Kenai: 07/08/26 City Council Meeting

Mayor Naxted? Yes. Council Member Daniel?

Yes. Council Member Grimme? Yes. Vice Mayor Askin? Yes.

Council Member Petty? Yes. Council Member Kucena? Yes. Council Member Sonnert?

Yes. You have 7 yes votes. Ordinance number 3532-2026 is enacted. Thank you. Now we are on item E3.

Ordinance number 3533-2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations for the Senior Center canopy roof replacement and authorizing a contract award for the Animal Control and Senior Center canopy roof replacement project, brought to us by administration. And this, uh, we are going to push forward under Kenai Municipal Code 1.15.070D which allows an ordinance making, appealing, and transferring, or otherwise changing appropriation. So it could be done in one meeting. And I believe we're doing this because it's in a time-sensitive condition.

So with that, I'll look for a motion to introduce.

Vice Mayor Askin, I move that we introduce Ordinance Number 3533-2026 and request unanimous consent. I'll second. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, uh, we will move down to, uh, motion, uh, for a second reading.

Pleasure Council, I move—. I move that, um, We have a second reading of Ordinance Number 3533-2026 and request unanimous consent. I'll second. And this consent was requested. Are there any objections?

Seeing none, uh, I'll read Ordinance Number 3533-2026, Increasing Estimated Revenues and Appropriations for the Senior Center Canopy Roof Replacement and Authorizing a Contract Award for the Animal Control and Senior Center Canopy Roof Replacement Project, brought to us by Administration. Under KMC 1.15.070D. Now we move to enact, pleasure of council. Vice Mayor Askin. I move that we enact Ordinance Number 3533-2026.

I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3506-2026?

Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion?

City Manager Eubank.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So we have two projects, uh, in, in within this ordinance. Um, we are redoing the canopy roof over at the senior center and redoing the roof on our animal control shelter. They were bid together. Um, when the bids came in, um, there was sufficient funds to award the animal control shelter roof.

However, um, the current project funds are, uh, insufficient for the senior center canopy. This ordinance requests an additional $110,000 for that project, um, to be appropriated and then to award to Orion Construction, who was the only bidder on this, uh, we received. Um, I can tell you the, uh, animal control shelter roof did come in under the engineer's estimate. Um, I think the, the senior center canopy is in excess of the engineer's estimate, but it's been reviewed by staff and believe that, um, the bid is both reasonable and appropriate, and we're recommending appropriation and then award to Orion Construction.

Thank you. Any questions of the city manager? Any further discussion?

Councilmember Pitt. Yes, um, through the mayor, city manager, um, is, um, if this passes and moves forward, when is the estimated time that the projects would be started and what's the projected time that they would be completed?

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Vice, or Councilmember Rapetti. Um, great question, I appreciate that. Um, I can't tell you exactly when it would start. I think that's up to the contractor. The contract does require completion, or at least substantial completion, by October 31st of this year.

So I don't think they're going to be messing around. And, um, in line with what the mayor said, um, especially since the fact we only have a single meeting here in May. This is why we're asking for a double reading so that we can get this awarded and they can start the work.

Any further discussion? Please call the roll. Councilmember Daniel? Yes. Councilmember Grimmy?

Yes. Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Councilmember Petty? Yes.

Councilmember Kucena? Yes. Council Member Sonnard? Yes. Mayor Naxted?

Yes. You have 7 yes votes. Ordinance 3533-2026 is enacted. Thank you. That brings us to item E4, Resolution 2026-51, authorizing the city manager, manager to execute a memorandum of understanding with Tidewater LLC regarding the planning, replatting, and potential purchase Development of Denina Point Estate Subdivision, brought to us by Administration.

Pleasure of Council. Vice Mayor Askin. I move we adopt Resolution 2026-51 and request unanimous consent. I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-51?

Okay, seeing no one, bring it back to Council. Vice Mayor Askin.

Okay, so I had a taker there. Any, uh, any comments, questions?

Oh yeah, Phil Daniel. Mr. Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Naxted. Uh, just a quick comment. I really— I'm a really big fan of public-private partnerships, and this is a great example of another one.

