City of Seward Council Meeting 9/14/2026

Facing all the people of the world as they relate to the war on terrorism will not end until those with radical ideas that are contrary to peaceful ideals of the free world; and whereas, America is fully committed to ensuring our freedom remains unfettered and sovereign for all generations, now and forever; and whereas, world opinion needs to remain focused upon the elimination of these inhumane acts perpetrated around the globe; and whereas, one way to accomplish this is to never forget that those innocent victims did not die in vain. And whereas America can fight back by reminding the world that the deaths of these people will always be remembered and they will never— excuse me— that they will be forever loved. And whereas first responders from Seward and the state are honored and supported when they are called to serve and defeat inhumane acts of terrorism. And whereas, a noble and appropriate way to accomplish this is through the annual celebration of their life and their service. And whereas, this commemoration should be conducted each September 11th throughout the land to include: the promotion of global peace and goodwill; the demonstration of America's resolve and perseverance to win the war on terrorism; the encouragement of patriotism and love of country; and the poignant remembrance of those innocent victims who died on September 11th as heroes, one and all.

Now therefore, Suu McClure, Mayor of the City of Seward, Alaska, does hereby issue this proclamation in remembrance of and with eternal respect for those whose lives were taken on September 11th, 2001. Not to be forgotten are those who have passed away in the aftermath of the attacks and those who continue to struggle with lingering side effects due to the psychological and physical harm done. Dated this 14th day of September, 2026, the City of Seward, Alaska, and signed by Mayor Sue McClure. Thank you. I'll hang on to that.

And I was going to say, I think you should receive that and the other two, probably. Whereas throughout American history, members of America's armed forces have made uncommon sacrifices as prisoners of war, serving our country under conditions of extreme hardship leadership while remaining steadfast even with their treatment violated fundamental standards of morality and international codes of conduct. And whereas 1,578 Americans are still missing from the Vietnam War, as well as 7,492 unaccounted from the Korean War, 126 from the Cold War, 5 from the Gulf Wars, 72,186 from World War II, as thousands are recorded as unrecoverable as deep sea losses. And whereas Americans held as POW and MIA have earned our respect for their courage and devotion to the United States. And whereas we honor our POWs who, who in the act of serving our nation relinquished their freedom to protect the liberty we enjoy.

And whereas, we also honor those MIAs and should not forget the pain and suffering of war that continues for their families and friends and for all of us. And whereas, because we must not neglect to honor the men and women who have served their country so faithfully, the United States Congress established the third Friday of the month of September as America's annual National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Now therefore, summa cum laude, Mayor of the City of Seward, does hereby proclaim September 18, 2026, as POW/MIA Recognition Day, and call upon all in the City of Seward to join with Americans across the nation in honoring all present and former American POWs and MIAs and their families, and call upon citizens and local officials, historians, educators, and private organizations to observe this day by flying the POW/MIA flag and by conducting appropriate ceremonies or activities in honor of these heroes. Dated this 14th day of September, 2026, the City of Seward, Alaska, and signed by Mayor Sue McClover. Thank you.

And will you keep that one? I will. Thank you. Okay, with the Legion. Okay, and then Vice Mayor Asenga will read, um, the National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month proclamation.

All right, thank you. Where suicide is a serious public health issue that affects individuals, families, friends, coworkers, schools, and communities throughout Alaska and across the United States, and whereas suicide prevention is a shared responsibility and every resident of Seward can play a role by promoting understanding, reducing stigma, encouraging help-seeking behaviors, and supporting those experiencing mental health challenges, and whereas mental health is an essential component of overall health and well-being and early intervention, compassionate support, community connection, and access to resources can save lives; and whereas, National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month is observed each September to increase public awareness of suicide prevention, educate communities about warning signs and risk factors, and encourage meaningful conversations about mental health; and whereas, National Suicide Prevention Day, observed annually on September 10th, serves as a reminder that hope, healing, and recovery are possible, and that support is available for individuals and families affected by suicide. And whereas the City of Seward recognizes the importance of fostering a caring and resilient community where every person feels valued, heard, supported, and connected. And whereas we honor the memory of those lost to suicide, support survivors of loss, and acknowledge the dedicated efforts of mental health professionals, healthcare workers, educators, first responders, advocates, volunteers, and community organizations working to prevent suicide and promote mental wellness. And whereas, by working together to create safe and supportive environments, increasing awareness of available resources, and encouraging open dialogue about mental health, We can help prevent suicide and strengthen our community.

Now therefore, Sue McClure, Mayor of the City of Seward, does hereby proclaim September 2026 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the City of Seward and encourages all residents to join in raising awareness, supporting those in need, promoting mental wellness, and helping build a community of hope, compassion, and resilience dated this 14th day of September, 2026, in the city of Seward, Alaska, signed by Mayor Sue McClure. Thank you. Did you want to come up and accept this, Christiana? I was thinking that might be why you were here. Um, I read a similar, slightly different proclamation at the Suicide Walk.

Christiana, stay up. I'd like you to say a few words, but I just wanted to say that, um, the What day was that? Last Thursday? Ah, yes. Was the suicide walk, and I had one jaded for that particular day too.

