Assembly Regular Meeting of March 20, 2025

Call to order the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly regular meeting of Thursday, March 20th, 2025 at 6:30 PM, and we are in the assembly chambers. Would everybody please rise for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mayor. Dear Heavenly Father, we come together tonight with thankfulness and gratefulness in our hearts, Lord, for this beautiful place in Kodiak, Alaska. Lord, I just ask that you just be the light in the room tonight. Just be in all the discussions, be in all the comments, and be in everything that is talked about here tonight, Lord. Lord, we just thank you again for this beautiful day.

In your son's name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We are gathered on the traditional homeland of the Supiaq Alutiiq people, and we acknowledge the 10 tribes of the Kodiak Alutiiq region. We recognize the Alutiiq culture that enriches our community to this day. Roll call, please.

Mr. Ames. Here. Mr. Griffin. Here. Mr. LeDoux.

Here. Mr. Sharrett. Here. Mr. Smiley. Here.

Mr. Whiteside. Here. Mayor Arndt. Here. You have a card.

Thank you.

The next item we have is approval of the agenda and consent agenda. Jarrod? Move to approve the agenda and consent agenda. Is there a second? Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda and consent agenda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries unanimously.

For the public's information, the consent agenda consists of the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of March 6th, 2025. Next item is citizens' comments. For those in the room who wish to speak, please come to the podium and sign in, turn on the microphone, make sure the green light is on before speaking, and speak directly into the mic. State your name for the record, address all remarks to the assembly as a body and not to any member thereof. If you are calling in, the local phone number is 907-486-3231, toll-free number 855-492-9202.

Please turn off your radio or any other listening devices to prevent feedback.

Good evening. My name is Craig Dagen. I'm speaking to you tonight in my capacity as the Service Area Number 1 board member regarding the proposed increase of the board chairman's stipend.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, assembly members, Kodiak Borough Mayor, and vigilant public servants who are here and listening abroad tonight. Thank you for your service to our community. It is an honor to stand before you tonight. I stand before you to advocate for the increase of the stipend for the Service District Number 1 chairman. The chairman generously gives freely of his time and resources, and the least we could do is to cover the costs.

The current amount of $400 does not cover the fuel cost of the chairman while conducting the business of the district, let alone the customary wear and tear of the vehicle used for the business of the borough. For context, the IRS standard business mileage rate for 2025 is 70 cents a mile. The district has 12 miles. Driven once a week would equal $8.40 times 52 weeks is $436.80 for the year. Now again, this is in the context of just a weekly drive-by.

If we are doing this multiple times of the day, then that rate increases. During the peak winter season, i.e., our winters, every day several times a day may be the norm. Current fuel prices are averaging above $4. Times a 10-gallon tank, you're looking at $400 for just the fuel cost. Fueling, as a customary, maybe twice a month, so that is $800 right there.

We have not begun to discuss the burden of insurance or liability. My request is simple. Authorize a stipend increase greater than $800 to cover the customary costs of the chairman. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Craig.

Anyone else wishing to come forward and speak under citizens' comments, please do at this time. Do we have any phone calls? No calls. No calls. Hearing and seeing none, we will move on to committee reports.

Are there any committee reports? Jarrett.

So I know we were shooting for a short meeting, but unfortunately I found myself on a bazillion committees who have all met in the past month. So I would like to do my due diligence because some of these committee trips were on the borough dime. So I think we owe the Assembly and the public an explanation of what went down and what I learned and things like that. So sit back and relax. So the first one was the AML Winter Fly-In.

And this was in, in Juneau about a month ago. The first thing was a state budget overview by Alexi Painter from the Legislative Finance Division to provide some insights on the FY26 state budget. And he focused a lot on education funding, of course, because that's where most of our questions were. And he said more or less that there's money And there is math, but there's no will. And he could only go so far before giving his own opinions.

And so showed and talked about, you know, impacts of revenue that's flat and falling and oil taxes, broad-based taxes, things like that. I found it very informative for opening up that session. And then followed later on with a fascinating, fascinating discussion session of PERS and TERS. The session was titled PERSpiration, and I think many of us were sweating because it's just bonkers. It was a great overview of how everything works.

I thought I knew how it worked, but I realized I did not know nearly as much about how it works and when you use a change and how that trickles down to to our budgets and the school's budget. Um, there were some legislative updates there too. We're probably not going to see an increase to community assistance. That'll probably drop. Um, flat funding of the Alaska Marine Highway System.

$1.2 Million for public broadcasting. They put that in every year, but it's vetoed by the governor, so we can expect where that's gonna go. Um, other things like, um, ASMI and mariculture promotion the whole finfish farming thing that the Governor is advocating for and some voting things.

Let's see, but I think the lobbyist— our lobbyist summary probably does it all justice. We met with Senator Stevens, Representative Stutes, mostly about education funding, but also supporting EAS.

We took a trip down to NOAA while we were there and talked to Bob Foy about our concerns with the facility here and about staffing at NOAA and National Weather Service. It's bad. It's bad. FEMA and fisheries and— it's not looking good, but looking forward to more— following up on some conversations at COMFISH. Here in a couple of weeks with them.

And then we took a trip to Department of Transportation to talk about Otmaloy, Chinniack, and the airport.

Projects are slow, but I won't get into Otmaloy because we're going to talk next week, next week's work session about that. But they're still looking at Chinniack, of course, chopping that off and delaying it a little bit more, and then getting started on airport Was it just resurfacing? No, it's—. And the fencing. But right, there's the Phase 1 that Quality has, and they also have the fencing project.

Then there's Phase 2 and Phase 3 that they're going to put out together, but they'll be next year and the following year. Um, okay, the week after that, um, I, uh, won another state championship. Um, the week after that was the Swamsea Economic Summit. That was fantastic. The Swamsea Economic Summit was actually— it was fantastic.

