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Yeah,

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yeah, yeah.

3
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sorry.

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we're on.

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man

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just made my day and then like three
minutes later

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see I vote too.

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think it's working.

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yeah.

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choices there.

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» [laughter]

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[laughter]

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» for the twist

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don't you just take them down?

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all right. What's the real time?
yeah.

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or not?
or not? I said Okay, you're ready.

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Ready.
Excellent. Great. So, I'm going to call

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the regular city council meeting of May
20th

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to order at 7:00. Will you join me in
the Pledge of Allegiance?

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Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the

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republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and

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justice for all.
>> [clears throat]

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» Third, we take the roll.
Mayor Smith. Here. [clears throat] Sarah

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Adams.
>> Here. Lee Collins. Here. Aaron Hanson.

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» Here. Daisy Jacobson. Here. Mike
Michelson.

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Here.
Bonnie Rabin. Here. Dave Zastera. Here.

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All of council is present.
Wow. Great.

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Thanks to everyone. Um, we've got the
regular agenda before us. Are there any

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modifications to the agenda as
presented?

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Hearing
no objection, we'll consider the agenda

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approved.
Disclosures of conflicts of interest and

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ex parte communication, anything to
declare?

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Based on the primer of the clerk,
that's been included, which is great.

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Okay, communications by and petitions
from visitors. We

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don't have any scheduled guest speakers.
Are there audience members who want to

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come and comment on agenda items?
Yes, there are.

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Hello, my name is Chris Marino. I'm at
the 10 Lake Avenue.

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Um,
I came to make some comments on agenda

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item nine, uh, the discussion about
raising the mill rate and school

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funding.
Um, reading through the budget memo

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included with the agenda item nine in
tonight's meeting packet, I can't help

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but have a strong feeling of frustration
towards the city administration's

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attempt to use the school district
funding request as a scapegoat to push

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through an unnecessary property tax
hike.

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00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:15,560
City administration has laid out a grim
narrative. We're being told that Cordova

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is staring down a downward financial
spiral. We're told our resources are

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bare-bones, our fishing forecast is
poor, and funding ongoing requests is

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unsustainable without extracting more
money from local citizens. To fix this,

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staff is recommending a mill rate hike
to 12.07, forcing the average Cordova

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family to take a $404 a year hit to
their household budgets.

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We're told this is a necessity to cover
the Cordova School District's $181,000

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budget increase. I don't believe it's a
necessity, and the provided budget memo

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clearly defends that point. It's time to
stop pretending Cordova has an

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unavoidable revenue problem, when
perhaps Cordova has a bad decision

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problem. Just a few meetings ago,
revenue was quite literally knocking on

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the door of City Hall. This exact
council had an offer on the table to

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sell city land for $171,000 in cash. The
proposer was willing to make an upfront

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cash deal, which would have put that
land onto our tax rolls permanently.

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Instead, this council voted to reject
that upfront cash.

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They chose to hand the land over to a
nonprofit with $0 to its name and zero

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00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,880
obligation to ever pay a single penny in
property taxes.

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00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:27,640
The irony is impossible to ignore. You
walked away from $171,000

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in cash, and after all the city fees and
permitting attached to the development,

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that number would have drastically
risen. Now, tonight, you're sitting here

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debating a recommendation of city
administration to force a tax tax hike

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on local property owners to generate
$181,000 for our schools. The math is

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very troubling, to say the least. You
passed up nearly that amount of money a

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little over a month ago, and now you
want local families to pay for your

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charity.
And it gets worse. On top of that

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rejected revenue,
the memo states that the governor just

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announced $610,749

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distribution in secure rural schools
money. Even after fully funding the

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00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:11,080
$124,000 Second Street grant match, the
city's sitting on $486,613

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00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:14,640
in unbudgeted cash. But instead of using
that federal cushion to bail out

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00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:18,520
taxpayers or fund the school, the city
admin wants to pocket the entire half

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00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:22,840
million dollars for a municipal capital
project account while keeping our

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property tax hike locked in place.
The recommendation provided by the city

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is double dipping on the backs of
Cordova residents while using the school

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district as a scapegoat to build a cash
cushion to cover up questionable policy

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choices.
You cannot reject for sure revenue and

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then turn around and look Cordova
families in the eye and say you have to

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00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,840
raise your taxes to keep the schools
funded.

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00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:49,080
In addition to the secure rural schools
money designated to aid municipalities

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in school funding, the city also has
ordinance 1231 funds to cover unexpected

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cash flow needs that may arise,
currently around 2.5 million.

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00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:02,160
I'm asking that you protect Cordovans
from a senseless tax hike.

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00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:06,400
When the June 3rd meeting comes, reject
the proposed 12.07 mill rate, use the

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00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:10,360
federal secure rural schools money for
its intended purpose, and start making

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decisions that value the taxpayers of
this community.

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If an increase of the mill rate is to be
approved, I want it to be made clear

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00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:21,000
that that tax increase is not a
consequence of the school district's

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funding request. It's a consequence of
this council's decision to prioritize

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padding the city's bank accounts to the
tune of $629,613

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over the affordability of the community.
Thank you.

95
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Thank you.

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00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,680
Are there audience comments?
Oh.

97
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:06,640
Great.
Thanks.

98
00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:11,920
Any other audience comments about agenda
items?

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00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:16,840
I see staff and welcome to comment.
Chairpersons and representatives of

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boards and commissions.
I think

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00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:25,080
votes.
Oops. Okay, approval of consent

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00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:28,840
calendar. We don't have that. We don't
have minutes.

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00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:34,719
We don't have bids.
Proposals for contracts.

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00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,719
Reports of officers.

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I had secure remote schools written in
my report of officers.

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Imagine that. Um I did not include a
written report. I'm sorry. I didn't get

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to it last week.
And

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see.

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Um
I just been trying to track what's

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happening with the state operating
budget and I think most of you

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00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:10,880
probably saw what happened with the
legislation about the

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defined benefits uh legislation and that
went down along with the

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uh or because of or um
not because of the governor not getting

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the terms that he wanted for the natural
gas pipeline. Anyway, that was um kind

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of a bummer. We're still I guess waiting
to see

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uh how he approves and what form the
governor approves the operating budget

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legis- legislation because he has line
item veto

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power. So, we'll wait and see what
what um

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comes through
from that process. My comment about the

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whole
budget process, which is apropos of what

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Chris was just talking about, was
um

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I wanted to urge people who are
listening and to people who are

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following this issue, especially here,
to

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not to oversimplify what's happening
with our decisions here tonight, because

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I think the whole issue around school
funding is it's not just

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there's a gap locally and we may or may
not raise property taxes to cover it. We

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know that funding coming from the
federal level is a lot less than it has

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been in many forms, which means that the
city is having to make up for a lot of

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different things. It's not just
the school. We know the fuel costs are

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increasing. We know that I don't know if
people saw the um

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opinion piece that Mayor LaFrance of
Anchorage and Mayor Hopkins of Fairbanks

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uh had in the ADN a couple days ago
talking about the fact that

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um
if the local

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property tax valuation goes up, then the
state contribution goes down. So,

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it's automatically built into the system
that we're getting less funding from the

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state than we should than we should be
able to keep up with inflation. Um so, I

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just wanted to encourage people who are
following all this, like I said, not to

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oversimplify the whole um
dynamic, because there are so many

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factors feeding into the fact that we
have a lot less money to work with in

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general to
do chip sealing on our roads, to pay our

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00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:15,440
maintenance staff, to maintain our
vehicles, to maintain our recreation

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facilities, to pay our staff, to support
the school. So, there's a whole lot

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going on.
Um

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00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:27,760
yeah, and
yeah, please just

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don't oversimplify, I guess is my
message, because um

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there's really something
So,

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00:11:32,839 --> 00:11:38,880
that's my main report. I did want to
also comment on a

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00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:45,080
the Secure Rural Schools program is
about to open up

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applications for seats on a committee to
help with allocating the Title II money.

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00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:54,000
That's more considered more
discretionary, I would say. It's money

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00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:57,680
that can go to fund projects that are on
or adjacent to Forest Service lands, and

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00:11:55,800 --> 00:12:01,520
it can be for things like
um I know that the watershed project has

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00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:05,440
applied for money for culvert
replacements. There have been trail

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projects funded with that money, a bunch
of different things.

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00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:12,800
And it's really cool to sit on a body
where you get to spend money and get to

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help make things happen. So, if
anybody's interested in serving on that

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committee,
uh I think the notice of applications

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will be coming out in the next few
weeks, I would say. Yeah.

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00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:28,360
So, um and it will be a Chugach
region-wide committee. We used to have a

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Prince William Sound committee, and
there was a committee over on the Kenai.

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They're going to combine those two
because

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over on the Kenai, they couldn't field
enough people to apply. We had really

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active
um hard-working committed committee,

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have had for years, and have found lots
of good ways to spend that money.

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Um but they have been unable to field
enough people to fill those seats. So,

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00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:56,760
now it's going to be one committee for
both regions, but still spending two

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pots of money.
We don't have to We're not combining our

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money with Kenai money. So. What are
these 16 seats? Eight from Cordova,

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00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:08,080
eight from the other side? Okay. Yeah.
Great.

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00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:13,440
Yeah, so it's a really great opportunity
for anybody who wants to

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00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:16,800
um participate. The meetings happen
at the most once every 2 years. It's not

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a um
a committee that meets a lot. When it

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00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:25,520
does meet, it's kind of an all-day thing
or

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00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:33,160
maybe 1 and 1/2 days, but um it's not
a huge lift on an annual basis. So.

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00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:39,240
Yeah, so we're happy to answer questions
about anything that we or anything else

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that we've been talking about.

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Thanks.
Great, then I will we can move on to the

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city manager's report.
And also the city manager report

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00:13:53,400 --> 00:14:00,920
continues this package. Um,
do you have some

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00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:05,960
pretty cool news that um
the audit team is leaving early because

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00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:10,360
we are so good.
And I'm super proud of the finance team

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00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:14,040
and how they pulled that together. I
mean

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the auditors are like uh from last year
to this year is just unbelievable.

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00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:23,880
So I think we should be very grateful
for our

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00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:28,560
team finance director. Yep, and the team
that works too. You know, they're

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00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:32,680
pulling stuff at Mach 90 every morning
when the auditors are doing stuff at

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00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:37,120
4:30 and it's just because they work
together so well over the years.

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00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:40,800
You know, worked out the
craziness

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00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:44,640
24 and you know, we're doing the 25 on
it.

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00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:50,120
And it's just yeah, it's impressive. I
mean the auditors and Gavin are just

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00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:53,160
they pie cuz it's so nice.
So I just want to say that they're doing

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00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:56,800
a great job. Cheryl's got a great handle
on it.

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00:14:54,200 --> 00:15:01,760
Team is a great job burning the limits.
Tammy Merritt and Pam also it's just

194
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:05,640
it's incredible.
So to hold that down, everybody gets hit

195
00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:09,040
by the audit. We all have get pulled
something,

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00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:13,520
but those guys took the brunt.
Um

197
00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:19,240
So then we can talk more after
we're having lunch.

198
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:22,240
After their lunch?
We celebrate a little bit, but yeah,

199
00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:27,520
it's good things.
Um other than that, I've just been uh

200
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:32,200
finalizing the lease truck. We're almost
there. It's a lot of paper stuff back

201
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:38,040
and forth.
That truck should be here by mid-June,

202
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:41,800
which will be really really nice. Well,
well, I'll just say that's contingent on

203
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:44,480
Alaska state lease schedule.
But, that's good.

204
00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:51,000
I'll get them
all good running vehicles in town or

205
00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:55,440
door to door delivery here. And then
we'll figure out another vehicle in the

206
00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,440
future.

207
00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:02,840
And then we've been working on liability
insurance a lot, learning a lot, working

208
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:06,880
with our insurance brokers to to be
talking about some of the

209
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:13,000
deductibles and some of the other things
that maybe we can look at to help us

210
00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:17,320
save a few bucks. Um, insurance
medical insurance have been talking with

211
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:21,520
that broker as well. Things are looking
better. We are continually looking at

212
00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:25,560
where we're at.
We're doing some alternatives where

213
00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:29,960
maybe we split from the hospital for
some crazy reason. Smaller groups are

214
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:33,920
getting better options than larger ones.
So, we're we're investigating every

215
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:40,880
route possible.
Um, and we've also looked into the

216
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:44,440
I don't know how to say this wrong, HSA.
HSA, which is

217
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:47,960
having a health savings account. And we
are doing that this year, and so we

218
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:52,800
continue to do that
moving forward. And that has saved a lot

219
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:55,839
of senior employees senior employees.
So,

220
00:16:53,880 --> 00:17:00,720
we're trying to you know, figure out
ways to make things a little

221
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:04,199
a little less a little less expensive,
but still good.

