[0:00] All council members to silence and put
away cell phones. If you need to step
[0:03] away or attend to personal matters,
please make a motion to recess. For
[0:07] those participating by phone, please
keep your device muted unless you are
[0:11] speaking. When speaking, kindly state
your name for the benefit of those
[0:14] viewing the live stream. As a reminder,
this meeting is being broadcast live.
[0:19] The camera is located above the clock at
the back of the council chambers. Our
[0:23] proceedings follow Robert's rules of
order as set forth in Wasillo Municipal
[0:27] Code 2.04.09. 090 to promote an orderly
and respectful meeting. I respectfully
[0:33] ask the council to observe the following
rules. Please seek recognization before
[0:38] speaking. No member may speak more than
twice on the same motion without a vote
[0:42] to suspend the rules. No member may
speak a second time until all who wish
[0:46] to speak have had the opportunity to do
so. These guidelines help ensure
[0:51] fairness, efficiency, and mutual respect
during our discussions. When clerk,
[0:55] please call the role.
Thank you, Madam Deputy Mayor. Council
[0:59] member [snorts] Codle is absent and
excused unless objection is raised. She
[1:04] is in route to the AML conference and is
going to try to call in. So, so we may
[1:08] hear from her later in the meeting, but
for now, she's absent. Council member
[1:12] Graham
>> here.
[1:13] » Council member Schmidt
>> here.
[1:15] » Council member Grafton
>> here.
[1:16] » Council member Johnson
>> here.
[1:18] » And Deputy Mayor Rubio
>> here.
[1:20] » You do have a quorum. All members are
present with us in chambers except
[1:24] council member Codle who may participate
telephonically later in the meeting.
[1:28] » Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of
allegiance. Council member Graham, would
[1:31] you please lead us?
[1:36] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[1:41] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[1:48] justice for all.
[1:54] The next item of business is approval of
the agenda. Before changes are
[1:57] discussed, are there conflicts of
interest to declare?
[2:01] Hearing none, I'll take requested
changes to the agenda. But before doing
[2:05] so, I would like to move resolution
serial number 26-47,
[2:11] item 8.3.1,
from the consent agenda to new business.
[2:17] Are there further changes to the agenda?
Hearing
[2:22] none, the agenda is approved as
presented unanimous. Unanimously
[2:26] consent. Unanimous consent. Sorry.
We are now at special orders of the day.
[2:32] And there is one proclamation I will
read for
[2:38] city of proclamation recognizing
September 11th as patriot day and a
[2:43] national day of service and remembrance.
Whereas on September 11th, 2001, our
[2:49] nation endured an unprecedented tragedy
that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000
[2:54] innocent people in New York City,
Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. And
[3:00] whereas the events of that day revealed
the resilience, courage, and unity of
[3:04] the American people as first responders,
service members, and everyday citizens
[3:09] demonstrated extraordinary heroism and
selflessness.
[3:14] And whereas Patriot Day and the National
Day of Remembrance honors the victims of
[3:19] the attacks, their families, and the
countless individuals who rose in
[3:23] service to their communities and nation
doing during and after the tragic
[3:29] events. And whereas September 11th,
2026, our nation observes the 25th
[3:34] anniversary of the September 11th
attacks, marking a significant milestone
[3:38] to reflect on the lasting impact of that
day and to honor the enduring strength
[3:43] of the American spirit. And whereas
communities across the nation continue
[3:48] to demonstrate resilience through
service, remembrance, and commitment to
[3:52] the values that bind us together as
Americans. And whereas we salute those
[3:57] who responded to the tragic events with
their courage and selfless
[4:01] determination, resources, and skills.
And whereas the city stands in sol c
[4:07] solitary
with communities across the country to
[4:10] remember and honor the sacrifices made
on September 11th, 2001, and to reaffirm
[4:16] our shared dedication to freedom, unity,
and service. Now therefore, I, Glenda D.
[4:22] Leadford, mayor of city was hereby
proclamate September 11th, 2026 as
[4:27] Patriot Day, a national day of service
and remembrance in Wasilla and encourage
[4:33] all residents observe this day through
moments of silence, acts of services,
[4:37] and reflection in honor of victims,
survivors, first responders, and all
[4:42] those whose lives were forever changed.
Reaffirming our commitment to the values
[4:47] of freedom, courage, compassion, and
unity dated this 25th day of August 20
[4:54] 26.
[5:01] We are now at commissions and agency
reports. We will begin with a report on
[5:05] the airport commission from public
director Shaw.
[5:10] » Thank you, madame deputy mayor. Um, last
Thursday we had our August Airport
[5:15] Advisory Commission meeting. Um, we went
over project updates and then the
[5:20] commission also passed a resolution of
support for the ongoing uh, land
[5:25] purchase and uh, expansion of the 5100
foot runway which we're eligible now
[5:30] for. So I'll be submitting that to the
council shortly in the in this week so
[5:35] that you have a come before you uh, at
the next meeting. That's my report.
[5:40] Thanks.
Thank you. And next is our report on the
[5:45] planning commission, but our acting city
planner is not here. So, if you would
[5:50] please refer to the notes in the packet.
>> We have meeting minutes.
[5:53] » The meeting minutes are there.
We'll conclude commission and agency
[5:58] reports with a presentation on city
sales tax regulation and exemptions from
[6:03] tax auditor and accountant Graham.
[6:28] Okay, we're up. So, Moren Graham, sales
tax accountant and auditor of the city
[6:32] of Oello. Um, good evening, deputy
mayor, council members.
[6:38] Um,
I've been asked to provide the council
[6:41] with an overview of the city of Wasel's
current business licensing, sales tax
[6:45] exemptions, and protest procedures and
identify potential policy changes for
[6:51] future council consideration.
>> Excuse me, Marie. Can you move that
[6:55] microphone a little closer? Thank you.
>> You bet.
[6:58] » Okay. Can you hear me now?
>> Thank you. [laughter]
[7:02] So, I have been asked to provide the
council with an overview of the city of
[7:06] Wel's current business licensing, sales
tax, exemptions, and protest procedures,
[7:09] and identify policy changes, potential
policy changes for future council
[7:14] consideration.
There are a lot of there's a lot of
[7:18] information to get through, so we'll try
to cover it fairly quickly, and I'll try
[7:22] not to get too far in the weeds or put
you to sleep with my tax nerd speak. And
[7:28] I'm sorry to everyone who has to wait to
speak after me. Um,
[7:36] so if you have questions along the way,
uh, we'll break in between the the
[7:40] sections here. So feel free to ask them
along the the way or interrupt me if you
[7:46] feel the need to.
[7:50] So we'll begin with licensing. So who
needs a license?
[7:54] A person or entity that engages in
business in the city with a location in
[7:58] the city either permanent or temporary
meets the physical presence or meets the
[8:02] physical presence required um
requirements underella municipal code
[8:06] 5.16 sales tax is required to have a
city of Wasella business license. We
[8:12] have two types of licenses. an annual
expiring December 31st of the calendar
[8:17] year it's been issued in and a temporary
or special event license that's good for
[8:21] 7 days from the start of the event.
The city issues a license for each
[8:27] location or each line of business that
the lency engages in business.
[8:34] The current license fees are $25 for an
annual license and $10 for a special
[8:39] event license. The payment is waved for
nonprofits designated as a 501c 4, C3,
[8:46] C4, or C19 with the IRS.
We also wave the fee for additional
[8:52] locations in the city, secondary or
third locations, or additional lines of
[8:56] business with the same business name.
The state of Alaska business licensing
[9:01] allows for one license for multiple
business locations and multiple lines of
[9:06] business for one fee. and we mirror that
in spirit. However, our software systems
[9:12] only allow for one license location and
one line of business classification code
[9:17] to be identified and printed on each
license. So, we offer secondary or third
[9:21] or whatever to accommodate that.
[9:27] Submitted applications are reviewed by
the planning department to determine if
[9:31] permitting is required for the use under
the title 16 and notify the applicant of
[9:37] any violations.
They're also reviewed by the finance
[9:40] department to determine if delinquent
debts are owed to the city by any of the
[9:44] owners or officers or members of the
entity for back sales tax, utilities,
[9:51] special assessments or any basically any
debt owed to the city. We also verify
[9:57] professional licensing with the state of
Alaska when required and document legal
[10:02] entities are registered with the state
of Alaska division of corporations.
[10:09] Once approved by the planning and
finance departments, an approval email
[10:14] is sent to with instructions to print
the business license for those with
[10:18] paper applications that submit. The
license is mailed or available for
[10:22] pickup. Applications that cannot be
approved will be sent an inspection
[10:27] report with deficiencies identified from
each department that are necessary for
[10:32] approval of the license. [snorts]
[10:37] Business licenses that are business
licenses are non-transferable.
[10:41] If a business is sold or transferred in
the city, the city must be notified
[10:45] within 15 days of the transfer. The name
and contact information of the new owner
[10:50] um should be provided and submission of
final sales tax returns should be
[10:54] submitted.
All sales tax should be paid in full and
[10:58] must be paid in full before a new
license can be issued. If purchasing a
[11:03] business, it's incumbent upon the
purchaser to ensure all taxes are paid
[11:06] prior to the transfer of the business to
prevent any unpaid sales tax liabilities
[11:11] under municipal code.
To close a business, the city must be
[11:16] notified in writing with the submission
of final sales tax returns within 15
[11:20] days of the closure or the date that the
business is no longer operating in the
[11:24] city.
[11:28] Does anybody have questions so far?
[clears throat]
[11:31] Okay.
>> What uh what happens when somebody goes
[11:34] out of business and they don't notify
you? Why is why is that 15 days in the
[11:38] code? Well, it gives us a time frame to
start trying to address it, but after
[11:43] that, if they don't notify us, it just
causes the city a lot of extra work to
[11:47] try to track them down to figure out
what's going on, why they aren't
[11:50] contacting us.
There's [clears throat] really no
[11:54] penalty, but we try to put in guidance
so that they know that they need to do
[11:58] this quickly, get taxes in, and it
becomes an issue, especially if they
[12:02] don't do that when they're transferring
a business because then when the new
[12:05] person comes in, if there's back taxes
owed, it needs to be a seamless
[12:09] transition. So, we put the rules in
there, but unfortunately, compliance on
[12:14] it is difficult to maintain because if
they don't tell us, we don't have a
[12:18] mechanism to do anything. Um, but it
helps if we can get compliance. So, we
[12:23] always have the information out there
for people and try to get them to do
[12:27] that. And we we have the information on
our website as well as well as the
[12:30] closure form that we have on our
[snorts] um online media site.
[12:36] » Thank you.
>> Yep. Any other questions?
[12:43] » Okay. Sales tax basics.
[12:49] A 2.5% sales tax is levied on all sales,
rentals, and services made in the city
[12:53] that are not expressly exempt in code.
This rate became effective on December
[12:58] 1st, 2019.
The sales tax was passed by voters and
[13:03] became effective July 1st, 1993.
I've included a history of the rate
[13:08] changes for various projects that's been
funded with temporary increases over the
[13:12] years.
I've been here for five of these changes
[13:15] and joke that it's put at least some of
the gray hair on my head. [laughter]
[13:20] Changes to the sales tax rate and the
code in general require multiple notices
[13:26] and education for all businesses as well
as compliance efforts by the city to
[13:30] ensure the changes are properly executed
by the businesses.
[13:38] There's a cap on the first $500 of each
transaction or $12.50 at the city's
[13:44] current tax rate. [snorts] Many
communities in Alaska
[13:49] um have a sales tax cap and the amounts
vary by jurisdiction. Sales tax caps are
[13:54] kind of unique to the state of Alaska
because we don't have a statewide sales
[13:58] tax
[14:02] and that that all businesses would be
required to collect. So the cap helps to
[14:07] keep local businesses competitive with
businesses operating in areas where
[14:11] there is no sales tax. Communities in
more isolated areas tend to have a
[14:16] higher tax cap as there's less
competition for sales outside of their
[14:19] boundaries.
While municipal code provides guidance
[14:24] regarding the max tax uh calculations
for specific transactions.
[14:31] Services rendered over a month are
capped on the first $500 for each month,
[14:36] even if invoiced or paid at one time. A
service contracts for six months would
[14:41] be prrated for each month and only
capped if the monthly amount is over the
[14:46] transaction cap per month. Short-term
rentals, the cap [clears throat] is
[14:50] applied to the daily rental rate, not
the entire stay. So, if the daily rent
[14:55] rate was more than $500, then the
portion over 500 would be exempt each
[14:59] day.
Capital leases or financing leases are
[15:04] treated as a sale on the effective date
of the contract and subject to the
[15:07] maximum tax as one transaction.
Other lease types are taxed with the
[15:13] principal amount of the lease payment
for the term of the lease. If the if a
[15:19] purchase is made at the end of the
lease, then that's taxed as a separate
[15:22] transaction and subject to the cap.
uh interest and financing charges are
[15:27] related to the lease payment are not
subject to sales tax. Installment
[15:31] payments are taxed uh as a single
transaction collected on the first
[15:36] payment. And products with service
transactions in excess of 500 are exempt
[15:41] when the product and the service are
build or invoiced together and the
[15:46] service is directly related or integral
to the uh product purchase such as
[15:51] delivery, installation, warranty or
repair.
[15:55] Service transactions are taxed on each
separate service over $500, whether
[16:00] invoiced or paid individually,
collectively or collectively for the
[16:04] period.
[16:09] Application of sales tax.
A local sale is made when the seller
[16:15] establishes physical presence in the
city by one or more of the following and
[16:19] the sale has a point of delivery within
the city. Physical presence is created
[16:23] when the business has a brickandmortar
or temporary location in the city.
[16:28] Physically solicits business or receives
orders through any employee, agent,
[16:33] salesperson or other representative in
the city.
[16:38] Physically provides services, holds
inventory within the city, rents, sells,
[16:43] or leases property that's located in the
city, or constructs, repairs, renovates,
[16:48] or improves real property that's located
in the city.
[16:52] A seller that makes a local sale is
required to obtain a city business
[16:56] license and report and remit sales tax
directly to the city of Wasala.
[17:04] A seller that establishes physical
presence and a point of delivery in the
[17:08] city for any calendar year is deemed to
have a physical presence in the city for
[17:11] the following calendar year. After that
year, if they no longer have physical
[17:17] presence, they can close their account
out or if they continue in the future or
[17:21] establish it in the future, they would
reopen at that point.
[17:26] Remote sales are made when a remote
seller or marketplace facilitator
[17:30] without a physical presence in the city
makes sales of products, rentals, or
[17:34] provide services transferred
electronically or delivered to a point
[17:38] of delivery located inside the city and
subject to the Alaska remote seller
[17:41] sales tax code adopted by reference
in municipal code 5.16.225.
[17:47] [laughter]
[17:49] Marketplace facilitators centralized
administrative provisions are what
[17:53] council just passed last month which
allows for local sales of goods,
[17:57] services, and rentals made through
marketplace facilitators
[18:00] having a point of delivery in the city
to be considered remote sales and
[18:04] collected through the Alaska remote
seller sales tax commission.
[18:13] The Alaska Uniform Remote Seller sales
tax code that was adopted by reference
[18:16] in our code requires remote sellers with
no physical presence in the city to
[18:21] register remit sales tax with a point of
delivery in the city when their
[18:25] statewide sales meet or exceed $100,000
in the current or preceding calendar
[18:29] year. Those taxes are remitted to the
ARSTC and collections are sent to the
[18:34] city the following month.
Madam
[18:38] » you may sorry, can we go back to that
real quick?
[18:43] Sorry, I'm just trying to
get an ex what could you give me an
[18:47] example of a business that falls under
this?
[18:50] » Sure. Um, so anybody who's making a sale
in the city by remote means, so one of
[18:56] your online remote sellers, if they are
selling into the city, they meet they
[19:01] don't have physical presence here, but
they meet the um
[19:06] uh point of delivery. So, the next
question is, do they have $100,000 worth
[19:11] of sales into the state? If they do,
then they're required to register and
[19:16] collect tax with the Alaska Remote
Seller Sales Tax Commission, ARSTC.
[19:21] If they don't meet that threshold, they
will not collect or register until they
[19:26] do unless they voluntarily do it. Some
some of them do do that, but um yeah,
[19:32] and the ARSTC does monitor that and they
they have some that they've weeded out
[19:37] that don't meet those thresholds, but um
a lot of the companies, they use uh
[19:43] taxwork companies that help them know
when those thresholds are coming up
[19:47] because it's not just our state that has
that threshold.
[19:50] So, they're monitoring any states that
they're doing sales into for that magic
[19:54] number. and when they hit it then they
register and then they have I think um a
[19:59] number of days that they need to
register within before they're you know
[20:03] penalized.
>> So the best example is probably Amazon.
[20:06] » Yes. So um well Amazon is one. We also
have Amazon's that local sales apply to
[20:13] because um Amazon has a local presence
in our community through sales delivery
[20:18] trucks and things like that. So they do
remote they do remmit to us directly.
[20:23] But their other side of their business
that is the marketplace facilitator side
[20:27] where people sell their products on
their website would be um the one that
[20:33] remits through the ARSTC. Shopify,
Wayfair, um I mean there's tons of them.