I'm looking forward to hopefully moving this forward, and I definitely support this. Thank you.

Could you hear him all right? Okay, thank you, Mr. Daniel. I heard parts of what you said, but I think I got the gist of it. It was a little quiet on this end. I apologize.

So, any better? No? Yeah, a little better. Thank you. All right, Councilmember Petty, you had your light on.

Did you have a question? Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'd like to ask the city manager if If Tidewater does not get all the properties under their jurisdiction, will the planning still move forward, or is there contingents for that if that doesn't happen, sir? City Manager Eubank.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council Member Petty. So I think it's— I think it's important to try to couch what this memorandum of understanding does and what it doesn't do. What it clearly does is it provides a framework for us to work cooperatively with Tidewater LLC. It does provide, it does guarantee them a first right of refusal to develop and acquire city property through this process. Like I said, I think in my previous testimony, they have 60— if another developer comes in and inquires about developing a piece of this, they have 60 days to exercise their first right of refusal.

Then they have then 90 days to get a lease or subsequent agreement in place Um, that would then require development within a prescribed period of time and define exactly what that development is. Um, if they don't act within that 60-day period or can't get an agreement, then the city could work with other developers to develop property in there. Um, it doesn't guarantee any future agreements, but it does guarantee them that first right of refusal for a period of 10 years. It also establishes, um, requires that an appraisal take place now to determine the value of the property in question that the city is contemplating moving forward with the sawmill. So there will be an appraisal that takes place to determine what that property is worth today in its existing condition.

Um, and then What it also envisions— I want to make sure I get all of this.

Beyond that, what it does is it establishes a basic framework for how we can work together and how we envision things going. So to your question, there will either be— there will have to be, once the preliminary plat is prepared in order for final plat to be achieved, which means lots are then sellable. Um, a preliminary plat, once it's prepared, um, until it is final platted, the subdivision of Denina Points Estate will look— if you go to the borough's website— will look exactly like it does today until a final plat is recorded. Okay, in order to get to final plat, it's going to require a subsequent agreement between us and anybody. That's going to require installation of the infrastructure, roads, utilities, and lay out all of the requirements for that.

So this definitely does not guarantee any of those. I think we've been working extremely well with Tidewater. We bounced a lot of ideas back and forth and really tried to hammer on some things. This does envision a couple of things I will highlight for you. Um, it does, um, it does establish a framework for, um, there's potential there will be an exchange of land during the resubdivision process because we're taking what is current right-of-way and it's becoming part of other lots, things like that.

This defines how we likely will govern that and that our goal at the end is for the city to maintain the same acreage that we had when we start and for Tidewater to maintain the same acreage. So it kind of lays out a framework for that. It also lays out a framework where the city can enter into an agreement agreeing to provide our property to Tidewater at no cost if they provide installation of roads and utilities that provide access to those properties. I will tell you the engineer's estimate to do installation of roads and utilities under this proposed layout is in excess of $15 million. So it is a substantial investment by whoever decides to develop this.

Um, it doesn't guarantee that all of those decisions are still at the discretion of council. It doesn't guarantee that things will be rezoned. Those are discretionary decisions by planning and zoning and council that we cannot guarantee. And they are fully aware, we've had all of these discussions. But I think what it does, to emphasize again, is it provides a framework for us to work with them on a path moving forward.

But it does guarantee them that first right of refusal, and it does require the appraisal. And that appraisal will be at their cost.

A follow-up question. Um, if those appraisals— if, if they want part of the property now, the appraisal for their consideration for properties in 5 years from now would require a new appraisal 5 years from now for that. Is that how that would work?

See, Manager Eubank. Oops, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council Member Petty. That's a great question. Um, no, under this agreement, I mean, what is contemplated is that the value of the property in the future will be based upon the appraised value that is determined now, so that they're not being required to pay, pay the cost to develop and then pay the escalated value of the property after the development. It'd be almost like paying twice.

So this does envision locking in the value to them and to them only at the current appraised value. Thank you. But again, none of that is— all of that is subject to a future agreement. Thank you, sir.