So, anyway, did you want to say a few words about it? Ah, yeah, I just want to thank the community for showing up for the suicide prevention walk and all the resources in the community that have tables and resources available. The American Legion showed up, as they have for many years, providing a cookout that really supported community engagement.

During the walk and the event. So it was a good turnout too, I think. Thank you very much. Okay, we're at citizen comments on any subject except items scheduled for public hearing. We do have one public hearing item, Resolution 2026-074, but other than that, you could speak on anything for 3 minutes, up to 3 minutes.

We have a 36-minute total. Time, and there's a sign-up. We'll go through those names if you've signed up, and then I could take shows of hands. When you come up to the microphone there, we need to know your name and if you live inside or outside the city limits. Mr.

Clerk, has anyone signed up? No one has signed in. Oh, okay. Does anyone wish to speak?

Come on up.

Becky Dunn, Inside the City. Want to give a big shout out to Bob Barnwell, Matthew Copes, Julie Kreitz, Rhonda Hubbard, and Victor Maddox for throwing their name in the hat for City Council. Seward Public Radio is hosting Meet the Candidates Night. City Council candidate forum is September 16th, this Wednesday, at 5:30 PM at the KMRA building, 25 Third Avenue in Seward. This will be streaming live and recorded on the SACTOWN YouTube channel, followed by the Bear Creek Community Council's monthly meeting at 7 PM.

These events are intentionally scheduled back-to-back because both events have the same moderator, Ryan Parsons, and the same sound tech, Wolf Kurtz, from Seward Public Radio. It's a lot of equipment to haul down there and set up. So killing two birds with one stone.

And reminder that both events will be downloaded to Sactown on YouTube, so if you can't attend, you can at least listen later. Thoughts and prayers with Whittier, and no— and hoping nobody is injured during the fire. Their dock is on fire. Even Bear Creek responded. They were toned out to that fire.

I'm not sure if everybody's aware of that. And I have been asked to speak out for the family of Abigail Pruitt. She is missing in Seward, 47 years old, was last seen on Dickrath Road, 7/25/2026. Her son is offering $2,500 reward for any leads. Please call Alaska State Troopers at 907-224-3346.

You can find a picture of her on our Facebook page, Seward Public Radio. And she is 5'5", 125 pounds.

For any other information, check out the flyer. It's a— well, that's been almost It's been a while, and I'll let— I'll just wrap it up. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Becky. Uh, does anyone else wish to speak?

Okay, seeing none, we'll move to the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda. I need a motion to approve and a second, please. I move for the approval of tonight's agenda and consent agenda. I'll second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Are there any changes that any you would like to make.

Okay, seeing none, I think we're ready to vote. Voting on the approval of tonight's agenda and consent agenda. Warner? Yes. Barnwell?

Yes. Osenga? Yes. Draper? Yes.

Calhoun? Yes. And Mayor McClure? Yes. Your agenda and consent agenda have been approved.

And on the consent agenda, the August 24th, 2026 City Council meeting minutes The introduction of Ordinance 2026-008, amending Seward City Code 2.3, 30.410, Historic Preservation Commission, to waive the residency requirement for 2 seats on the commission. Resolution 2026-075, authorizing the city manager to accept and appropriate Community Assistance Program funds in the amount of $109,972.43 for the purpose of capital projects related to fire, public safety and road maintenance. Resolution 2026-076, authorizing the city manager to accept and appropriate $10,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services INSPIRE grant program for the Seward Museum World War II exhibit project. And the confirmation of the election board for the 2026 regular municipal election. And lastly, no grounds for protest for the Amco liquor license renewal for Chinook's Waterfront Restaurant.

Okay, thank you very much.

So next is the city manager report. The main city manager is not here, but we have Mr. Pickling. So, you can— Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor. Of course, Mr. Pickling. Kat specifically asked me just to be sure to mention the EPA site visit that was here, I think last week, maybe the week before.

It was essentially a soft audit. The team received very positive feedback on the project management communication and just overall progress.

Which is really good because that's a lot of money and a lot of sub-projects that go into that. And, um, and you will be seeing some more legislation on purchasing for this project in coming council meetings. So that was the only thing that she really asked me to highlight, and I'm happy to answer any questions as I can. Um, well, I, I'm gonna just tap into this, but I do have a question too. Um, if you read the city manager's, uh, what does she call it, your newsletter, she mentioned visits to the Mexican tall ship that was here.

And I was also present at the tall ship and actually had lunch, and I was presented with a plaque that it's in— it's for my— it has my name on it, but it's for your warmth, kindness, and hospitality from the crew. And it was just presented to the city, but myself as a spokesperson. As the mayor. So I'm going to leave it here and we're going to hang it out in the hallway where all those other presentations from other vessels that have been here are hanging. I've just got to find out who would do that.

And I just wanted people to see that this is a very nice gift. At that same time, I presented them with a Seward flag for the ship. So it was just something that we did. And then I have a question. I was out doing chess with a bunch of third and fourth— fourth and fifth graders, I guess.