[20:40] Apple uh yeah all of those guys that
that remmit any kind of remote sales.
[20:45] » Perfect. Thank you. Mhm.
>> Now, you said that uh
[20:51] uh the remote solar sales tax
corporation remits that money to you
[20:57] within 30 days. How long has it been
since they remitted that within 30 days?
[21:02] My understanding they're closer to 90
days out. Is that incorrect?
[21:06] » No, they actually do it every month. So,
um it's a little delayed though because
[21:10] the So, let's see. um June sales tax is
due the end of July for all businesses.
[21:18] So they receive the ARCC receives the
money in July, they then uh once July is
[21:25] closed out, they balance those out and
they remit it to us. Usually they try to
[21:32] do it by the 15th, but due to system
constraints and other issues, it's been
[21:37] pushed back a little bit. So, it's
usually pushing the end of our month and
[21:42] then it takes us a few
days, weeks sometimes to get those
[21:47] payments in because we do individually
receipt them. That is something that we
[21:51] do for tracking purposes and we're
working hopefully with our new systems
[21:56] when we do when we convert to Tyler,
we'll be able to um electronically put
[22:01] those payments in so that we won't be
spending so much manual time entering
[22:05] those payments. But since we've done it
for so long, I hate to lose that um
[22:11] history or have a gap in the history uh
knowing that we're going to be
[22:16] converting to Tyler in the next year or
a little over a year.
[22:20] » Thank you.
>> So, we continue to do it even though it
[22:22] takes a little bit of time.
>> Any other questions?
[22:31] Sourcing of sales tax uh and point of
delivery. Um [clears throat] point of
[22:36] delivery is the location where the sale
or service is received by the buyer
[22:41] where they take possession or make first
use of services.
[22:46] While sell sales tax code spec provides
specific guidance in its definition of
[22:53] point of delivery when the product is
not received or paid for by the
[22:58] purchaser at a business location of the
seller in the city. The sale is
[23:02] considered delivered to the location
where the uh where received by the
[23:06] purchaser or the purchaser's recipient.
An example would be an online or phone
[23:10] sale that's delivered to a location in
the city. It's taxable wherever that
[23:15] location in the city would be. So it' be
a city sale.
[23:21] When the product is received or paid for
by the purchaser who's physically
[23:26] present at a business location in the
city, the sale is considered to have
[23:30] been made in the city where the
purchaser is present even if delivery of
[23:35] the product takes place in another
taxing jurisdiction
[23:38] or outside the taxing jurisdiction.
These sales are reported and the tax is
[23:43] remitted directly to the city. So this
would be if you went to a store in LA in
[23:48] in the city, paid for say an appliance
and you're in the store paying for it,
[23:55] you would pay sales tax at the store
because even if you have it delivered to
[24:00] your home outside the city or in another
lo location like Palmer,
[24:05] it's considered a city sale.
[snorts]
[24:13] When services are not received by the
purchaser at the business location of
[24:17] the seller, the service is considered
delivered to the location where the
[24:20] purchaser receives the service. Products
or services that are transferred
[24:24] electronically or other sales where the
delivery address is for the purchaser is
[24:28] unknown, then the point of delivery
shall be the billing address of the
[24:31] buyer.
And when products and services are
[24:36] transferred electronically or sales
where the delivery address for the
[24:40] purchaser is unknown, the point of
delivery shall be the billing address of
[24:43] the per of the buyer. These rules were
specifically written to match sourcing
[24:49] language in the Alaska remote seller
sales tax commission to uniformly source
[24:53] the sales tax and prevent double tax
situations for both the remote and local
[24:58] sales that cross jurisdictional uh tax
jurisdictional boundaries. The city of
[25:04] Palmer also uses the same language,
[25:10] which is helpful since they're so close
to us.
[25:14] The code has rules for specific types of
businesses. Um, for real estate
[25:20] transactions, the commissions and fees
are taxed for the sale, lease, or
[25:25] management of properties that are
located in the city. There's also
[25:29] specific rules for the sale of gaming
property as well as coin operated
[25:33] machines.
[25:37] The city has tons of information to help
assist businesses with understanding
[25:40] their responsibilities for collection
and remittance of sales tax on our
[25:44] website as well as links to our sales
tax code. We have pages for licensing
[25:49] and pages for sales tax
and lots of links in between.
[25:58] We also have a flowchart for both sales
and services to assist businesses with
[26:03] more complex points of delivery that
cross taxing jurisdictions or that may
[26:07] have remote sales into or out of the
city. Businesses that have questions are
[26:12] encouraged to request a tax ruling on
any specific questions for their
[26:16] business that they may have.
[26:22] Additionally, the city is working with
the Small Business Development Center to
[26:26] provide education classes for new
businesses. Currently, these are offered
[26:30] in person, but hopefully soon will be
available on demand as well. We also
[26:35] work collaboratively with the burrow and
neighboring cities and the Alaska Remote
[26:40] Seller Sales Tax Commission to educate
businesses and refer them to other
[26:44] entities or agencies when applicable.
[26:51] Sales tax filing and remittance.
Tax returns are due monthly, but
[26:56] businesses may request to file on an
annual or quarterly basis if they have a
[27:02] timely filing history um for the private
prior year and meet taxable sales
[27:08] thresholds of $150,000 for quarterly and
$6,000 for annual. Request forms are
[27:14] available in the finance department and
on our website. Are those numbers
[27:18] correct? It says quarterly 150,000 but
annual 6,000.
[27:22] » Is it 15,000 quarterly and then 1,500
quarterly to be 6,000 annually?
[27:29] » Those are annual numbers. So they if
they have sales that are $150,000
[27:33] annually, then they qualify for being a
quarterly filer.
[27:38] » Okay.
>> If they have $6,000 or less annually,
[27:42] then they can be an annual filer.
>> Thank you.
[27:45] » Yeah. And that 6,000 basically equates
to $12.50 a month. So like if they had
[27:50] one max transaction, they could do
annual. Other than that, it's infrequent
[27:55] that we do that, but we do have a lot of
businesses that file zeros for the
[28:00] entire year for different reasons. And
so this gives us an option to give them
[28:03] an annual return. Other than that, we
try to limit it in case, you know,
[28:08] because some people say they're going to
not do something and then they end up
[28:11] doing it. So, it's best to try them out
at quarterly if we're unsure, which is
[28:15] why we require the year prior history,
although we do sometimes make exceptions
[28:20] for businesses that are obviously
probably not going to meet that
[28:22] transaction level.
[28:26] Credit and debit cards may be used for
um payments made online only and they
[28:33] incur a 3% convenience fee. There is no
fee for online echeks.
[28:39] Cash and check are or can be remitted
directly to the Fincaster Department
[28:43] office.
Businesses may take a 2% credit of the
[28:48] tax amount due up to $100 per tax return
for on-time payments.
[28:55] Payment is late if it's not received in
the finance office by the last business
[29:01] day. I'm sorry, by the last day of the
month following the period uh the
[29:05] reporting period. Postmarks are not
considered, so it has to be received in
[29:10] our office. Penalties are 5% of the tax
amount due for each month that the
[29:16] return is late, maxing at 20% with an
additional late fee of $25. Interest
[29:22] occurs daily at 15%.
And additional civil penalties are
[29:27] charged if the city does not receive a
tax return at all and has to estimate
[29:31] the tax owed.
Penalty waiverss are allowed one time in
[29:35] a 12-month period.
Penalties may be waved, but not the
[29:40] interest or the credit for prompt pay.
[29:48] Electronic tax returns are available
online in our online software programs.
[29:54] Instructions for each line of the tax
return can be expanded by clicking on
[29:59] the line item of the return. Returns
must be electronically signed, dated,
[30:04] and then submitted for payment either
with echek or an credit or debit card.
[30:10] They al also may be saved as a pending
form and then um payment sent in or uh
[30:16] brought in if people don't want to, you
know, pay online.
[30:22] For those that are technology challenged
or adverse
[30:26] um and prefer to do their paper uh
returns, we do have paper forms in our
[30:31] uh office as well as on the website. We
do not mail sales tax returns. So,
[30:37] businesses are encouraged uh to sign up
for online account even if they don't
[30:42] file that way just so they receive
reminder and email notices of due dates.
[30:49] If they don't do that and they forget,
then they don't get notified until
[30:52] they're late and then they get a late
notice.
[30:57] » So, I have a a question regarding online
tax payments. You know, we have a 3%
[31:03] convenience fee if someone pays with a
credit card, but if they decide to skip
[31:08] the 3% fee and walk in and talk to you
and pay that way,
[31:13] » Mhm. They can't
>> What's that? They can come in and pay,
[31:17] but they can't pay with a credit card.
They have to only do
[31:20] » Right. But what I'm saying is if they
if they pay online, isn't that more
[31:27] convenient for us?
>> It is.
[31:29] » And so, doesn't it seem odd that we're
charging them a convenience fee? I know
[31:33] a lot of uh you know uh you know credit
card companies and things nowadays uh
[31:39] say the convenience fee is well if you
want a paper bill
[31:43] » then there's a convenience fee you know
and if you just handle it online
[31:47] » they don't charge anything extra to yeah
what what is the
[31:51] » I think the the basis there is that um a
lot of businesses or you know people in
[31:58] general um want to pay a lot of things
online with their credit cards because
[32:01] they get benefits for those
transactions. These tend to be large
[32:05] transactions. Um, on some businesses,
the fees are pretty high. I mean, we're
[32:11] getting charged 3% by the credit card
companies and so we want to be able to
[32:15] pass that on and not to other taxpayers
because it's the taxpayers that are
[32:19] paying those fees. Um, it's certainly
something that can be looked at. It's
[32:23] not uh it's mostly policy. I don't think
there would be any reason that you guys
[32:29] couldn't change it if you wanted to. Um,
I'm sure that the finance department
[32:33] could get those numbers together for you
of how much the credit card charges are
[32:37] versus, you know, what we would so what
we would be paying or what the taxpayers
[32:40] would be paying for those fees for other
people to pay. Um, but it's a good
[32:44] question. They can pay online with an
echek. They just can't do it with a
[32:49] credit card and they can't do it in
person either. So, the only way to pay
[32:54] with a credit card is online. And um
currently we're not accepting uh AC
[33:02] payments from businesses uh where they
initiate a payment to us um for taxes.
[33:11] That's something that I'm hoping we will
be doing in the next system. So that'll
[33:15] just give them another layer or option
of payment. Um so that's something to
[33:20] look forward to hopefully. And Tyler,
>> thank you.
[33:24] » Council member Codle, are you online?
Yes, I am.
[33:28] » Thank you. Joined us at 6:33.
[33:34] » All right. Getting close. Sales tax
exemptions.
[33:41] Municipal code exemptions
um provides a list of 24 exemptions to
[33:46] the city city's uh sales tax code. Some
are required by state or federal
[33:52] statutes. Others mirror exemptions of
other taxing jurisdictions around the
[33:56] state. I've highlighted a few that
differ from neighboring cities which
[34:00] include number 12, [snorts]
15, 16, 18, and 24 that we're going to
[34:08] discuss further in a little bit. And
then we can come back to these if you
[34:12] have questions. We can go over them if
you'd like to, but we'll probably those
[34:17] other ones are um kind of ones we really
can't change or wouldn't look to change.
[34:22] So,
>> Adam, deputy mayor.
[34:26] » Yes, Council Member Cracken.
>> All right. I know we're going to talk
[34:28] about it in a moment just because I'm
looking at it at the second though.
[34:30] Number 18.
>> Mhm.
[34:32] » Um I believe pretty much everything in
there exempted by state law.
[34:37] » Was there something in there specific
that you were like, "This actually isn't
[34:41] covered that we wanted to or were
considering changing?"
[34:44] » Yeah. So healthc care um services are
provided by um providers that are
[34:50] licensed by the state of Alaska. So our
code basically says that any provider
[34:56] under title 8 is eligible um for human
health care which is an important
[35:02] distinction because veterinarians are in
there. So we have basically said that
[35:07] you know not all title 8 but all but
veterinarians or anybody that's not
[35:13] doing human um would be ex would would
qualify for the exemption. So there are
[35:19] other uh providers in title 8 that
provide human health care, but other
[35:25] codes such as maybe the city of Palmer's
and others limit it even further saying
[35:31] it's only uh medical doctor services,
chiropractors, dentists, and they give a
[35:37] list of the ones that they want
specifically. But dieticians,
[35:43] um, massage therapists,
and others that are not necessarily in
[35:48] the mainstream medical field, um, might
be ones that you might not want to
[35:54] exempt and other places don't exempt.
So, there is a little bit of room in
[36:00] there if you want to go through the list
of the title 8 provider um under the
[36:05] state statutes, the different types of
uh medical providers and see if there's
[36:10] are any in there that you don't want to
exempt.
[36:13] » Gotcha. Thank you.
[36:20] » So, I have a
>> Sure.
[36:22] » another question for you here on page
12, slide number 12, I think it is. Uh,
[36:28] the maximum tax per transaction talks
about sales rendered over one month. The
[36:33] payment of rent in excess of $500 and
for more than one month shall be treated
[36:38] as a separate transaction,
making me think it's taxable. But when I
[36:43] look at page 28,
it says uh or excuse me,
[36:48] » res page 29 number 15 where it says
residential rentals for a term of 30 or
[36:53] more consecutive days.
>> That's correct. So all rentals are taxed
[36:58] in the city except for residential
rentals currently. So commercial rentals
[37:02] are taxed. Short-term rentals are taxed.
Tangible personal property rentals are
[37:08] taxed.
>> Okay.
[37:09] » Um only residential rental is exempt.
>> And that's all residential rentals.
[37:17] » Thank you,
>> Council Member Johnson.
[37:19] » So storage units, for instance, are
text.
[37:23] » Those are those are taxable.
>> Okay.
[37:25] » Yeah. And we're collecting tax on them.
>> We are
[37:29] » on the monthly charges and and we do
have that caveat in the code like you
[37:34] said like you pointed out. So let's just
say I pay for all 12 months of my
[37:39] storage rental at one time. That doesn't
excuse um and it goes over 500 bucks,
[37:45] you don't get to have a cap. You
prorrate that for each month's rental
[37:49] and then it's taxed. So you wouldn't be
able to lessen your tax liability by
[37:55] paying a larger amount at one time.
[38:00] » So an organization that is exempt
from paying sales tax, for instance, a
[38:06] doctor, if he's renting his
property,
[38:12] he or she or they are paying tax on the
rental but not paying tax on the service
[38:18] that they provide. Is that correct?
Yes, but the for the business purpose,
[38:25] like if they're renting a a place for
their doctor's office, that would be the
[38:29] commercial rental would be taxable. If
they were renting a private residence,
[38:33] that would be not taxable currently
under code.
[38:36] » Thank you.
[38:45] » And we're going to talk a little bit
more about that at the end here.
[38:51] So, additionally, we exempt sales tax on
sales [snorts] made by a qualifying
[38:57] nonprofit that are recognized by the IRS
as a 51c3, C4, or C19 organization.
[39:04] So,
[39:09] um, and then we also have sales tax
exemption certificates or certain
[39:14] entities that qualify to apply for an
exempt. These certain ones apply uh can
[39:21] apply for an exemption. We offer one for
contractors which cost $250. Owner
[39:27] builders can obtain one for $35. Uh
wholesale manufacturing businesses and
[39:32] nonprofits for $10 each. The tax
exemption certificates exempt qualifying
[39:37] purchases from taxation.
The purpose of these exemptions for
[39:41] contractors, owner builders, and
wholesale exemptions is to prevent items
[39:45] that are resold, consumed, or
transferred, transformed into another
[39:50] new product from being taxed multiple
times prior to the sale, the end sale to
[39:55] the consumer.
[40:00] » Madame Mayor, Deputy Mayor,
>> Council Member Johnson,
[40:03] » going back to slide 30. Um
[snorts] so if you had a nonprofit which
[40:12] has say a coffee shop
uh the coffee that is [snorts]
[40:18] sold then it's non tax.
>> If the nonprofit sells anything in the
[40:24] city under this code it's not taxed at
this point
[40:30] » even though they're providing service to
the general public.
[40:38] Yep. And we're going to talk a lot about
that at the well some we'll bring that
[40:41] up again, but yes, you're in the right
ballpark. Um, anything that a nonprofit
[40:46] sells or services they provide are
exempt under this code, this section.
[40:52] » Council member Graham,
>> and that's any nonprofit that is a C3,
[40:57] C4, C19. There are like 40 different
>> types of nonprofits. Most would be
[41:02] subject to
>> Exactly. although I think the majority
[41:05] of them are probably fall under C3.
Um C3 and four
[41:12] are most common and then the 19s are
mostly your veterans associations.
[41:18] So,
but we have others sixes and there's
[41:23] some others like um labor unions and
different ones that that are different
[41:29] numbers under the IRS code. veterans
taxes
[41:36] sales. No.
[41:40] » Yeah, a lot of your veterans
organizations, there's there's quite a
[41:43] few things that are not taxed under this
particular thing. So, we can and we'll
[41:48] talk more about that.