Uh, yeah, thank you. Um, City Attorney did just remind me, uh, one clause that is in there regarding the land value is that the, um, current appraisal would be that value would grow by CPI in the future until the point where, yeah, it got transacted. So there is some amount of growth in there, but it certainly won't be at, at a new appraised value.

Any further questions to the city manager? Discussion? I have one, essentially. It has to do with timeline. There's, there's a number of moving parts here.

We've got rezoning, there's an exchange of lands and all that, and it's going to be coming back to council. How is—. How is— is that going to all happen concurrently, or is it going to be like a train, one step?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. Um, I think we will work as expeditiously as we can. However, you know, as we discussed in a ordinance here just recently in the past, we can't go through a rezone process until we have a plat to base it on. So a lot of this will be more or less a train, but when we can find areas where we can operate things in parallel— the other, the other big question, and what we'll have to work with the developer on, is when they get and, and start to propose actual development, what that what they're actually proposing to do, and that will dictate then the future agreements, whether those are subdivision installation agreements, whether those are leases, or whatever they may— the structure may be. The actual development that they're going to commit to is going to, you know, drive a lot of this too.

So a lot of that is a little bit unknown, but again, we're going to work as cooperatively and expeditiously with the developers we can to, to move this project forward, keep it moving forward.

Thank you. Looks like a great project. Uh, any, any further discussion? Seeing none, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections?

Seeing none, Resolution 2026-51 is adopted.

Now we are on Item E5, Resolution 2026-52, authorizing a contract award for the Kenai Municipal Airport concessions, brought to us by administration. Pleasure of council. Manager— or city, uh, Vice Mayor Askin. Sorry. Um, I move that we adopt Resolution 2026-52 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-52?

Seeing no one, bring it back council. Council discussion. Unanimous consent was requested. Oh, Vice Mayor Askin, sorry, I was just going to say I'm here. You just turned it off.

Did I? Okay, I was just going to say I was happy to see that someone is interested in moving into the airport. Likewise. Any further discussion? Unanimous consent was requested.

Are there any objections? Seeing none, Resolution 2026-52 is adopted. Now we're on item E6, Resolution 2026-53, authorizing a contract award for the Park Pavilion construction project and redirecting capital funds in the Parks Improvement, uh, Capital Project Fund for the, for the project, brought to us by Administration. Pleasure of Council, Vice Mayor Askin. I move that we adopt Resolution 2026-53 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-53?

Seeing no one, back to council. Council discussion?

Unasked consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing no objections, Resolution 2026-53 is adopted.

We have no unfinished business and no new business. That brings us to commission reports. Council on Aging, Vice Mayor Askin. Thank you, Mayor Nagstad. Um, council did not have a meeting in June, and July's meeting is tomorrow afternoon.

Airport Commission, Councilmember Sonar. Their July meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening has been canceled. Due to lack of agenda items.

Parks and Recreation, Council Member Gremmie. There has not been a meeting since our last council meeting, and the next scheduled meeting for Parks and Rec is August 3rd. And Planning and Zoning Commission.

Thank you, Mayor. Speak, Council Member. Can you hear me any better? Can you hear me any better? Yes.

No, I was incorrect. September 3rd. Thank you. Planning and Zoning Commission, Councilmember Daniel. Okay, so Planning and Zoning, they met, uh, let's see here on the 24th of June.

I believe they only had one item up for discussion. It was Resolution PZ-2026-19, granting conditional use permit for development and use of a zero lot line townhouse and a six-family dwelling., in the rural residential zoning district. It was a fun one, uh, and ended up the original applicant decided to withdraw and this was postponed indefinitely. Uh, there's a lot of discussion around this and, uh, people weren't super excited about it, but turns out there may be even some, some code discrepancies that the, that, uh, he was looking through, uh, Mr. Butener is looking through. So that'll be good.

Uh, the only other thing that was, uh, interesting to note was, um, Commissioners and the public were noting that there was a lack of— I shouldn't say lack, but maybe the notifications weren't as timely as they would have liked. But other than that, nothing, nothing exciting. So, and their next meeting, I believe, is postponed. Oh, it's canceled due to lack of items, and they will meet again on the 29th. And that is my report.