And I think more people should have been there. The first day prior to the main conference, there was a transportation workshop to look at how transportation projects and planning are going on along mostly like the south coast. So that kind of includes southeast. But they did focus more on southwest and Kodiak. Airports, like I mentioned, some roads and harbors.

We had a brainstorming session moderated by AML about how to increase public transport and accessibility in communities, especially regarding emergency routes for pedestrians and tourists in Kodiak. So that when something happens, the tourists don't know where to go. And so we were able to talk with some state people there about you know, Rezanov and the parts of that road that they can help us plan, help us work with. And then, of course, marine transportation. Tustomino is going out to bid.

It'll take about 30 months to build it. The marine workforce is weak. The pipeline itself is weak. The workforce is strong, but the pipeline is— it's pretty dire. They just don't have enough laborers coming up through the pipeline.

So they're working on some programs, some marketing programs, and even scholarship opportunities for people interested in marine engineering to come work for the Alaska Marine Highway System.

What is slowing down a lot of projects and making them more difficult? This was this came up from what's his name? Who's the guy with Alaska Marine Highway System? Are you talking about South Coast? No, the Alaska Marine Highway System.

Oh, Alaska. I can't remember his name. I don't either. I can't remember. Anyway, he said that the Buy America requirement is tough, is very tough.

It is slowing down projects and making them— and making them more expensive, the 70% requirement is— it's difficult to meet in Alaska. So that's why a lot of these projects are slow. And then they emphasize the need for regional planning organizations, which I think I've talked about a month or two ago here. And Swamsea is going to take that up. And then we learned about ROOTS, the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success initiative.

That's led by the U.S. Department of Transportation. And it's not a funding source. It's—. And they made very clear that they're not a funding source but an initiative to ensure that there's fair access to federal transportation dollars. And so there's assistance there to help with grant processes.

And so I think that's a great resource for us and for SWAMSEA too as we look at especially marine transportation on the commercial side. It's rough out there. Let's see. Okay. Moving on.

We can skip that. We can skip that. The next day was community development. Talked a lot about rural housing partnerships, which we've heard a lot about. Childcare, there was an entire session on childcare.

Wow, it's not just bad here, but it's bad statewide. 25% Of childcare facilities have closed in Alaska in the past 5 years. They count 64,000 children under the age of 6. Half of those are in informal care with friends and family. 12,000 Alaskan children are enrolled in licensed child care.

They have no idea where the other 23,000 children are and how they're taken care of during the day. And that's worrisome to the government and to a lot of communities too. So that's one thing that stuck out. The main message about community development is Be resilient, be flexible, keep going, and also learn how to do it yourself. Which is not— I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea.

But they did talk about USDA grants and Rural Economic Development loans and grants too. Friday was Fish Friday. And so a lot— Nice session on mariculture by Nick Mangini. And we watched a presentation on the value of the state's seafood harvest, which is great. One thing, a presenter from ICER, the Economic Research Center of UAA, came in and talked about fishing and labor in the Southwest region.

And, uh, from their research they found that only 70% of fishermen live in Alaska. Only half of crew licenses are owned by Alaskans, and there is a total of $1.8 billion in earnings. Only 33% of that stayed in Alaska. The rest left when the labor when they leave. I knew that was big.

I didn't realize it was that big. For processing, only 35% of those labor wages stay in Alaska. And when you look at the wholesale value of fishing businesses in our region, that's just over $4 billion. Only 26% of that stays in the state. Most based— so most fishers and Southwest region don't live where they land, is what they're calling it.

They don't live where they land their fish. So as you can see, we discovered a lot of income, a disproportionate amount of income and wealth just leaves the island. So how do we attract resident fishermen? We got into a little bit of limited entry discussions. I stayed out of it.

But how do we prevent permanent outmigration? We're seeing so much permanent outmigration.

So, and I think, yeah, we just don't want to— it's going to be a big thing, the limited entry permits. And then finally, last week, went to the Kodiak Economic Development Corporation community economic workshop. And Amy was there, too. And we got a great folder. And there was some good community brainstorming about the history of Kodiak's economy.

And we did a SWOT analysis. There's about 40 people there representing all different sectors of Kodiak's economy. And so we did a SWOT analysis and learned some redefinitions of wealth. But there are a couple more workshops that I strongly encourage my colleagues up here to attend if you can. They're during the day, but I think they're going to create some other opportunities for us.

And that one was here in Kodiak, but those great connections. And it's great to have somebody from, I think, the borough there for people to talk to. Okay, all right, I think that's it. Thank you, Jared. Scott.

Over the past week or so, Canada has been explaining that it's going to start tariffs on things. One of the things they suggested was having a tariff on boats stopping somewhere in British Columbia between Seattle and Alaska. Did you hear anything about modifying the Jones Act temporarily? Sullivan had just suggested that in D.C. that he would try to deal with the Jones Act and get exemption for the tariff stop in British Columbia. Anything?

From what I remember, the Jones Act did not come up at all in Swansea or at AML. Definitely not at the drama state tournament. Um, yeah, but, uh, no, it did not come up. The requirement for American products on the ship is Jones Act, right? Yeah, no, it didn't, it didn't come up.

It wasn't on anybody's— the thing about, like, with AML, That was literally the day where all of the federal, the federal funding freeze came down. So that was on everybody's brain and then it was on everybody's brain. Yeah. At Swamsea. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else with a committee report on there? Seeing none, we'll move on to Borough Manager's Report. Amy Williams. Thank you, Mayor Scott-Arnold.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Assembly members. Uh, while Mayor Arndt was at NACo, uh, he ran into someone from a company called Rentalscape that identifies, registers, and manages short-term rentals. I reached out to the VP of Sales and Government Relations, and we have a meeting with them on Tuesday, March 25th at 2:00. Um, the software program looks pretty amazing, and just while the mayor was there, they were able to look at, um, what showed up in the city of Kodiak, and not only the Can they identify where the short-term rentals are? But they can also show you how many nights they're being used in accordance to their websites.