[41:52] [snorts]
Okay. Buyers that are incorrectly
[41:56] charged sales tax may protest the tax
within 60 days and may include incorrect
[42:01] uh this may include like incorrect
assessments of tax rates, sales tax
[42:06] caps, um sales tax on locations that are
outside the city limits or sales tax um
[42:12] you know exemption certificates that are
not honored for some reason. Uh two tips
[42:17] to reduce incorrect tax assessments are
to provide sellers with uh tax lookup
[42:23] report which is found on the uh website
that's provided by the Alaska Real
[42:29] Seller Sales Tax Commission and also to
use your zip plus4 in your delivery and
[42:35] mailing addresses for products or
services that you have delivered. These
[42:39] are tips um that we also publish on our
website under the sales tax exemption
[42:43] page. The reason for the plus4
designation is when you are using a a
[42:49] mailing address or zip code to determine
the sales tax, the first thing they're
[42:53] looking at is the 99654
or 99687, which says it's in Wasilla.
[42:58] The
uh tax companies say taxable. So,
[43:03] they're going to code it in being
taxable. The plus4 tells the system
[43:09] where in the map of the city are you
located and it'll tell you if you're
[43:13] inside or outside the boundaries if
that's the mechanism they're using to
[43:17] determine it. So it's the GIS portion
that pinpoints the exact location of the
[43:21] address as in or outside of the
boundary. If you don't have that,
[43:25] they're just going to capture Wasilla
and you're going to get charged sales
[43:28] tax even if the address is outside the
city. The plus4 will tell it it's
[43:32] outside the city and therefore you won't
have the sales tax. So on all your tell
[43:37] your friends if they're getting charged
tax or they're sometimes they're not
[43:41] even looking or paying attention. So
it's just really a good rule of thumb to
[43:44] always put the plus4 in on all your
little apps and the payments and Google
[43:50] and all those things so that it's
correctly assessing the proper amount.
[43:54] The ARSTC is looking at um doing some
addressing work with some of the bigger
[44:02] uh with Avalera and others that are big
tax word companies to give them specific
[44:08] addresses to help eliminate or alleviate
some of those incorrect tax assessments
[44:13] because of the zip without the four. But
um usually uh when we find that people
[44:19] are being charged when they're outside
the city, telling them to to do that and
[44:23] change those settings usually makes it
work. Not always, but a lot of times.
[44:28] And so if it doesn't work, then we try
the other um mechanism of uh sending
[44:34] this report, which we're going to go
over next. If you go to this website
[44:37] that I'm referring to, the Alaska Tax
lookup, which is provided by the ARSTC,
[44:42] you can look up any address in the
state, and it will tell you where it is.
[44:48] If it's in a tech, you know, it's in the
state, it's in the bureau, it's in the
[44:51] city. It'll tell you exactly if there's
any tax owed in which jurisdiction
[44:55] you're paying it to.
Um,
[44:59] it will also
allow you on this side here, it will you
[45:04] can hit export and it will print out
this report or bring it up. You can save
[45:09] it uh and provide it to anybody who's
charging you sales tax. So, you can let
[45:12] them know that hey, this location's not
in the city or it is and it's, you know,
[45:17] valid validated. Um, the tax rate is
all, you know, presented there. It also
[45:23] gives information to, you know, sellers
that are trying to find out if
[45:27] something's taxable or not. Uh, it gives
them the rules of the c tax caps and
[45:33] many other things about our code that
they can search through uh to see if,
[45:36] you know, particular transactions are
exempt.
[45:39] So, it's a it's a very helpful thing,
especially for businesses that are doing
[45:44] transactions, you know, not just in
elsewhere as well.
[45:52] Are there any questions so far about
exemptions? And okay, so options for
[45:59] change.
[46:03] So reasons for change, we'll go over
first. Um,
[46:08] there are multiple things to consider
when we think about changing the sales
[46:11] tax code. consistency uh between local
city codes to help businesses that
[46:17] operate across the boundaries throughout
the bureau as well as the rest of the
[46:21] state.
Clarity to make interpretation clear and
[46:25] concise.
Fairness to equal or level the playing
[46:29] field for competing businesses um within
the city and uh businesses that compete
[46:36] with those outside of the city.
and revenue to broaden the tax revenue
[46:41] sources which is consistent with the
council goals and initiatives to
[46:46] evaluate current and future tax revenue
sources.
[46:52] So, I've identified a few areas that um
are potential places that the code could
[46:58] be changed if the council
uh feels like it's in the best interest
[47:03] of the city.
[47:07] Um the first one is kind of where uh Mr.
Johnson was going, which was the 501c3s
[47:14] uh exempt. We could require that uh
entities operating more than 20 hours um
[47:22] would have to remit sales tax. That
would put us consistent with what the
[47:26] city of Palmer does. Um, it would make
the codes consistent and it would allow
[47:34] for the types of businesses that are
competing against other businesses that
[47:39] don't have that have to collect the
sales tax. It would put them on the same
[47:43] even playing field. That's one option if
you wanted to go in that direction.
[47:48] We're not advocating for that. Just
trying to give options and and
[47:53] understanding what um doing something
like that would do or not do. This would
[47:58] um
also allow for uh the smaller nonprofits
[48:05] that are not working m you know
operating businesses necessarily. They
[48:11] would not have to remit. So you're not
dealing with like your local booster
[48:15] club or you know t-shirt sellers that
are raising money for their cause or
[48:20] something like that. So um it's one
option. It is something that um Palmer
[48:25] does because they have quite a few of
these um operations that uh do like the
[48:31] fair and other places that are are
501c3s and and those revenues are
[48:35] important to that city. So, it's just
something to consider. Also, the you
[48:40] know level playing field of keeping
other businesses competitive.
[48:46] Another option is um to tax all gaming
regardless of the nonprofit status. So
[48:53] whether they're open for 20 hours or
more or just any nonprofit that sells
[48:57] gaming, um you could, you know, look at
that being a rule. I do believe, um
[49:03] Palmer has some regulations like that,
too. I don't know if it's all or if it's
[49:07] just I think they might limit it to only
gaming that's done at the state
[49:10] fairgrounds, but um you guys could do
whatever you know you want, but it's
[49:15] something that has room for a change.
Um,
[49:22] also this section of code, uh, back when
we were looking at the specific rules
[49:27] for different particular businesses,
this one, um, it was written a long time
[49:32] ago. And it was written, I think, mostly
with pull tabs and bingo in mind.
[49:38] And the gaming options have expanded now
and include like a state lottery and
[49:44] other forms of gambling. So, um, that
might be just something that we want to
[49:49] look at to see if there's other options
for us to tax. Uh,
[49:56] currently any nonprofits that are
selling, uh, any gaming on their own are
[50:02] not required to collect sales tax. But,
uh, for-profit operators that sell on
[50:08] behalf of nonprofits, because you have
to, if you're selling any kind of
[50:11] gaming, it has to go for the benefit of
a nonprofit. But those for-profit ones
[50:16] are paying sales tax. So they are at an
unfair, you know, competitiveness, I
[50:21] guess, or advantage. Um,
the code makes it difficult to
[50:26] administer when when uh some of these
sales are the way it's currently
[50:31] written, when some of these sales are
made outside of the city. So like I
[50:35] said, bingo and and pull tabs, they're
all done here. But these other things
[50:40] like raffle tickets and you know
different things those some of the
[50:45] tickets might be sold here and some
might be outside the city but the way
[50:48] that the code is written it makes it
difficult for a business to be able to
[50:51] determine or a nonprofit to be able to
determine that. So those are things that
[50:54] we want to look at if you want to change
something like that.
[51:00] [sighs] We could increase the sales tax
cap. That's another room for change. Um,
[51:05] I know that the McKinley Group study uh
supported an increase um without harm to
[51:12] local businesses. So, that's something
that could be considered.
[51:16] Um, like I said, the caps are varying
throughout the state, so different
[51:21] amounts currently. Um, that would also
put us in line with the city of, you
[51:25] know, Palmer if we made the caps the
same. Um, but it's just something that
[51:32] is possible.
Um, I do believe that the information
[51:38] that the McKinley study did offer was on
the low side. I think it's going to be
[51:42] probably higher than that, but
unfortunately the number would not be
[51:45] something that we can determine at this
time. There's just a range and I think
[51:49] her report and memo to you all was
pretty clear about the range there. It
[51:54] was, you know, quite a large range. So,
um, another thing to consider.
[52:00] [clears throat] Didn't our tax cap used
to be like $1,250. We've lowered it
[52:05] considerably over the years, hasn't we?
>> As far as I know, the cap tax cap has
[52:09] been on the first $500 the entire time.
The rate the amount has changed because
[52:15] the rate changes. So, it used to be $12,
you know, then it or it was $10 when it
[52:22] was 2%. Then it went to $1250 when it's
2.5. It was $15 when it was 3%. But it's
[52:29] always been on the first $500. So if we
went to a different cap, you could cap
[52:35] it on the first 750 or you could cap it
on the first thousand or you could cap
[52:40] it on, you know, whatever you want. You
just want to make sure that if you do
[52:43] look at raising that, we make sure that
we do all the things we need to do,
[52:48] check with legal and all that stuff. Um,
but also that you don't raise it too
[52:54] high that it would hurt your local
businesses and make them uncompetitive
[52:58] with businesses that are not in a taxing
jurisdiction and having to collect tax.
[53:02] Um, so there's different reasons for
changing it or not changing it or you
[53:08] know then you got to decide how much. So
there's lots of things to consider
[53:12] there.
[53:16] Yeah. Questions?
um tax on residential rentals. So, as we
[53:23] discussed earlier, residential rentals
are the only rentals that we don't tax.
[53:27] Um
other cities do tax them. Uh city of
[53:32] Palmer does. So, you know, it would be
consistent with them. They would it
[53:36] still be uh subject to the tax cap. So,
if rentals were taxed currently, they
[53:41] would be subject to the current tax
rate, which is our tax cap, which is
[53:45] $500. So, no more than 1250 on any one
month. Um, but obviously if you're
[53:52] looking at those other changes, then
that would affect these types of things
[53:55] as well.
This was number 15 on the exemption list
[54:01] that we were talking about.
Um,
[54:08] so we could remove the credit for prompt
pay when collecting uh from collecting
[54:13] businesses. Currently, like I said, the
business that collects a sales tax um is
[54:18] offered a 2% credit up to $100 every tax
period. Uh so that's for some businesses
[54:25] $1,200 a month or $1,200 a year that
they would um take as a credit uh for
[54:33] them to collect our tax.
The city of Palmer does not allow for a
[54:39] tax [clears throat] cap or a tax credit
and there are other many others around
[54:43] the state that don't. There are many
that do. So, um, our code falls in line
[54:49] with, you know, probably half of them.
Um, so that's a place that you could
[54:53] look for if you were wanting to make
some changes. Um, Council Member
[54:58] Schmidt,
>> do you happen to have the figures on
[55:03] what the discount is on early pay?
>> What we collect currently for it?
[55:09] » No, the discount.
>> The discount is 2% of the tax amount due
[55:15] » for the year. How much total does that
add up to?
[55:17] » It's on the next page.
>> Yeah, on the next Yep. On the
[55:20] statistical page. Yeah, I'll I'll go
over that for you, but yes, I did
[55:24] provide it for you. [clears throat] So,
we'll skip ahead just for a second. So,
[55:29] currently in FY25, we collected $183,000
in uh credit or you know, we could have
[55:37] we've given that credit away and in the
current year to date um it is uh 182
[55:44] 348. So, it's going to be real close
when we get the last of the ARSTC
[55:49] payments posted.
So, that's one place that could be
[55:55] changed as well. Um, Council Member
Schmidt,
[55:59] » do you think that's made an uh impact on
people paying promptly?
[56:05] » I don't think that it really does. I
think that um the system calculates it
[56:10] for them. A lot of times before the
automated system and when people were
[56:15] not filing online, a lot of times they
wouldn't take the credit like they
[56:19] forget to take it. it was more difficult
sometimes for some businesses to take
[56:24] it. Uh but yeah, I mean, of course, if
you're offered it, you're going to take
[56:29] it, but I don't think that it would
incentivize necessarily people to
[56:34] um pay on time
over a penalty that's, you know, 5% or
[56:40] more. So, I think th those those
incentivize
[56:45] people to pay on time more, I think,
than the credit does to pay on time.
[56:50] But it is something food for thought to
consider. Um, businesses do not pay
[56:57] anything as far as uh property tax to to
be here. Uh, so really the only thing
[57:03] that they are paying is the $25 and
obviously, you know, staff to administer
[57:07] that tax collection, but I'm sure that's
not their only duty. So, um,
[57:14] so that's definitely a place to
consider.
[57:19] Um, let's see what else.
[57:24] Changing the city licensing fee
structure. So, we have not had an
[57:28] increase since the uh licenses were
instituted in 1993. So, our tax uh
[57:35] license fee was $25 back then and it's
still $25. So, that is something. Um,
[57:41] other licenses, I believe the state is
$50 for a year, $100 for two. when the
[57:46] burrow had theirs, it was $50 for two
years. So, um, we offer a annual only.
[57:58] I mean, we I'm not a proponent of going
less than that be or more than that
[58:04] because we have our sales taxes our
sales tax accounts are tied to the
[58:09] licensing and at the end of the calendar
year when they don't renew their
[58:14] license, even though they're supposed to
tell us and close those accounts out, it
[58:17] causes a lot of problems if they don't.
And I just see if we leave it as a
[58:23] two-year license, we'll have even more
of those uncertain accounts that don't
[58:27] close and just leave. So, I I would
probably not recommend that, but I mean,
[58:33] certainly, we could look at it and try
it, [laughter]
[58:38] but
um I think other places have had other
[58:43] other problems. It it would um allow us
to
[58:47] spend less time on renewal. the renewal
procedures,
[58:52] but uh if if we don't do them
consistently, you're still going to have
[58:57] like like the burrow I think when they
did it, they they had some that were if
[59:02] you got it this year, it was good for
the rest of this year and next year. So,
[59:05] you're always going to have renewals, so
that really wouldn't lessen the workload
[59:09] of the of staff to do it. It they would
just cycle. So,
[59:14] » Council Member Kraken,
>> thank you. Um, so I guess I'm trying to
[59:18] understand what you mean by changing it
because you're not advocating for
[59:21] increasing the co or increasing the cost
or changing the time frame.
[59:25] » You could do any of those. I mean, you
could change the fee structure to um,
[59:30] you know, less frequently and do the
the, you know, like every two years. You
[59:35] could increase the fee. We could look at
taxing. Um, I don't we'd have to touch
[59:40] with legal, but you could look into
whether uh we could do fees based on
[59:47] gross receipts like a license fee. If
your business does this kind of volume
[59:52] of sales, your license is $25 or $50. If
you do this volume of sales, it's
[59:58] higher, you know, until you get to like
your big huge stores that would have a
[1:00:03] larger footprint and then they would
have a larger license fee. that's done
[1:00:08] in other places around the country. So,
we could look to see if that if Alaska
[1:00:12] law would support something like that.
We'd have to check in with there's just
[1:00:16] different things to think outside the
box on, you know, our our regular $25.
[1:00:22] Um because again, these these are the
only tax or only fee that that some of
[1:00:28] these businesses are are paying. So, um
I think a lot of times they're they're
[1:00:33] referred to, you know, you have to have
a license fee that's fees and taxes are
[1:00:38] are
not the same and we don't want to have a
[1:00:43] fee that that's really a tax and so we
have to kind of be careful with that and
[1:00:47] that's why we should probably involve,
you know, Holly or whomever to ask some
[1:00:52] of those questions if that's something
you guys want to delve into. Well, I
[1:00:56] mean, it wouldn't so much be about the
fee, but to me, it's the time frame. I
[1:01:00] mean, one of the things that we
discussed during, for instance, the land
[1:01:03] use development with Title 16 was the
short-term rentals.
[1:01:06] » I mean, those were a year and then
people were appealing them. And so, what
[1:01:10] effectively ended up happening was
people that got those permits couldn't
[1:01:14] even use them because of how much time
they were being tied up. And so, I I
[1:01:18] think about how much time the city
spends dealing with the permits. I mean,
[1:01:21] I get it. Most of these people it should
be you know you go online you click a
[1:01:24] couple buttons you pay your fee you move
on you know that's that should be a
[1:01:27] majority of it but it's the ones that
don't do that that start to become the
[1:01:32] time suck and
you you would think you it would become
[1:01:37] more efficient to offer a longer term
business license that would be in the
[1:01:43] realm of three or five years um and it
could even be based on what type of
[1:01:48] business you're offering I mean do we
really need Fred Meyer and Walmart
[1:01:52] coming to us every single year applying
for their business license. I mean, come
[1:01:55] on.
>> They're not going anywhere anytime soon,
[1:01:58] you know?
>> Yeah.
[1:01:59] » So, it it it changes things like that.
There's I get there's a lot of moving
[1:02:02] parts there, but that's the idea that or
the question that I would ask is would
[1:02:06] that be more beneficial
>> to the city?