222
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:08,079
So, that's all I got for the business
side. If you have questions, certainly

223
00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,079
open.

224
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:16,480
Thanks, Sam. Do you have any questions
from the council members or um

225
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:19,439
council member online
or the managing members?

226
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:34,160
Hey, let's move on to the city clerk's
report.

227
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:39,080
Um I've included in there the vacancy of
the Pizwak board member that is a city

228
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:43,240
rep. Uh
the next meetings they have are in

229
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:49,560
October, so it'd be great to get that
filled before then.

230
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:53,360
And those are in October.
All the days.

231
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:58,400
They like the first week of October.
Um so please spread that around.

232
00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:04,520
Hopefully people are listening and
looking at it. It's on the Facebook and

233
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:07,960
the website and then this packet.
Sent in dove delivery, so we'll see if

234
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:15,040
we can get someone. It's kind of a
unique individual because they can't

235
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:18,200
they can't hold a permit or a permit.
Because there's enough of them already

236
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:21,560
on the board.
Um I

237
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:27,120
I see that last meeting though you guys
filled the housing supply accelerator.

238
00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:31,080
And then you guys filled the one of the
last trails members, so

239
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:36,440
we're in good shape on boards and
commissions minus this one.

240
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:39,440
That's all in my report. Anyone have any
questions?

241
00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:45,760
Thank you.
Yeah, I

242
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:49,480
I asked around a little bit last night
to see if you knew anybody who

243
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:53,400
knew anybody.
Because it has to be somebody who's not

244
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:59,320
a permit holder, not
Um not a board and not related to a

245
00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:02,840
process, not doing Yes. affiliated or
affiliated with a process. They're

246
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:06,400
either or yeah, or I guess either or
them.

247
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:09,600
And or a processor.
So somebody who runs a tender wouldn't

248
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:14,200
be
No, not eligible.

249
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:17,120
Yeah. So no, I could ask.
Depends who it is. funding their

250
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:20,560
process. I mean, they would just
naturally generally have a contract with

251
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:24,000
the process servers. Right.
>> So. But, right. So, I mean,

252
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:29,880
that's what Yeah, right. That's what
Yeah. But, then maybe if they're an

253
00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:33,640
owner, maybe if they're just at tender.
Well, we can. I don't know. I I I

254
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:39,120
haven't looked into it. Yeah. We have
somebody in mind.

255
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,120
Um I'm talking to Renschler to see.

256
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:44,120
Um you know what? Yeah.
It's Alaska season.

257
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:50,320
Yeah.
The Venn diagram is

258
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:53,400
Yes, the little the one in the middle is
pretty

259
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:58,960
small.
Okay.

260
00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:03,640
Um All right. So,
we don't have correspondence in this

261
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:10,120
packet, and that brings us to an board a
resolution.

262
00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,120
Uh resolution 05-26-21.

263
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:20,000
Entertain a motion.
Move.

264
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:24,080
Um who was that from?
I think it was Mike Olson.

265
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:30,000
Uh I move to approve resolution
05-26-21,

266
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:35,000
adopting the city of Cordova 2026 local
hazard mitigation plan. Second.

267
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:40,080
Excellent. Resounding vote there.

268
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:47,920
Did you hear me in the back? Zastro and
second with Main. That was number

269
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:51,840
Zastro. Yeah. Um
Obviously, we needed that. When the last

270
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:56,080
update was 2018,
and we've been moving through a process

271
00:20:53,280 --> 00:21:02,200
with city staff as with public comments
since 2004. And um

272
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:08,160
and I I guess I didn't realize too that
having this in place makes it able for

273
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:12,640
us to have a a mitigation plan that's
within 5 years allows us the opportunity

274
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:16,040
to forget some federal dollars to throw
on the side. We're missing out on those

275
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,920
opportunities that might come up.
Um

276
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:23,320
I haven't looked it over with a
fine-tooth comb, but it looks uh like

277
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:26,360
it's very comprehensive and
and move it forward.

278
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:32,880
I remember reading I did look through
with a fine-tooth comb but when it came

279
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:38,120
out for public review in 2015 with the
planning commission and put comments

280
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:41,160
into them and so um yeah, and I could
have checked it out online. So and they

281
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:46,960
addressed everything I had a concern
about. So I pretty comprehensive.

282
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:46,960
Great.

283
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:56,480
Any other council member comments or um
yeah, council members

284
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,480
at the table or online?

285
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:10,080
Well, it's great that this puts us in a
position to be eligible for grant money,

286
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,080
not certainly.

287
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:17,160
Good step.
Great step to take. So

288
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:20,680
Okay, all those in favor of adopting
resolution 05-26-21

289
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:29,360
to approve the local hazard mitigation
plan

290
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:32,000
please signify by saying I. I. I.
That's everyone.

291
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,560
Motion carries.

292
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:41,480
Okay.
So let's go

293
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:47,800
the big issue right here once council
discussion of Cordova School District

294
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:51,920
funding
other revenue shortfalls and setting the

295
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:56,480
2026 mill rate.
So we have a memo

296
00:22:54,400 --> 00:23:00,360
in the packet from the city manager
which

297
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:04,800
follows up a little bit on the memo from
the May 6th meeting where manager laid

298
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:07,920
out some options.
Um

299
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:12,320
I think the one new piece of information
in here is as was brought up in the

300
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:16,680
agenda comments that we have learned
about the second payment for

301
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:21,600
uh forest service receipts where as the
city manager points out we're we're

302
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:24,720
booking them both in 2026, but
they came in two

303
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:27,240
payments because one was effectively
four

304
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:33,320
I don't know if you say it that one was
for 2025 and one was for 2026 or one was

305
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:37,320
for 2024 and one was for 2025, but
effectively they are both showing up

306
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:40,200
uh and being entered as revenue this
year also.

307
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:43,320
But so now we have the amount for the
second one.

308
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,800
Yeah.
Um

309
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:50,720
and did did you want to make any other
comments, Jim?

310
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:54,800
I
No, I feel like a lot of things I'm kind

311
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:59,320
of curious to see if there's any
questions, what y'all want to talk

312
00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:03,200
through. Um
You

313
00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:06,680
I'm just throwing down on the paperwork
we're dealing with every day at the city

314
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:11,040
so
I'm more than happy to answer any

315
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:11,040
questions we

316
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:20,440
I guess just to recap when we
I mean maybe people went back and looked

317
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:24,720
at it also, but um at the May 6th
meeting the options were

318
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:29,160
uh in terms of the school's request for
additional funding, lower or don't fund

319
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:32,720
the request. We did lower it. Uh raise
the mill rate. Take some portion or all

320
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:38,640
of it from the 3 million that we
borrowed from the permanent fund.

321
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:42,000
And use
at the time the unknown amount of forest

322
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:45,320
service receipts. We now know what that
number is.

323
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:51,760
Um
and those are I think still essentially

324
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:56,000
the options in front of us. We
We There's maybe I'm going to

325
00:24:53,800 --> 00:25:01,320
remake it on that. I I the important
point that I'm trying to make

326
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:08,160
is sustainability.
The only sustainable way to have that

327
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:11,480
revenue for the future for the school
is to do it properly.

328
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:15,840
We may never see commercial receipts
again. I don't know. Nobody knows. I

329
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:20,280
mean, we're not budgeting, they're not
budgeting in '26. There's no anticipated

330
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:23,680
to be budgeting them in '27 at the
direction of

331
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:29,360
council.
So, it's not a

332
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:35,240
guaranteed so the income. We do well
above the minimum amount to the school.

333
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:41,320
And you know, I'm not I think it's
great. Like we can do it, we can do it,

334
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:44,280
but we can't continue to cut the city's
budget

335
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:49,080
to fund it.
And that is where we live right now.

336
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:54,560
You take $181,000
and we don't decide how to fund it.

337
00:25:51,840 --> 00:26:00,120
And we don't have any money for
the $192,000 that we spent on the oil

338
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:06,760
and gas team taxes that we didn't know
about, the pool 100 grand, $35,000 for a

339
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,760
master plan.

340
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:13,840
We're kind of hurting ourselves. Like
we're we're hurting our own purse by

341
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:16,440
doing We need to have a sustainable way
to continue to fund the school. We're

342
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,960
hurting the school, we're hurting
ourselves.

343
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:23,680
That's just my
take home point. Like

344
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:27,040
how are we going to keep moving forward?
We don't know what's going to happen

345
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:30,760
between now and
end of the year. The money that is in

346
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:36,840
the
2.5 million, we've already eaten

347
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:41,840
$500,000 of that out. It's gone.
This keeps us from running from June

348
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:46,480
in at our lowest revenue point when
we're paying a lot of money out, but

349
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:49,840
we're not getting any revenue. This for
cash flow, that was the intention of

350
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:55,240
that.
So, I think we really have to be cuz

351
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,680
consider it. That's fine. We're better
off

352
00:26:55,840 --> 00:27:01,360
of how much they need and what and what
we're spending it on.

353
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:05,200
And how we're going to sustain if this
were something that comes

354
00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:09,760
over and over and again.
Can't hire an employee.

355
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:12,440
Can't hire an employee.
You don't know how to sustain that

356
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:17,040
ability. Yeah.
It's It's important

357
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,480
to really think this past
right now.

358
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:25,920
Thanks. Council member Council member
Cummings.

359
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:29,800
I want to see who
who was first.

360
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:33,560
I don't have it over there. How the hell
did I get over there? Council member

361
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:38,200
Vincent.
So, I I do want to start off with that

362
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:40,444
last sales topic failed city out in my
opinion.

363
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:45,040
Um there are too many
>> [clears throat]

364
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:48,640
» things uh working against us um as far
as the budget goes.

365
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,760
Um
I do appreciate

366
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:55,360
you know, the
community member coming in

367
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,520
saying what he did and
um

368
00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:01,240
being here and
adding his opinion.

369
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:04,400
But, we are in a very really bad spot.
Um

370
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:08,680
and I will beat this to death every
meeting that we had completely stripped

371
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:12,440
our maintenance budget for every
department.

372
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:17,360
Our facilities are aging. Our equipment
is aging. That requires more attention

373
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:22,160
and more costs. Our facilities are
aging. The cost of gas is up raised.

374
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:25,160
Utilities The the
overall [clears throat] cost of

375
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:27,360
utilities were raised.
Um

376
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:34,440
the schools are We're not just going to
sixth grade graduation. The class eight

377
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:37,680
kids This [snorts] uh
swipe

378
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:43,760
young families are coming back because
of school in Cordova.

379
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:47,560
We don't have a
huge revenue gain in my opinion that is

380
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:51,960
right now.
There's we we need to continue on the

381
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:58,120
road that we are with extending the
housing to have more sustainable room

382
00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:03,560
and growth for the community to to
continue to flourish.

383
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:07,200
We are about to guess a
uh

384
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:10,280
can we decide to operate this kind of
local

385
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:14,200
our general revenue?
So,

386
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:19,160
by the way, then,
if we want to maintain things that we

387
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:23,560
have, want to maintain the school and
the amenities that we have, it's going

388
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:30,840
to take more money.
So, it brings us to raise taxes.

389
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:37,200
Which only goes so far, and then you
have to ask your question of what

390
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:41,760
At what point in the city's budget when
we can't pay for the things that are

391
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:45,920
necessary, can you keep the workforce
busy? They can't afford the tools, and

392
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:49,000
they can't afford
the

393
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:52,840
the items that are necessary to complete
their job.

394
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:57,160
That when
we're we're up against raising taxes and

395
00:29:54,920 --> 00:30:02,200
cutting employees. I don't understand I
I there's no other way that I can run it

396
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:07,720
through my mind
knowing that even though that we're

397
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:10,720
balanced, we are behind.
So,

398
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:15,200
that's
that's my two cents.

399
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,400
Thank you.
You all set with me?

400
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:22,560
Um
the word sustainable though,

401
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:25,760
I don't think is a good word to use
because

402
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:30,680
sustainability
also applies to the mill rate.

403
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:36,440
We are on a very
steep curve here and a teetering

404
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:41,080
piece of wood, and you can only tax the
community members to a certain point,

405
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:45,560
and then people are going to leave.
I think we've reached that point.