So kind of a neat piece of software. After we go to that meeting, if that looks like something we might be interested in, we'll loop the city in and see if they might be interested in sharing the cost of that with us. And that would, that would satisfy your desire for a registration because they do all of that. So, and the mayor told me he estimated it would be about $5,000 a year. Yeah, it was $5,000 for it.

Uh, that would be for both the city and the borough, so ideally we'd split it is what thinking was. We got to have that discussion with the city on there. Um, I— when the, the guy approached me in Washington, D.C. there, then, um, I drug over Chris, who's the Denali Borough mayor. Into the discussion too, because they get 90% of their income comes from bed tax on there. So, so they were, they were interested in that too.

So thank you. Continue, Amy. Thank you. As Assemblymember Griffin talked about, the Rural Community Assistance Corporation was in partnership with the Kodiak Economic Development Corporation for their Recharge Our Communities Economy Series. There are 3 upcoming meetings on April 9th, May 7th, and May 28th.

And as he also mentioned, there's a summary session that happens afterwards. So they spend about 6 hours during the day in session, and then for this first session, they had a summary session. They had 2, one that went from 5 to 6 and another went from 6 to 7 at night. So if people are interested in those workshops and can't attend during the day, they have the option of going to the evening sessions. The Alaska Mariculture Cluster has a joint innovation project presentation that's hosted by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation that will be featuring the Kodiak Archipelago Leadership Institute.

That happens tomorrow at— they're very specific— from 9:35 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The Zoom meeting information is there if you're interested in that. The fiscal year '26 budget schedule for departments is attached to your packet tonight. The department discussion started the March 27th work session with Finance Manager's Department and the Clerk's and Legislative Budgets. The Rural Forum is happening next week.

The borough assessor and I will both be presenting on the first day of the forum. Our presentations will cover the partnership with Canada Visit the Villages for exemption work, CIP lists, rural school maintenance, community development plans, and an introduction to the new emergency manager to the attendees. You're also that night beginning an introduction to the emergency manager at our assembly meeting that evening. Beginning yesterday, the National Weather Service updated their forecast zones in our area. They're gonna— they've created 51 forecast zones, which more than doubles the previous amount.

I included maps in the back of the packet so you can look at what our forecast zones looked before and after. So Kodiak will now have a north zone and a south zone, so we should be getting some better forecasts from them. And there's also a press release, um, for a test of the community's alarm system that's going to take place on April 23rd. In finance, we're in the foreclosure process. All delinquent property owners have 30 days from March 14th to pay delinquent taxes, and they will be removed from the foreclosure judgment and decree that's being filed with the court.

For non-real property, small claims documents will be prepared for those with delinquent amounts. Please contact the Finance Department for an updated payoff amount. For our Property Assessment and Taxation Implementation Project, we have moved the go-live date from June to sometime in August, likely the end of August. In Community Development, the Kodiak Island Borough Multi-Jurisdictional Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan update was adopted by the City of Larsen Bay only 2 days after they had it. So thank you to the City of Larsen Bay.

The comprehensive plan has their first workshop for— on April 22nd. This workshop will focus on land use and housing. The workshop will be open from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM and be held in the cafeteria at the Kodiak High School. Staff created a flyer and a YouTube short to advertise the meeting. The link is there if you're interested in seeing it.

Our associate planner, who is our enforcement planner, James Dixon, will be attending the American Planning Association National Conference at the end of March in Denver. In assessing, notice of values were mailed on February 26th and the appeal period began on February 27th. The appeal period is open through March 28th. Appeal literature is available here at the borough in Tagalog and Spanish. In assessing, we have two people leaving very soon.

Temporary employee Jasmine Bock, her last day is tomorrow, and Jeannie Friel's last day at the borough will be April 1st. In engineering facility facilities, we have our Signal Hill Public Buildings Forum that's going to be happening on Tuesday, March 25th at 5 PM. It's going to be happening at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center. It's the same building that the touch tank is in. That starts at 5 PM.

Uh, there's also a survey for the public to provide their input, um, and they can do that if they are going to attend the meeting or if they're not going to attend the meeting, we appreciate the survey. It's available on the borough website and the borough Facebook page. We also have a social media post attached.

Oh, actually, the social media post that's attached tonight is for the service area, not for that. Sorry about that. On that same evening, on March 25th, Kodiak Collaborative, which is our after-school care initiative— it's kind of a grassroots group that is looking at after-school care is meeting at the FISH Tech Center right next door to where our meeting is being held. So if you make it over to Near Island, it would be great if you could go to both of those. At the KFRC, Industrial Pump Alaska has offered to conduct a site visit at no cost to the borough.

That's going to be happening on April 1st to review the existing pumps and provide an inspection report. After that visit, we can compare and contrast the report to the, to the DXP report that we got on March 4th. As requested, Engineering Facilities staff met with University of Washington Friday Harbor to discuss ongoing pump issues and seek advice. The staff at UW Friday Harbor was— use a very different system. However, they provided valuable insight into future operational changes in the pump sequencing.

At the landfill, staff is beginning preparations for the spring household hazardous waste event. Staff began meeting with the Chamber of Commerce on March 17th to begin the coordination of events. And staff is also spending some time reviewing the current fee schedule to determine if updates should be proposed to the assembly. At the Leachate Treatment Plant, our foaming issue has continued to lessen since it started. We still have it, but it is significantly decreased.