[1:02:09] » It it could be. We could we could
certainly look at it. Um, for most of
[1:02:14] our businesses that are not those guys,
um, the yearly contact is kind of good
[1:02:21] because a lot of information changes and
people change and locations change and
[1:02:28] people don't do
all the things are supposed to do. Like
[1:02:33] I've got several businesses just that
I've seen around town in the last couple
[1:02:38] of uh months that have changed locations
and don't tell us they changed on their
[1:02:42] license. So if you looked up their
license, they're still at their old
[1:02:45] location. And so then we end up having
to contact them. Those are things that a
[1:02:50] lot of times they change on their
renewal form and catch up because they
[1:02:54] see it and are asked to provide that
information um or verify the information
[1:02:59] that we have as correct and they're
like, "Oh, no, that's changed. Oh, that
[1:03:02] phone number's changed. Oh, this has
changed. And so having that check-in
[1:03:06] yearly is beneficial because that
information that we're using that is for
[1:03:10] those businesses is what helps us to
collect the taxes when say they don't
[1:03:14] pay their tax form or they, you know,
leave the city and because they haven't
[1:03:19] had to get a business license renewal in
5 years. If we stop getting those tax
[1:03:23] returns, then it can make some of those
things kind of difficult because they
[1:03:26] just ghost us and don't tell us. So, at
least at uh a year, I know that we're
[1:03:32] going to cut them off and say, "Okay,
they're not coming back or they're not
[1:03:35] responding or they're not here anymore."
And we know we're not going to go
[1:03:39] further than a year when we don't know
what they're doing. So, that would be my
[1:03:44] only hesitation. Um, but I understand
the other side of it, what you're
[1:03:48] saying, and that we would potentially
save time. Um, so we can certainly look
[1:03:53] at those options or think about them.
>> Thank you.
[1:04:00] Um, and then the last thing was the uh
the changes to the current exemptions or
[1:04:06] exemption certificates such as the
contractor owner builder exemptions. Um,
[1:04:11] and then we also kind of didn't catch
all of the ones that were that I had
[1:04:16] mentioned or highlighted in our
exemption forms. So, uh, exemptions on
[1:04:20] the commission of travel, that's one
that oops that we could, uh, also look
[1:04:26] at. Currently, we do not tax the
commission of any sales. Let me skip
[1:04:33] back to it and see.
[1:04:38] Sales of air, train, boat, cruise line
or bus, transportation, car rentals,
[1:04:43] accommodations or emissions to
entertainment v venues where the
[1:04:46] services provided outside the city,
those are exempt and the fees and
[1:04:51] commissions related to such sales. So,
if you were buying something online for
[1:04:57] a concert or whatever, um, airfare,
well, it's not air because that's a
[1:05:03] whole another thing, but, um,
entertainment venues, that type of
[1:05:06] thing, uh, those
things are not taxable because they're
[1:05:10] not here, but the commission of the fee
that somebody sells, that commission is
[1:05:16] is not taxed either. So, like your
travel agencies, if you have a travel
[1:05:21] agency in town, they're selling all
these things. They they get a commission
[1:05:24] fee for doing this service for you, but
those are not taxed. Um, it would also
[1:05:30] be the same thing for like Expedia,
which we're looking at now taxing with
[1:05:34] the uh changes that we just made last
month. Um, so if Expedia is charging a
[1:05:40] percentage of the fee for their service
to to do all these services for you,
[1:05:45] that fee is not going to be taxed
because our code exempts it.
[1:05:51] So that's something to look out. Council
member Craftton,
[1:05:55] » thank you. The part specifically I'm
looking at here is what we'd consider
[1:06:00] the contractor, owner, builders,
wholesale manufacturers, and nonprofit.
[1:06:05] Well, maybe we leave the nonprofit up.
So contractors, owner builders,
[1:06:08] wholesale manufacturers. When I look at
the contractors, owner builders,
[1:06:13] they're allowed to pl apply for an
exemption. So they don't have to pay a
[1:06:18] uh sales tax on every single individual
transaction they make. So when they go
[1:06:23] buy the concrete, they buy the blocks,
they buy the wood, every single item
[1:06:27] that they buy to build the house doesn't
get taxed. That's essentially the
[1:06:31] exemption they're applying for. Correct.
>> Correct. And they pay $250 for it. and
[1:06:37] » and it's yearly, right?
>> It's yearly. And [clears throat] the um
[1:06:41] there's no caveat that the required um
that the things that they're buying are
[1:06:45] for things inside the city. So, there
are a couple of things that, you know,
[1:06:51] you could do with that exemption. You
could eliminate it, which would then um
[1:06:58] make all of their sales tax. You know,
when they make purchases, those sales
[1:07:02] would be taxed and subject to the tax
cap. So, if the cap was still $500, then
[1:07:08] the most any one of those things that's
going to be charged is $12.50.
[1:07:14] Um,
if if we raised it, then it would be
[1:07:18] whatever you guys would raise it to. If
they didn't have that, um I would to
[1:07:25] prevent the double tax situation, then
if you remove the exemption altogether
[1:07:29] and they just paid tax on all purchases,
then you could put an exemption in that
[1:07:34] would exempt their services that they
provide in the city from being taxed.
[1:07:38] So, a consumer who hires a contractor to
do a remodel would um not pay any tax to
[1:07:46] that remodeler for their service um or
the product that's being done. But when
[1:07:53] the contractor goes and buys all those
stuff for that project, they're going to
[1:07:57] pay sales tax full price or based on the
cap at wherever they're buying all their
[1:08:02] stuff for. And it's just part of the
cost of what they're going to be passing
[1:08:06] on to the consumer. and they would not
pay any additional tax on that. So
[1:08:10] currently um there's a lot of
we don't most of the stuff that's sold
[1:08:17] here is consumed outside the city and
not done here but that that is um is
[1:08:23] exempted but I don't know that the
contractors are uh completely complying
[1:08:29] with what they're supposed to be
reporting and remitting to us and to
[1:08:34] audit that is probably not going to be
super lucrative because of the tax cap
[1:08:39] We're only talking about a handful of
contractors doing a handful of jobs and
[1:08:42] it's $12.50. So, we can spend a lot of
time on compliance, but we're not going
[1:08:47] to spend a lot of time getting revenues
from that. So, it would be more, I
[1:08:52] guess, cost pro cost beneficial to
exempt having to charge the consumer tax
[1:08:59] and the contractor reporting exemption
that and just have them pay the tax, but
[1:09:04] that would be more costly to a
contractor to do it that way. So, give
[1:09:09] and take.
>> I I mean, the way I'm thinking about
[1:09:12] this is
look at the amount of home [snorts]
[1:09:15] builders out here and where do they buy
their materials?
[1:09:19] » Pretty much all of it comes from the
city. I mean, you talk to our deputy
[1:09:22] administrator and she loves to tell the
story about how successful Lowe's is.
[1:09:26] Lowe's was not,
>> nobody thought that Lowe's would be as
[1:09:30] successful as it is, but then you
realize that we don't serve 10,000
[1:09:34] people. We serve 150,000 people,
>> right?
[1:09:38] » And so I I look at it and go $20,000 in
cabinets, $50,000 in lumber. You know,
[1:09:46] that's going to start I mean, yes,
$12.50,
[1:09:49] but think about how many individual
transactions some of these contractors
[1:09:53] are making to put a home together.
They're not going to just eat the cost.
[1:09:58] That cost gets passed on uh into the
price of the home. Mhm.
[1:10:02] » Um,
>> that'd be an interesting one to look at.
[1:10:06] I'll just say that because I I get where
you're going for the smaller
[1:10:09] contractors, but when I think I I look
at this for the bigger people that are
[1:10:13] that would make the difference between,
>> you know, that $12.50 starts adding up
[1:10:18] really really fast. Yeah.
>> Uh, for people. So,
[1:10:21] » and just so you know, too, I'm I'm not
>> I know you're not advocating either way.
[1:10:25] I'm just putting it out there. Like
that's the thought that I go to when I
[1:10:28] look at this and go, "Oh, there's 139
people that have applied for that
[1:10:33] already." Uh, plus the three owner
builders. And then you look at the
[1:10:37] wholesalers and the manufacturers
because again, they're not wanting to
[1:10:40] pay sales tax on the stuff that they're
wholesaling, just basically they're just
[1:10:44] the throughman to get the products along
the way. So,
[1:10:47] » uh, just just an interesting uh, bit uh,
to look at there. So, thank you.
[1:10:57] Okay. So, we did the travel one. So,
also daycare um there we currently do
[1:11:02] not tax any care services in the city.
Uh other codes uh local codes do. So,
[1:11:08] another place for for places um looking
at things as well as taxi ride shares.
[1:11:15] Uh some do, some don't, but the taxi
ride shares we don't currently tax. Uh
[1:11:21] but with the changes we just made last
month, your platforms like your Uber and
[1:11:27] your Lyft would then be collecting those
taxes. So we have not in the past due to
[1:11:33] difficulties trying to find them and
then difficulties trying to collect on
[1:11:37] them. But if we had other mechanisms
like those platforms to help us collect,
[1:11:42] then uh that might be a a different
conversation or a better outcome for the
[1:11:47] city.
And then uh we talked a little bit about
[1:11:50] the narrowing of the medical health
healthcare providers. So that's kind of
[1:11:54] the group of tax exemptions that we
discussed in the earlier slides. So
[1:11:59] those are the places that I had
identified. Like I said, we're not
[1:12:02] necessarily
advocating anything, just pointing out
[1:12:05] where there are places that can be
changed and uh leaving it to you guys to
[1:12:10] decide what's best. And we're happy to
answer questions about that and uh
[1:12:15] discuss it with you further. Um, I've
got the statistical information in here
[1:12:19] too to help you guys um, uh, assist in
your u, analysis of of the different
[1:12:25] options that we've given you. Um, and
we're certainly open to any other, you
[1:12:31] know, suggestions that may have or
questions that you have.
[1:12:37] Council member Grant
>> Moren, do you know what their
[1:12:42] uh budget expectations were for sales
tax for 25 26?
[1:12:48] » Not numbers.
>> Yeah, not off the top of my head. I know
[1:12:51] they're they're fairly close to that,
but
[1:12:56] I'm sure Wendy probably can get that
information for you.
[1:12:59] » Thank you.
>> Yes, please.
[1:13:04] » Council member Craftton. Thank you. Uh I
just want to say I really appreciate the
[1:13:08] uh
presentation here. Um I know uh some of
[1:13:14] these things some of these changes were
things I was already looking into. Uh
[1:13:18] like Mr. Johnson had brought up. I mean
to give you an example about the
[1:13:22] nonprofits is uh I went down to one here
recently and there was a shirt that
[1:13:29] still had the tags on it from the
original box store. I happened to own
[1:13:33] that shirt. Not only was the shirt
cheaper at the thrift store, but had I
[1:13:39] purchased it there, I wouldn't have paid
sales tax on it. And to me, it's like,
[1:13:43] how is that fair, you know? That's that
to me, that's a pretty simple change we
[1:13:49] can make, you know, and I like the fact
that you're like, hey, let's put the 20
[1:13:52] hours on it so we avoid [snorts] hitting
some of these really small
[1:13:56] » um school event, whatever. There there
were some there's some very small niches
[1:14:00] in there that there's limits to to put
on there. So, I really appreciate uh the
[1:14:06] information here again. And there's more
in here than I had thought of, but also
[1:14:10] some things in here that I was like,
"Okay, my my thinking is not wrong along
[1:14:14] those lines." So,
>> I do appreciate this very very good
[1:14:18] presentation. Thank you, Marines.
>> Well, I thank you guys for all your time
[1:14:21] tonight because um I'm happy you're
still awake [laughter]
[1:14:25] and with me. Um sometimes when I get
going on this stuff, people kind of
[1:14:29] gloss over and they're like, "H." So,
um, it's good to have, uh, engagement
[1:14:33] from the council. Is there any other
questions or
[1:14:38] » Thank you, Marie. All right. Thank you,
guys.
[1:14:42] There are no items scheduled for public
hearing this evening. We are now at
[1:14:46] persons to be heard. This is a time for
members of the public to share their
[1:14:49] views with the council. Please note that
this is not a question and answer
[1:14:53] period. Speakers may be referred to
administration and items raised may be
[1:14:57] taken under advisement. Please begin
your testimony by stating your first and
[1:15:01] last name. And if you are a city
resident, comments are limited to three
[1:15:05] minutes. Concerns.
[1:15:14] [cough]
[1:15:16] » Good evening. My name is Tom Sterns. I'm
the senior ambassador for the Wasel Area
[1:15:21] Seniors Incorporated. Um, and I am here
to share with you all the great things
[1:15:27] that are happening at Watsi. But the
first one is that we're going to be
[1:15:32] closed on the 7th of September. If you
can believe it, that's Labor Day. And we
[1:15:38] will be closed. Uh, but after Labor Day,
we have some great things that are going
[1:15:45] to be happening. You, I hope, got one of
these. That is our uh spring uh our
[1:15:51] dance. Uh it's going to be a 70s and 80s
theme. Uh and it's going to be part of
[1:15:59] our fall prevention program. Um and so
we're going to teach you how to dance so
[1:16:06] you don't fall. And uh uh and so that's
a very good uh good thing to have is uh
[1:16:14] then uh the next thing uh that we have
is our uh harvest fundraiser. Okay, we
[1:16:23] had that last year. Uh it was a great
success. We're going to have it again
[1:16:28] this year. Uh $50 a plate uh for the u
uh for the brunch. Uh and then we'll
[1:16:37] have uh all sorts of um uh things to
sell um auction off uh during that time.
[1:16:45] What we need you to do is read the back.
Uh and those are the things that we need
[1:16:51] right now. Uh we need uh different uh
things that you can uh uh uh donate so
[1:16:58] that we can have things to auction off.
Uh especially the folks that make
[1:17:04] things. if you make things uh those
would be really good things that we
[1:17:09] could auction off for our raffles. And
then the next thing is of course we have
[1:17:16] our lunch sponsorships each month uh
four uh $400 for lunch, $500 uh for
[1:17:25] lunch and dessert. Um since we don't do
desserts anymore. Um and then the next
[1:17:32] thing is
all of you are in the category except uh
[1:17:41] Miss Rubio. Uh uh well maybe not all of
you. All right. Some of you are are in
[1:17:48] the category of being a senior and we
are looking for three board members. All
[1:17:56] right. and these board members, there
are no incumbents. So, uh, if you're
[1:18:02] running, uh, you have a very good chance
of winning. Uh, and so we would like to
[1:18:10] encourage any of you that are interested
to, uh, get get a hold of our front desk
[1:18:15] and they'll give you all the things you
need to know. And then 17 September is
[1:18:21] our next board meeting. Thank you very
much.
[1:18:23] » Thank you, Tom.
Dan Kennedy.
[1:18:30] » Greetings, Deputy Mayor Rubio. My name
is uh Dan Kennedy. My address, 4701
[1:18:36] East Shoreline Circle, Wasillo. I'm a
non-resident, but I'm here this evening
[1:18:42] with my wife Janet
to uh thank the city. But before I uh
[1:18:49] let you know why we're thanking this
city, uh between Janet and myself, we've
[1:18:54] had 82 years as CPAs. And for decades,
our CPA office was in the Lake View
[1:19:00] Professional Building on Cruzy Street.
And my efforts primarily with the CPA
[1:19:05] firm was economic development for uh
some of our largest corporations around
[1:19:12] to emerging businesses.
And as past president of the Greater
[1:19:17] Wasola Chamber of Commerce, I've sat at
this table to your colleagues before
[1:19:24] you, your predecessors, and went, "Your
most valuable asset is the airport. Your
[1:19:30] most valuable asset is the airport." And
Janet and I wish to thank the city, your
[1:19:37] predecessors, to the wonderful staff of
your [snorts] organization, to our local
[1:19:43] government for all your work on the city
airport. Uh we're just thrilled with its
[1:19:50] expansion and we want to uh encourage uh
the city to maximize your revenues from
[1:19:59] your most valuable asset. And again on
behalf of Janet, myself, we want to
[1:20:03] thank the city so much for all your hard
work. There were so many people
[1:20:07] involved. It was a team effort to get
the airport moving towards expansion.
[1:20:14] And uh Deputy Mayor, that's all I have
tonight. Thank you for allowing us to
[1:20:19] comment.
>> Thank you, Dan.
[1:20:23] » We are now at the cons uh consent
agenda. Madame Clerk, please read the
[1:20:27] items for approval under the consent
agenda by title. Thank you, Madam Deputy
[1:20:31] Mayor. Uh we have one introduction uh uh
scheduled public hearing for September
[1:20:35] 14th, 2026, ordinance serial number
2616, amending the fiscal year 2027
[1:20:42] budget by accepting and appropriating
and a United States Marshall Service
[1:20:47] short-term joint operation for sex
offender compliance verification.
[1:20:52] And I'm wondering if we're missing the
word grant. Maybe not. in an amount not
[1:20:57] to exceed $16,275,000.