Anyway, today, and the question came up from a couple of them: I see stuff's going on at Jesse Lee. When's the playground going to be ready? And I don't think you have an exact answer, but could you just speak just briefly to that? Yeah, no, there's— we've actually made really good progress and kind of a short timeline from when the— from when the, uh, DEC allowed us to start moving on that. So just as a reminder that we had paid Metco money out of the previous grant from 2020, maybe, um, a long time ago.

And so yeah, they came in and, uh, they filled in that— the giant hole that was the excavation for all the testing and mitigation. And then they brought in additional material on top of that and leveled it out. And they've put in a walking trail that will go kind of around the entire park. And there's a parking lot. We know what place where the restroom is eventually going to be.

And then we have it kind of staked out where the playground equipment will go. And then there also is a place that I know that, that you guys have discussed for a memorial kind of on the far side. And then we did discover that in right up against the property owners, kind of like in their backyard on that far side, there were the two, uh— I don't know what you call them, but where the gates, like, where the gates were at. And so Metco actually was able to pick those things up intact and bring them over and then put them on this side. So it says the Jesse Lee home, which I thought was really, really cool.

So, um, I was talking with another— with Councilmember Calhoun about this, but, uh, we— I told Parks and Rec, I said this was kind of the last— I showed them kind of what the last approved plan was for City Council because I think last summer you guys said, hey, this is at least we agree that we know that these things need to go here and it's kind of a minimum layout. And so that's what they're trying to get that done this year before kind of the ground freezes. But we will be having some further conversations and discussions by this fall and winter just to look at what's going to be done with the rest of the property and kind of some plans and make sure that you guys have approval of those plans. And then also to talk about at that time when this is constructed, we talked about the one that— the other park that's around the corner of making that lot available for housing. So it's— yeah.

The doorway park. So just, we can have conversations about those items. Okay. Yeah. And Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to ask about the dog park. Did they have that opening yet, or that in Diamond? That I couldn't tell you. Um, there's a poster, uh, October—.

Oh my goodness, I think it's September 26th, isn't it? Check. Yeah, they're going to have a grand opening. I have a picture. I don't want to get into my phone, but, uh, this is the dog park, Saturday, September 26th.

There we go. Thank you. Yes, this is the dog park just across from the Army or the military resort. It's right in there, tucked in near the basketball court and the restrooms, and it's pretty, pretty neat. I went and looked at it.

I guess it's not officially official yet, but anyway, thank you. Yeah, you can take your dog. Any other questions, comments for the city manager or Assistance. Well, thank you very much. And City Clerk, you've got something to show off on page 60 and beyond.

You want to tell us what it is? Yes, thank you, Mayor McClure. On page 60 and beyond is a repost of our voter information guide for the city election coming up. And this is, uh, we did this in-house. It's sort of taking the place of what you would normally find in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Voter Information Guide that they would release, but since our election dates are not on the same day this year, we're just doing a lot of things in-house.

So this can also be found on our website on the Elections and Voting page, and we have printed copies available in the clerk's office if anybody would like some or like to request one. We can print them off on demand and also on our election and voting page is our by-mail ballot application for the, the city election. Thank you. Um, people have been asking me why they didn't get something from the borough, and I'd have to explain that we're not having our election the same time as the borough, and that our clerk's office came up with a booklet, and you just have to ask. So Thank you.

Um, the city attorney report is— you can find it on page 71 of the packet. He isn't here tonight, so—. Yes, sorry, Madam Mayor, I had a question for the clerk. Oh sure, I'm sorry. That's okay.

Um, this is more concerning the November election since we don't have the municipal part of that. Are people going to be able to register here for absentee ballots and that, or do they need to do that online or do that somewhere else? So as far as I know, that's all done online now. The borough has an online portal for absentee by mail ballots, and then the state has their Division of Elections page. And then we will be doing the absentee in-person voting just like we always have here in council chambers.

So we'll have both borough and the state ballots available on hand here in City Hall because I had some people question me about that, and so I figured you would know. So online for the borough and the general election in November. Okay, other questions for the clerk?

Okay, thank you very much. Um, and as I was saying, the, the attorney isn't present today, but But there's a report on page 71 if you'd like to read that. Which brings us to presentations. We have two. The first is from KPED.

It's an update. Cassidy Cameron is here, and come on up and give your report.

Thank you. If you don't know what KPED is, she'll tell you.

Is that close enough? I don't know. Sometimes I'm a low talker and sometimes I'm not. Why don't you bring it a little closer? Okay.

Is that a little better? Oh yeah. Fantastic. Well, thank you for having me again, Mayor McClure and Council. It's great to always be in Seward to see the progress from the last time.

So my name is Cassidy Cameron and I'm the executive director for the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District. Jason is one of our board members, as well as Jeff Hetrick, who is the director for APMI. So you guys have Seward representation on that board, and they do a very fine job of representing and advocating for Seward and its projects and initiatives. And this evening, I mean, I will let you know KPED has been very busy over the last year since I was here last, and also We hosted the Industry Overview Forum this spring in Seward, and so I've been able to, to be in your community quite a bit this year, and we've been head down working very hard on several initiatives. But I think last, last fall when I was here, I was talking to you guys about the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, which is what we are responsible of of developing and identifying regional goals within that SEDS and that strategy.