For the school district, um, as of March 19th, the contractor finished the required repairs to the parapet metal flashing. Staff conducted a closeout inspection with the contractor, and the project is being closed out eternally. At Karluk, the ADC is looking for further characterization and delineation to provide more information on the extent of the soil contamination. Staff requested and received a proposal from Three Tier Alaska for assistance with the task in the amount of $2,100. For the service area contracts, an updated version of the road service area modifications to the State of Alaska Department of Transportation's standard specification for highway construction are posted on the KIB website to use as a reference.

On the 17th, the final revision of the area contracts invitation to bid documents were sent via email to the road service areas for review, and staff have requested all desired edits for the individual road service areas be provided back no later than March 21st. The RSA invitations to bid will be based on equipment rates per hour as opposed to per mile, and we are looking at posting the invitation to bid on March 24th. There has been a request for a letter from the borough attorney concerning prevailing wages and how they affect service areas. KAB has received a draft letter from the borough attorney but is waiting for a clarification from Alaska Department of Labor before we ask for a final version from the attorney. At the projects office, staff has completed the updates to the project report section of the website.

Assemblymember Ledoux asked that we put more information on there. There is now information and pictures of projects on the site. The projects Staff did a great job, and I just want to thank Patricia for all the time she put into that. Staff is working on drafting a procedure for the bid and RFP process for general KIB staff knowledge base that they'll be able to easily access and use. And we're also updating change order forms to make them clearer for both internal and external users.

In information technology, we signed the papers today for the third round of the state and local cybersecurity grant program. Um, ENF is working with IT to install the time clocks. They ran cords all across my office, and we have to drill through the wall to get them out to the entrance door on that side of the building. But that work is moving forward. Uh, IT was able to stop a— yet another phishing attack on an email account system, and Finance helped them find that.

Uh, and IT is setting up new email accounts for all of our volunteer firefighters at Bayside. They're going to have a baysidefireak.gov email address. And Travis in GIS has been printing maps for Community Development and for the project office for our upcoming public meeting. So they kind of do a larger than life printout for when the public comes in. Attached tonight, you're going to find the budget schedule, all the new National Weather Service forecast maps, the press release about the April 23rd alarm test, and the service area work session agenda item announcement.

And I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them. Any questions?

Thank you, Amy.

Next item we have is messages from the borough mayor. Jared, I want to thank you because it'll save me time on repeating things. The only thing I would add on the AML in Juneau was it was very discouraging on the TERS and PERS, the debt is not being paid down and it is continuing. They've extended it out 20 years and it's not— the 22% surcharge we're paying is not reducing the unfunded liability on there. So, and yet they want to possibly start another one.

So it'll be interesting there. In Washington, D.C., because the meetings with our senators and representatives went well, Seb, our D.C. lobbyist, accompanied me on those, and we were able to catch everybody in one day on that Thursday, February 27th. Both senators were leaving town right after our meeting, so They were heading back to Alaska for the weekend on there. And with the turmoil on the different staffing cuts and that, there was a lot of questions that they were not able to answer. So it was kind of a wait and see, and it's still a wait and see on much of it.

The— give you an example on the— on the NACo, National Association of Counties, that we're part of. Basically the committees that start out is Agriculture and Rural Affairs. You'd be surprised how much agriculture and rural affairs affects Alaska. And Community Economic and Workforce Development, Environment, Energy and Land Use, Finance, Pensions and Intergovernmental Affairs. Health, Human Services and Education, Justice and Public Safety, and Public Lands.

From Alaska we had Nils Andreesen, who is Alaska Municipal League Director, was there along with Sarah and the staff members. We had Chris, the Denali Borough Mayor, strong mayor. And, uh, and then we had Ketchikan, the mayor Rodney Dial, um, and a couple of their assembly members and their manager Reuben on there. We tried to split up some of the different meetings because there's just too much to try and attend that's ongoing at the same time. And then we would get together in the evening and go over what we learned in the different committees there.

And so that continued there, and because I was there, I missed the swamp sea. Could have made that on the way back, but it didn't work out. So at this time, that's all I have to report there. So we will move on to unfinished business. We have resolution number FY2025-20, designating the individual who will serve as the temporary administrative official during the absence or disability of the borough manager and designated administrative official.

Um, clerk's note: the motion is already on the floor, which is moved to adopt resolution number FY2025-20 Staff report. Amy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I put forth the nomination of Assessing Department Director C. Magruder to act as the designated administrative official in my absence. On March 6th, 2025, a separate resolution was submitted to the assembly to appoint a temporary administrative official during both the manager's absence and that of the designated official.

However, the assembly decided to defer the resolution for further deliberation with the manager. During the work session on March 13, 2025, the Assembly requested the manager designate Solid Waste Manager/Environmental Specialist Jenna Hassinger as the temporary administrative official, and she agreed to do so. A revised version of the resolution for this appointment is included in the packet, and that is the one that is marked version 2 on the top. So, Jared? Move to amend resolution number FY2025-20 by substituting Constitution with version 2.

Is there a second? Second. It has been moved and seconded. Discussion?

Seeing none, roll call vote on the motion to amend.

Mr. Ames? Yes. Mr. Griffin? Yes. Mr. LeDoux?

Yes. Mr. Sharrett? Yes. Mr. Smiley? Yes.

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

Motion passes 6-0. Thank you. Next, we'll have roll call vote on the motion as amended.

Mr. Griffin? Yes.

Mr. Ledoux? Yes. Mr. Sharrett? Yes. Mr. Smiley?

Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes.

Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0. Thank you, Jenna.

So Next we have, um, new business contracts, and it's contract number FY2025-47, Pool Facility Condition Survey by Jensen Yorba Wall, in the amount of $59,540. Jared, move to authorize the borough manager to execute contract number FY2025-47 for the Pool Facility Condition Survey by Jensen Yorba Wall in the amount of $59,540. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The high school pool has been discussed for multiple years regarding the unanticipated repair and replacement of components, both structural and mechanical. The visible repairs are indicated by the presence of rust appearing on the interior tile surface, creating discoloration of the grout and the tiles in specific areas and lifting of drains. Similar reports have been— similar repairs, excuse me, have been completed during the last several years. In the spring of 2023, the Kodiak Island Borough hired Water Technology Incorporated to visit Kodiak and conduct a comprehensive evaluation on the pool facility.