[1:21:01] We have two resolutions left on the
consent agenda. The first is resolution
[1:21:05] serial number 2648
accepting a grant from the state of
[1:21:08] Alaska Division of Homeland Security and
Emergency Management, State Emergency
[1:21:13] Operations Center after hours answering
point in the amount of $87,410.
[1:21:19] And lastly, resolution serial number
2649 accepting an enhanced 911
[1:21:25] searchcharge revenue DPS call taker
grant
[1:21:28] from the Mountus Susetta Burough in the
amount of $43,15.
[1:21:34] And I apologize, I'm suffering a cold.
>> It's okay. We'll make it through it. Is
[1:21:38] there a motion to approve the consent
agenda as read?
[1:21:41] » So moved by Councilman Johnson.
>> Is [clears throat] there a second?
[1:21:44] » Seconded amendment. Deputy mayor. It has
been moved by council member Johnson and
[1:21:48] seconded by council member Cfton to
approve the consent agenda as read. Is
[1:21:52] there any objection to the motion?
>> Hearing none, the consent agenda is
[1:21:57] approved. We are now at unfinished
business. Madame clerk, please read the
[1:22:01] item by title.
>> Council, do you want me do you want to
[1:22:03] take the um resolution we pulled first?
>> Sure.
[1:22:06] » Okay. We'll begin with resolution serial
number 2647 approving a contract between
[1:22:11] the city of Wasilla and Clear Gov
Gravity for 43,9325
[1:22:17] in consideration for financial budgeting
software.
[1:22:21] » Is there a motion to approve the
resolution number 26-47?
[1:22:26] » Madame Deputy mayor, I move ordinance or
resolution serial number 2647.
[1:22:32] » Is there a second?
>> I'll second that.
[1:22:36] It has been moved by Council Member
Craftton and seconded by Council Member
[1:22:40] Schmidt to approve the resolution number
26-47.
[1:22:46] Is there objection to the motion?
>> Discussion or discussion? I'm sorry.
[1:22:53] Deputy Mayor,
>> Council Member Craftton.
[1:22:55] » Thank you. Um,
I remember I really liked this initially
[1:23:04] and after the presentation I wasn't 100%
sold on it. Uh, I'm I'm a little back
[1:23:10] and forth on this one. Um,
I'd be curious to hear maybe some
[1:23:16] something from the administration or I
mean what the other council members
[1:23:20] would have to say on this one.
>> Council member Johnson. Madame Deputy
[1:23:26] Mayor and Council, um,
when when I heard about this, I mean,
[1:23:32] the details of it, I I I sort of
understood the details of what it is
[1:23:37] that we're trying to to get with this.
And I looked at this as, well, it's a
[1:23:44] fairly expensive piece of software and
it has all these bells and whistles and
[1:23:48] that it does have some advantages and
it's being recommended by the
[1:23:53] administration. So I'm I'm not
automatically opposed to it. However,
[1:23:57] when I went through the package and I
saw the ongoing costs at 150,000, which
[1:24:03] is basically committing
essentially, not exactly, you know,
[1:24:07] about $40,000 a year for continuing
software and support costs in it. I'm
[1:24:12] going,
what are our options? Are we I mean, it
[1:24:17] looks to me like uh we were presented
with this option. I have no other
[1:24:22] options on the table and it's fairly
expensive. This isn't a cheap program.
[1:24:27] Um I I guess I would really rather have
uh have us come in and look at what some
[1:24:35] other options are rather than just
immediately um spending this $44,000
[1:24:42] upfront and then committing another
$150,000 beyond that um with no other
[1:24:48] options being laid on the table. So,
it's not that I'm against this, but I'd
[1:24:53] like to see more options being presented
to us than just this. This is an
[1:24:59] expensive piece of software.
[1:25:05] » Madam Deputy Mayor, does our finance
director have anything to add
[1:25:10] to the deputy mayor? Can you
>> Okay, go ahead.
[1:25:14] Um so uh I had talked to uh former
finance director um Ted Leonard before I
[1:25:22] came here and we had discussed this this
program and its capabilities of being
[1:25:28] able to interact with our current
finance package the Tyler package. Um
[1:25:33] this package is able to interact be able
to update at any time with the current
[1:25:39] package that we have. Um, one of the
other pieces, uh, that Ted was very
[1:25:46] excited about is that it would cut down
on at least, um, 200 to 240 hours of my
[1:25:55] work. Um, and so what that translated
into, um, was that I looked at our
[1:26:03] finance goals.
So when I look at those goals,
[1:26:10] I looked at what would those cover, what
would those take care of? Because those
[1:26:15] are legislative priorities. So I saw um
in goal number two
[1:26:22] it would help complete the enterprise
resource system and draw in those
[1:26:27] figures so that we would be able to
communicate those effectively with our
[1:26:32] with our republic or with our public. Um
it would organize resources and and set
[1:26:39] up a centralized communication channel
on our city's official website.
[1:26:46] It would also create and implement a
communication and engagement plan to
[1:26:52] strengthen outreach and improve
communication tools and networks.
[1:26:58] And so with those in place, there's a
little piece that it also does that that
[1:27:06] uh that clear gov does. When I look at
clear gov, I see that it can't that it
[1:27:14] continues or it completes all of your
grow all your goals one and communicates
[1:27:21] those to the public. Now, it doesn't
necessarily complete the 2025 2045
[1:27:28] comprehensive plan, but it will put that
out onto our website and communicate
[1:27:34] that to to individuals who may not quite
understand what a comprehensive 25 to 45
[1:27:41] plan is. um complete the parks and rec
MA master plan. Um putting that out on
[1:27:48] the on the website as well. Um there are
so many ways that this program can can
[1:27:56] um can be placed out on on our website
and being able to to do what they need
[1:28:03] to do. When I look at further down um
implement the airport master plan um by
[1:28:11] marketing efforts, we can use that use
this program to do so. Uh as well as
[1:28:19] implementing or um one of the top three
goals and is the SDS uh strategy. We can
[1:28:27] put it out to promote that as well. Um,
and one of the last ones, improve
[1:28:34] community connections to promote
resident well-being and understanding
[1:28:39] our budget and how that impacts them. So
then I looked at how the how does this
[1:28:46] free my time up? So most of you know
that I I was a city manager. So I I was
[1:28:55] in charge of a city. I can tell you that
in my past practice, I did all of goal
[1:29:02] three.
If I am freed up to do to do the finance
[1:29:10] part of it and get, you know, get those
parts taken care of and be able to
[1:29:16] function with that.
I can do all number three for you with
[1:29:20] our department heads. I number four I
can get that. All of these can get put
[1:29:27] on the website as well with clear gov.
Um, you know, just interacting with our
[1:29:33] departments and getting these
individually things done. I've worked
[1:29:37] with our departments for legislation and
continue to do so. Um, I don't know that
[1:29:43] Eric was that done before.
>> I've been working with Lori. So, that
[1:29:50] was that was also done before. Um, also
I did a little experiment. Um, so I went
[1:29:58] to co-pilot and chat GPT and I dropped
our budget into it. Um, the 2027 budget
[1:30:06] just to see what we would get out of it.
Um, for for those two packages,
[1:30:16] the reading came back that it was too
large.
[1:30:20] So when we have people who are asking
make make our uh I want to see what's
[1:30:26] important to the city of Osilla but I
want to put it into a chat GPT and
[1:30:32] figure that out for me because I don't
want to deal with that when they come in
[1:30:37] and they say that that's too large
that's not helpful for our budget. So I
[1:30:43] went to another chat BT and did a G a
Gemini. I went to Gemini,
[1:30:50] put that in. It said it was too large
and asked me to put put the um put the
[1:30:57] URL in. I put the URL in asking for 2027
and got the numbers back and I thought
[1:31:06] that's really funny because
I know that the police budget was 9.7
[1:31:14] million, not 9.3.
And I look back and Gemini has the last
[1:31:21] year's budget in there.
So, we're looking at a pro, you know,
[1:31:26] even though these
chat GPTs and all these AIs are great,
[1:31:32] there's still errors in them that people
have to still look and catch. And I
[1:31:39] really believe with this project, with
this program,
[1:31:44] we can make that happen and we can do
these things and get these things done
[1:31:50] on the on the that were part of your
fiscal goals that you set.
[1:31:56] » Madame Mayor, a follow-up question,
Wendy, I agree with everything you said.
[1:32:00] Okay. That wasn't my question.
>> Okay. The question is we're we're
[1:32:05] committing to clear gov which is a
software vendor. My son is a software
[1:32:10] provider for a different company who
works out of Atlanta. Okay. You are
[1:32:16] asking us to on a single soul source bid
buy a piece of software for $44,000
[1:32:24] with I would like to have seen a
competitive bid from possibly one or two
[1:32:29] other companies for the exact kind of
source software. Now, you might still
[1:32:34] end up with Clear Gov because it might
still be the best solution. But I'll
[1:32:38] tell you right now, from my perspective,
$44,000 a year is a lot of money to be
[1:32:44] spending in the software on an
uncompetitive bid. That's really what I
[1:32:48] would like to see. I would like to see
you come back with one or two other
[1:32:52] vendors saying, "These are what the
vendors will do. We ranked these vendors
[1:32:56] based on their capability, and we
selected Clear Gov." Okay, that's what
[1:33:01] I'd really like to see before you can
really sell me on this on this vote.
[1:33:06] It's I agree with everything you say. We
need to do all of those things,
[1:33:11] [clears throat] but I feel like we're
not being given enough information to
[1:33:15] really make a large commitment like
this.
[1:33:21] » Council member Schmidt,
>> just a quick question uh follow up on
[1:33:26] that. Did you use um this program at the
small town that you come from?
[1:33:32] » We did not. We were we were too small.
Our budget was only 10 million.
[1:33:37] [laughter]
We did not use that.
[1:33:42] » Have you um experienced any other
programs or did you just manually do it
[1:33:46] all with the programs that you had? I
what I did is I went on the Matsu burrow
[1:33:52] and used their program and asked some
really convoluted questions and didn't
[1:33:58] think it would be able to pull out what
I was in, you know, what I was trying to
[1:34:04] get out of it and and I was able to pull
that information.
[1:34:09] Okay.
>> Council member Codle, do you have any
[1:34:13] questions?
Thank you, Madam Deputy Mayor. Um, I did
[1:34:18] a lot of research into this program and
being someone who's been in accounting
[1:34:24] and finance for years, this program to
me check the boxes and um, I'm in favor
[1:34:32] of going ahead with this because it does
what we're looking for it to do and it
[1:34:37] will be um, I think a time-saving tool
for us and it will in the long run have
[1:34:45] a lot less human error because we're not
having to pull information and put it
[1:34:50] back into numerous places where this
program will put it all in there. So,
[1:34:55] I'm in favor of that.
>> Thank you, Council Member Graham.
[1:35:00] » Thank you. So, Wendy, I'm looking at the
page 20 of the Clear Gov software
[1:35:07] proposal, which I think is attachment A
to this
[1:35:11] um
ordinance that we have before us. But
[1:35:16] essentially it says uh you know 9 months
prorated cost was about $30,000.
[1:35:23] Uh you know so uh 12 months would be you
know about what you see down below when
[1:35:31] it talks about what we would owe in July
of 2027 which is you know $40,000. Then
[1:35:36] it goes up 5% a year. Is that 5%
increment? Is that pretty standard with
[1:35:44] » with, you know, software renewals and
things like that? I mean, at this point,
[1:35:48] I mean, we've we've already kind of sunk
a bunch of money into
[1:35:52] uh, you know, the setup of this trying
to figure out if it's going to do what
[1:35:56] it's going to do. But, but I mean, is
that 5% a year? Is that is that a normal
[1:36:01] escalation factor, you think, or
>> it is postco?
[1:36:06] I would say yes.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:36:10] because people are really it used to be
two to 3% but now that people or
[1:36:17] companies
have experienced COVID they do 5% just
[1:36:22] in case
[1:36:27] » Wendy I do have a question for you
>> um I am in favor of this program but
[1:36:32] does your department plan on
implementing this software for this
[1:36:36] coming budget
>> yes
[1:36:38] » so the time lead on that is Good.
>> Yes.
[1:36:41] » Okay.
[1:36:45] » Council member Graham.
>> Thank you. And uh I I too am in favor of
[1:36:50] this proposal here. You know, Cleargov
is one of those organizations
[1:36:56] uh that goes to the Alaska Municipal
League uh annual conferences every year
[1:37:00] and gives us plenty of time to talk to
them and talk to their competitors or I
[1:37:06] wouldn't even say competitors, but
people offering similar solutions, you
[1:37:11] know, and and each of those solutions is
uniquely different. uh and I think
[1:37:16] that's why we have a soul source
contract here because we're looking for
[1:37:19] a specific solution with you know
specific results here and so while I'm
[1:37:25] not a big believer in soul source
contracts in this case uh you know to
[1:37:30] get uh you know exactly what we're
looking for as close to what we're
[1:37:34] looking for as possible I think soul
sources is the only way to go so I'm in
[1:37:39] favor of this uh u action here tonight
>> council Member Craftton.
[1:37:45] » Thank you, Madam Deput. Uh, I guess just
kind of a blunt question. Do you believe
[1:37:49] this would be the best option at the
best price that we have available for
[1:37:52] us?
>> I believe so.
[1:37:55] » Can I say yes?
>> Is there further discussion?
[1:38:01] Is there objection to the motion?
>> Yes.
[1:38:05] » Roll call vote.
>> Council, this is on the adoption of
[1:38:09] resolution serial number 2647.
Council member Codle, we'll start with
[1:38:14] you.
Yes.
[1:38:16] » Council member Graham.
>> Yes.
[1:38:18] » Council member Schmidt.
>> Yes.
[1:38:20] » Council member Craftton.
>> Yes.
[1:38:21] » Council member Johnson.
>> No.
[1:38:23] » Uh Deputy Mayor Rubio.
>> Yes.
[1:38:25] » The motion to adopt resolution serial
number 2647 passes with council members
[1:38:30] Codle, Graham, Schmidt, Craftton, and
Rubio in support. Council member Johnson
[1:38:34] opposed.
[1:38:38] » Okay.
Next resolution is resolution serial
[1:38:41] number 2646 approving priority
transportation projects for nomination
[1:38:46] to the Matsu Valley Planning for
Transportation 2027 through 2030
[1:38:52] transportation improvement program
affirming the city's commitment to
[1:38:55] provide the required non-federal share
for projects selected for federal
[1:39:00] funding and authorizing their submittal
to the MVP.
[1:39:03] » Madam Deputy Mayor, can we take a
fiveminute recess before we dive into
[1:39:06] this one?
Yes. So, it's 7:39. So, we will be back
[1:39:12] at 7:44.
[clears throat]
[1:39:21] » Sorry. [laughter]
>> I'm not worried.
[1:45:34] discussion.
>> Mayor's gone.
[1:45:38] » We're back on the record at 7:45. Is
there discussion?
[1:45:42] » Madam Deputy Mayor,
>> Council Member Craftton,
[1:45:45] » thank you. Um,
appreciate the council for giving us a
[1:45:49] little bit more time to to look this
over. Uh, I had spoken with a a
[1:45:58] » We're back on the record at 7:45. Is
there discussion?
[1:46:05] » Uh, I'd asked the attorney just one
question. And I had two two concerns
[1:46:09] with this, but the big one I wanted to
ask was just a clarifying point around
[1:46:12] some of the whereas clauses because part
of the way it reads is that it sounds
[1:46:17] like we're being bound
uh to certain dollar amounts because
[1:46:23] we're saying, "Hey, we're going to
commit these projects and these projects
[1:46:27] come with a cost and so we're going to
we're going to be putting forward those
[1:46:31] dollars." And so I just wanted to
clarify with the attorney that's not the
[1:46:35] case because that's not possible.
>> Yeah. No, it's it's not binding. And
[1:46:38] there's two reasons. And one, I'm glad
you asked me before the meeting so I
[1:46:42] could, you know, look through and
process this, but um with the Matsu uh
[1:46:48] planning uh group here,
it's not binding in itself. This is just
[1:46:54] saying this is a priority.
We have an idea it's going to cost
[1:46:58] around this and there's going to be a
contribution.
[1:47:03] But these are just estimates whenever it
gets and gets federally funded, those
[1:47:08] numbers are likely to change. Then you
have to go through the whole contracting
[1:47:12] process and approve contracts as it goes
along. This is just kind of saying we're
[1:47:17] going through this with the the
knowledge we may have to pay that
[1:47:20] portion. I don't know whether that's
required under the federal law or that's
[1:47:24] just strictly the Matt Sue requirement.
So no one can come in and say, "Oh yeah,
[1:47:29] we wanted that really big project, but
now that you tell us we have to pay part
[1:47:33] of it, we're not interested." Um
second part of it is in the whereas
[1:47:39] clause it's certainly not my whereas is
just saying this is conditions today
[1:47:44] whereas crime is out of control I'm
binding you the crime will stay out of
[1:47:48] control it's just saying this is why we
are doing this and um if the feds were
[1:47:55] to change it and not require any kind of
matching funds you're not obligated to
[1:48:00] it either at that point. So, it's it's
just really kind of um
[1:48:06] city's acknowledging it knows that this
project [clears throat] goes ahead, it's
[1:48:09] going to have to be looking for funding
for project as the rules stand today in
[1:48:14] warehouse clause.