It's a 5-year strategy. This last year was the start of our next 5 years, so we got to revisit where we were for the last 5 years and what those goals were looking like, and then where we're going ahead of time. We do that through community engagement surveys, stakeholders and partnership meetings to really gauge what our quality of life living standards are the peninsula? What are our services? What are our needs?

What kind of infrastructure? What kind of quality of life standards are all of us expecting? And what are we doing to work towards those? And when we do that, we start to— sorry, I'm doing two things here because I cannot see that with my old eyes. There we go.

So when we've developed that strategy, and it is on our website, it's very robust, but it gives a good idea and a good map of where we're heading in the future. The areas that kept bubbling up to the top when we were surveying and talking to people were housing. So the housing challenges that not just Seward is experiencing, but not just our borough, but the entire nation. We tried to understand what that challenge actually was and what it was defined in terms of what it meant for our residents, whether it was an affordability aspect, a variability, you know, are there there are different kinds of housing that people are looking for. What were the housing constraints?

What were those challenges and how can we go forward with a plan to find solutions within that? But housing rose to the top. Also childcare. We've talked about it several times. Casey is a giant advocate and proponent of the importance of childcare services in our communities and what importance is placed on childcare services, what can happen when there are adequate, accessible, affordable childcare services for families, it starts to ripple effect.

And we really were looking at that through an economic lens and trying to place a value on what childcare services mean for everyone. And it's not the same for everyone, but it also is a high need when we're looking at trying to improve our labor force, make our quality of life better. Make our community stronger. We have to look at those things and then try to identify what ways can we address them. Infrastructure and land management is a recurring theme, not just for this 5-year plan but for the last 5 years.

How we're using our resources and how we're planning with our land management really does dictate how well our communities do and how much they can thrive. And then also education and industry and business, we look at all of those sectors and try to take its temperature while we're looking at the quality of life standards and making sure that there are resources, support systems, funding opportunities, right? Are there plans? Are the plans making sense for every community? And how do we get the people at the table, the right people at the table, to make those decisions and make those plans and have it make sense, right?

We don't want to keep recreating a wheel or stumbling. We want things to be sustainable. We want things to be built upon one another. That's going to prove to be successful because when those are successful, our economy is healthy. We are living a higher quality of life.

So as we looked at the top 3 goals—natural resources and infrastructure, social and community well-being, and economic opportunity—we look within those sectors to identify exactly What are the areas within those goals that we need to— what are we doing good, right? Not everything's negative and not everything's a gap, but there's been progress in each of these areas throughout the last 5 to 7 years that we're looking at making things better, right? Putting some focus on a sector and making sure that there are supports and resources within those sectors to make them grow and thrive.

So this year, you know, from the SEDS, we completed— we dug right into the housing challenge. I don't call it a crisis, I call it a challenge because I think any good challenge, you start to find solutions within the supports and the resources that you have. So we completed a thorough assessment of our housing markets in each of our incorporated communities. We dove into the demographics, the age of our housing stock, what were the uses, what kind of— did we just have single-family homes or do we have multi-family homes? How are we using our land in the best use for housing and meeting the needs to who needs those types of new housing?

We are looking at communities that are innovative in addressing their housing solutions, and Seward is one of them, right? Seward put a lot of focus. You guys have made really tough thoughtful decisions on how to address a housing challenge and trying to make well-rounded and in-depth analysis to what you guys have, what could you guys have, what are the needs of your community, and addressing it that way. So please, if you can click on this link when you have free time, it does take you to the housing assessment that we're very proud of. We've also been working deeply into workforce development.

Numbers as a state, we're seeing outmigration, right? We're seeing people that either relocate here, try it out, it doesn't work out, whether the cost of living is too high, it's not a good fit, they end up leaving the state. Younger people are looking for job opportunities and pathways for careers that sometimes, most of the time, lead them out of state. When they leave the state, they very rarely come back. And we're seeing that effect on our labor market, on our services that we're offering, on some of the infrastructure that we're really needing to, to build up our communities.

So one of my main goals is to try to find ways to create career pathways and workforce development pathways for younger generations to be able to be aware of, be interested in, understand that there's an on-ramp that goes from high school to a trade or a career pathway that they can, they can get those trainings and certifications and skills, and then they can be placed in a very lucrative profession. Giving folks a roadmap to careers and possibilities, I think, is a key for our state and for our population decline.

And then childcare. So we are looking into an economic impact study for childcare services and their effects on our system, on our economic health, specifically to the Kenai Peninsula. We've been working with an economist that we've worked with for many years, and she's doing a deep dive into what is the economic impact of childcare services. What are our productivity numbers? What is our labor demand?

What strains does it have on our labor market when a family can't necessarily both work? What is that family strain and what's that economic strain? And where are— where is the childcare services, right? Do we have a childcare desert? And the answer is yes.

Short, quick, cheating answer is yes, we experience a high need of childcare services of all kinds. And then we've been working on our GIS and data topography mapping, as well as finishing up our mariculture project this year.