This included a full tour of the facility and related amenities and met with the staff to discuss operation. WTI's report included recommended repairs and replacements. At that time, the Assembly elected not to move forward with the proposed contract to work directly with WTI for the repairs. In January 2025, staff was directed by the Assembly to prioritize the project. In doing so, staff reached out to the borough's architectural and engineering firm, Jensen Yorba Wall, for a proposal to conduct a facility condition survey.

JYW provided a proposal for conducting a condition survey on the pools facility for $59,540. That proposal includes site visits and coordination with aquatic specialists from WTI, structural engineering from P&D, and mechanical and electrical engineering from RSA. The team will work together to provide a comprehensive condition survey of the facility, identify any major issues that require more in-depth investigation, and provide recommendations. In the fiscal impact session, if the Assembly agrees, the cost of this project can be covered in the next quarterly budget amendment by moving remaining funds from the Main Elementary roof project, which is project 22003, to the community pool project, which is project 23005. The Main Elementary school project has $62,673.51 remaining in it.

Thank you. Any questions?

Go ahead, Ryan. Thank you. My first question is As we dig into the exclusion on the design fee and proposal scope from JYW under the exclusions, fourth bullet point, "Given the age of the building, we believe that the eventual design project and therefore this condition survey scope will center on the items identified by WTI in 2023." My question is, WTI submitted a proposal to do this work that is in excess of the the manager spending authority, if we are asking our architect to work with this, is there implied consent to go with WTI outside of the procurement process?

WTI is the contractor that Jensen Yorba Wall works with. It just happens to align who we brought over, and so that $59,000 is— covers all 3 of those. That covers the WTI, the engineering, the electrical and everything inside of that $59,000. So that is why the contract is in front of you is because it is over $50,000. Did I answer that question?

No. You did not. So implied— Sorry, I will be gentler. Please. No, you are fine.

You did not. That is a lot gentler. So members of the Assembly, on the second page of that proposal is the cost breakdown for the design services and you will see the consultants in the lower right-hand corner. And as a cost savings measure, it was decided that because the WTI consultant had already done the aquatic survey itself, there was no need— and by happenstance that they were also a member of JYW's team— to redo that work. So the aquatic specialist is only $14,500 of that scope.

Does that answer your question? No, let me try and word this differently. Implied consent because we've already received a proposal from WTI to do work that is in direct alignment with what we're asking our architect to do. Implied consent would be a legal terminology that says we're obligating ourselves to use you for future work. I'm asking, are we under any obligation to utilize WTI outside of the procurement process moving forward with Jensen Yorba Wall's proposal?

[Speaker:MR. BOLL] No, the direction that we received of the assembly was that was vetoed, the old contract. So we nullified any working arrangements with them and we're contracting with JYW only for this work. If this will be Phase 1, if you view it that way, where the team has a holistic approach of what's going on with the pool, what's wrong with the pool. And then they will come back and provide us with how to fix it, and that will be brought to you again in the future. I'm going to rephrase my question.

We are just not quite getting it.

By accepting this proposal, I would reject a future WTI proposal to do this work. So I want to make sure that we're clear that this is an exact scenario of fox in a henhouse. Pardon the analogy. But in my, in my view of this, if WTI is going to be involved in Phase 1, in your terminology, that would exclude them from providing a proposal to do any of the physical work or repairs from this. That's— and that's not a question, that's a statement.

So if we're going to move forward with this proposal and this, my understanding is WTI is one of the only certified, knowledgeable— I'm trying to recall all the other Pool repair. Yeah. I'm trying to recall all of the other superlatives that were used to describe how amazing this company was. And I want to make sure that I guess the Bureau staff understands that if we are— at least in my perspective, is if we are going to move forward with this Phase I that includes WTI, I would not approve a contract for work that included an award to WTI. I just want to make sure that that part of that is clear.

Ryan, I'd like to throw something in.

For instance, I'm going to use Local Electric. The borough has used them for research and problems we've had, and then Local Electric has then bid the work when it's gone out. And we've done that, so there wasn't a problem with that. So I'm trying to, to relate that partially to what you're saying here, and I don't see the exclusion on there in my opinion.

Cody, you had a comment. I was just going to make the statement that to the best of my knowledge in our procurement code And I'm not— I don't have it memorized verbatim, but I don't know of anything that we could enforce that. If I— the intent of this is to use WTI as a consultant just as a cost savings measure so we don't have to repay for the existing survey that had already been done. And it just by happenstance, they had already worked with JYW, so they rolled right into that. The idea is that they would be a part of the a professional consultant for the issues identified.

We would then use the same team moving forward if approved by the KAB Assembly for a design for repair that would probably be phased or scalable depending on the severity of the issues discovered in the review. And then we would bid that after the design was done in a typical design-bid-build. But I do not know of anything in our codes that would allow us to exclude a state-licensed professional, regardless of what they are, from bidding on that job. Ryan. So I won't say any other contractor's name.

I'll just use my own. If I was to design an environmental project for the borough, I would not feel that I would be able to then bid on that job. Do that work. Whether that's an ethical or moral dilemma or a code violation, I'm just giving you my position on— I'm just giving you my position on why, as it stands after this discussion, I will be voting no on this. Thank you.

Further questions? Discussion on it?

I think I understand what you're talking about, but Jensen Yerger Wall is the prime on this. Um, the other is just a consultant, and we've done some of the work, and they're trying not to duplicate things. So as I heard Cody say, it was cost savings on there. So with that, any further questions?