406
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:48,800
Fuel alone
the sales tax we're going to get from

407
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:52,960
fuel is going to be, I believe, more
than we budgeted. But, just as an

408
00:30:50,320 --> 00:31:00,880
example, 2025
my sales tax for 1 month

409
00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:06,400
in April for last year doubled this year
for fuel.

410
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:11,360
So, I went from 875 bucks to 1750.
And that is 1 month, and that's across

411
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:15,720
the board. We get the tax from the fuel
dock, we get

412
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:19,320
sales tax online. Those prices are
increasing, and that the tax is

413
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:24,360
increasing. So, I think that we will see
more than we budgeted for that, but we

414
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:29,320
cannot continue to solve our problems by
taxing the property holders of the

415
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:33,320
community. We cannot. That is not
sustainable. That may be sustainable in

416
00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:35,680
the definition of where the money's
going to come from, but it's not

417
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:40,120
sustainable for the people who are
carrying the burden.

418
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:45,720
Taxpayers cannot afford it. We cannot
afford more taxes.

419
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:49,520
I think the 436,000
that's coming in off those

420
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:53,240
secure world schools will take care of
that extra money we wanted to bring to

421
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:58,520
the school district. And no, it may not
be here next year, but

422
00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:03,880
the answer is not to raise the mill
rate. The answer is not to put more

423
00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:08,520
burden on the community at this point.
Everything is going up, and we did just

424
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:14,440
raise the mill rate again. We can't We
can't continue to

425
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:18,360
suck dry the folks that are that are
sustaining the community that we have.

426
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:29,520
Any Any
Are there other Assembly members

427
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:33,520
Member Adams, do you
Just one [clears throat] point I'd like

428
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:38,480
to bring up is that, um,
things

429
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:45,320
might change for the better in Juno
with this the November election.

430
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:49,080
And the attitude towards funding schools
might change. I mean, right now we have

431
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,920
a pretty
um

432
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:55,520
unsupportive
funding source

433
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:58,280
government leader in Juno
um who seems to be hostile towards

434
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:02,680
schools.
And I

435
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:08,000
I'm hoping that that changes.
And um

436
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:12,040
that the base student allocation will
will not point go up.

437
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:18,280
And so
yeah, there are some grim

438
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:21,800
future outlooks here, but I'm hopeful
that something's going to change in

439
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,800
Juno.

440
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:29,320
Yeah, I mean, but I'm hopeful for in the
near term is that the money they've

441
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:35,120
allocated an extra 144 million for
schools for this year, so

442
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:38,360
we're hoping some of that comes to bear,
but we'll see. Uh guarantee and we won't

443
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:42,560
know for another
I don't know, 6 weeks.

444
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:45,560
Yeah, Council member Saster.
Um well, a couple of thoughts going back

445
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:48,120
to a few things that have been said
already.

446
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:51,960
I actually
what Council member Adam said earlier

447
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:55,160
resonates with me. We're in a very
unusual time right now.

448
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,840
Fuel prices are going through the roof
because of what's going on

449
00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:02,480
geopolitically right now. I mean,
there's just a weird bubble we're in

450
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:06,120
with tariffs and oil prices just going
through the roof

451
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:10,760
over things that may change here in the
next year or so. Let's hope they do.

452
00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:15,159
Let's hope they do with with changes of
of leadership. Um

453
00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:19,560
I also want to go back to uh mayor's
comments about um

454
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:22,720
in general what we're facing isn't just
about what what we approved for

455
00:34:21,399 --> 00:34:26,200
additional funds to the school. It's
it's so much more complicated. I just

456
00:34:24,639 --> 00:34:29,720
want to reiterate that for folks that
are listening that it's not just about

457
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:33,399
the school. It's a million things we've
been dealing with for the last several

458
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:37,120
years when it comes to the budget and
they've getting gloomier and gloomier.

459
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:41,800
So, I think it's it gives me genuine to
say any decision we make on mill rate is

460
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:45,399
specifically because of school costs.
That's just not the case.

461
00:34:43,879 --> 00:34:49,240
Um
I I

462
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:54,320
And again, I think I again I just want
to recognize that

463
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:57,040
what our council member Randy just said
Um

464
00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:01,240
you know, the mill rate you raised it
last year cost of living gone up for

465
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:05,960
community members for a variety of
things, food costs, fuel costs. And

466
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:09,840
there is truly a point at which people
won't be able to continue to pay higher

467
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:14,160
rates.
What that means for this year's mill

468
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:17,840
rate, I'm not exactly sure yet. But that
is something we have to consider because

469
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:23,000
it's it's
Yeah, it's certainly not

470
00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:26,960
um a stat- status quo from where we were
last year. We raised the mill rate.

471
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:32,440
Things are vastly different they are a
year from that time or where we are

472
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:38,760
today. So, I mean it's it's Yeah, I it's
dramatically different to where we were

473
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:38,760
a year ago. So, lots to consider there.

474
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:51,800
Callen's online. So, I make sure
everybody gets a chance to chime in if

475
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:55,600
they want or anyone else wants to. I I
definitely have comments here.

476
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:59,960
Can you hear me okay?
We got you.

477
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:04,920
Well, uh I I think the way that I
comment on this is you know, fuel tax

478
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:08,600
has certainly got brought up. And if you
consider

479
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:11,240
there's there's 400 boats in the gillnet
fleet.

480
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:16,280
When I was only gillnetting, I burned
about 5,000 gallons of gas a year.

481
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:20,360
So, if if you say that the whole fleet
burns about that much,

482
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:25,760
that's uh
that's 2 million gallons of gas.

483
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:29,520
And I've I've heard it from multiple
members of the fleet, from our our

484
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:32,840
Russian community, from people that live
here, from people that are coming here,

485
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:36,960
that they're planning on not
coming to town nearly as often. So,

486
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:40,480
that's going to
that's people are going to camp out, and

487
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:45,120
that's going to reflect in local
businesses. I mean, you know, after this

488
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:48,720
winter where we're we're seeing very few
businesses open, it's not going to help

489
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:52,640
the ones that we have.
And so, I think if there was ever a year

490
00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:57,480
to throw the community a bone, it's this
year, and don't raise the mill rate, and

491
00:36:55,800 --> 00:37:00,960
you know,
I understand that that we shouldn't be

492
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:05,800
budgeting for forest receipts, and and
and I I'm glad that we're not, but in my

493
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:08,680
mind, it makes sense to pull that
um

494
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:11,960
request from the school district out of
that

495
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:16,360
forest receipts, and use the rest of it
for uh

496
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:22,240
un- unforeseen fuel costs, um
maintenance. Uh I I think it's not going

497
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:26,520
to be hard to absorb that, um just with
with cost overruns from a variety of

498
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:31,680
factors. I I just ordered some stuff
from AML, and there was a 30% uh fuel

499
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:34,360
shipping surcharge. So, that's going to
have a big effect on our community as

500
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:36,920
well.
Um

501
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:41,000
I think the other thing in terms of the
mill rate is, you know, when when we're

502
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:45,520
looking at processors that have other
locations in Prince William Sound,

503
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:49,320
there's sort of a balance to strike here
because

504
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:52,720
you know, the number of of cannery
workers that it takes to operate one of

505
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:56,280
those plants,
you know, they have a lot of money in in

506
00:37:54,520 --> 00:38:00,440
facilities down there. And so, the mill
rate affects them a lot more than it's

507
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:04,200
going to pick affect the average person.
And so, I I think

508
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:07,920
we need to at least discuss that when
we're making our decision. And, you

509
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:11,760
know, $400 for a household doesn't sound
like that much, but,

510
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:16,960
you know, there's a big segment of our
community that doesn't have a regular

511
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:21,360
job where you get annual raises or or
raises every once in a while. I mean,

512
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:25,280
fish prices are
lower or similar to what they were 10

513
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:30,480
years ago. And when you add inflation
in, they're generally less across the

514
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:34,320
board. And so I I just want to be
conscious of that before anybody starts

515
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:38,160
making decisions here because
um

516
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:42,120
you know, there's
These are not simple simple issues and

517
00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:46,600
it's been been brought up and and and
there is nuance to this, but in in my

518
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:49,640
mind it's really clear that we need to
use those forest receipts to pay for the

519
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:54,920
school and the and the rest for
maintenance and cost overruns

520
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,920
related to fuel.

521
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:04,272
Thanks, Councilmember Nicholson. Um
Councilmember Kinchen, are you

522
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:07,320
Yeah, and again, I'm just
[clears throat]

523
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:11,680
coming from different communities. Um
I've always seen a mill rate or anything

524
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:15,360
associated with
that's is tied to the school district.

525
00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:18,320
So, if we're saying we have one mill or
a percentage, generally it's a

526
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:21,920
percentage I mean a mill,
whatever you want to say, a percentage

527
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:26,800
of this for the school, a percentage. If
we're raising property tax 100% whatever

528
00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:30,680
1%, then
then we're going to say 0.25 of that is

529
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:34,520
going to the school, 0.25 is going to
prevent the maintenance, 0.25 is going

530
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:39,480
to these out. So, we don't have that
accountability. So, that's what ties a

531
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:43,760
mill increase to sustainability. Is we
have all of those mills accounted to

532
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:50,040
something.
And so I I think that's probably what we

533
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:54,280
need to get a handle on is where are our
current mills going today?

534
00:39:52,720 --> 00:39:58,000
And where do we want them to go in the
future?

535
00:39:55,960 --> 00:40:01,680
Okay, as I say, mills, the money. We
have the money that's there. Where is it

536
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:05,160
going? Where do we want it to go? Where
as a community do we want it to go? Do

537
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,680
you want it to go to the school? Do you
want it to go to Darke County? Do you

538
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:13,040
want it to go to EMS? Do we want it to
go to our roads that are

539
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:17,640
freaking atrocious right now to drive
on? And

540
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:22,040
I think this is a good broader
conversation of what do we want as a

541
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:25,640
community? What do we want with our new
monies that we currently have? No one

542
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:28,720
wants to pay more taxes, great. Then
what are you willing to give up?

543
00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:34,920
I mean that's what it is. What are you
willing to give up? This is where we're

544
00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:39,160
at. And what service, what amenity
who which one of I mean

545
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:41,600
to Councilman point, which one of your
neighbors do you want them to lose their

546
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:46,720
job?
I mean that that as we go through and

547
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:52,600
look at and break down the cost of us as
a community

548
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:56,080
fast and well over 50% is tied to
personnel.

549
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:59,520
And that that's where the funding and
that's for any organization. And that's

550
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:03,760
not just the city, that's you know we
can talk to school, we can talk the

551
00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:07,240
business I work for, we can talk to any
any place. If you're going to attract

552
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:13,240
people, you want them to be here, you're
going to pay them.

553
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:19,680
And so that I think this is just
a much broader conversation. So if

554
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:25,920
No, if the appetite is and I can
actually agree with some sentiment from

555
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:34,000
uh Councilman Nicholson and the state of
our community today and relation to uh

556
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:37,160
and relation to the raising not raising
the mill rate, but that as a community

557
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:40,320
that's fine. We don't have to raise the
mill rate.

558
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:43,560
Yeah.
Everything still costs money.

559
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:51,480
And I don't think people understand that
our opportunity to raise that revenue is

560
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:55,080
today and then in 6 months we're going
to have our budget.

561
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:59,920
So we don't really know how we're going
to end our year.

562
00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:03,960
And here's here we are today and that's
just how

563
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:08,320
old and how we handle our finances and I
don't know if we need to shift that or

564
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:12,960
change that. I don't know that process.
And I don't know that if we have a way

565
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:16,840
to allocate
mills to certain

566
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:21,520
pockets of money, to certain budget
codes, to certain departments, certain

567
00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:26,080
things that we as a community want to
spend our money on. But I have that's

568
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:29,400
how I have my own personal budget. I
mean, I know where my money comes from

569
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:33,240
and I know which percentages go to
things.

570
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,240
So.

571
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:41,040
My vision of how we get to the
sustainability.

572
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:45,000
And if we are raising the mill rate,
then we can go to the community and this

573
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:49,200
is what we're raising it for, not
abstractly to

574
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:53,800
we need more cash flow, which is great,
but where where needs more cash flow?

575
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:58,960
And we could be more accountable for
that.

576
00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:03,560
I think that's a good discussion point
because yeah, we can take the money out

577
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:07,040
of the forest or seas for this year. So
there's 180 out of that. I'm going to

578
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:11,680
forward to that. We don't know what our
fuel costs are going to be. We pumped

579
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:15,000
the lake for months.
On diesel fuel.

580
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:20,120
And just it wasn't at its highest a
week, but during part of that time it

581
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:25,440
was. We don't know what we're moving
forward to.