As I had mentioned before, I have just a little bit of time left, but we had our 2026 Industry Overview Forum here in Seward this year. We had a well-rounded day of mariculture, energy infrastructure, housing, community needs, economic outlook, our small businesses, entrepreneurship and opportunity throughout Seward and ultimately throughout the borough. And it was a great event. We had a great day, and it was nice to see many of you there. And we're very happy that you guys were able to host us and have us here this year.

Again, I mentioned our KPED housing assessment. Please check it out if you can. It's worth the read. It's very robust, and it is— you can take bite-sized pieces depending on what you're interested in.

And I do believe that's a great tool for community development and just housing in general to see what we actually have here.

These are some, some keys— key figures and datasets from Seward-specific, just, you know, what your population is looking like, what your growth is looking like, your average median home value, and how many single-family homes were built in, in the last year or so. So what the stakeholders need, what tools you guys have, it's a great, great tool.

Some more housing, land affordability, zoning, permitting, seasonal project housing, SEDS alignment, how we can start to meet the need if we want our communities to grow and have people be attracted here to work and live, they're going to need more than just a job. They're going to need homes and a community to wrap around, as well as childcare services, transportation services, and a reasonable quality of life and a cost of living.

Like I said, we're working on a workforce and industry readiness engine. Our K'pen Wire program is when we are trying to expand Avtech's footprint offering vocational programming and development certifications throughout the borough. We are trying to do a public-private educational partnership where we are having articulation agreements and accreditation across from our school district to AVTEC and to KPC and the UA system and have the credit hours in those programming make very much sense and be economical to anyone taking them. So we are pursuing a Public Works EDA grant to try to expand the access and grow capacity and give younger generations an on-ramp to workforce development opportunities and careers that are relevant to Alaska that will keep them here.

Rising tide floats all boats.

Childcare, again, all of those wraparound services that we are identifying for families and people that need to work here. They need all sorts of services and they have needs, living needs, that we, we want to make sure that we are meeting their demand. And I will just keep going. Mariculture, we are working with APMI and the mariculture cluster wrapping up that $49 million project to expand mariculture access, processing facilities, and innovations for the industry itself. Thank you for having me.

I apologize I went over, but we are very excited about the work that we're doing and we really really want to be able to support Seward and, and what you guys are doing here. And we just really thank you for your time. Appreciate that. Um, are there any questions from the council?

Go ahead, Councilmember. I— the maritime thing is always interesting. I forgot it was $49 million. Does Seward have a future with mariculture? Uh, I know we have The hatchery here.

But do we have— can we expand that? Or can you just do— I believe so. In fact, we had a— we hosted a booth with APMI, SERC, and with Southeast Conference and the mariculture cluster folks. We hosted a booth at Salmon Fest this year in their nonprofit area, and there was a couple of individuals that came, and they were from Seward and they're pursuing an oyster farm permit and getting a permit here in Resurrection Bay. And it's hap— they— it wasn't all talk.

Sometimes it's all talk, but they actually followed up. We connected them with the revolving loan fund and some processing and some access to equipment. And they are going through the permitting process with some of our guidance and our help. So I deeply believe that there is mariculture opportunities here. You just have to find somebody that's willing to put their neck out a little bit and understand the potential.

It's a great complementary industry to fishing, so all of the equipment that a setnet permit, you know, uses— a skiff, you know, your nets, your line— all of those things can be used for mariculture or seaweed, depending on what, what you're looking at. But there's some complementary overlap there that I think people are really realizing that they can extend out. It's not just an isolated salmon season, they can do more. So absolutely. Thank you.

Yeah, and I just wanted to know if we were going to get a copy of the presentation sent to us later so we can click on the links. And also, if you'd be available for questions, direct questions, more in-depth. Absolutely. Okay. Yes, absolutely.

We know how to reach you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. So now we get to hear from the Seward student exchange students, the ones that went to Opehiro.

And you have a presentation, or you each— how's that going work. Mr. Clark, I have a presentation for you to show, to watch. They will come up and they will each speak about their trip to Ogihiro. And while the presentation goes for the 10 minutes, they'll be speaking to you about their experience in Ogihiro and in Japan. We went from August 4th through August 17th.

A couple of those days were like side travel to Tokyo, so, um, but they are going to be speaking about their exchange program that they did with the students that came here, um, the week before we left to tour Omihiro. Okay. Um, I have Kira DeSermia, Chloe Lyons, Atlin Ryan, and Kaya Gunter here today with us. With me. Okay, thank you.

Go for it. Come on up, you guys. Wait till— world travelers.

So it's gonna be tough to watch them in that.

All right. Hello, my name is Kira de Sermia, and I was one of the very one of the 3 fortunate students who was able to travel to Obahiro this year. It was such an incredible opportunity, like, I really enjoyed every single second of it. There was not ever a dull moment. And Seward and Obahiro work really well together to plan awesome events and activities that all the kids will enjoy.