>> Thank you. Uh another question I have uh
[1:48:20] not to the attorney here, but just um
I I really like a lot of these projects.
[1:48:26] Uh, I really only have one project
that's a bit concerned on moving forward
[1:48:31] and I know we've got uh I'm sorry I
forgot your name.
[1:48:36] » Kim.
>> Kim here. Uh, could we have her come
[1:48:40] forward? I'm I'm just curious about
project what would be considered ID
[1:48:44] number 19. It's the Seward Meridian
Parkway to Sun Mountain connection.
[1:48:48] Could
we have somebody speak to what it would
[1:48:52] look like if we have if we move forward
a project like this that that has no
[1:48:57] platted ride of the bike, especially
because it's a high priority. There's
[1:49:00] another one on here, but it's down the
road. So, I mean, that one can
[1:49:03] completely change, but we're we're
committing to trying to move forward a
[1:49:08] project that has no right of way right
now, which it it to me is con
[1:49:13] concerning.
[1:49:18] Uh yeah through deputy mayor um Rubio I
can answer that. So the idea like we
[1:49:24] talked about the last meeting was the um
extreme impact that the alpine
[1:49:30] connection at parks and sun mountain has
for um safety concerns. So the idea
[1:49:37] would be to find a rideway that works
with all of the land owners at the end
[1:49:42] of Sun Mountain. It could be multiple
things. It could be um using uh
[1:49:48] purchasing some land from either one of
the property owners at the end of the
[1:49:52] culde-sac and getting down to super
marine. It could be buying a home in
[1:49:56] Whispering Woods neighborhood and making
a thoroughfare into the Whispering Woods
[1:50:00] neighborhood. There needs to be some
sort of uh connection between Sun
[1:50:06] Mountain and another thoroughfare that
allows for a safe transition if people
[1:50:12] are trying to go uh left or or inbound
on the parks. And so the ultimate
[1:50:19] alignment doesn't exist right now, of
course, because it all of the options
[1:50:23] need to be evaluated. But the request
needed a line on a map, so we drew one.
[1:50:29] But the ultimate way to uh mitigate some
of those major safety concerns is to
[1:50:36] give people a safe and convenient way so
that they don't choose unsafe turning
[1:50:40] movements to get uh back onto the parks
to go inbound to Anchorage. So this
[1:50:46] project would allow for the initial
planning and then uh moving into the
[1:50:52] design to make that connection to reduce
those accidentprone intersections.
[1:50:58] Council
[1:51:03] member Graham.
>> Thank you. So, I'm looking at the last
[1:51:09] paragraph on page 121 here. Says MVP has
requested that each member jurisdiction
[1:51:15] adopt a resolution formally nominating
its priority projects.
[1:51:23] Where how did these become priority
projects? This is the first time we as a
[1:51:28] city council have heard of some of these
projects. So, how did this how did these
[1:51:32] become priority projects out of that
list of projects that we saw 30 or 40
[1:51:39] deep? How did these become the city's
priority projects?
[1:51:45] I mean, is is this just a list that the
mayor and Eric came up with? What where
[1:51:52] what makes these priority projects?
because some of these look pretty milk
[1:51:55] coast to me. I mean, they're
[1:51:59] » um hi uh Kim Solian, executive director
of Mats Valley Planning for
[1:52:03] Transportation. I'll answer a portion of
that question and then I'll defer to
[1:52:08] Eric. Um so, as a metropolitan planning
organization, we're supposed to create a
[1:52:14] process um by which local governments
can um apply for projects. Those
[1:52:21] projects need to be evaluated on a
metrics that looks at, you know, we
[1:52:27] established goals uh for our long range
plan and then we establish criteria um
[1:52:32] to evaluate projects on whether or not
they would help us meet the goals that
[1:52:37] we established for the long range plan.
And so once we figured that piece out,
[1:52:43] after we assessed the transportation
network and identified deficiencies um
[1:52:48] and needs um we did a call for projects.
So if you remember, I was here in
[1:52:53] January and let you know that we were
issuing our formal call for projects.
[1:52:57] There would be a 30-day um nomination
window and that we were requesting local
[1:53:02] jurisdictions apply for projects. So I
let you all know about that process. it
[1:53:07] was on our website and it had um the
project nomination form and then during
[1:53:13] that 30 way day window um the city of
Palmer the Matsubo and the city of
[1:53:18] Wasilla did nominate uh a number of
projects and I will pause there I guess
[1:53:24] I'll say one more thing so once we
received [snorts] all of the
[1:53:26] [clears throat] nominations we vetted
each project to make sure they were
[1:53:29] eligible for federal funding and then we
went about applying the scoring criteria
[1:53:35] to each project and and then assigning a
score to each project and then that's
[1:53:39] what the numeric order is that you see
um in your resolution in terms of what
[1:53:45] score each project received.
>> Yeah. And I understand that process and
[1:53:52] but I'm just curious how did these
become our
[1:53:56] when I say our I mean the city of
Wasilla's priority projects. I mean, one
[1:54:01] of these projects here is to build a
sidewalk
[1:54:04] uh from a senior community to collect to
connect, you know, uh to a bike path,
[1:54:10] which is rarely used. I I I
I'm just kind of curious, how did how
[1:54:16] did these things become priority
projects?
[1:54:19] » Thank you. Through the deputy mayor. Um
so knowing what the um scoring criteria
[1:54:25] were for the MP MVP's review and looking
at the needs as we received from public
[1:54:30] comments and from known projects. We
balanced what we thought would be
[1:54:36] eligible through that program versus our
larger list of needs that we know about
[1:54:41] from repaving to um completing projects.
We knew that the uh pedestrian
[1:54:48] connections would um
um compete very well numerically as we
[1:54:54] saw we had the number one place because
of that. Um if you recall the so the
[1:54:58] Elorn project that you're talking about
that came directly out of public
[1:55:01] comments from Mr. Don Shishel that came
in and talked about that. He'd also
[1:55:05] called and some other neighborhood
members called. So these projects that
[1:55:09] were brought to us communitywise played
well into the numbers. And then the
[1:55:14] long-term ones that we talked about with
um the connection to the um Sun Mountain
[1:55:20] to Steuart Meridian, that's been a
long-standing issue that we've been uh
[1:55:24] coordinating with the burrow on and then
the police department with a number of
[1:55:28] accidents. And then um as we've gone
through the uh railroad relationships
[1:55:34] with like Snyder Crossing and then some
other um known gaps in our
[1:55:39] infrastructure um that's where the uh
what are we calling it? The railroad
[1:55:44] avenue to um
oh I forget the name of the other street
[1:55:50] that the fourth project that's on the
list. those came from being uh long-term
[1:55:54] plans that we needed help with and then
the short-term uh pedestrian um uh
[1:56:00] connections. So, in general, I built the
list, vetted it through the mayor, and
[1:56:05] picked the ones that would compete well
numerically, and that's how the list
[1:56:09] came out this round. Now, one of the
things that we've been working through
[1:56:13] with the MO is um the burough assembly
has echoed some of the concerns you've
[1:56:19] had where they didn't feel like they had
an opportunity to to review the list
[1:56:24] either. And so, at the technical
committee and the policy board meeting,
[1:56:28] we talked about that. And there's going
to be some tweaks on the timeline so
[1:56:32] that um elected officials such as
yourself see a more official review
[1:56:37] before the resolutions of support are
asked for. And maybe Kim, you could talk
[1:56:41] a little bit about kind of the feedback
we've gotten at the last couple
[1:56:44] meetings.
>> Yeah, absolutely. Um, we did hear like
[1:56:48] Eric said from um, you know, Matt
Subaro's staff that when I presented
[1:56:53] this same presentation to the assembly
that some of the assembly members had
[1:56:57] never seen the list before. So moving
forward, we are going to develop a
[1:57:01] policy um that requires prior to project
nomination in the future that um local
[1:57:08] uh city councils and the Matsubber
Assembly have a chance to review what
[1:57:12] staff are recommending to move forward
and have a process so that when projects
[1:57:16] are nominated um it has already gone
through an initial review um from the
[1:57:22] local governing bodies. Um, and that's
just one of the things we're going to
[1:57:27] put in place to help prevent a s any
surprises when we get to this phase
[1:57:32] because where we are now as we in order
to program our tip and decide where the
[1:57:39] funding is going to go, we need that
approval from the local government. Um,
[1:57:42] so we need to document that there is um
the that the projects are being formally
[1:57:48] nominated by the local jurisdiction in
our TIP. that's one of the federal
[1:57:51] requirements and that we can show that
there's um the the funds are reasonably
[1:57:56] available. So that's the two things that
your resolution is doing. Say we ad we
[1:58:01] agree that these are the projects that
we would like to nominate and um if the
[1:58:06] project is selected for funding that
we'll commit the match. So that's part
[1:58:09] of our documentation to federal
highways.
[1:58:12] » Council member Graham.
>> Thanks. So,
[1:58:16] you know, the the committing to the
federal match, uh, you know, is not
[1:58:21] something the administration could do.
It's something that the council has to
[1:58:25] provide funding for. So, in future, you
know, and this is a fiveyear project,
[1:58:30] three year, four-year project. So, you
know, future council may say, you know,
[1:58:35] I don't want to spend $500,000 on this
project. We need to spend $500,000
[1:58:41] on a different project. And so the
council may say, "No, we're not going to
[1:58:46] we're not going to do that project." And
how does that affect the process?
[1:58:51] » That's a great question. Sorry, I forgot
my protocol. Through the deputy mayor to
[1:58:55] council member Graham. Um so projects
have either a four or a six-year
[1:59:01] lifespan. Um with some exceptions. So,
one of the jobs that staff have is to
[1:59:08] figure out with our limited funding. Um,
we'll have about $7 million a year to to
[1:59:14] program. We'll have to decide which
projects go first, second, third, and
[1:59:19] when their start year happens and when
their construction year happens. So if
[1:59:25] we program some of the city of Wasilla's
projects in the first year, um very soon
[1:59:32] some probably early you know January,
February, March, the DOT will come
[1:59:36] forward and be looking to work with you
on match and maintenance agreements. So
[1:59:41] what if that number one project is going
forward you whoever the body is at that
[1:59:46] time will be committing to paying the
match and maintaining the project over
[1:59:52] its lifespan. Um, if at that time you
decide we don't want to do that project,
[1:59:58] then you would say that and then we
would amend our tip and remove that
[2:00:03] project. It would no longer be eligible
for funding. So, we anticipate having to
[2:00:08] update our tip probably annually, maybe
a couple times a year, hopefully not to
[2:00:13] remove the projects that some that have
been prioritized, but that is certainly
[2:00:18] how we would handle that.
And so the overall amount that $7
[2:00:23] million a year would remain unchanged.
It's just [clears throat] up to the
[2:00:27] board to figure out what new priorities
would be with the project if it's not
[2:00:33] approved by the local governing body.
>> So if um so the federal highway funding
[2:00:41] bill does change every four years and we
don't have a new one yet. So we could
[2:00:47] get more funding, but seven million is
what we're working with now and that's
[2:00:49] what we're using to program um our
current TIP. So if we program our TIP
[2:00:55] and let's say two of the city of Wasilla
projects go forward um and they are
[2:01:00] proposing to start in year one and be
constructed in year four, we would be
[2:01:05] having that conversation this coming
year about your commitment. And then if
[2:01:11] another one of your projects is going
forward in year three and construction
[2:01:15] wouldn't start until the future tip,
we'd be having that conversation in year
[2:01:20] three. So you will get another um bite
at the apple, so to speak, to affirm
[2:01:25] that you do want to move forward this
project. But our assumption is if you're
[2:01:29] putting the projects in your resolution,
um that's giving us the go-ahad to
[2:01:33] program that tip. and when we come back
or when the DOT comes back to you for um
[2:01:38] those match and maintenance agreements,
you've committed to that. But we there
[2:01:42] is an escape clause um if the future
council decides they need that.
[2:01:47] I will say once you start once we start
spending federal money, [clears throat]
[2:01:53] if you change your mind and decide you
no longer want to do the project, you
[2:01:56] will have to pay the money back.
So that's
[2:02:02] » so two
uh
[2:02:05] follow-ups on that. So at the last
meeting I had asked for something kind
[2:02:10] of showing what these projects were and
I got for tonight's meeting I got the
[2:02:15] same map that we got at the last time we
talked about this. Is there a website
[2:02:19] that shows the conceptual plan for this?
I mean how many feet of sidewalk are we
[2:02:24] building? How many where exactly is that
sidewalk going to go? What right away
[2:02:29] are we concerned about? I mean, not,
you know, I don't want to see an eight
[2:02:34] page, you know, a blueprint of what's
going on here, but I would like to know
[2:02:39] where these things are going. What is
the proposed route, you know, to get uh,
[2:02:44] you know, the project that we were
talking about, the sewer meridian
[2:02:46] project, what where is this Elhorn
sidewalk going? Those sorts of things.
[2:02:52] Is there a website that I can look at? I
know with DOT projects, I can go and
[2:02:57] look at the DOT, you know, couplet
project and shows me all sorts of stuff
[2:03:01] and has for years. I mean, is there a
similar
[2:03:05] method uh for getting into these uh MVP
projects?
[2:03:10] » That's a great question through the um
deputy mayor to council member Graham.
[2:03:14] Not yet because the projects aren't
official projects. So once the tip gets
[2:03:20] programmed and the tip gets approved um
the DOT has a multi-phase process to
[2:03:26] developing a project and the first phase
is doing that um the environmental
[2:03:31] review right away research and
acquisition phase and documentation um
[2:03:37] uh the planning level design and then um
once they get that those pieces updated
[2:03:45] then you will have that fuller picture
of what the project is, where is the
[2:03:49] exact alignment, what the what the cost
is proposed to be. Um, so that's part of
[2:03:56] the first phase of project development.
So because these projects were just
[2:04:01] nominated to us, we took the information
that was provided by the nominators and
[2:04:07] then DOT used that information to
develop uh planning level cost estimates
[2:04:12] to give you a rough amount of what we
think the project will cost and what the
[2:04:15] match will be. that those other details
about exact design, how much rideway,
[2:04:20] where the sidewalk is would come um
during that first phase of the project.
[2:04:26] » Council member Graham, can you hold your
thought just for a second? Um Council
[2:04:30] Member Codle, are you on?
>> Yes, Deputy Mayor, I'm on.
[2:04:34] » Do you have any questions?
>> Uh no, I don't at this time. Thank you.
[2:04:39] » Okay, thank you. Go ahead, Council
Member Graham.
[2:04:42] » So, this I think comes back to what Mr.
Craftton was talking about. So we
[2:04:47] approve these projects tonight. We say
put these on the list. And then DOT
[2:04:51] comes forward or whomever comes forward
and says, "All right, let's start
[2:04:55] planning this." And they start planning
this projects. And we look at each other
[2:04:59] and go, "There is no way in hell we're
going to sign up for that project." So
[2:05:04] at that point, we're committed
to paying
[2:05:08] the federal government back for the
money that DOT has spent on the planning
[2:05:13] process.
even though we didn't know what the
[2:05:15] project was to begin with.
[2:05:19] » I don't know if you have
So,
[2:05:24] back me up if you can, Eric. So,
[2:05:30] I think the short answer is yes. Like,
we have to go through the planning
[2:05:36] process to document all the details of
the project. Like I think each of the
[2:05:41] projects has a description. I'm sure um
Eric could provide we could provide you
[2:05:46] the applications that they submitted
that were very detailed with the
[2:05:50] information that they have now. But
project development research happens
[2:05:54] with every single project. So the
difference is you're being a you're
[2:05:59] using
90% of federal funds to do that instead
[2:06:04] of 100% of your own funds. And so, um,
I don't know.
[2:06:11] » So, the short answer is yes, we would be
on the hook for
[2:06:13] » paying the paying the federal funds that
get spent on that, um, phase one of the
[2:06:18] project. Um, yes, that's a federal
requirement.
[2:06:23] » Council member Craftton,
>> thank you. Um,
[2:06:28] I think that kind of justifies some of
my point here. So, there there's a
[2:06:31] couple things I have. Um,
again, I'm going to go back to kind of
[2:06:35] what Mr. Graham's saying here is by
nominating these projects, we're almost
[2:06:40] committing these dollars upfront. I I I
mean, if if federal dollars are going to
[2:06:45] be spent, um, then and because a lot of
it's the design phase, they're be
[2:06:51] they're the the biggest part is once
they get to a design phase, then we're
[2:06:56] committing. And I can understand that
maybe before they even get to the design
[2:07:00] phase, they're going to come to us and
say, "Hey, this is the project we're
[2:07:04] going to start working on next, we're
going to get into the design phase. We
[2:07:07] need to know that there's a commitment
from the council before we start
[2:07:10] expending dollars on it." I'd assume
that's going to hopefully happen happen
[2:07:14] first.