582
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:30,480
I know that the fire truck engine has a
mechanical issue that we need to deal

583
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:36,160
with. We can't have
We have a fire truck that's 24 years old

584
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:39,800
and a back up that's 32 years old.
I remember a council member saying, "I

585
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,440
want the fire truck to come to my
house."

586
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:45,360
Well, these are things that we have to
deal with and

587
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:54,040
We we have to think about
this. Maybe we spend $300,000 of that

588
00:43:51,840 --> 00:44:00,040
$400,000
to just get through 26. What are we

589
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,040
going to do in 27?

590
00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:08,920
And what what what is it
that we're going to give up because

591
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:13,280
and I mean
every person who works in the city,

592
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:17,320
lives in the city, pays taxes in the
city

593
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:19,720
and I feel like it always comes back to
the city

594
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:23,040
budget.
Right? There's

595
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:27,240
you know, it always comes back to the
city budget getting cut.

596
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:30,320
Every cut, every cut. I mean, how many
positions could go away every time it's

597
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:36,120
in the memo? How many times have you
read that list?

598
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:41,240
I just I don't know
what I I I guess I just don't know what

599
00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:44,880
we need to do. And like
how

600
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:48,160
I mean, you use it how do you use
revenue?

601
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:51,400
Unfortunately, this generated from
taxes. I mean, I didn't create this

602
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:57,480
rule.
Right? This is how it works. Yeah. And

603
00:44:55,640 --> 00:45:01,960
I want kids to go to school. I want kids
to have a great education, but I also

604
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:05,600
also want my streets plowed.
I want the people work here to feel

605
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:09,920
secure in their jobs.
They work hard. Look at what we've done

606
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:12,560
in finance in a year.
I mean,

607
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:16,880
I I just
I mean, nobody is saying this isn't

608
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:20,200
hard. I know, but I'm just trying to see
the other side of it, right? Right. I

609
00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:25,720
mean, I I think people get that.
>> Yeah. I know it's hard for everybody,

610
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:29,000
but I still feel like Right. it always
comes back to the city taking the

611
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:30,000
biggest hit.
Well, that's it.

612
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:35,240
» And so
>> Well, I I think the thing that you we

613
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:40,760
also need to consider is, you know, this
year

614
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:45,560
one of the gillnet sources, which is the
main bay hatchery, is basically going to

615
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:49,520
be a run failure. Um
is is what what's happening. There was

616
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:54,120
there was a big die-off that happened.
Um the some of the some of the fish got

617
00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:58,080
a disease. Um
It's a naturally occurring disease

618
00:45:55,520 --> 00:46:00,720
that's in all sockeye populations. So,
there's already going to be less revenue

619
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:05,760
from that.
Um just there's there's a few different

620
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:09,880
factors that are happening, but
the good news is is that

621
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:13,360
the prices across the board are getting
better. They're substantially better.

622
00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:18,040
Um,
I mean, people are getting paid really

623
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:22,040
well for halibut right now, but
you know,

624
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:25,680
that that's sort of the thing is that
we're we're likely to have a pretty good

625
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:30,560
year next year and we're we're likely to
have a lot more fish coming through

626
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:35,120
town. Um, processors are going to be
gearing up with with with more more

627
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:39,120
people. There's going to be
there's just going to be a lot more

628
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:42,440
money in town next year just in general.
I mean, you can never say with

629
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:46,600
certainty, but there's the likelihood is
very good. This year

630
00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:50,080
the outlook is poor kind of across the
board.

631
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,080
Um,

632
00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:57,200
there's there's also been some news
today that the Board of Fisheries, which

633
00:46:54,400 --> 00:47:00,920
has a pretty great sway over our
community, has just uh

634
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:05,040
basically had their hand slapped and
said that they need to follow their

635
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:08,120
ethical
um

636
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:12,120
obligations. And that's really good
because, you know,

637
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:16,080
one of the reasons we're looking at what
we're looking at is, you know, there was

638
00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:19,200
a few different things that went into
moving the gillnet fishery back

639
00:47:18,240 --> 00:47:24,560
um
7 days. And you look at fishermen coming

640
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:27,480
here that much later and that usually
that's a big boost for our community.

641
00:47:26,040 --> 00:47:31,320
That's a bunch of money that comes in.
And so, you know, there's just a lot of

642
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:34,320
factors why this is a is a challenging
year. That's that's that's more

643
00:47:32,720 --> 00:47:39,440
challenging, frankly, than a lot of the
other years that we've had. And

644
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:44,240
I do think that the future is brighter.
I don't think that the decisions that

645
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:48,360
we're making this year are going to be
nearly as drastic when we're looking at

646
00:47:46,240 --> 00:47:52,680
what happens in the future, but we just
need to be aware when we do have these

647
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:52,680
better years

648
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:58,880
we we still need to be really cautious
and conservative is my my thought here.

649
00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:09,880
And so, we can [clears throat] we're
basically kind of hashing through the

650
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:12,560
options. We're not um
scheduled to make a decision tonight. I

651
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:15,120
think people know that. Yeah, they'll
know that this is discussion item. But

652
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:18,920
we are going to have to make that
decision at the next meeting, so.

653
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:23,240
And I appreciate we're having this
discussion now before the next meeting.

654
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:26,640
» Yeah. And thank you for uh to the clerk
for putting that summary page together.

655
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:29,840
Cuz that definitely helps with Yeah.
Looking at the different scenarios. I

656
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:32,960
know for me the last 2 years when we got
to this point, having this in front of

657
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:35,520
us we might have to make a decision was
very

658
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:37,840
very helpful to have nice thoughts about
it first.

659
00:48:36,720 --> 00:48:40,640
Um
Uh

660
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:45,040
and I guess yes but as everybody's been
speaking, uh you have the all the

661
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:49,240
unknowns and everything. Um I I guess
that our our one comment earlier today

662
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:54,040
from the public about uh padding the
budget, which I I just don't disagree. I

663
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:57,200
don't agree with that because you do
what you can. You put money away for a

664
00:48:55,720 --> 00:49:00,920
rainy day. You know, we have to put
money away for what we know we're going

665
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:04,960
to need in the future. As our manager
just has uh mentioned, we've got

666
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:10,440
incredibly aging
um emergency medical or emergency fire

667
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:13,680
uh equipment with our with our engines.
And medical.

668
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:17,000
Sorry? And medical. And there
Yeah, we

669
00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:21,320
we've got so many things that could fail
at any moment. We just don't know when

670
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:25,320
it's going to happen. So, and again to
uh key in on um what uh Councilmember

671
00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:28,120
Kimble said, you know, what are we going
to choose? What are the choices we're

672
00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:32,120
going to make? If if we get to a point
we can't fund everything, what do we

673
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:35,760
decide not to fund? And what we don't
want to happen is being in an emergency

674
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:38,880
situation where we have to make that
decision. We want to be a little more

675
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:43,960
proactive, I would think, to make that
decision before the emergency.

676
00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:47,760
So, um having a little bit of money on
hand, we're not talking about a huge

677
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:53,040
amount of money here that's that's being
held for potential needs in the future.

678
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:58,080
So, um I I just take exception with that
that thought about somehow that

679
00:49:55,800 --> 00:50:00,720
the city's adding their budget of ships
on the base.

680
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:09,360
Yeah, thank you for that perspective.
Right. I mean, I that's um

681
00:50:07,240 --> 00:50:12,720
As I was saying earlier, I'm urging
people not to over simplify because we

682
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:15,680
have all heard about the capital needs
here on the water distribution system,

683
00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:19,120
the
water treatment plants.

684
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:22,800
Yeah.
We

685
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:27,880
We are banking on it all continuing to
function as it always has. Right. No

686
00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:31,600
guarantee. Right. No guarantee.
Yes. Along I mean, since we're talking

687
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:35,720
mill rate, then I understand we're
discussing Well, we're going to really

688
00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:39,880
set for next week. I
There's been some conversations. Been

689
00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:44,920
things that other municipalities have
done, and that is really tying a mill

690
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:49,360
rate to a local business, local
resident.

691
00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:54,560
And we can That can be done through One,
you have You set your mill rate. 20 20

692
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:58,560
mills are I mean, it's just simple math.
But if you can prove or you can claim

693
00:50:56,880 --> 00:51:01,440
similar to a
sales or a veteran or any of these

694
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:05,080
things. If you can prove that you're a
resident, this is where you live. You

695
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:08,920
live in Cordova year-round.
Okay. Your mill rate you get a discount

696
00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:12,040
on your mill rate. We can say you have
You can't say you have a different mill

697
00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:16,360
rate, but you can offer a discount. I
believe that's how I've seen it in other

698
00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:21,840
communities or a reduced mill rate. I
think it's just off the assessed value

699
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:25,920
you can do. So, then it's off of So,
it's the same mill, but then you have

700
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:29,240
less of an assessed value or it or a
credited

701
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:34,600
» a homeowner's exemption.
I don't think it can be to 75,000.

702
00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:40,680
And based off of what specifically?
Well, it would be onerous to administer

703
00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:46,520
that program because it would be similar
to the senior exemption except tenfold

704
00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:51,200
because everybody's going to claim that
they live here year round kind of thing

705
00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:55,440
and that would be
doable but

706
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:58,080
onerous.
And

707
00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:03,880
And it's not a conversation to have for
next meeting. I hope everyone knows I'm

708
00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:07,680
really just trying to get you know just
poking around I think

709
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:12,200
Susan and I have had conversations about
what Valdez does for their mill rates.

710
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:17,240
Obviously they have a much different pot
of money but also then maybe even more

711
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:20,720
important for us and our limited pot of
money of

712
00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:23,600
There there are people who live in our
community

713
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:26,600
who have homes in our community who do
not live in our

714
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:29,280
and have no intention of living in our
community.

715
00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:34,960
So I just the thing is you can look
forward to the future and obviously fit

716
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:39,600
the
the piece there is a threshold there too

717
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:43,360
where the ownership is yes us
administering this is not we're going to

718
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:48,800
pay us more and we're going to have to
go with outside consultation or insert

719
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:52,760
all these additional costs and then it's
not worth it. You're right at that point

720
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:52,760
it's not.

721
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:59,800
It'd be a calculation to undertake.
Come up with some kind of scenarios for

722
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:04,400
that.
But there is the conversation that does

723
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:09,640
happen why can we not tax them more well
this is a a way

724
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:13,800
is it worth it? I don't know.
Um

725
00:53:11,240 --> 00:53:17,280
Yeah definitely nice.
Someone brought up to me today a

726
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:21,280
suggestion along the same lines of
if

727
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:25,240
ownership and living in Cordova and the
senior exemption all kind of tied

728
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:30,200
together and just putting this out on
the table as well I thought it was an

729
00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:36,000
interesting suggestion is that um
the senior exemption and there are

730
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:39,560
seniors who have two homes.
They have a home in Cordova and they

731
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:43,480
have a home elsewhere
and snowbird

732
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:48,080
and
this community members

733
00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:51,920
take was if you can afford two homes,
then perhaps you don't need the senior

734
00:53:49,320 --> 00:53:51,920
exemption.

735
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:57,120
Uh
Pardon me?

736
00:53:55,720 --> 00:54:01,040
I'm just thinking the administration on
that. Well, I think it's a state it's a

737
00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:04,720
state law. State statute. We don't have
we can't already clear. Okay, we can

738
00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:07,800
again. Right. I was on you know, this is
something brought to my attention today

739
00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:10,680
and I said well,
yeah, crazy. Um

740
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:14,520
I know but I'm
thinking

741
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:17,960
so maybe that applies to maybe 20 people
and what what does that gain us? I mean,

742
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:24,560
that would be the question is Mhm.
>> 150,000 * 20 you times the mill, right?

743
00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:29,000
Yeah. And taxes, so that's something.
Something. But it's it might be more

744
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:32,240
than 20. There's like 250 seniors on the
list. Right. But how many of them have

745
00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:37,080
second homes is what I was thinking.
Well, but how many

746
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:41,080
are truly here? Mhm. for the income
record of time, right? And who just

747
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:43,280
signs the newspaper that says they are.
Mhm.

748
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:47,480
Yeah.
I just don't know what it would net us

749
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:50,400
enough to
Well, there would be Maybe the statute

750
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:53,600
doesn't allow us to do it. It's a new
point anyway. Yeah, you could

751
00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:58,720
raise
changing that statute, which nobody

752
00:54:56,280 --> 00:55:01,880
would like, but a lot of other states
have it that the senior exemption is

753
00:55:00,520 --> 00:55:05,880
need based.
So, you don't just get it cuz you're 65,

754
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:10,600
you get it
if you fall below certain income levels

755
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:14,680
and are 65.
But that's not the case for Alaska.