And we walk around with the students who also are from Obahiro who came to Seward and they show us all their favorite places in Ōbuhirō, and it was just an incredible opportunity to really see what life is like in another culture rather than just if you were a tourist and you went and visited Ōbuhirō. You'd still see awesome things if you went and saw Ōbuhirō, like I highly recommend it, but on this exchange program it was a really great opportunity to just get an inside, um, like tour on everything everything in Obehiro that's worth visiting. And I really enjoyed it a whole lot, and my, my whole family has felt really connected to it for a long time because my sister in 2024 also went to Obehiro, and my family has hosted 3 different exchange students from Obehiro. And so it's just been an incredible time getting to know so many different people from Obehiro, and I got to stay in 3 different homes, which was awesome because I got to know so many different people, and I got to see the different ways that people live in Obihiro, and it was just really incredible, and I enjoyed it a ton. One thing that I especially liked about going to Japan is my whole family has always loved sushi, and I was never too fond of it before Japan.

I was kind of intimidated just by eating raw fish, and my first host family took me to a really nice sushi restaurant, and I had had an incredible experience, and I have since been converted. I love sushi now, and I've gone out to eat sushi 4 times since I've been home in the past month. So it's been really great to have that now shared connection with my family. We can all go eat sushi and enjoy it together, so that's been really awesome. My favorite experience in Obahiro was probably doing the Bon dance, which— this is a picture of us in the yukatas that they gifted us, which was so kind and generous of them.

And so we got to learn about the Bon dance and then we participated in it. So we did about an hour and a half of dancing. It's 2 hours total, but we were pretty tired by the end of it. And we just had a really great time. I thought it was super fun.

The pictures were super awesome. And they let you take home the yukata at the end of it, so now we have that memory for the rest of our lives, which is awesome. Yeah, I had a really great time, and next you'll hear from the other students who also went. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. This summer I had the opportunity to travel to Japan as part of the OV Hero student exchange program. It was an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life. It was really unique seeing a different culture and experiencing their food.

Sorry. Staying over here was really unique because it's nothing like the US. So there's some similarities we saw, like the playgrounds and whatnot, but the city was way different and, and the streets as well. It was really unique hanging out with different families and learning about about their culture.

I really enjoyed some of the foods I ate like sushi, ramen, miso soup, salt soup, and corn dog, corn dog something, I can't remember the name.

The host families I had were exceptionally good. They treated me well and I really respect them.

Thank you for electing me to go on this trip. I had an amazing time. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hi, I'm Chloe Lyon, and I'm one of the students that was chosen to go on the Open Hero Exchange.

I had a lot of fun in Japan. Especially with the host families. They all treated me very kindly, and I just really loved connecting with them on novels and manga and stuff. Me and the families both had a common interest in literature. We talked about, like, all the dramas and romances and stuff.

It was quite fun. And there was this little girl in one of my host families, and she, like, reminded me why I started illustrating. She would give me all gave me all these books and cards to redraw for her. I ended up doing like 3 portraits for her of like Pokémon and little children's books that she had about like The Wizard of Oz and turnips and stuff. And it just reminded me that like that's how I started out.

I started making comics and that's why I love it so much. And so I had a lot of fun doing that. And they also gave me all this like delicious food and really broadened my, like, palate and stuff. Because before then, my brother is allergic to seafood, so I never had fish or shrimp or anything fun. So I went there and I got to try all this food without worrying that my brother would just not exist.

And now I really like tuna, and I had crab for the first time ever in my life. And that was all really fun, and you should try candy strawberries. They're like the best food ever. Thank you so much. Thank you.

My name is Kaya Gunter, and I was part of the exchange program. I wasn't really sure what to expect going into Opihiro. I had kind of an idea of the culture and everything because I kind of researched a little bit before, but I didn't exactly know what my host families would be like and what I would be eating and all that, but I thought it was really amazing. My host families, the first one, their food was really, really good, and I really enjoyed it a lot. They also took us, other, my other host families also took me to other places Taste is also really good food, and I really enjoyed it.

It was my first time trying raw fish sushi. I've had raw fish before, but it was my first time having sushi raw fish, and I thought it was really yummy. A lot of my memories are the Bon Dance. My favorite memories are probably the Bon Dance and making ice cream in school. But also, I loved eating food.

It's a really good memory.

And now that I've come back, I really want to go again. It was so much fun. And it was a really great experience, and I'm really happy I was able to go. Thank you.

There's a few more slides.

I had to put the video in there because I think that's— if you don't hear that, you kind of miss out on the music.

So on some of the festivities that go on in that Obon dance, there's 3— it's a 3-day week. It's a 3-day kind of weekend. Well, one night it's like like the fireworks. The next evening is the things like with the drums, and then the evening they have the more drumming and the— where they carry these big huge wood-built parade things. Instead of them being on tractors, they carry them, and then they throw wheat or their harvest, their grain out in them as it's just like the way of, you know, wishing for a good harvest.

And so that's part of that. And some of them got to go to all of it, some of them, I don't know if they all got to go or they got to go to certain spots of it, but they only got to go where if their host families were going because that did happen in the evening, so they, some might have missed it and some got to see it, so. See, I'm trying to think what else.

We got to do do some— for my experience, this is my third time going, we did get to do some other activities, so they're adding new things every year, so you know, you come back, you do some of the things that kids have done last year, but you also get to do new things every year. You'll see some host families now that they swapped with, and You learn something every place. This was very popular. This is very popular in Japan. You get in these little booths and you take pictures and they turn you into like little cartoon characters.

That was pretty, pretty popular.