But when we submit that list, the list
[2:07:18] should be a list of projects that we we
know we can stand by. and project 19
[2:07:24] here, the Seward Meridian to Sun Sun
Mountain one is I don't think one we can
[2:07:27] stand by because when we look at already
what's happening in this corridor,
[2:07:31] there's two other projects that should
address a lot of the concerns that have
[2:07:34] already been brought up about this this
connection here. And one of that is the
[2:07:40] the redesign of the median down uh the
middle turn lane and then the other one
[2:07:46] is the hopefully the Herman road and
help with the efficiency of traffic flow
[2:07:51] uh through both of these areas here. And
so I'm just I'm really struggling
[2:07:57] committing to knowing that this
project's going to be done because I
[2:08:00] mean I've I've looked at a map. There's
two property owners that you would have
[2:08:04] to go through to get this road, Sun
Mountain, connected to Sewart Meridian,
[2:08:11] and one of those property owners, it's a
very large chunk of their property. I
[2:08:15] I'm just not seeing a feasible way that
that we could achieve it at this time. I
[2:08:20] mean, to me, it's too early to try and
nominate a project like this to go
[2:08:24] forward. So with that, madame deputy
mayor, I move that we strike project ID
[2:08:30] 19, which is project name South Seward
Meridian Parkway to East Sun Mountain
[2:08:36] Avenue connection project uh from the
resolution. Uh which actually, excuse
[2:08:41] me, we'd be striking it from exhibit A.
>> Is there a second?
[2:08:50] » Graham seconds.
[2:08:54] You want to read that back in another
direction?
[2:08:55] » Sure.
>> It's been moved by council member Krep
[2:08:57] and seconded by council member Graham to
strike from exhibit A project number 19
[2:09:02] which is a South Seward Meridian Parkway
to East Sun Mountain Avenue connection
[2:09:06] project.
>> Madam Deputy Mayor,
[2:09:10] » Council Member Craft.
>> Thank you. Just to finish speaking my
[2:09:13] motion here again. I think it's too big
of a project too soon. Um, as I
[2:09:18] mentioned, uh, the state is in the
design phase for a middle turn lane
[2:09:23] adjustment, um, on the parks highway
right now. Um, which one of the biggest
[2:09:28] concerns is getting the lefthand turn
lane off Sun Mountain, which is
[2:09:31] technically I think it's Alpine and
their auxiliary connections to the parks
[2:09:35] highway. Um and essentially it's that
corridor is about to go through a major
[2:09:41] redirectioning with that project and
compl coup coup coupling with the Herman
[2:09:45] road extension that's happening as well.
So I I think at one point in time yes
[2:09:51] the sewer meridian would have been a
great idea to to connect through. I
[2:09:54] think there was even intentions to
connect it down to Seward Meridian and
[2:09:58] put a roundabout there to connect the
blue I think it's the blue loop pine
[2:10:01] frontage road um and just that whole
area start putting in some roundabouts
[2:10:05] make things a little bit more
interconnected there but at this time I
[2:10:08] think it's not a project in the next
four years it should be a project in the
[2:10:12] in a further I think six plus year time
r time frame at this time
[2:10:20] » we're gonna Eric did you want to talk
>> yeah I just wanted
[2:10:24] comment on the two projects that Mr.
Craftman talked about. Um, I'm
[2:10:26] intimately familiar with both of them
and while they're important, they're not
[2:10:30] the panacea to the problems there and
we're going to continue to have extreme
[2:10:34] safety issues even after those projects
are figured out because of the number of
[2:10:39] uh people that use that area and the
traffic alignment. So, I I understand
[2:10:44] what Mr. Craftton is saying is concerned
about rightway. Um, I guess I just want
[2:10:48] to caution the council that as we enter
the world of being part of the MO, there
[2:10:53] are going to be significant projects
that have to be decided on. And these
[2:10:57] are these are um decadel long thought
processes that have to happen. They're
[2:11:04] not little small um road extensions.
Herman Road is a teeny project compared
[2:11:09] to what the rest of the MO projects are
going to be. And while this is a huge
[2:11:13] project for the city of Wasilla, it is
um small on the side of MOized projects.
[2:11:19] So um I would ask the council as we go
forward in the years on on interacting
[2:11:24] with the MO um the projects that are
going to come before you are going to be
[2:11:29] drastic because of how far behind we are
in safe transportation projects in the
[2:11:35] valley. Um we we know how many people
died on KGB when uh Governor Walker
[2:11:41] stopped the project before um Dunley
started it again. We're talking about
[2:11:46] multiple people dying each year on
different roads because of how far we
[2:11:50] are behind in safe transportation
corridors. So these are going to be
[2:11:55] really important and they're going to
touch major um improvements. They're
[2:11:58] going to have new rideway that has to be
purchased. They're going to have
[2:12:01] detailed traffic studies. They're not
going to be done in little myopic
[2:12:06] projects anymore. They're going to be
very big with um all of the standard
[2:12:11] transportation design that's required
for federal projects. So very well
[2:12:15] vetted, very public facing, but also
they're going to be of a new caliber
[2:12:20] that we haven't had to [snorts] deal
with before. We've waited for the um
[2:12:24] couplet project for 15 years, right? So
that is a great example of a project
[2:12:29] that took far far far too long. Our
whole downtown has not been redeveloped
[2:12:33] because property owners have been
waiting for a decade too long to have a
[2:12:37] project completed. The MO exists so that
doesn't happen anymore. That project did
[2:12:42] not go anywhere because the MO didn't
exist to push these long-awaited
[2:12:47] projects and make major safety
improvements. So, um I appreciate if Mr.
[2:12:52] Craftton wants to wait on this. We we
have three other projects that we
[2:12:56] desperately need, but this is going to
be a new relationship to transportation
[2:13:01] projects on LSU.
[2:13:05] » Council member Graham,
>> thank you. Just for clarification,
[2:13:11] uh Eric, you said you'd appreciate if
Mr. Craftton wanted to wait on that. Are
[2:13:14] you asking him to change his motion or
what?
[2:13:17] » No, what did that what did that
statement mean? I I understand that um
[2:13:22] it feels too drastic. I think that that
connection's going to have to happen. Uh
[2:13:27] whether Herman Road is complete in the
next three years and whenever the uh
[2:13:32] Parks Highway turn lane project happens,
they they don't they don't negate what
[2:13:38] needs to happen with that corridor for
safety.
[2:13:40] » Okay. Thank you. And then my question uh
madame deputy mayor or actually a
[2:13:46] comment madam deputy mayor is has to do
with exactly what Kim was talking about
[2:13:52] exactly what Eric was talking about and
exactly what Ian was talking about. So
[2:13:56] we look at project 19 which is the one
that we're looking at now. You know
[2:14:00] total cost estimate uh of $6.5 million.
Okay. [snorts] I would be willing to bet
[2:14:09] that $4 million of that money will be
spent before any utility is moved or
[2:14:16] before any shovel of dirt is turned. And
what Kim has told us is if we get to
[2:14:24] that point on what is now a pie in the
sky totally unknown project, well, we're
[2:14:29] on the hook for $4 million and for which
we get nothing and for which we have had
[2:14:35] no say in because we haven't seen
anything on this. So, I'm going to stand
[2:14:40] with council member Craftton on this and
and vote to strike project ID19. May I
[2:14:48] maybe with the attorney? That's not what
this resolution says.
[2:14:54] » So,
[2:14:57] you know,
>> what's the motion on the floor? The
[2:15:01] motion on the floor is to strike,
>> but this resolution does not say you're
[2:15:05] on the hook. So, if you are on the hook,
probably moving forward, we need to
[2:15:11] change the verbiage in the resolution.
>> Just throwing it out there. I I I see
[2:15:16] where uh Madam Clerk, you're you're
trying to say like like I said, what
[2:15:21] should come before us? The next thing
like we approved this tonight. The next
[2:15:25] thing that should come before us
theoretically is is a resolution from
[2:15:29] the administration. Uh because Kim has
said, "Hey, we've got the federal
[2:15:33] funding. Uh the dollars are coming down
and project number one, we have the
[2:15:37] number one project." They want to start
the design process. council, we need to
[2:15:42] know you have a buy in and that you're
willing to because they want to start
[2:15:45] spending money, but we have to know that
you're going to be willing to commit to
[2:15:48] these dollars before they start spending
the money. That's my understanding as to
[2:15:53] more or less what should be be happening
next.
[2:15:56] But I think what the bigger picture I
look at is is it it tends to be how the
[2:16:02] council and the administration operate
as a whole. when things are put before
[2:16:06] us in this fashion, people go, "Oh,
well, we already agreed to doing this,
[2:16:10] so we're just going to do it." And to
me, that's the bigger concern is that
[2:16:16] just because the projects before us
doesn't mean we should do it. And what
[2:16:21] it goes a step further into for me is
our roads master plan. We're 20 years, I
[2:16:28] think 20, 19 years out of date on a
roads master plan. We have roads that
[2:16:32] were that were projected to be built
that still haven't been built to this
[2:16:35] day and now won't be able to be built.
And these projects have come like uh
[2:16:42] Eric said from basically just a list of
things that needed to be done that were
[2:16:46] really important. But the next time that
this list comes forward, it's going to
[2:16:49] be based on a list of projects that the
roads master plan has already told us
[2:16:53] that probably need to be done. And we're
going to look through it and go, "Yeah,
[2:16:56] we don't care about this one. We do care
about this one. Uh this one can wait a
[2:16:59] little bit longer." But and so that's
really where the formulation's going to
[2:17:03] come. But I think what we need to be
looking at now is the fact that what we
[2:17:08] put forward we're willing to commit
those dollars to because there's a good
[2:17:11] chance that whether it's us sitting here
or somebody else sitting here that
[2:17:14] they're going to be committing those
dollars to it. So I want to make sure
[2:17:16] that that's what what we're going to be
working towards
[2:17:22] » through the mayor to speak towards the
next um step in the process. If this
[2:17:26] passes tonight, there will be a
reimburseable agreement that comes in
[2:17:30] front of the council to codify with the
state what the funding agreement is. So
[2:17:35] that'll be the next opportunity for uh a
go or no go vote. There's no monies
[2:17:42] promised in this resolution. It's just
it kind of speaks to a larger idea. When
[2:17:47] we go and apply for grants, they're
going to say, "Well, you need to have
[2:17:50] some match." we go and apply for grants
without council approval because the
[2:17:55] mayor is the city manager and says go
apply for the grant but we also want to
[2:17:59] know that there's support moving
forward. So this you know as we talked
[2:18:02] about what's going to change the next
time we see this with more initial
[2:18:06] outreach with uh elected bodies um we
still do go out for grants and then and
[2:18:12] then ask the council's approval and
grants have been um not approved for
[2:18:16] that same reason. So, this is really
just a grant application and then we'll
[2:18:20] be back to talk about um funding if
we're selected.
[2:18:28] » Is there further discussion?
[2:18:33] Is there objection to the motion?
>> Amendment.
[2:18:38] » What's that?
>> We're on the amendment.
[2:18:40] » Oh, we're still on the amendment. Yeah.
Is there objection to the motion? Yeah.
[2:18:44] » Madam Deputy Mayor, I object.
I object.
[2:18:48] » Okay. Wolf. Okay.
>> Thank you. And this is on um amend what
[2:18:52] I'm going to call amendment number one.
And this is the proposal is to strike
[2:18:55] the motion was to strike project number
19 from exhibit A. Council member
[2:19:00] Graham.
>> Yes.
[2:19:02] » Yes. To strike it. Council member
Schmidt.
[2:19:05] » No.
>> Council member Craftton.
[2:19:08] » Yes.
>> Council member Johnson.
[2:19:11] » No.
>> Council member Rubio.
[2:19:14] » No. Council member Codle.
>> No.
[2:19:18] » Amendment number one fails with council
members Graham and Craftton in favor.
[2:19:23] Council members Codle, Schmidt, Johnson,
and Rubio opposed.
[2:19:29] » So now we are back to the
>> to the main motion which is to adopt
[2:19:32] resolution serial number 2646 as
presented.
[2:19:38] » Madam Deputy Mayor,
>> Council Member Craft.
[2:19:41] » Thank you. Uh I won't be supporting
this. Um, I think we're committing the
[2:19:45] city to too much. I mean, what you're
looking at now is, uh, especially
[2:19:51] project number 19 was heavily based on
right of way. And
[2:20:00] I mean, the only step forward would be
to say, hey, we want to enter design. We
[2:20:06] say yes. They start designing. We've
committed dollars. We can't get right
[2:20:10] away. The only option is em eminent
domain at that point. I mean, you're
[2:20:14] committing the the city to a lot of
money when to a project that has no
[2:20:18] plotted right of way. So, I'm a no vote
on this entire project.
[2:20:23] » Council member Johnson.
>> Thank you, Madam Deputy Mayor.
[2:20:27] [clears throat]
So from what I understand from this,
[2:20:31] if we do not approve this
at this particular point,
[2:20:38] basically we stand to lose
um
[2:20:44] any federal money basically for these
projects because of the time frame that
[2:20:51] we've got. From what I understood from
your conversation is we either move
[2:20:56] forward by September or we can kiss most
of our federal money by
[2:21:02] » um
>> now is that pretty much it
[2:21:06] » through deputy may the deputy mayor to
council member Johnson. So we have asked
[2:21:11] the Matsu bureau, the city of Palmer and
yourselves for a resolution nominating
[2:21:15] your projects and that that you want to
prioritize and agreeing to pay the
[2:21:20] match. We have given a date of September
1st um to all the municipalities
[2:21:26] [clears throat] because we need time to
program our tip. So once we receive the
[2:21:31] resolutions and we um figure out what
projects um have been uh nominated by
[2:21:37] the local jurisdictions, we'll go go
about programming our tip. So we
[2:21:42] anticipate having the draft tip
completed for our technical committee
[2:21:46] and policy board in October. It would go
for public comment in November and then
[2:21:52] be approved in December and submitted to
Federal Highways. If you do not approve
[2:21:57] a resolution in the very short term, we
will not program any projects for the
[2:22:03] city of Wasilla. So, right now, as our
current short-term metropolitan
[2:22:08] transportation plan list looks, um we
have uh priorities from the city of
[2:22:15] Palmer and the Matsu Burough. So, the
city of Palmer is asking for 7.5 million
[2:22:21] in the short term. The city of Wasilla's
projects total 14.8 million and the
[2:22:28] Matsu Burough's projects total 56.4
million. So their projects span beyond
[2:22:35] the current tip. And I share this
because they have applied for a lot more
[2:22:41] projects and [clears throat] we I just
want to let I don't want you to miss
[2:22:46] your opportunity for the next
12 or 15 years to access some of this
[2:22:52] funding because the the bureau has
applied for a lot. So I I'm not trying
[2:22:59] to pit the bureau against the city, but
we've tried to allocate a share based on
[2:23:03] population and the application. um the
projects that were applied for and
[2:23:10] that's yeah if so if you don't pass a
resolution we won't program your
[2:23:14] projects potentially for a couple
cycles.
[2:23:18] » So in response I mean I
um
[2:23:24] I don't like the list in front of me.
Okay, I'll be perfectly honest there. On
[2:23:29] the other hand, I'm not going to shoot
myself in the foot by saying, um, yeah,
[2:23:36] I don't like this or I don't like that
or, you know, if if I have a shot at
[2:23:39] federal money, realizing that I still
don't have a commitment for the funds
[2:23:44] and I can still at the later time when
the resolution comes through say no. So,
[2:23:50] while I don't like to do this, I sort of
feel exactly in the same position we did
[2:23:55] with the software vote just a few
minutes ago. This is being forced down
[2:23:59] my throat. In this particular case, I
will support it because I don't want to
[2:24:04] lose the federal funding, but I'm not
really a happy camper.
[2:24:10] » May I Yes.
>> add a comment. I'm so sorry. So, we're
[2:24:16] in this unfortunate time frame right now
with approving our long range
[2:24:20] metropolitan transportation plan and
developing our TIP at the same time
[2:24:25] because we're a new MO and the federal
guidelines say within four years of
[2:24:29] designation, you have to finalize these
two plans and
[2:24:35] start spending the federal dollars that
are suballocated to your region. So in
[2:24:40] the future there won't be this pressure
that you have one week to make a
[2:24:45] decision or three weeks to make a
decision. We will update our MTP every
[2:24:50] five years. We're going to start on that
and two years again to do another
[2:24:54] update. We will update our TIP again
with amendments probably annually, but
[2:24:58] we will redo our TIP every four years
because we know priorities change and
[2:25:03] project interests change. There would
normally be a year between TIP
[2:25:08] programming and MTP finalization so that
there isn't this time pressure. But
[2:25:14] because we're a new organization and
we're trying to meet the federal
[2:25:17] deadline of finalizing our documents by
December, that's why there's this
[2:25:21] condensed timeline.
[2:25:25] » Council member Schmidt. So, I'm
[clears throat] in favor of this and I I
[2:25:29] think anyone that looks at it can say,
"Hey, there's, you know, 14.5,000
[2:25:34] or million dollars here on the board and
we're only looking at approximately 89%
[2:25:40] to take care of in [snorts] our city."