756
00:55:13,360 --> 00:55:18,560
But a lot of other states do have that
in mind. You know, one thing that was

757
00:55:16,240 --> 00:55:22,080
talked about in the past that
uh we still wouldn't be probably with um

758
00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:25,640
is a real property tax a personal
property tax because there are a lot of

759
00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:29,160
people who fish here who don't live here
who have their boats here.

760
00:55:27,440 --> 00:55:31,720
And those are not taxed.
And

761
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:35,320
and you know how that conversation goes
every time we have it. Yeah, I do. But I

762
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:38,200
was saying I mean, if if you know, if
people are upset enough, this is you

763
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:42,320
know, this is where we're at. This is,
you know, where You can't tax You can't

764
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:44,800
tax people who don't live here. You
can't tax just people who don't live

765
00:55:43,280 --> 00:55:49,120
here. No, so no, but it has the
potential to do something where you

766
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:53,520
that is somehow you offset that. Like,
does that enable you to lower, if you

767
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:57,880
get some property tax some
um personal property tax revenue, does

768
00:55:56,200 --> 00:56:00,560
that enable you to lower the mill rate a
certain amount to give the people who do

769
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:05,000
live here
a break? Yeah.

770
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:09,680
Does that offset some of the tax burden
for other folks? Well, I can I can speak

771
00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:13,080
to that personal property tax to some
extent. There's There's places where

772
00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:16,760
they do it, like Crystal Bay,
where there's basically one fishery

773
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:20,160
that's happening.
Um

774
00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:24,000
they there's it's a fairly simple
fishery. It's a short time of year.

775
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:29,560
Really makes sense out there, but you
know, like I have 14 gillnets. I think

776
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:32,960
the average person that participates in
this fishery has somewhere between 10

777
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:38,040
and 12.
And then you're you're you're looking

778
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:42,000
at, well, what's a gillnet worth? Like,
because a new gillnet's like 7,500

779
00:56:40,240 --> 00:56:48,280
bucks, you know,
and a trash gillnet's maybe $500. So, so

780
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:52,160
how do you evaluate that? And how much
staff time is it going to take

781
00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:55,480
for the fleet? And there's a lot of
fleet that just like is going to leave

782
00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:58,920
more of their stuff other places, spend
less time here if you do that.

783
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:03,080
I think it's going to be really hard to
administer. There's going to be people

784
00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:08,480
that have lockers and gear.
It It just really It's It's not going to

785
00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:12,560
be easy to implement that, and it It's,
you know,

786
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:16,120
my my take on all this is how how do we
get people to spend more time and spend

787
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:19,840
more money here?
And so, when you're looking at things

788
00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:24,840
like raising the mill rate, like let's
say you have a load of halibut.

789
00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:27,680
The processors
the reason they have survived is because

790
00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:32,880
they're really paying attention to their
bottom line. So, every every single cost

791
00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:36,480
that they have kind of gets passed on to
some extent when someone delivers

792
00:57:34,520 --> 00:57:39,160
halibut and so it reflects with a lower
price. So,

793
00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:43,400
you know, if fuel is more expensive here
because we tax

794
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:46,800
we tax that at a higher rate or
so on and so forth and so

795
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:52,040
you know, there's
there's a real conversation, you know,

796
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:55,000
when you're looking at
mill rate and looking at senior

797
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:58,640
exemptions, like that's a little bit of
money, but you know, every gillnetter

798
00:57:57,280 --> 00:58:01,360
that's here
on average from a lot of people that I

799
00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:05,360
talk to looking at the my receipts,
they're they're spending 40 grand a year

800
00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:08,640
on their on their going operation. Like
that's a significant amount of money.

801
00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:11,640
That's a lot more than you're getting
from

802
00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:17,520
changing someone's house assessment to
get $5,000 a year versus $4,000 a year.

803
00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:21,840
You know,
we want we want to be making it so that

804
00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:25,200
those people that that are coming here
to fish want to continue to fish here,

805
00:58:23,800 --> 00:58:28,200
want to keep their gear here because
they spend money here. That's just the

806
00:58:26,640 --> 00:58:32,360
bottom line.
And so I think

807
00:58:30,240 --> 00:58:35,600
if you put a personal property tax,
you're just going to drive people away

808
00:58:34,680 --> 00:58:38,560
and
you know, it

809
00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:42,960
if you ever get a chance as we're taking
a field trip to Yakutat because their

810
00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:45,960
their fisheries have really declined.
Um

811
00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:49,800
for a variety of reasons, but it it it
kind of reminds me of of Cordova in the

812
00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:52,800
'90s after the oil spill when when
things were really going poorly and

813
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:56,920
there was a
national

814
00:58:54,400 --> 00:59:00,560
salmon fishing depression and and
you know, you know,

815
00:58:58,600 --> 00:59:05,160
we're headed that direction
the way we're going right now and and

816
00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:10,120
I I understand that we need to generate
money, but but we just need to be really

817
00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:13,160
cautious about
what the unintended consequences are

818
00:59:11,840 --> 00:59:16,400
going to be of some of these things that
sound great on the surface.

819
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:21,360
That just makes me think if we had a
state income tax, would people not come

820
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:26,560
here and work around that? Yeah, I just
got to say I mean I I totally I think

821
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:30,360
Representative
is so knowledgeable about the fishery

822
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:34,200
and everything he just described, but
the one thing I do kind of hear often

823
00:59:32,120 --> 00:59:37,920
when we're talking about raising any
kind of fee in court, well, we'll do it,

824
00:59:35,760 --> 00:59:40,640
we're just going to go somewhere else.
That's not necessarily always the case,

825
00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:43,960
and that's what you're getting at, you
know, you have to be a balance, right?

826
00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:47,600
You have to make it worth their while
and worth worth the city's while or be

827
00:59:46,080 --> 00:59:51,160
able to have a functioning community
here.

828
00:59:48,640 --> 00:59:55,320
Um, obviously, you wouldn't just go wild
with any kind of personal tax, but you

829
00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:59,080
figure out what that balance point is.
And um, just to say that, oh, you're

830
00:59:57,520 --> 01:00:05,480
just going to run people elsewhere,
that's that's I think that's just too

831
01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:08,560
um, black and white, Councilman.
I I wanted to be clear, too, when I

832
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:13,680
talked about a personal property tax,
the way it was being discussed earlier,

833
01:00:10,880 --> 01:00:18,200
which I remember from maybe 15 years
ago, was

834
01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:21,600
um, I I never heard it applied to um,
fishing nets, Councilman Erickson. Maybe

835
01:00:20,160 --> 01:00:25,400
that's what they do in Bristol Bay, but
I was thinking mostly boats and planes

836
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:28,840
is what I remember hearing. But that
doesn't I'm just I was just saying that

837
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:32,960
that is something that has been
discussed, and I'm not and advocating

838
01:00:31,360 --> 01:00:36,120
for it, but I'm just saying that And
that's something you can determine

839
01:00:34,240 --> 01:00:40,480
easily through registrations. Right.
Yeah. Right. And you can do it based on

840
01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:43,920
value, or you can do it we were
considering doing it just flat rate

841
01:00:42,560 --> 01:00:49,360
based on the
number of feet of the boat.

842
01:00:46,640 --> 01:00:55,720
So, literally 100 bucks for a skiff,
right? But 150 for a bow netter and 300

843
01:00:53,760 --> 01:00:58,800
for a seiner or something. Yeah, like
that.

844
01:00:56,920 --> 01:01:02,280
Yeah, food for thought. And Bristol Bay
is based on value and it's boats only.

845
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:07,600
Mhm.
Pretty sure. Okay. So. That's everything

846
01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:11,400
I've known in other states I've lived.
Everything when you register your

847
01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:15,840
vehicle, you're paying your tax on your
vehicle every single year. I'm not

848
01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:19,600
saying that's what we need to do here,
I'm just saying that's

849
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:23,200
very common source of revenue for
everywhere else.

850
01:01:21,640 --> 01:01:26,760
I mean, that would just be one way of
everybody says, how do we how do we tax

851
01:01:25,200 --> 01:01:30,560
the people who come here because we have
a harbor, because we have a fishery?

852
01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:33,400
They call and they do it every single
year.

853
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:38,480
» Yeah, they do. Not every every year.
So, yeah, it it it yeah, it's very much

854
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:43,000
a balance, you know, and and I am not
suggesting that we

855
01:01:40,400 --> 01:01:47,342
completely load on new revenue and not
offset it somehow or another way because

856
01:01:45,080 --> 01:01:49,160
you don't want to
>> [clears throat]

857
01:01:47,720 --> 01:01:53,400
» keep increasing the burden on the people
who live here, obviously, than us. The

858
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:56,200
point but it is to distribute it among
the you know, to have more hands in the

859
01:01:54,640 --> 01:02:01,040
pot. So,
yeah, I mean, this has been a topic over

860
01:01:58,800 --> 01:02:05,800
and over again is
we're all reaching into the same pocket

861
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:10,120
to try and pull more money.
The goal

862
01:02:07,360 --> 01:02:13,840
is to find that outside revenue
to

863
01:02:11,560 --> 01:02:17,760
to add into the pot, not just hand it
from so-and-so or so-and-so.

864
01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:23,600
And
I mean, we've had many great

865
01:02:20,680 --> 01:02:31,160
discussions
adding homes to this community to add to

866
01:02:26,920 --> 01:02:31,160
the tax base, to add to the workforce.

867
01:02:31,400 --> 01:02:39,400
All great discussions.
Problem that we have

868
01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:42,160
is right now, it's in our face.
How do we fund it?

869
01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:52,520
I mean, too, that um
the same question becomes the other way,

870
01:02:50,640 --> 01:02:57,280
when do we stop
spending money?

871
01:02:54,560 --> 01:03:02,600
Right? I mean, if we
and as Mr. Wilson said, you know, if we

872
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:07,320
are pushing people away, then maybe we
need to

873
01:03:04,360 --> 01:03:11,720
stop spending some money.
And we have to give up

874
01:03:09,840 --> 01:03:17,520
But I I'll have to suggest that we're
not chasing people away. I mean, look at

875
01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:22,720
the population of our schools.
There are growing families here.

876
01:03:19,560 --> 01:03:26,840
You know, um the grade school cannot
it's just about at capacity

877
01:03:25,880 --> 01:03:31,800
um
with um classrooms and the number of

878
01:03:29,440 --> 01:03:35,360
people in classrooms.
Um classrooms are not big enough for 36

879
01:03:33,800 --> 01:03:41,760
children.
Um so I I don't feel like we are

880
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:45,600
pushing people away. In fact, people are
staying in

881
01:03:43,520 --> 01:03:49,840
my experience just based on the other
school.

882
01:03:46,880 --> 01:03:53,720
Um I might be wrong, but um
that's the evidence that in our school

883
01:03:51,520 --> 01:03:57,560
population.
But I I guess I was going to throw one

884
01:03:55,240 --> 01:04:01,320
other question out and to explore and
that is

885
01:03:58,760 --> 01:04:04,280
the interest on our permanent fund
money.

886
01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:09,000
Um where does that go? Where does it
stay? Is it something that can be

887
01:04:07,800 --> 01:04:12,080
um
considered

888
01:04:11,040 --> 01:04:15,440
um
in an

889
01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:19,360
emergency budget shortfall? Not the
permanent fund principle itself, but its

890
01:04:17,680 --> 01:04:23,880
interest.
Currently, it's reinvested into the

891
01:04:22,040 --> 01:04:26,280
permanent fund.
Um

892
01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:33,480
No, I
I think the end goal is not to

893
01:04:31,840 --> 01:04:36,760
pull and take and pull and take out of
permanent fund cuz you're selling

894
01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:41,320
you could be selling at the worst
possible time. And so you're you're not

895
01:04:39,240 --> 01:04:45,160
only taking that money out, but you're
losing

896
01:04:43,480 --> 01:04:46,600
money. We're just talking about the
interest.

897
01:04:45,560 --> 01:04:49,800
» I'm just talking about the interest. I'm
not I'm not pulling funds out. Just like

898
01:04:48,360 --> 01:04:53,440
But you're not reinvesting any money
into the Well, I think that you just So

899
01:04:51,840 --> 01:04:59,680
the answer is at at this point it's
getting reinvested. I think that was

900
01:04:55,440 --> 01:05:00,960
approved by The laws of the income. Uh
I don't know about the laws of the

901
01:05:00,720 --> 01:05:04,480
income.
>> We would have to look at that.