Thank you very much. Beautification Commission, Councilmember Petty. Thank you, Mayor. There was no meeting since our last council meeting, and our next time that we get together will be on September 8th. Thank you.

Thank you. That brings us to Item J, Mayor's Report. I have a few things. It's been a long month, I guess. Uh, on the 4th of July, of course, hopefully everybody got out for the parade.

And enjoyed that. I got to, I had the pleasure of being one of the judges of the almost 70 floats that came through. And actually the public was out there in force even though it was a very cold 52 degrees, and it took me 2 hours to warm up afterwards too. But at any rate, I Did not do the dunk tank, and I think Councilmember Daniel might have something to report on that. So that would have been quite a challenge.

But anyway, the chamber did a very good job in organizing it and whatnot, and it was great fun. And so if you didn't make it, you missed out. On the month of June, we had the food fight between the city of Kenai and the and the city of Soldotna, which sounds like a competition and it kind of is, but it was a fun competition. So on July 1st, I met at the food bank with Johnna Beach and the mayor of Soldotna to take some photos of the food that was donated. And then there's other food that was going to be in cash and whatnot.

And we got our pictures taken and all that with that. The food total in pounds total was 8,509 pounds. And the dollar donations were $16,331. Now, it's 1 pound for every $2 donated. So that came to a combined food total then of 16,674.5 pounds.

Which is pretty astounding. So essentially the way it broke down is Soldotna was able to deliver 10,566 pounds of food and money value and the City of Kenai 6,108.5. So hopefully we'll do this again next year and it seems like we flip-flop back and forth who wins. So I think it'll be our turn next year if we work hard enough to do to do that. And then kind of an add-on to that, there's an Oilers game on July 11th.

So Mayor Whitney, he gets to do the first throw of the— I think he's going to have his grandson do it. So he gets to do that. And I guess I'll be making hot dogs. I got elected to do that. So I'll be there for that.

So if you want to go to the game, it's free to come in if you bring a couple of cans of food, non-perishable things, you can come right in. And the hot dogs are free up through the 5th inning. So, what time?

6:30? Yeah, I got to be there about 5:30, so. All right. Be there, it should be a good day. Then moving on, on July 1st, I went to the Central Peninsula General Hospital ribbon cutting here in town.

Behind IGA, the borough owns half of a building there that's where the clinic is and it's been not in use for some time. And they reopened it and they have mammography equipment in there and bone density equipment. And much of this was through funds through their fundraisers that they did that they were able to purchase this equipment. They're moving it in there, and you can also get other general testing, blood tests and things like that too. And, uh, there, so I'm very excited for that to be opening back up into our city here.

So now you don't have to go all the way to Soldotna even for those trivial things like getting your blood drawn. You can do it here. So there you go. On the 29th of June, I went to the Fox Air grand opening at the Kenai Municipal Airport. And they are going to have 6 flights daily from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM from Anchorage.

It's just between here and Anchorage. And they're primarily going to be flying Caravans. And so it's always good to have another option here, you know, at our airport. And we have the space for it. And then on June 27th, I attended the 46th annual UCIDA meeting.

That's United Cook Inlet Drifting Association meeting. Hadn't been to one of those before, but I was invited there and I met with a lot of the fishermen, learned a lot about the politics, the things that are going on, some of the things that we're familiar with. And UCIDA and the the beach fishermen. You know, fishing in general, this council's been quite supportive of through resolutions that we passed on. And it's the fishermen, but it's also the canneries and the whole processing and everything like that.

So I offered us up as supporting of them, you know, in the future if we could be. And so we might be seeing some kind of resolution as time goes on. Then on the 19th of June, I was invited by Keith Hamilton from Alaska Christian College to meet at their lunch and do a quick presentation there. And they have in the summertime volunteers that come from all over the country basically to work on their facility. These are skilled professionals.

And doing work. And so thank them.

The Alaska Christian College has come a long ways in the last 25 years since I met him, Mr. Hamilton there. It was considered a mansion, but house, but it was not really. It was pretty cheaply done. And he's expanded upon that with some amazing work and acquired additional properties there. ACC, you know, it is for all of Alaska, but it, you know, it does benefit the city of Kenai too here as people come through here to them.