Go ahead, go ahead, Bo. Thank you. I understand the optics behind having a professional entity review work that needs to be done and then identifying— potentially identifying the scope. I could see how that could be abused in that if you are the specialist designing the repair and scope of repairs and cost, the potential is there for them to inflate that dramatically. So that said, I'm going to support this project or study, but I think we need to be very cautious in in what's proposed to us, um, to the extent we have the knowledge to pay very close attention to what they're going to put in front of us as far as what they want to do and how much it's going to cost.

I completely understand Mr. Sherrod's dilemma, um, or the dilemma he's, he's posed to us. I'm not comfortable with it. Absent other companies that could perform this service, I would probably vote no as well. But given the limited capacity we have for folks to look into this and do the repairs, I'm going to have to support it, but we need to be really careful about how we approach it. Steve.

I understand Mr. Sherrod's concerns, and they are legitimate. I have also seen where the company I work for has done some research on a project and helped, and then we did not get the bid because we fully understood the problem and logistics of doing it on Kodiak, and other people underbid us. So I think it can go both ways.

But I do think if this goes through, we do need to pay very close attention in reviewing the plans and what's called out and what's being done. And if they are going to bid on it, I hope they have competitive bids. But—. And I don't know if there would be a primary or a sub. Thank you.

Ryan. Thank you. And I appreciate the affirmation for the concerns and the allowance of being able to articulate that. I am going to just make one request to get to a yes. And that would be is that if Cody stays the project manager for the duration of this project, you are going to get me to a yes.

But if we change project managers— I will just be very blunt. The professionalism of facilities engineering has increased. And if Cody stays a project manager, I have got a lot of faith and trust. And this becomes less of an issue. However, the conversation should lend itself to what we, or at least I, am looking at for procurement, especially under essentially an IDIQ contract like Jensen Yorba Wall has, so that maybe we can give them some cautionary advice moving forward on other potential issues, because this will come up again.

So if, Madam Manager, if you can make that attestation, you'll get me to a yes. Amy. Assemblymember Scherer, I do give you the promise that this will remain the project manager. Also, I think we have an important step built in with the Architectural Review Board where these designs go through those folks and they would alert us to things that they find or if they thought it was excessive scope and I know that not everyone is a pool expert, but smart group of people. So I think we do have an extra step built in.

Cody will absolutely remain the project manager here.

Thank you. Any further questions or discussion? Roll call vote on the motion, please.

Mr. LeDoux? Yes. Mr. Sharrett? Yes. Mr. Smiley?

Yes. Mr. Wiessig? Yes. Mr. Ains? Yes.

Mr. Griffin? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0. Thank you.

Next is, uh, contract number FY 2025-49 This is the KFRC seawater pump assembly replacements for the industrial— from Industrial Pumps of Alaska. Jared, move to authorize the borough manager to execute contract number FY2025-49, KFRC seawater pump assembly replacements from Industrial Pumps of Alaska. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The KFRC seawater degradation of the systems has been significant. The pumps, um, have had issues with maintaining, uh, the water flow, and we have two down and one is starting to fail, and it's starting to cause disruptions to operations in the building. To assess the extent of the issue and their root causes, staff engaged DXP Alaska Pump and Supply to conduct an on-site evaluation of the pump assemblies. Following their assessment, they provided a quote for a single pump assembly at $104,665.

That does not include shipping, and that's for a single pump with a lead time of 20 weeks. Our project manager engaged with Industrial Pumps of Alaska, who provided a competing quote of $27,000— $27,574.17 per pump assembly, which also didn't include shipping but had a lead time of 25 weeks. Since the March 13th work session, staff followed up on suggestions made by Assemblymember Smiley, and that new information brought more change to our project manager. But Cody is here tonight to tell you how that new information impacted the prices and how we move forward from here.

Good evening. So yes, as the manager says, the previous quote was for for $27,574.17. Unfortunately, within that quote, there was a mix of ductile iron and 416 stainless steel. I am not a metals expert. However, I can assure you the people of University of Washington Friday Harbor are very familiar with pumps and extremely knowledgeable, more so than I ever will be.

And so we met with Mr. Smiley's contacts, Ms. Bernadette Holithis and Doug Engel, and during that conversation, there was multiple opportunities for improvement identified in our workflow and processes. One such recommendation was to ensure that 316 stainless steel was used within the facility. Additionally, there was discussion about researching cathodic protection and electrolysis. As stated in the last meeting, the gentleman from IPA Alaska is scheduled, and I believe it was in the manager's report, report as well to come at no cost for the borough on April 1st to conduct an assessment to compare his findings against those that were in the DXP report. And that way we can kind of get a comparison of what we think is happening in that location.

With that being said, uh, the cost for the quotes did increase. I shared that with you all tonight. The new price per pump is $41,781.60. $0.99, Which is still a cost savings of $62,883.31 per pump. We reached out to RSA Engineering, who rolls up under that JYW umbrella, and consulted with them to review the updated quote.

I also provided a correspondence— a follow-up correspondence from that, which hot off the press at about 4 o'clock today, where the engineers agree that that pump will work. For our needs and that it's the right type of material. The one thing we want to inspect while he's here is the shaft link and things like that. My— the ENF staffs are requesting that the KIB assembly approve this quote as is with a not to exceed 5 pump replacements, with 4 direct replacements being needed and 1 critical spare for the shelf. But we're waiting to process the PO if approved post that evaluation on April 1st just so we can ensure that everything is copacetic with the equipment and there's no other unknowns.

If anything is identified, we'll bring that back to you. Thank you. What I see is what we've approved on this quote is for 1 pump, so we'd have to amend for up to 5, and that was part of the discussion Cody and I had before the meeting to make sure We have spares because we were supposed to have done this a number of years ago when this came up and it did not take place. So I want to make sure it gets done this time. Discussion.