902
01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:08,600
» Well, we had I mean the when we did
two three years ago when we changed who

903
01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:13,960
was investing our permanent fund and how
they're doing I mean great presentation.

904
01:05:11,160 --> 01:05:18,560
And his recommendation was and I would
have to look back the dollar amount.

905
01:05:15,800 --> 01:05:23,560
He's like, "Before you start using your
interest

906
01:05:20,120 --> 01:05:27,480
as part of your budget, you should be at
this amount. When you're at this amount,

907
01:05:25,440 --> 01:05:32,960
then it makes sense for you to take a
portion of that interest, and you can

908
01:05:29,880 --> 01:05:37,600
include that into your budget." And
there were different projections on that

909
01:05:34,960 --> 01:05:44,000
of when we could reach that point, but
the whole idea was I mean, we were what?

910
01:05:39,680 --> 01:05:44,000
Well, million in there.

911
01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:50,920
Whatever you were at, $5 million in
there, yeah.

912
01:05:47,880 --> 01:05:54,680
I was thinking of where our budget
Yeah, but Yeah, I mean, we can look into

913
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:59,320
that, and we can also have Blake come
here, and and he has been asking to

914
01:05:56,480 --> 01:06:05,760
come. I think he wanted to come today.
No, no. Good. Blake is the um

915
01:06:03,080 --> 01:06:09,240
Alaska permanent
capital management. Who's From Alaska.

916
01:06:07,760 --> 01:06:13,600
Sounds like a construction company. Like
it's uh United States of America,

917
01:06:11,320 --> 01:06:17,000
something like that. But um yeah.
I mean, and I'll throw this out on the

918
01:06:15,440 --> 01:06:19,800
table cuz we have this discussion every
year, so we might as well get it out

919
01:06:18,360 --> 01:06:24,320
there now.
We're at 6% um

920
01:06:21,840 --> 01:06:29,520
net tax and
a lot.

921
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:32,040
April April accommodation at Pop Store
in downtown.

922
01:06:32,160 --> 01:06:36,600
Revenue in your own
>> [laughter]

923
01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:40,000
» They will pay. They got no other
building to put at least their buildings

924
01:06:37,800 --> 01:06:43,680
in there. They will pay. They They They
got um Is it a modular?

925
01:06:42,560 --> 01:06:47,880
I mean, that's all they got in site
prep. Yeah, they today uh a man who went

926
01:06:46,520 --> 01:06:53,200
checked out their foundations to make
sure they were there um

927
01:06:50,000 --> 01:06:56,200
The backs. Thank you. And so Yeah,
they're moving. Cool.

928
01:06:56,520 --> 01:07:02,720
A good company. I mean, that is a
until revenue source.

929
01:07:01,360 --> 01:07:06,440
Well, I mean, it'd be interesting to
know so what is that figure? What's what

930
01:07:04,240 --> 01:07:09,720
what if we if we bump it up to seven,
what's the 1%? I'm just going to bring

931
01:07:08,720 --> 01:07:14,480
the budget in here, do you know?
>> Yeah, yeah. I mean, but that might be

932
01:07:11,200 --> 01:07:19,240
» we've talked it like about Gerald. Take
the amount in the budget for that and

933
01:07:16,720 --> 01:07:23,080
add a percent. I think it was like we
did that.

934
01:07:20,920 --> 01:07:24,720
But we don't know what the map We don't
know what the marijuana tax is going to

935
01:07:24,520 --> 01:07:27,720
be.
>> Right, but even though we just do one

936
01:07:26,040 --> 01:07:31,480
one.
No, it should be better than what we

937
01:07:30,200 --> 01:07:35,320
have.
We had We had that figured.

938
01:07:33,360 --> 01:07:38,880
» It was like 80 grand.
Yeah, it was like 80 grand.

939
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:45,000
» It was proposed, yeah. I don't know
about weed. It's an unknown amount from

940
01:07:41,720 --> 01:07:50,560
a marijuana. Right, but uh
wasn't the issue that

941
01:07:47,400 --> 01:07:55,600
the bed tax is 7%, but the other one is
at six? The bed tax is six. Everything

942
01:07:53,760 --> 01:07:56,960
is at six. Our taxes are six.
>> Okay.

943
01:07:55,960 --> 01:08:00,400
» Sales tax is six.
>> So that's Oh, oh, oh, that's what I

944
01:07:58,400 --> 01:08:06,800
heard.
Do we have a head tax for the tourists

945
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:10,400
who um um cruise ships? Yes. It's very
minimal.

946
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:15,320
It's a Only takes it.
Pardon me? That's the harbor enterprise.

947
01:08:12,880 --> 01:08:21,040
There are rules about where you can put
that head tax. It is also very minimal.

948
01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:25,319
We put and we don't meet the threshold
for state funding. state funding. Yeah,

949
01:08:24,000 --> 01:08:29,000
what is that called? The cruise
passenger vessel tax. I don't I don't

950
01:08:27,400 --> 01:08:32,920
know. Right, that would be a share.
Where you get a share from. We don't

951
01:08:34,040 --> 01:08:39,960
Did we have any
cruise ships? We only had one sailing

952
01:08:37,440 --> 01:08:44,400
this year, right? Yesterday. Yeah, one
cruise was here this week.

953
01:08:42,720 --> 01:08:47,960
Yeah, like You think we had I think we
had five people. I think it was five or

954
01:08:46,160 --> 01:08:50,640
six here. Five or six this year. Yeah, I
think it was like 30 people.

955
01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:52,880
Okay.
I know we did.

956
01:08:52,359 --> 01:08:57,120
Well,
>> So, I would say are there are there

957
01:08:55,359 --> 01:09:01,080
specific things that we want to ask the
manager or the finance director to

958
01:08:59,560 --> 01:09:03,839
prepare, like if you're looking for
figures for

959
01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:07,920
sake
that you'd like to have for the next

960
01:09:05,600 --> 01:09:11,759
meeting.
Is there anything that

961
01:09:09,680 --> 01:09:16,680
or
perhaps you could we couldn't get that

962
01:09:14,400 --> 01:09:20,279
information if you if you come away with
I mean with the next meeting is June

963
01:09:18,080 --> 01:09:24,480
3rd, so the deadline for that packet is
next Wednesday.

964
01:09:21,920 --> 01:09:27,920
So if you have ideas for things that you
would like to see in the packet that

965
01:09:25,600 --> 01:09:33,560
would help with the discussion for June
3rd.

966
01:09:29,160 --> 01:09:36,640
Um can we get that to the manager by
I'm already done. Do you already have

967
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:39,880
anything? Yeah, I know. Well, I mean
sometimes you think about it a couple

968
01:09:38,040 --> 01:09:42,359
days later, so I'm just saying what
Monday?

969
01:09:42,520 --> 01:09:46,920
Um
get it to Sam or learn anything by

970
01:09:44,920 --> 01:09:51,839
Monday? No.
Monday is Memorial Day. Oh.

971
01:09:49,799 --> 01:09:55,520
Yeah, maybe Friday I mean we're off
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is the

972
01:09:53,440 --> 01:09:57,760
packet. We have to be able to pull
together. I mean depending on what the

973
01:09:56,840 --> 01:10:00,240
question
is. Hard to know if you don't know what

974
01:09:58,640 --> 01:10:04,000
the question is.
I mean we could do the math tax season.

975
01:10:03,040 --> 01:10:06,440
I mean
I mean we kind of have a rough guess

976
01:10:05,200 --> 01:10:09,520
right now.
It increased

977
01:10:07,640 --> 01:10:14,200
from last year. I don't foresee our
sales tax going up next year

978
01:10:11,840 --> 01:10:20,440
for fiscal year '27
other than we will have marijuana tax.

979
01:10:18,440 --> 01:10:23,000
Yeah, so our math should increase even
though we don't

980
01:10:23,200 --> 01:10:33,120
I I will say though we lost uh
huge work forces with these type of

981
01:10:30,600 --> 01:10:36,000
grants that are not downtown.
Uh

982
01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:39,440
Aren't we going to have a lot of work
starting this fall?

983
01:10:40,640 --> 01:10:46,760
And so the you mean for Odiak? So Odiak
Do we have Yeah, Odiak might be in South

984
01:10:45,200 --> 01:10:50,200
Hadley, but I mean we're talking like
the approval of what? Five people at the

985
01:10:48,920 --> 01:10:54,640
And not I thought maybe White Church
Road or what I mean that's the spring of

986
01:10:52,080 --> 01:10:59,280
'27. And the same with Second Street. I
wouldn't see those projects bringing in

987
01:10:56,720 --> 01:11:01,440
like exponential sales tax savings.
They're going to bring all their

988
01:11:00,120 --> 01:11:04,160
supplies.
And then yeah, you're going to have a

989
01:11:02,560 --> 01:11:07,400
crew here that's going to be spending a
lot of money. But like

990
01:11:05,920 --> 01:11:09,840
» Again, we're not talking hundreds of
people coming for this project.

991
01:11:08,800 --> 01:11:15,360
» Yeah.
Yeah. But some we do have a group of

992
01:11:13,560 --> 01:11:18,520
people staying at the school starting
next week.

993
01:11:17,000 --> 01:11:23,240
And I don't know if that's National
Guard or CERT or RT. The red the

994
01:11:20,800 --> 01:11:28,560
readiness team, the NDE. Are they paying
rent to the school?

995
01:11:25,320 --> 01:11:34,280
The National Guard is? Yes.
I suppose so. I don't know for sure. Um

996
01:11:31,960 --> 01:11:37,880
Okay, I Additional revenue? I don't
know. I I can't answer definitively.

997
01:11:36,440 --> 01:11:40,600
Sorry.
Yeah.

998
01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:43,000
Well, I'm just suggesting that if folks
think of

999
01:11:41,760 --> 01:11:46,840
things they would like a little bit more
information on to help with this

1000
01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:51,080
discussion, it'd be good to
get that to the manager. Let's just say

1001
01:11:48,640 --> 01:11:53,640
maybe by the end of the day on Friday.
Ideally.

1002
01:11:57,760 --> 01:12:04,840
Yeah, are there other
considerations, other things? I'm just

1003
01:12:02,920 --> 01:12:08,480
trying to think of a couple other
information we might want or other ways

1004
01:12:06,480 --> 01:12:12,400
we can make this as constructive as
possible.

1005
01:12:10,200 --> 01:12:17,520
Um
I mean, it seems like the main the the

1006
01:12:14,080 --> 01:12:22,880
most immediate levers we have are
I don't know.

1007
01:12:18,480 --> 01:12:22,880
Property tax, the map tax.

1008
01:12:23,200 --> 01:12:31,560
Um I see employees. Yeah, cutting staff.
Well, we don't

1009
01:12:28,880 --> 01:12:36,000
have to do that now, but if we don't if
we do certain things, then it will

1010
01:12:33,200 --> 01:12:40,520
become I'm just saying. I mean Okay.
It's just services. It's cutting

1011
01:12:37,440 --> 01:12:44,960
services, which equates to work staff.
It does, but that one is what the

1012
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:48,000
community needs to hear is what service
are we cutting?

1013
01:12:48,040 --> 01:12:53,320
Which is in turn going to mean
letting people

1014
01:12:52,240 --> 01:12:59,120
go.
Hiring people. Because we can't afford

1015
01:12:55,760 --> 01:12:59,120
this service in our community.

1016
01:13:00,640 --> 01:13:07,000
Yeah, and I also think the thing that we
were made very aware of by the manager

1017
01:13:04,840 --> 01:13:11,600
last meeting when we made a decision to
approve the 181 for the school district

1018
01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:15,480
for South Colonie at 26.
So, that's it's urgent. That's happening

1019
01:13:14,280 --> 01:13:17,800
this year. We need to be able to cover
that.

1020
01:13:20,960 --> 01:13:27,080
And I don't I also
I hope everybody understands that

1021
01:13:24,080 --> 01:13:31,600
doesn't relieve you our school payments.
That just keeps it from increasing until

1022
01:13:29,000 --> 01:13:35,120
we sign. That's all it's doing.
It's not taking away.

1023
01:13:35,360 --> 01:13:41,960
So, we still have large payments in
2027.

1024
01:13:39,760 --> 01:13:47,120
Payments in 2027.
I mean, you're probably making

1025
01:13:43,920 --> 01:13:50,280
Making this huge less huge. Right. It's
not offsetting though. It's just

1026
01:13:48,240 --> 01:13:52,640
beneficial to both the school and the
city.