And as we all know how much uh tight
[2:25:46] money is here in the city, we were just
talking about taxes earlier. We don't
[2:25:50] want to keep on raising and raising and
raising. if we had to play for just one
[2:25:54] of these projects is more than doing the
total of them with the 90%
[2:26:00] um help from the government on this. So,
I'm definitely in favor of this.
[2:26:06] » Council member uh Crapton,
>> thank you. Um
[2:26:12] I mean, what I'm hearing is it's just a
few years that we're missing out on
[2:26:15] because all we're doing is missing this
round of projects. It it doesn't stop us
[2:26:20] from getting federal funding.
It's just these specific projects.
[2:26:27] I mean, again, I I think of the future
bind that we're going to potentially be
[2:26:34] in when these projects come back and
they say, "Hey, we need to work on
[2:26:38] getting this." And we say, "Sure, go for
it." And then we turn around and find
[2:26:42] out that this project's a lot more than
what we are expecting and now we're
[2:26:45] bound to those dollars. So, I I
I still stand by uh by what the by
[2:26:52] voting no on this project.
>> Council member Graham.
[2:26:57] » Thank you. [clears throat] First,
I suppose I should commend the
[2:27:02] administration, which would be Eric
mostly for
[2:27:08] allowing the the NO to kind of tell you
what the test answers were before you
[2:27:13] took the test. You know, he said, "These
are the priorities. these this is what
[2:27:17] gets the heaviest weight and so on and
so forth. And then obviously from the
[2:27:21] numbering of the projects you did very
well. I mean our projects our lowest
[2:27:27] ranked project is number 19 you know so
you've done very well for
[2:27:33] you know seeing what is going to float
uh through the through the planning
[2:27:39] organization which is good but what you
know is missing you know is our roads
[2:27:46] master plan. where does this fit in? And
and uh for this particular uh
[2:27:53] resolution, you know, it doesn't fit in
at all. Uh but it's but it's kind of the
[2:27:59] best that we have at present. And
although I really think, you know, uh
[2:28:05] project number 19 is uh
is, you know, like throwing spaghetti at
[2:28:11] the wall at this point. I mean, it's
it's just a jumble of stuff there.
[2:28:15] uh you know the other projects you know
are far enough out uh or far enough down
[2:28:21] the line where I think I can support
these uh and and come back you know it's
[2:28:27] a it it you know it's great leveraging
of the federal funds uh that are there
[2:28:32] and by the time we get to those two big
projects at the end of the list we will
[2:28:37] have had time to talk about them and
hopefully by then we'll have a roads
[2:28:41] master plan and and be able to dovetail
them together. But this one is uh I know
[2:28:48] not ideal but it is workable. Thank you.
>> Is there further discussion?
[2:28:55] » Madame clerk, can you do a roll call
vote?
[2:28:57] » Thank you, madam deputy mayor. Council
member Schmidt, this is on the adoption
[2:29:00] of resolution serial number 2646.
>> Approve.
[2:29:04] » Council member Craftton,
>> no.
[2:29:06] » Council member Johnson,
>> yes.
[2:29:08] » Council member Rubio,
>> yes.
[2:29:10] » Council member Codle,
>> yes. Council member Graham.
[2:29:14] » Yes.
>> The motion to adopt resolution serial
[2:29:16] number 2646 passes with council members
Codle, Graham, Schmidt, Johnson, and
[2:29:21] Rubio in support. Council member Craft
and opposed.
[2:29:29] » We are now at communications. Madame
Clerk, please read the items by title.
[2:29:33] » Thank you. I am number 2610, monthly
financial reports for the period ending
[2:29:38] April 30th, 2026. IM number 2611 monthly
financial reports for the period ending
[2:29:44] May 31st, 2026. Two sets of planning
commission meeting minutes July 14th and
[2:29:49] July 28th, 2026.
We are now at audience con um comments
[2:29:55] which is a time for members for of the
public to share their views with the
[2:29:58] council. This is not a question and
answer period or a time for dialogue.
[2:30:01] Speakers may be referred to
administration or issues raised may be
[2:30:04] taken under the advisement of the
council or administration. Please begin
[2:30:08] your testimony by stating your first and
last name. And if you are a city
[2:30:12] resident, comments are limited to three
minutes.
[2:30:23] » Good evening, uh, Deputy Mayor Rubio and
council members. My name for the record,
[2:30:27] my name is David Wilson. I'm a city
resident. I just wanted to share a brief
[2:30:31] little story I shared with the police
chief. Uh, we ran into a resident over
[2:30:35] the weekend who was telling me about a
situation with a law enforcement
[2:30:38] officer. They were in medical distress.
And short story of the matter, I was
[2:30:43] hoping that she would be here today, but
I think it's raining and didn't want to
[2:30:46] wheel the wheelchair down here, but uh
the police officer
[2:30:52] Rice it was um came and really lended
aid to this uh um elderly uh lady and um
[2:31:00] helped her get her wheelchair back into
her place after she was cred off to the
[2:31:04] hospital. She came back to that surprise
and didn't really want to trust an
[2:31:09] officer, but she said uh Officer Rice
had the kindest eyes she's ever seen and
[2:31:14] really made it a pleasant experience and
now she has more faith into law
[2:31:18] enforcement. She looks forward to more
interactions, positive interactions with
[2:31:21] Wasola PD. So, I just want to say you
guys have a fine while still doing great
[2:31:25] service and I know that you guys don't
always get those compliments and stories
[2:31:29] back and so uh she just wanted to make
sure that the public knew uh about what
[2:31:34] he did and that she wanted to honor him
and she was like, "Oh, we need to have
[2:31:38] the press come because I guess he's out
of town." And so, when he gets back to
[2:31:40] the airport, we want to do this whole
hurrah for him. And I was like, "Whoa,
[2:31:43] whoa, whoa. Why don't you start with
council first and let them know that
[2:31:47] what a wonderful job that he did on um
in serving and protecting our
[2:31:51] residents." So, thank you.
>> Thank you.
[2:31:59] Okay, seeing no more, we are on We are
now at mayor, clerk, attorney, and
[2:32:03] council comments. Madame clerk,
>> thank you. And I I think I'll just echo
[2:32:07] onto that. I didn't ever say it
publicly, but I got hit um by a teen
[2:32:11] driver in the Target parking lot, which
is why I'm driving a rental. It was my
[2:32:15] first um interaction with the police
department. He didn't know me. I of
[2:32:20] course never identify myself as a city
official. He was professional. He was
[2:32:25] kind. I couldn't have been a better
experience and I had shared that with
[2:32:29] the chief. So kudos to WPD. Um our
election is progressing. We have our re
[2:32:34] review board which will meet here on
Thursday um to test the ballot
[2:32:38] tabulators that'll be used in the
election. If you want to vote by mail,
[2:32:42] deadline is 5:00 p.m. September 29th to
get that application into the clerk's
[2:32:46] office. And then early inerson voting
will take place here at city hall
[2:32:50] September 21st through October 5th. We
have weekdays 9 to5 and Saturdays 10 to
[2:32:55] three. And we will see you all here next
regular meeting September 14th. Thank
[2:33:00] you.
>> Thank you city attorney.
[2:33:03] » Thank you uh
no comments. Very long meeting.
[2:33:08] » Thank you council member Johnson.
[2:33:13] » Thank you mayor. Um,
I'm going to be traveling to the lower
[2:33:18] 48 uh for the first 3 weeks of
September. I will endeavor to call in on
[2:33:25] the 14th
uh so we can have a quorum um
[2:33:31] other than that I don't really have any
comments.
[2:33:35] » Council member Codle.
[2:33:39] » Thank you, Madam Deputy Mayor. Um good
meeting tonight. I want to thank Moren
[2:33:44] for all of her work on this presentation
for the sales tax um options for us.
[2:33:50] Gives us a lot of things to to think
about. Um I also just want to make a
[2:33:55] comment that I appreciate the staff
status update report from
[2:33:59] administration. I think it's good to get
these updates and it just gives a lot
[2:34:05] more transparency to what's going on um
for the council and and keeps us in
[2:34:11] touch with the administration and I just
appreciate that and that's all I have.
[2:34:15] Thank you.
>> Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Oh,
[2:34:18] it's on here twice.
>> Council member uh Graham [laughter]
[2:34:23] Graham
that other old
[2:34:25] » flip of the I don't know. We're going
with Graham.
[2:34:28] » I resemble that remark. [laughter]
Uh yeah, first I wanted to uh you know
[2:34:34] thank me. That was a very interesting uh
presentation. Lots of information uh out
[2:34:39] there uh a lot of questions uh answered
that the council has asked over the
[2:34:44] years and has never really been
addressed as a bundle. So that was a a
[2:34:49] very good thing. I really appreciate it
as well as all the staff work on a
[2:34:52] variety of things. Uh
I did mention to the chief uh and to
[2:34:58] Lori, you know, from Mattcom that the
burrow uh is now in in public meetings
[2:35:05] saying that there's going to be a new
MATCOM
[2:35:08] » [snorts]
>> uh near Tate and Bogard Road associated
[2:35:11] with a new fire station. Uh I'd be
interested in finding out more about
[2:35:16] that, but since it's already 8:30, maybe
we can do that at a future meeting. You
[2:35:21] know, I mean, if if this is just the
burrows pie in the sky idea, it'd be
[2:35:25] nice to know that, but I'm really
curious why they would be saying that
[2:35:30] that's the way things are going to be if
if the city doesn't hasn't signed off on
[2:35:34] that. you know, MATCOM is a city uh
issue and and and it's a a city function
[2:35:40] and uh it's interesting to know how
would be interesting to know how the
[2:35:46] bureau plans to take that over and and
just move it without uh telling anything
[2:35:50] about it. Uh also uh the uh updates
provided by uh the deputy administrator
[2:35:57] the written updates that that [snorts]
council person codle talked about very
[2:36:02] uh good uh to know what's going on uh
and I look forward to seeing more of
[2:36:07] those. I mean, as a council person, you
get questions all the time. You know,
[2:36:11] what's going on here? What's going on
there? And if if the administration, uh,
[2:36:17] uh, you know, doesn't pass that
information on, then each of us end up
[2:36:21] going, uh, to Eric or going to Scott or
going to wherever to get the answers,
[2:36:25] which is, you know, certainly not ideal.
So, this, in addition to being a lot of
[2:36:30] great information, it also, I think,
cuts down on staff time. So,
[2:36:33] congratulations on on getting that out.
Look forward to that as well. But thank
[2:36:38] you uh for being here uh tonight. It's
always a pleasure to have uh interaction
[2:36:44] with the public. So uh get out, enjoy
the fair, have a good time.
[2:36:50] » Thank you, Council Member Schmidt.
>> Yeah, I want to say thank you to Marine
[2:36:55] as well. Um that was a very good
presentation on the taxes. Um quite a
[2:36:59] bit of information there, but I
appreciate all the information she
[2:37:03] brought to everyone. And thank you,
Eric, for uh getting these uh proposals
[2:37:08] together for uh the transportation uh
tips um so we could uh get some of this
[2:37:14] federal funding. I think that's a great
job on that. Thank you. And I will
[2:37:20] probably not be attending the next
meeting on the September the 14th. I do
[2:37:26] go on an annual moose hunt and that's
the date. I
[2:37:30] » Things may change. I may get home sooner
or later. You never know. and I may call
[2:37:34] in. So, if that's the case, I will do my
best to make it, but it's about an 80%
[2:37:39] chance I will not.
>> Hopefully, you get the moose quicker.
[2:37:44] » Either way,
>> have fun. Council member Craftton,
[2:37:48] » thank you. Uh, couple questions I did
have. Um, first was to Eric. Eric, uh,
[2:37:54] where we're at with the airport property
acquisition. Did you say at the next
[2:37:59] meeting we're going to be getting some
more information?
[2:38:02] Yeah, there's a lot happening on that
front. So, um [clears throat] I will
[2:38:06] pull together the updates that we've had
before and where they stand. Um there's
[2:38:11] a parcel that um the large parcel we've
been talking about. We have been meeting
[2:38:16] with the FAA on its importance to the
extension that we've talked about and
[2:38:22] because of the value of that parcel, we
have to do another appraisal to m to
[2:38:26] meet the FAA's um requirements. One of
the other things that we're doing on the
[2:38:31] other parcels is explaining to the FAA
on the ones that we've already purchased
[2:38:36] why we needed them. And we'll be
explaining that um there's this there's
[2:38:41] this process showing if we can show that
the whole process whole parcel makes
[2:38:46] more sense than all the work and cost
and time to subdivide it, then they'll
[2:38:50] join us in the complete purchase. So our
consultant is pulling that together. So
[2:38:54] I will be bringing the council an update
on where everyone stands. um property
[2:39:00] acquisition wise. Um the other thing I
want to let the council know is we're
[2:39:03] working with the burrow fire department
to um uh burn down the um gardener house
[2:39:11] that we purchased. That was one of the
first purchases we made. Um it froze
[2:39:15] last winter with all of the extreme wind
events that we had and so it was
[2:39:20] couldn't live in it anyway, but it it
needs to go down. And so we've been
[2:39:23] working with the fire department to make
that happen. and um it's looking very
[2:39:28] positive in their steps. So there'll be
an agreement that we have to sign that I
[2:39:31] think will probably have to come in
front of the council. I've asked legal
[2:39:35] to look at it. So I think the council
will see that because of um the way they
[2:39:39] do liability coverage. So you'll see
more on that at the same time.
[2:39:43] » Are we burning marshmallows? Are we all
>> We definitely should have a party on
[2:39:48] [laughter]
>> they're practicing practicing.
[2:39:50] » Uh second question probably might be
this one might be to our finance
[2:39:53] director Wendy. Um, great uh,
presentation by Meen there. Like I said
[2:39:59] earlier on sales tax. I know a lot of
this was questions that I think the
[2:40:02] council has had hanging out there for a
while. Um, the big question is what is
[2:40:07] the end goal for this presentation? Was
it to just kind of say, "Hey, here's
[2:40:10] some changes. Is the are we expecting
the administration to bring us forward
[2:40:15] some ordinance changes or is this uh,
something that the council needs to a
[2:40:20] council member council members need to
take up?
[2:40:23] First and foremost, it Can you hear me?
>> Yeah.
[2:40:26] » Okay. Um, first and foremost, it was out
of the meetings that I that
[2:40:32] Crystal and I sat down and met with you.
Almost every one of you wanted to meet
[2:40:38] uh about that or wanted some kind of
understanding of what sales tax was here
[2:40:42] in the city. Um, you know, it really did
flesh out a lot of things um that need
[2:40:48] to change. and um Moren and I were were
going to be sitting down and looking at
[2:40:54] some of those revenue items that you
said that you could that that you saw on
[2:41:00] her presentation that need to be
updated.
[2:41:03] » Okay. So, there's a good chance we could
be seeing an ordinance come forward from
[2:41:06] the administration is what I'm hearing.
>> Yes.
[2:41:09] » Okay. And then last question, I'm just
going to beat the drum again about our
[2:41:13] water and sewer rates. uh would love to
still have that meeting uh with is it
[2:41:19] mut
>> waterworth
[2:41:21] » waterworth with Munworth that's what it
is so just just a reminder on that one
[2:41:26] again
>> yes Eric and I um have that on our
[2:41:29] agenda and we definitely will be talking
about that
[2:41:34] » can I ask something if I may I just had
a thought would it help Wendy if we had
[2:41:38] I was kind of thinking of how the
council flushed through some of those
[2:41:42] changes with title 16 would it help if
we brought back another sales tax
[2:41:47] presentation and you guys could kind of
flush through
[2:41:52] we kind we're kind of on board for this,
you know, changing this exemption or
[2:41:56] increasing revenue here, but like this
is completely off the table.
[2:42:01] » I'd be open to that. I I think the
biggest thing is don't throw it under a
[2:42:05] public introduction with no debate. I
mean, know that when we talk about that
[2:42:09] one, that's going to be a heavily
debated topic. So, I would think the
[2:42:12] biggest thing is
>> that would be wonderful. making sure we
[2:42:14] have the the time to debate and discuss
as a committee of the whole. So it'd
[2:42:18] almost be better to come in as a a new
business or something committee of the
[2:42:22] whole discussion with here's the items.
>> So that
[2:42:25] » I think that may may end up being more
fruitful in the end just suggest
[2:42:29] » then than feeling like we're beating up
an ordinance that's been spent you know
[2:42:32] many hours on working out and just to
turn out for us be like we don't like
[2:42:36] this scrap it and start over. So uh with
that that is all. I appreciate it. Thank
[2:42:41] you very much. Uh great meeting tonight.
Um, thank you. Back to me. I just want
[2:42:46] to echo what everyone's saying. Meen,
uh, her presentation was awesome
[2:42:52] » and so very informative. Enjoyed it and,
uh, as I look at it, we no further
[2:42:58] business at hand. And I'm
>> Did you get Kyle?
[2:43:01] » Yes, I got it.
>> You said Johnson twice.
[2:43:04] » He was on there twice. He got lucky and
Schmidt got left off. So I I got it. I'm
[2:43:08] adjourning the meeting unless