And I know Keith comes and gives a presentation once a year for us. So that's my report, but I would like to recognize Chief Ross again and all of his years of being our our police chief. This is his last official city council meeting, and the public doesn't see him here because he's usually in the back watching and making sure everything's, you know, moving forward. And, uh, but we appreciate you, Chief Ross. Thank you.

And, and I hope you don't block my phone, my phone number in the future. You're kidding about that earlier. So anyway, uh, the other thing I want to mention is our next scheduled meeting is August 5th. We moved this one back to kind of get it near the middle of the month, and we canceled the second meeting because of dip netting, so, um, so nobody shows up kind of midstream. So that is my report.

So that brings us to administrative reports. City Manager Eubank. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. A couple things to report, uh, report tonight, uh, start with staffing and recruitment. Um, so recruitment for the airport manager position, uh, we concluded last week.

We conducted an in-person interview with our top candidate and are continuing through that recruitment process. I am cautiously optimistic.

Recruitment for several other positions is ongoing, including a police officer, firefighter, IT system administrator, public safety dispatcher, utility operator, and a janitor. So If you're looking for a position, you probably want to check out the city's website. I would like to congratulate and recognize Patrol Officer Levi Russell, who will be being promoted to position of sergeant. That promotion will be effective on August 1st, filling the, the sergeant position vacated by our former future Chief of Police Ryan Coleman. So, Small Community Air Service Development Grant.

So the USDOT posted all SCADS-V grant applications on regulations.gov. There were 60 applications were submitted requesting nearly $56 million in funding. There's only about $12 to $14 million that is expected to be available. So, and that's a little bit dependent, but again, I think our aviation consultant is always positive. He's reviewed those applications.

He thinks the city's is amongst the strongest. So we will have to see how that shakes out, but give you a little update there. I'll also let you know the flight service station lease, our lease with the FAA, we did this week receive a check for $225,000 from the FAA, uh, for retroactive lease payments. Um, I'm very glad to have that lease signed. It was absolutely, um, an unbelievable process to work through, but we did it.

Um, and I just— when I say we, I really want to recognize the efforts of our city attorney and staff who work to finalize that agreement. So As Mayor alluded, DipNet starts here on Friday. Staff have been out spending a lot of time this week getting city facilities ready for this. So that includes, you know, deployment of our fee shack signage and traffic control devices. Upcoming events: the annual Kenai Animal Fair will be held Saturday, July 18th, from 10 to 3 on the green strip.

I got a couple congratulations. I want to congratulate Planning Director Kevin Butner on his appointment as Vice President of the American Planning Association Alaska Chapter. So congratulations, Kevin. I have congratulations here to Public Safety Dispatcher Gabe Boyle. He received an award.

Actually, he received the very first Calm Voice Award from Gold Line Support, which is an organization that represents or or acknowledges the efforts of dispatch centers around the nation. Um, Gabe received the first ever Calm Voice Award, um, and this was given out for his, uh, work that he did, uh, on a bear mauling incident we had here in the city in August of 2025. So I think it's outstanding that, um, one, I commend his supervisor for nominating him for that, but, um, to to be the first ever recipient, I think is pretty special. So congratulations, Gabe. And I'm sure you're going to get tired of hearing this, Dave, but like, like the mayor said, I just want to recognize your 25-plus years of service to the city and citizens, and it's been a pleasure.

So thank you.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions of the city manager? Saying none. City Attorney, uh, Bloom.

Thank you, Mayor Naxted, members of council. I don't have anything to report, but I'm happy to answer any questions.

Madam Clerk. Thank you, Mayor Naxted. I have nothing to report, available for questions. Okay, thank you. That gets us to additional public comments.

Are there any members from the public who would like to address the council at this time on anything anything at all?

No one. Okay, that brings us to council comments. Councilmember Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Naxted. Um, I'll be brief, but yes, you were not kidding, it was a cold day. That dunk tank, that was a long hour, but it was fun. It was for a good cause. I got— I was very impressed.