1027
01:13:54,800 --> 01:14:04,000
Okay, well, are there any other
points folks want to make tonight?

1028
01:14:01,760 --> 01:14:08,120
I don't want to cut anybody off.
I also want to be asked.

1029
01:14:09,280 --> 01:14:13,280
I think this discussion is possible
then.

1030
01:14:15,320 --> 01:14:24,560
Okay, why don't we
take a quick look if we have anything

1031
01:14:22,520 --> 01:14:27,760
else I mean pending agenda. This is a
huge pending agenda item, but is there

1032
01:14:26,320 --> 01:14:32,360
anything else we feel like we need to
put on

1033
01:14:29,160 --> 01:14:39,200
pending agenda or the calendar?
Next meeting is June 3rd.

1034
01:14:36,840 --> 01:14:43,440
There will be a public hearing also with
the one Saturday version 1 fee when we

1035
01:14:41,800 --> 01:14:48,520
went to the school of public hearing and
now ready is a break.

1036
01:14:45,640 --> 01:14:48,520
Mhm. Okay.

1037
01:14:49,640 --> 01:14:55,240
Yeah. maybe
just I think

1038
01:14:53,280 --> 01:14:58,640
some of us are here, but
moving our

1039
01:14:57,160 --> 01:15:02,800
um
annual I'm going to have an annual but

1040
01:15:00,720 --> 01:15:07,840
our uh
state of the finance where we're at. I

1041
01:15:05,640 --> 01:15:12,200
know there's been I I think I'm going to
go down here on quarterly basis, but

1042
01:15:10,160 --> 01:15:16,040
that's not sustainable but in the near
future we can get a year to be able to

1043
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:20,680
where our finance I know it's wildly
productive.

1044
01:15:18,400 --> 01:15:25,320
Last year to be able to just have a and
ended up being about a mid-year as of

1045
01:15:22,840 --> 01:15:30,120
end of June and our first of July
meeting audit is done.

1046
01:15:28,400 --> 01:15:33,960
Um I
just want to throw that out there

1047
01:15:31,200 --> 01:15:39,880
sometime in the next month finance can
get that to us.

1048
01:15:37,160 --> 01:15:43,132
Just and hopefully that helps us all
come budget cycle because we're seeing

1049
01:15:41,440 --> 01:15:45,152
where we're at today. We
>> [clears throat]

1050
01:15:46,480 --> 01:15:50,400
» You can do anything.
>> I mean

1051
01:15:49,240 --> 01:15:55,080
um
all we have right now is the first

1052
01:15:52,320 --> 01:15:59,920
quarter's figures, right? And we won't
have additional figures till the end of

1053
01:15:58,080 --> 01:16:03,040
till June 30th or
What if the lag time is after that?

1054
01:16:01,640 --> 01:16:09,200
That's what it'll be. Yeah, so
potentially we could get uh a budget

1055
01:16:06,120 --> 01:16:13,040
versus actual report maybe in mid-July.
Yeah.

1056
01:16:10,960 --> 01:16:18,840
Seems like that would be
um and with the audit would we get an

1057
01:16:16,240 --> 01:16:25,480
audit presentation from the auditors in
June? Are they No, when do they

1058
01:16:23,280 --> 01:16:30,480
And we're not that good.
Even though like this week we gotten

1059
01:16:28,360 --> 01:16:35,640
through that part of the process. Sorry,
I just invited Yeah, no, you're good. Um

1060
01:16:33,160 --> 01:16:40,320
it audit isn't over. Yeah, yeah, I know
I know. There's still follow-up back and

1061
01:16:37,520 --> 01:16:44,880
forth. Um so that's a process and then
the reports to be written. We do

1062
01:16:42,200 --> 01:16:48,920
anticipate that it will be sooner than
the past couple years it's been like

1063
01:16:46,640 --> 01:16:53,560
September 28th when it's due to the
state by the 30th. We're hoping for

1064
01:16:51,440 --> 01:16:56,840
sooner than that.
Yeah. Okay.

1065
01:16:55,040 --> 01:17:01,000
Well, good. So, okay. So, we should
maybe just look for the budget versus

1066
01:16:58,440 --> 01:17:06,200
actual for this year by the middle of
July and

1067
01:17:03,640 --> 01:17:09,440
after July 31st would be better cuz then
you'd have after second quarter sales

1068
01:17:07,840 --> 01:17:13,560
tax.
Oh, cuz it's not due until July 31st.

1069
01:17:12,320 --> 01:17:17,800
Okay.
There's always updated information. Like

1070
01:17:15,880 --> 01:17:22,200
at some point we just need to pick a
date and say let's do it today.

1071
01:17:20,560 --> 01:17:26,160
Um not today.
I think the little bit of bills we can

1072
01:17:23,560 --> 01:17:29,840
see in the first of July is what the
impact to the

1073
01:17:27,800 --> 01:17:31,160
to the city was for electric
fuel.

1074
01:17:30,320 --> 01:17:35,160
» Yes.
And we can see where that's trending

1075
01:17:33,320 --> 01:17:39,280
even without I mean it's revenue is one
thing, but it's still

1076
01:17:36,760 --> 01:17:43,720
Sure. And expenses never stop going.
That.

1077
01:17:40,400 --> 01:17:48,560
Like in June. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Last
year we had a work session. It was a I

1078
01:17:46,120 --> 01:17:52,080
don't know, probably 30 45-minute work
session or something like that. But it

1079
01:17:50,360 --> 01:17:55,960
was we were able to just ask what I can
ask and dialogue. Where are we trending?

1080
01:17:54,200 --> 01:18:01,200
What do we need to start thinking about
for our actual budget cycle. It's It was

1081
01:17:59,360 --> 01:18:06,680
just really nice instead of October when
we really started the budget and then

1082
01:18:03,600 --> 01:18:11,080
with past administrations, this Okay.
Oh, shoot. We're Everything's on fire. I

1083
01:18:08,680 --> 01:18:15,680
wish we would have known this in June,
which we could have seen this in May.

1084
01:18:13,840 --> 01:18:19,520
And this is where
So, So, maybe meeting or maybe first

1085
01:18:18,240 --> 01:18:22,680
July meeting.
I had work session previous to one of

1086
01:18:21,320 --> 01:18:27,360
those two.
Um like energy costs.

1087
01:18:25,080 --> 01:18:29,240
Contingency. This is June to December.
So, you're okay.

1088
01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:32,400
Okay.
Okay. No.

1089
01:18:30,640 --> 01:18:35,720
We don't show the fuel. We'll show the
electricity.

1090
01:18:34,520 --> 01:18:40,000
Yeah, we
We won't have revenue. It's not going to

1091
01:18:38,000 --> 01:18:43,440
be a very good
shot.

1092
01:18:41,360 --> 01:18:48,800
Yeah, we won't really have an idea on
that yet just cuz our largest revenue

1093
01:18:46,120 --> 01:18:53,120
orders are second and third. Right.
Okay.

1094
01:18:50,640 --> 01:18:53,120
Thank you.

1095
01:18:53,360 --> 01:19:03,480
All right. So then
let's go to audience participation.

1096
01:19:01,520 --> 01:19:06,840
Do you audience people want to
participate? Why not?

1097
01:19:07,240 --> 01:19:12,280
Okay.
Then we'll go to council comments. We're

1098
01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:14,920
going to start on this side with council
member Kintz.

1099
01:19:16,560 --> 01:19:24,200
Uh I would just right up the bat thank
you Cheryl and Brenda and Tammy and Pam

1100
01:19:21,880 --> 01:19:28,560
for a great audit this year. And really
it's fantastic to see year over year. We

1101
01:19:26,920 --> 01:19:31,360
know where we were at last year and how
much we added to.

1102
01:19:29,920 --> 01:19:36,080
And I'm excited to see when they
actually finish their audit and can get

1103
01:19:33,960 --> 01:19:39,840
back to us cuz I'll I'll go and track
and see when they did their presentation

1104
01:19:37,640 --> 01:19:43,600
last year and we can skip.
But anyways, great that they're leaving

1105
01:19:42,320 --> 01:19:48,000
um
because they feel confident and what

1106
01:19:46,320 --> 01:19:52,120
they're seeing is why they're leaving.
It's great. I I think that's that's

1107
01:19:50,560 --> 01:19:56,360
really
um something I want to highlight as

1108
01:19:54,160 --> 01:20:00,600
we're talking about all these all these
cuts, all these things. That's great,

1109
01:19:57,960 --> 01:20:06,280
but this is an accomplishment. This is
what gives our city credibility. This is

1110
01:20:03,840 --> 01:20:09,760
what um
really hopefully makes everyone just

1111
01:20:08,120 --> 01:20:14,440
listening feel
better about the money you're spending.

1112
01:20:11,160 --> 01:20:18,040
It's all accounted. We don't have I mean
it's and it's being accounted for based

1113
01:20:16,840 --> 01:20:22,880
off of
financial principles and guidelines and

1114
01:20:20,400 --> 01:20:27,560
guidance that's all set at even a
national level. Um so it's a great

1115
01:20:25,400 --> 01:20:32,480
accomplishment pointing to us finally
having a financial director. So uh

1116
01:20:30,960 --> 01:20:37,880
position we've
and had been vacant for

1117
01:20:35,480 --> 01:20:40,720
a long time. And having someone
here

1118
01:20:39,040 --> 01:20:45,760
and I know we've gone back and forth
with um having some

1119
01:20:43,920 --> 01:20:50,160
outside services to fill some of that
position. Um so,

1120
01:20:48,160 --> 01:20:54,880
thank you for that. That was great news,
actually, to just highlight what what we

1121
01:20:52,840 --> 01:20:58,560
do in the city.
Um

1122
01:20:57,000 --> 01:21:04,200
I
the answer some comment public comment.

1123
01:21:01,680 --> 01:21:08,080
We There's a public hearing next week
about the mill rate. Love to hear some

1124
01:21:06,000 --> 01:21:12,560
suggestions on
well, what you would like to see us do

1125
01:21:10,240 --> 01:21:16,480
besides just don't raise the mill rate.
It's not productive.

1126
01:21:14,920 --> 01:21:19,240
It's not. It's not productive for
anyone. It's not a conversation piece.

1127
01:21:18,560 --> 01:21:24,320
Um
really isn't.

1128
01:21:20,880 --> 01:21:28,760
I'm the people here from us and
generally you see us around in the

1129
01:21:25,920 --> 01:21:32,160
community or all of our emails are
posted online or whatever whatever you

1130
01:21:30,760 --> 01:21:35,720
feel like you need to do, you have a
message, you get it out, get it out. Let

1131
01:21:34,680 --> 01:21:39,600
us know.
This is our community.

1132
01:21:38,040 --> 01:21:44,600
It's our community.
And at least I'm I'm I feel very

1133
01:21:42,400 --> 01:21:48,960
fortunate. Yeah. Very nice little plan
on looking at her, so.

1134
01:21:46,680 --> 01:21:53,480
Um I know
property taxes I've paid in a lot of

1135
01:21:51,000 --> 01:21:58,040
other communities are
far more expensive than the property

1136
01:21:55,440 --> 01:22:00,960
taxes here. Some other cost of living
items here. That's

1137
01:21:59,560 --> 01:22:04,720
That's happening.
There is also a price to live in

1138
01:22:02,960 --> 01:22:10,120
paradise.
And the amenities that we have here

1139
01:22:07,840 --> 01:22:13,320
um
uh

1140
01:22:11,200 --> 01:22:16,520
are the amenities that you truly want.
And how do we want to pay for them?

1141
01:22:18,720 --> 01:22:27,480
Thank you. Member Reading.
Uh congratulations, Cheryl and finance

1142
01:22:23,880 --> 01:22:31,440
team. That's great work. Um
I appreciate

1143
01:22:29,160 --> 01:22:33,840
every comment that's brought in to the
table.

1144
01:22:32,560 --> 01:22:38,840
Um
Comments brought to us helpful.

1145
01:22:36,160 --> 01:22:43,720
festivals on Facebook not helpful.
So, if you have something to say,

1146
01:22:41,280 --> 01:22:48,720
bring it to us and say it on the record
and have the discussion.

1147
01:22:46,280 --> 01:22:48,720
Um

1148
01:22:49,600 --> 01:22:52,400
That's about all we got.