Bo. Here it comes. I'm going to read fast. The difference between 316 and 416 stainless steel and why we're going to spend a lot— well, a little bit more money per pump. Composition, 316, I'm going to paraphrase, has enhanced resistance to corrosion, especially in chloride environments like seawater.

Corrosion resistance, 316 is known for excellent resistance to corrosion, especially against chlorides, making it ideal for marine environments and other harsh chemical environments. Machinability, it has good machinability. This is the 316 we're going to potentially spend more for. It's harder to machine than 416, but it has work-hardening properties. Strength and hardness: 316 offers high strength, higher strength and toughness.

Applications commonly used in marine environments, chemical processing, pharmaceuticals, food, blah blah blah, where high corrosion resistance is crucial. In summary, 316: excellent corrosion resistance, particularly for harsh or marine environments, but harder to machine. Ah, Steve.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Do we really need 5 pumps? Aren't 2 already kind of a redundant system that we basically run on 2 and then others are redundant, which is 4? Initially, that was the thought, as explained to me by the maintenance team that does the operations of that facility. However, we also, in a previous meeting brought to your attention that Long Technologies is now able to accurately monitor that facility. And so with that being said, um, it wasn't like— there's 1, 2, 3, 4 is the pump sequencing.

Um, 1 and 2 are in the same well, so that was like wet well 1. 3 And 4 in a second wet well. And so originally it was run one pump, like pump 1, and then run pump 3 as the backup. But what we're being told is like pump 1 and 2 are your primaries, 1 being primary, 2 being the backup, 3 and 4 are the backups to the backup. However, it's best in conversations with the UW-Friday Harbor staff, some of the operational changes that Jenna and I were exposed to is potentially running those backup pumps more frequently to ensure that they don't set and corrode or get solids and things in the wet wells.

[SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] So need 4. For operation. So we critically need 4, and then you're proposing a 5th as a general backup? Yeah. Amy?

With a 25-week lead time, if one of these goes down, we— it takes so long to get it back on island that we're asking for 5. Um, this system is something that Assemblymember Griffin and Mayor Arten and I talked to Bob Foy about when we visited NOAA in Juneau, and he taught us a lot about the system and how he thought the pumps should run. And that's in line with what our project manager is suggesting too. If we leave pumps 3 and 4 just as backup to the number 2, those, those pumps fails really fast. And so that's— we have massive failure.

Pump 1 is the only one that's operating as it should. And Cody, how much do you think water is Pump 2 spitting out? So we were told, um, no more than a few drops a second, but I have a video of it gushing. But to answer your question, the, um, idea is that we would have a critical spare that's brand new. It would not be stored in that building because of the environmental conditions of that facility.

Uh, but my intentions outside of this is when the other pumps, if approved, we would take those and look at refurbishing them. So you would have additional redundancies, um, and have those critical spares on the shelf at a reduced cost. And then the overall goal of this is that they're a custom order part, like they make the pumps for our specific needs, and that is why there's a long lead time. And due to the tariffs and unknown conditions of the economy right now, there's the potential of substantial increase in cost.

Okay, thank you. And I do agree, 1 and 2 are your normal and 3 and 4 were going to be backup. But I do agree they all need to be exercised because my experience in construction and equipment is things sit, they go bad. And I don't care whether you're talking about generators, engines, whatever. Pumps, they need to be regularly exercised for the bearings and seals.

So yeah, a system should be designed to make sure that the others are put online regularly. Thank you. Okay, Ryan, and then Scott. Yeah, that was actually going to be one of my comments as well, Mr. Ames, is to— as in your terminology, exercise them— but in order to get them in line. So just looking at the product data sheet, It looks like the only issue that may exist out of this is the discharge head.

It is made with different material, different rating. So just, I guess, heads up on that. I support this idea. I support the plan and I am at a yes. Thanks.

Scott? I just want to point out that these guys over there are doing experiments that sometimes take months in order to come up with the data at the end. And if the pumps shut off, you're dead. You've wasted months' worth of time, and you need to have faith in those pumps. This has been a, a constant problem with that building because of people trying to do it cheap and not checking with other people who have a great deal of experience with it.

I mean, the people in Juneau went to the people in Kodiak and said, "What went wrong? We won't do it that way." That's not the right answer. The right answer is to find somebody who did it right. And fortunately, Friday Harbor has been able to help these guys, and I think that's really good. Thanks.

Yeah, one thing I'd add, Scott, is some of the experiments lost were 18-month experiments. So anyway, Beau. And just to— Brief expansion on that, and these experiments are to help determine what the cause of these recent crab crashes were. And these experiments do take a year or two to even start to understand what they're looking at, much less collect the specimens needed to start it. So they lose one experiment, that's hundreds if not thousands of hours of staff time, a lot of money coming from disaster relief funds.

That are directed to this. There's joint studies from industry, collaborative studies with Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation, NIMPS, and Fish and Game. So these experiments are pretty critical to understanding the causes of crab collapses and how we can get things to bounce back. So for context for anyone listening and why this money is being spent, that, that's what it's being spent on. Any further questions of staff or discussion?

Seeing none, roll call vote on the motion, please. Mr. Chair? Yes. Mr. Smiley?

Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes.

Mr. Griffin? Yes. Mr. LeDoux? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote?

Uh, hang on a minute, we didn't amend it to the 5 pumps. This is only covering one pump. It just says— well, the motion— I mean, the motion doesn't indicate that. It just—. It's just a motion to approve the contract.

Yeah, and the quote is for one.

That's my concern. Oh, I see what you're saying. So maybe we should retract Here is an amendment. Is that not going to make it right now? Oh, oh, oh, well, yes.

Jarrod. Well, just a point of order. We have voted and now do I need to make a motion to retract?

