in the landfill, Geez, let's fix the fence pretty quick. If that requires an emergency appropriation, let's give the manager the authority to do that right away.

And finally, my heart goes out to the Sharrett family. Thank you. Thank you.

Next item is mayor's comments.

Instructed NOVA to add the resignation of Assemblymember Ryan Sherrod to the regular meeting of September 18th on there. And like others said, with 9/11— moments of silence— we all knew people involved. And as Dave said, yes, I remember the bears before. And it was much bigger problem than it is now, much bigger, when you would see 50 bears out there at one time. So, um, the manager is working on that, being taken care of.

So, uh, that isn't going to change because of the contract. There's other contractors already on, on contract. So anyway, um, wish everyone a good night and, uh, See you next Thursday. And we are adjourned at 9:24.