There's some kids who can throw. Very first kid steps up and knocks me in. This surprised me, but now it was, it was a lot of fun. Took me hours to warm up, but I definitely do it again, and I encourage you all to do the same.

Okay, thank you. Councilmember Sonnart.

Thank you, Mayor Next. Next step, I want to start with thanking Chief Ross for your 25 years of service and Thank you. I know you're going to hear this a lot, but soak it in and just, you know, as much as you can, enjoy the last couple of weeks. Although, why did you time it with dip net season? That just seems like you're going out on a roll there.

Just happy birthday, America. 250 Years. It was a grand weekend and I hope everybody got to participate in the festivities. No, I did not do the dunk tank this year, but I was at the 52-degree parade for a couple of hours standing there and waving and smiling. It was quite fun.

That's all I've got. Happy summer, everybody. Thank you. Vice Mayor Askin. Thank you, Mayor Nagstad.

Ditto to Happy Birthday America. That was a pretty nice parade, although chilly.

Enjoyed it immensely. I also went to the senior center on the 2nd, and their choir was performing, and so we had lunch there. And thank you, Chief Ross. We can't say that enough. And congratulations to Kevin and Gabe and Mr. Russell.

And I think that's all I've got. Very good. Council Member Gremme.

I too was at the Fourth of July parade. Um, I think that is my most favorite Kenai event. I have loved it since we moved to Kenai, and I— my kids used to I used to love going, and now I make my husband come with me and pretend that he too enjoys going. I'm grateful for all the work that the City Chamber and Visitor Center employees did to get that event put together, and of course to all of the entrants in the parade and the vendors on the Green Strip despite the frigid temperatures. It was fun.

It was great to see all of the, all of the entries and walk through the Green Strip and see everybody there after. And of course, the memory signs as well that are set up on the green strip to remember men and women from Kenai that have served. Also, of course, happy birthday to the U.S. You only turn 250 once. It's a pretty— I think a pretty big deal that our country has managed to be the oldest representative democracy/constitutional republic in the history of the world. The fact that our forefathers had the foresight to put together documents that could stand the test of time is incredible, and I think we're all lucky to wake up here every day.

Lastly, Oilers baseball— today's Wednesday— tomorrow is Ladies Night, Save Second Base, for breast cancer awareness. So 6 o'clock. They also, as Mayor Knox had mentioned, have a game on Saturday at 6:30 and Sunday at 2:00. It's really great. We have Oilers baseball back, so I would encourage everybody to go get a hot dog and a beer and sit in the sun and cheer for the home team.

And they're on a winning streak. They've had two pretty— they've had two games with some pretty great home runs, so it'd be a great time to go cheer them on.

Who are they playing this time, do you know? The Chinooks. Chinooks.

The score is currently 1-1 at the Oilers game, if anyone's interested.

But yeah, I think I'll echo a lot of the other comments from everyone else. Congrats to Chief Ross for his last council meeting, and condolences to the new chief for one of many.

And I also just wanted to thank the Chamber of Commerce and all the work they put in. And, and I'm not going to say it better than Bridget, so yeah, thanks to everyone who participated in the Fourth of July. And then just wanted to wish the Kenai Kicks U15 girls soccer team good luck at nationals next week, and good luck, coach. So that's it for me. Very good.

Councilmember Petty. Thank you, Mayor Nexted. Um, I too celebrated the Fourth of July, but not here in our fair city. I was down at the cold, rainy space of Seward, Alaska, watching that, uh, wonderful race up and down the mountain. And I had individuals that were near and dear to my heart that were racing in that, safely up and down.

I wanted to say, uh, thank you to Chief Ross and wish you and your family the utmost best. And thank you for all that you have done for our fair city.

I also wanted to say thank you for Tidewater and am looking forward to seeing the success of this project and the collaboration with our city. It's a great opportunity to work together. Thank you. And also, last but not least, I wanted to welcome all of our Alaska neighbors who are becoming down or have already arrived for the wonderful annual dip netting extravaganza that will be right here in our fair city. So I hope that everyone gets abundance in their nets and safety to and back, to and fro.

So thank you. Spends all of their money in the city of Kenai, or else. Okay, we have no executive session, no pending items. With no further business, we are adjourned.