This is their little stops. We went to Tokyo. We started started off in Tokyo and went from the 4th to the 9th, but we actually kind of got there on the 6th because it skipped a day. And Kira did get to sumo wrestle, so she got drawn, she had a drawing, she got to sumo wrestle. And I did win.

And she won.

I believe that is— Wow, you did that right. Right? Well, thank you very much. That was very nicely presented too. It was good to hear your stories and you guys rock.

Thanks. And welcome back. Glad you got back safely and all that too, you know. Well, thank you. Thank you.

Very, very nice. Are we okay to continue with our one item, or do we need a break? We're okay. Okay, um, we're going to go on to the one business item we have. Um, it's a public hearing on Resolution 2026-074.

Mr. Clerk, could you please read that into the record? Resolution 2026-074.

-074, Authorizing the city manager to enter into a new lease agreement with He Will Provide for the area in the lower level of the senior center facility. Okay, and you'll find this on page 73 and beyond. I'd ask for a motion to approve and a second, please. We move for the approval of Resolution 2026-074. Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Administration, do you want to speak to it before the public hearing. Yes, then we'll have the public hearing. Yes, definitely. All right, thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, as most people know, uh, the He Will Provide Food Pantry provides a very important resource, uh, in our community for those dealing with food insecurity.

In the agenda statement there, there are some really good statistics from a little bit of their history and how many clients they serve every year. So, but they've currently been operating out of the basement of the City Hall Annex building, which is kind of— they operate— they access that out of Valley. And this new lease with Parks and Rec moving to the middle school, this new lease puts them in the lower level of the senior center facility, which is a significantly better place not only for them to operate, gives them more space. Also, I know there's been a group that has done kind of like a, a soup kind of serving kitchen type of thing at times. And so this would— if they want to continue to do that, this would be a better facility for that as well.

And then it's also just an easier place to access. There's a large parking lot out there, and so there's not as much— not as much— it's very tight back there behind the Annex Building. And so this new lease would be a 5-year lease with the option of 2 5-year extensions. And that's a pretty common practice of what we do. We have an initial lease, then we have the options of extensions once you go past that.

And then just to give time for Parks to vacate that facility. And we do need to— we know that we need to do some electrical upgrades just so that they, uh, to basically have all their freezers in there and refrigerators and stuff like that. We're gonna, um, because right now that would currently throw some of the breakers on that. So, uh, so this lease would start on January, uh, 1st, 2027.

Okay, thank you. Um, with that, I'll open the public hearing and then we'll talk about it after the public hearing. Mr. Clerk, has anyone signed up? Nobody has signed in to speak.

Okay, does anyone wish to speak on this? Then I won't explain how much time you have or anything. We can just go on. Give you one more chance. Okay, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to council.

Uh, comments, um, Discussion. Councilmember Draper. Yeah, my comment is that I was thinking when we took the middle school on as a community center that all the dominoes that fell into place of things that were going to move there would have to be able to fall back the other way in case the middle school became a school again, which I think it's 4 years before that could happen. Who knows if it will or not. So I guess what this means, if, if we approve this, that puts the Teen and Youth Center in the position of having to scramble to find a place if it becomes a school again, if we approve this as is.

Is that— am I correct? Because this is basically 15 years. Uh, well, it's actually just 5 years because we don't have to do those other 5-year extensions. So it just gives us that option of Basically what it does is if we get to 5 years and we say, hey, everything's looking good on both ends, administration can just go ahead and say, hey, we're good, we can continue on with another 5 years. But also within these leases, at any time, there are clauses where if we need to be like, hey, it's, for whatever reason, we just have to give them adequate time, or maybe it's not working out for them and they just need to give us adequate time.

So on all of our leases, there is a clause in there where we can separate. Just based on our needs. So that's always an option. I mean, we want to— this type of thing, we want to make sure we give them a lot of time and room to do that. But there is some shuffling going on, and we have talked about that, and just knowing that we will— might be looking a lot different place in 5 years.

And so we'll have to figure out what's best for everyone at that time, because it's— maybe going back isn't the best situation for certain entities, and we'll solve that problem when we get there. Yeah, and it may be a much nicer place for the kids somewhere too. Yeah, necessarily. I like the access concept at this location too because there's the parking area behind and then the side of the building, because it will be— when they hold their hours, it's after the senior center is pretty well done, but it is, and so it's much easier access, I think, which is a thing, obviously. Um, any other comments, concerns?

Ready to vote, Mr. Clerk? We are ready. Voting on the approval of Resolution 2026-074. Warner?

Yes. Draper? Yes. Barnwell? Yes.

Yes. Calhoun? Yes. Osenga? Yes.

And Mayor McClure? Yes. That resolution has been approved. Okay, thank you very much. Um, that was our only other item of business.

You'll notice in the packet there's a letter of support for the potential crosswalks on the Seward Highway near Port. You can read that. Coming up, we have a work session Monday, September 28th at 6:00 PM. The topic being Providence. And then the regular meeting would be at 7 PM, which brings us to citizen comments.

This is the time where there's no sign-in requirement. I'll just take your hands and you'll have up to 5 minutes to speak. Does anyone wish to speak?