If you retract that you will be retracting the main motion. So it, it gets complicated when it's done this way, but Robert's Rules allow you to clarify what you're doing as long as everyone is in agreement that although we have done roll call on the main motion, we're kind of invalidating that roll call on the main motion if you— if everyone is in agreement. No one is objecting to it, and then we can do an amendment. Is everyone okay with that? Any objections?

Seeing no objection, Jarrod. Okay.

So I will make the motion again, and then after the second move to amend it. No, you can—. You just submit—. You can just make the motion to amend. Gotcha.

Okay. All right, so move to amend the authorization to the manager to allow for the purchase of 5 pumps. Right. Is there a second? Seconded.

It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion on the amendment to the motion? Hearing none, roll call vote on the amendment.

Mr. Smiley? Yes. Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Ames?

Yes. Mr. Griffin? Yes. Mr. LeDoux? Yes.

Mr. Sharrett? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0. Now we have, um, motion as amended on a roll call vote, please.

Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Ains? Yes. Mr. Griffin?

Yes. Mr. LeDoux? Yes. Mr. Sharrett? Yes.

Mr. Smiley? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? Motion passes 6-0. Thank you, Irene.

Next item we have is citizens' comments. For those of you in the room who wish to speak, please come to the podium and sign in, turn on the microphone, and make sure the green light is on before speaking. And speak directly into the mic. If you're calling in, the local phone number is 907-486-3231, and the toll-free number is 855-492-9202. Please turn off your radio or any listening devices to prevent feedback.

Do we have any— Systems comments. Do we have any phone calls?

Hearing and seeing none, we'll move on to Assembly members' comments.

Let's start with Bo. Nothing to add this evening. Thank you. Jarrod. Just one more thing to add.

I will—. Because these were travel meetings, as I mentioned in the committee updates, I will be submitting a written report, and I'll just file it with the clerks for posterity, or if I just spoke too fast. There were a lot of details in there that I just didn't go over verbally, so, but I'll file one with the clerks. Thank you, Jarrod. Steve?

No comment. Larry? Just very quickly, today Senator Sullivan, um, spoke to a joint session of the Alaska Legislature. And just a couple of things. You indicated that the Naval Station at ADAC will be coming online.

The new icebreaker will be based in Juneau. And interestingly enough, you know, when we were looking at remodeling Peterson, we looked to the federal government to— or the Coast Guard, if you will, to contribute money to that. They're not included in the Department of Defense, and they're the ones that have money for Department of Defense schools. But recently, based on lobbying from Kodiak, they have changed the rules, and the Coast Guard now is under DOD for school construction, which is a step forward, a little bit late for us, but something important in the future. It was an interesting discussion both with Senator Murkowski and Senator Stevens— excuse me, Senator Sullivan.

If you have a chance to listen to it, there's lots of information about Alaska that people might be interested in. Scott.

The school district asked the State Department of Education to certify 110 special needs students. The answer was supposed to come in October and they just got it this week. This is characteristic of the departments in the state of Alaska, and we need to do something about this. It's not just schools, and it's not just the neediest kids in schools, and these are the neediest. These are the kids that need an aide full-time.

It's also Medicaid, it's food stamps, it's all kinds of stuff. Stuff that's fallen through the cracks because we haven't dealt with the financial issues of the state of Alaska. And we need as a borough to say something to the state government, particularly the governor, about this because it's harming everybody. Thank you. Thank you, Scott.

Ryan. Thank you. Um, I'm honed in on 3 specific bullet points from the manager's they are specifically under the Projects Offices tab. And I want to compliment Madam Manager and your staff for moving the Projects Office initiative along and bringing some clarity and transparency to what could be arguably an ambiguous process. Also, I cannot tell you how excited I am that we are coming up on budget review time.

I'm giddy. And the reason that I'm giddy is that if you recall that I would be— I would personally be looking at the professional development expenditures. Line items for departments. And so I cannot wait to see where we are at with that as an organization, uh, continues to grow and, um, create a welcome change environment. So I understand we've got some contractual law classes going, perhaps a project management professional in the works.

Perhaps some professional environmental credentials might be seen. So I'm extremely excited for that. Outside of that, that's all I've got. Thank you. Well, I'm glad you're giddy.

So—. I'm worried. So the next Assembly work session is scheduled on Thursday, March 27th, 2025 at 6:30 PM. The next Assembly regular meeting is scheduled on Thursday, April 3rd, 2025 at 6:30 PM in the Assembly Chambers. The borough offices and all facilities will be closed to the public on Monday, March 31st in observance of Steward's Day.

Next item we have on the agenda is the executive session. This is Assembly discussion on strategies on how to proceed with construction at Borough Hill. And Jared.

Move to convene into executive session under the authority of KIBC 2.30.030(f)(1)(b) to discuss the Borough strategy on how to proceed with the construction at Borough Hill, which is a matter the immediate knowledge of which would tend to affect adversely the finances of the Borough. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Staff report, Amy?

I agree with this executive session so that we can discuss the financial impact to the borough as we proceed in that project. Thank you. Any assembly discussion? Roll call vote on the motion. Oh, Ryan, sorry, I didn't see your hand.

So I don't know if right now is the appropriate time, but I'd like to make sure that we include specific people. So at what point would we be—. That would be the next motion. Perfect, thank you. So roll call vote on the motion, please.

Mr. Whiteside? Yes. Mr. Ames? Yes. Mr. Griffin?

Yes. Mr. LeDoux? Yes. Mr. Sherratt? No.

Mr. Smiley? Yes.

Motion passes with 5 yes. Oh, sorry, would anyone like to change their vote?

Motion passes, 5 yes, 1 no. Okay, Jared, move to invite the mayor, assembly, borough manager, and project manager Cody Allen into executive session. Is there a second? Second. It has been moved and seconded.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries unanimously. We are going to take a recess, 7 minutes.