Okay, seeing none, we're going to whip through this thing. I'll bring it to council and administration comments Comments and responses to citizen comments. And we have our administration here, Mr. Bickling. Yeah, just one comment.

I just want to thank Cassidy for coming and speaking tonight. And I would encourage people when they do get that packet to— there's a lot of great resources on their website, but those— the SEDS and the housing report, it's really— those are both like really interesting documents. And so I would just really encourage encourage people to, to go look for those and read up. Okay, thank you. Councilmember Draper, I'm going to start with you.

Well, I really enjoyed both of the presentations. The kids were great. Good job there. Money well spent sending those kids. And, um, just wanted to say that I got to also go on the Cuervac, the Mexican tall ship, with our Rotary Club.

Just gracious, wonderful people. I got to meet the tiny child goes to the very top. She's the smallest one, so she gets to go to the very top. I also wanted to point out that there was an article on the front page of the Anchorage paper today with a childcare article, and Casey was very— lots of kudos to her for how she was mentioned in that article and how hard she's worked on the childcare issue in Seward. That's all I got.

That's it. Councilmember Calhoun. Oh, thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, thank you very much for the presentation from Cape Cod. That was great.

The kids going to Oba Hiro sound like they had a great time. It's always a good experience when you get to go overseas for the first time, or second, or third, or whatever it might be. I remember that in the military, first time going to different countries. It's, it's a good experience most of the time. Time.

Um, also, we held the Toys for Tots auction on September 5th. I want to just thank all of the businesses that supported that with their very generous donations of items to auction. It was a huge success, a lot of community involvement, a lot of people came and supported it. So I want to thank everybody very much for that. Remember, this week is also— we're not going to make them do all the proclamations.

Tomorrow is actually American Legion Day. It's not the anniversary of Legion being formed in Seward, or actually even the day that it was initially started, which was in March of 1919. But it's just Congress's recognition day for the American Legion is September 15th. Also, September 17th is Constitution and Citizenship Day, also very important to all of us. And, and then of course the other days that we had proclamations for.

So everybody just remember, you'll hear me say this, you'll get tired of it, we may have some issues, but we still live in the greatest, freest, and most open company— or company— country in the world, and patriotism is on the rise again. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Warner. Thank you, Madam Mayor McClure. I'm gonna echo, um, thank you, Cassidy, for coming over and the great presentation with Capehead.

Um, the students are always great to hear about their experiences. I remember my first time traveling out of the country and definitely does put a lot of things into perspective, the different cultures that are out there and what we have here in our own country. So I really appreciate them coming and speaking out about their experience. I also want to reiterate what Becky had spoken about with the candidate forum happening on Wednesday. I really encourage everybody to make sure they're tuning into that.

And definitely appreciate all the candidates that have put their hat in the ring for the two open seats that are coming up. Um, I also just want to state I'm really excited for the food pantry and the new location that they're going to be in. It's going to be a lot easier space for a lot of our community members to access those services and a little bit more kind of out there in the community, more visible than where it currently since, um, school is well underway. Our kids are out participating in field trips, so big shout out to all the entities in the community that are hosting our students and allowing them to get out and learn a little more hands-on. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Barnwell. Um, thanks, Cassidy, for coming. We love having you here. It was fun to look at that data and I'll definitely look at your site.

Thanks for the hard work on that.

Japan is near and dear to my heart. I'm really jealous of Jodi. I think she did a really good job.

And those students are very brave and it was cute to watch them and their excitement. So good job, Jodi, for doing that. You're a here, and you have to put up with Chris all those years. Chris is still there. Yep, he was here.

Chris is great. Um, yep, that's it. Well, thank you. Well, what all that everybody said, um, yeah, the presentations were wonderful. It's— I think I'm gonna talk after, um, Vice Mayor was saying.

Sorry, I just lose track of him because He goes back like this and he's gone. Okay, go ahead. Vice Mayor Osenga. I don't have anything.

Thank you for the KPET update. I appreciate that. That was really good. And Japan, I would say that in that whole presentation with all the slides and the beautiful pictures, it just brings back memories from when I went there a long time ago for school. I will say though that the picture of the the city's council chambers.

I think we have an update in order here that we're going to have to really, uh, look at. Yeah. Um, and I would just say that's an honest-to-God good, really good program for the kids to participate in. I think it's a very, a very good, uh, a good thing to have. And that's it.

Are you sure? Okay. What I was going to say was I think that if there had been an exchange program when I was in high school here, I would probably be more fond of traveling. But we didn't have such a thing, so these people are very, nowadays, very fortunate to be able to get around like this. And it was really good to see the presentations, and thank you for coming over and the KPEP presentation.

I'm really happy that we've done what we've done with the new contract with He Will Provide Food Pantry. I think that, you know, historically they've been in existence for quite a while now, and they've been doing so much good, and this will just enhance all of that. If you're interested in flooding, the Rexum Bay Historical Society, you our— we're beginning our Third Thursday presentations this Thursday with one on the 1986 flood. And there will be some sharing. If you were here, if you're watching during that time, we'd love to hear your stories.

But that'll be at 7 o'clock at the community room. And also that very same Thursday, this Thursday,.