1149
01:22:52,920 --> 01:22:58,920
Assembly Adams.
Um

1150
01:22:57,040 --> 01:23:02,800
Echo the congratulations to Sheryl and
the department for um

1151
01:23:00,840 --> 01:23:06,280
successful audit.
I know that when we had it at the

1152
01:23:03,880 --> 01:23:10,160
school, it's a successful time for that
department as well. So, um

1153
01:23:08,200 --> 01:23:15,200
congratulations on that.
Um

1154
01:23:11,360 --> 01:23:19,920
just uh hopeful wish for the fleet
um for good fishing and safe fishing. Um

1155
01:23:18,760 --> 01:23:23,800
And I have
one thing I wanted to share that I

1156
01:23:22,080 --> 01:23:27,840
thought was appropriate tonight and uh
Councilman Kinsman you brought up the

1157
01:23:25,960 --> 01:23:31,240
the privilege of living here.
Um

1158
01:23:28,840 --> 01:23:36,120
Gabe Jacko wrote today on Facebook and I
think it's we'll just end on a

1159
01:23:34,080 --> 01:23:40,040
high high note here.
I recently hosted a couple of friends

1160
01:23:37,840 --> 01:23:43,680
from Anchorage for Shorebird Festival.
Showing them around Cordova reminded me

1161
01:23:41,840 --> 01:23:47,600
of what a wonderful place this is,
filled with amazing people and so much

1162
01:23:45,800 --> 01:23:52,360
going for us here.
And he has a list. State Ferry, Alaska

1163
01:23:49,960 --> 01:23:56,480
Airlines, US Coast Guard, Fish and Game,
US Forest Service, Native Village of

1164
01:23:54,720 --> 01:24:01,120
Eyak, Prince William Sound Science
Center, Copper River Watershed Project,

1165
01:23:59,000 --> 01:24:06,120
Community Medical Center, Ilanka Health
Center, Cordova Center, Library and

1166
01:24:03,480 --> 01:24:11,040
Museum, Bidarki Rec Center, Cordova
Community Foundation, Ilanka Cultural

1167
01:24:08,600 --> 01:24:15,080
Center, Volunteer Fire Department,
Pioneers

1168
01:24:12,560 --> 01:24:19,640
and Moose, Modern Small Boat Harbor,
operating fish processors, world-class

1169
01:24:17,240 --> 01:24:24,720
commercial and sport fishing, oysters
and kelp, trails, diverse, caring, and

1170
01:24:22,600 --> 01:24:29,120
involved and talented population,
volunteers to help with our long list of

1171
01:24:26,720 --> 01:24:34,600
festivals, special events, and times of
need. Good schools with great teachers,

1172
01:24:31,600 --> 01:24:38,480
dance, music, and theater, charters and
outfitters, significant power source

1173
01:24:36,640 --> 01:24:43,400
from hydro.
So many great small businesses, Net

1174
01:24:40,440 --> 01:24:47,600
Loft, Copper River Brewery, Baja Taco,
Orca Adventure Lodge, Whale's Tail,

1175
01:24:45,760 --> 01:24:53,280
Reluctant Fisherman, Little Bakery,
Jen's Pizzeria, Pet Projects, Cordova

1176
01:24:50,480 --> 01:24:59,800
Gear, Seafood Sales, two grocery stores,
Napa, Ace Hardware, LFS, Sue's knives,

1177
01:24:56,760 --> 01:25:03,920
Powerhouse, and so much more. Envy of
any small town and surrounded by

1178
01:25:02,040 --> 01:25:10,360
nature's wilderness,
beauty and bounty. Remember, no place

1179
01:25:06,560 --> 01:25:10,360
anywhere ever stays the same.

1180
01:25:10,640 --> 01:25:15,160
Oh, I just I think we all need to hear
that.

1181
01:25:14,240 --> 01:25:18,840
Great.
Wonderful tribute.

1182
01:25:16,800 --> 01:25:21,720
Um, I want to go online to you, Council
Member Mickelson.

1183
01:25:22,280 --> 01:25:28,480
Your council comments?
Yeah, I Well, first uh

1184
01:25:27,240 --> 01:25:33,360
wish
uh congratulations to the graduating

1185
01:25:30,120 --> 01:25:38,480
seniors. That's super exciting. Um
And uh yeah, thanks. It's It's nice to

1186
01:25:36,320 --> 01:25:43,320
hear some some good stuff on the
on the audit and and I appreciate all

1187
01:25:40,920 --> 01:25:47,400
the hard work that's happened there.
Um I'm I'm glad we're starting this

1188
01:25:45,240 --> 01:25:50,840
discussion early and yeah, I hope I hope
our community comes out. It and that

1189
01:25:49,240 --> 01:25:56,040
sort of brings me to another thing that
has been brought up in the past is

1190
01:25:53,840 --> 01:25:59,920
how how are people that are out on the
fishing grounds? Have we Have we come up

1191
01:25:57,680 --> 01:26:02,560
with a way that they can
call in the meetings and comment

1192
01:26:01,280 --> 01:26:07,480
because,
you know, uh I'm leaving here in a

1193
01:26:04,680 --> 01:26:11,400
couple hours for this first opener.
And if we get back on our Monday and

1194
01:26:09,400 --> 01:26:14,120
Thursday schedule, which hopefully we
will, there's going to be a lot of

1195
01:26:12,560 --> 01:26:17,520
people that are going to be anchored up
in their spots Wednesday night. So I I

1196
01:26:16,480 --> 01:26:23,760
like to
put in another plug for having um a way

1197
01:26:21,080 --> 01:26:28,200
for those those of us that are community
members that would like to participate

1198
01:26:25,560 --> 01:26:30,640
in our local government to call in. So,
thank you.

1199
01:26:31,480 --> 01:26:37,000
Thank you, Councilmember Nicholson. Um
Councilmember Aspen. I'm just thinking

1200
01:26:35,200 --> 01:26:39,280
about what Councilmember Nicholson said.
I'm I'm sure there's a way for people to

1201
01:26:38,240 --> 01:26:42,840
do written comments that could be
brought here in during sessions that are

1202
01:26:41,120 --> 01:26:46,320
not that are not here more. So,
hopefully there's some way they can

1203
01:26:43,760 --> 01:26:49,320
provide those. Yeah. It's a It's a good
point.

1204
01:26:47,320 --> 01:26:53,280
Um
Yeah, congratulations to our finance

1205
01:26:51,240 --> 01:26:56,560
team as as well. And I love seeing our
our manager with that bright, cheery

1206
01:26:55,200 --> 01:27:01,520
look on her face when she was telling us
about it. A very bright spot, I'm sure,

1207
01:26:58,320 --> 01:27:05,880
for staff, which is fantastic. Um
Um I too am really thankful to have this

1208
01:27:03,920 --> 01:27:10,160
discussion tonight before we actually
have the hard decisions we need to make

1209
01:27:07,440 --> 01:27:13,000
next week. And I know for myself, I'm
going to spend quite a bit of time

1210
01:27:11,360 --> 01:27:17,080
thinking and ruminating and asking
questions of staff before the next

1211
01:27:14,480 --> 01:27:20,560
meeting. So, that um I'm as prepared as
I can be for any decisions that we make

1212
01:27:19,400 --> 01:27:23,480
on how we're going to deal with this
problem.

1213
01:27:21,800 --> 01:27:28,320
Um
I'd also like to thank Councilmember

1214
01:27:26,000 --> 01:27:32,640
Aspen for bringing up Dave Janka's um
description of why Cordova is so

1215
01:27:30,000 --> 01:27:37,120
special. And coming from uh Dave Janka,
that's huge. I just recently had the

1216
01:27:34,600 --> 01:27:41,920
pleasure over at um Councilmember
Rainey's uh lodge to meet a couple of

1217
01:27:39,640 --> 01:27:47,200
people that I had worked with over 30
years ago here in Cordova through an uh

1218
01:27:44,960 --> 01:27:50,520
um international program called uh
uh

1219
01:27:47,920 --> 01:27:54,480
um Raleigh International. And uh this
person that I met there was only here

1220
01:27:52,520 --> 01:27:58,640
for a short couple of months, and they
had the opportunity to take advantage of

1221
01:27:56,280 --> 01:28:01,520
Dave Janka's uh um
uh

1222
01:27:59,360 --> 01:28:07,000
boat to get transported to different
work sites. She remembered how amazing

1223
01:28:04,280 --> 01:28:12,280
he was, how friendly, how how welcoming
he was to our community. And that's

1224
01:28:08,840 --> 01:28:16,240
something I think that people will spend
a a couple months here, a couple days

1225
01:28:14,240 --> 01:28:19,920
here, and they feel so welcomed in our
community, and they remember that, and

1226
01:28:18,080 --> 01:28:23,160
they talk about how special Cordova is,
even if they've only been here once for

1227
01:28:21,280 --> 01:28:26,600
a short period of time. Literally, 30
years later, she had said that it was

1228
01:28:24,800 --> 01:28:31,240
the one of the most formative
times in her life being here in Cordova.

1229
01:28:29,320 --> 01:28:34,000
So, that's a testament to how amazing
this place Cordova is.

1230
01:28:35,520 --> 01:28:40,920
It's an awesome place.
Thanks. Thank you to City staff and all

1231
01:28:39,480 --> 01:28:44,120
the hard workers. You guys voted and
everything.

1232
01:28:42,080 --> 01:28:48,320
Awesome.
Just doing our

1233
01:28:45,680 --> 01:28:51,640
another tough situation, once again.
Um

1234
01:28:49,840 --> 01:28:56,840
and
I hope to never be in the situation

1235
01:28:54,480 --> 01:29:01,280
where we were last year where
Anne Marie came and sat down with her

1236
01:28:58,440 --> 01:29:06,200
kids after she was terminated.
And

1237
01:29:03,120 --> 01:29:09,400
I apologize for you to make that happen
to me by calling and doing that.

1238
01:29:08,320 --> 01:29:14,400
And
that still sits with me today. So,

1239
01:29:12,120 --> 01:29:19,440
I don't say those things lightly.
Um Cordova is an amazing place.

1240
01:29:17,200 --> 01:29:21,640
I mean, I I showed up here, and I never
left.

1241
01:29:20,640 --> 01:29:25,760
Um
I've grown up in a

1242
01:29:23,800 --> 01:29:30,560
commercial fishing family,
and commercial fishing was my whole

1243
01:29:27,160 --> 01:29:35,320
life, and uh
growing up,

1244
01:29:33,080 --> 01:29:40,400
the ebb and flow of finding
We lived high, we lived low.

1245
01:29:38,880 --> 01:29:44,680
That's how it always was.
Um and for this community,

1246
01:29:42,960 --> 01:29:50,120
uh it's it's seen some lows, and it's
seen some highs, and it's going to

1247
01:29:46,520 --> 01:29:54,240
continue to ebb and flow. And
I'm glad that we're here to make these

1248
01:29:51,720 --> 01:29:57,960
decisions and have conversations to to
move forward.

1249
01:29:55,880 --> 01:30:02,760
And uh
thank you everybody at [clears throat]

1250
01:29:58,640 --> 01:30:02,760
the table for all their comments.

1251
01:30:02,960 --> 01:30:08,400
Thank you.
Awesome comments.

1252
01:30:08,720 --> 01:30:17,320
I guess I really appreciated
on top of the session I heard from

1253
01:30:14,360 --> 01:30:22,320
other council. I think I didn't
interview much to it and thanks to them

1254
01:30:19,200 --> 01:30:25,760
for starting process. So staff and
council as well as staff is going to be

1255
01:30:23,960 --> 01:30:31,640
a little better
understanding going to next meeting. So

1256
01:30:29,320 --> 01:30:34,800
we appreciate everyone's
different perspectives on

1257
01:30:35,880 --> 01:30:42,640
I wanted to share too. I got a thank you
card from the Alaska Democratic Party

1258
01:30:40,440 --> 01:30:48,520
after the convention in April and their
comments were a little bit briefer than

1259
01:30:44,720 --> 01:30:51,880
Dave's but echoed um
Let's see. Cordova reminded me of home

1260
01:30:50,480 --> 01:30:54,760
and I'll never forget it. That was one
comment. There were like four people who

1261
01:30:53,120 --> 01:30:59,200
wrote on this card.
And let's see. Your city is stunning,

1262
01:30:57,800 --> 01:31:02,600
warm, and friendly and such a great
community. Thank you for please don't

1263
01:31:01,240 --> 01:31:05,440
hesitate to let us know how we can
support you.

1264
01:31:04,120 --> 01:31:09,320
um
600,000

1265
01:31:07,160 --> 01:31:09,320
people

1266
01:31:11,000 --> 01:31:15,560
On behalf of the Alaska Democratic
Party, we send our sincere thanks and

1267
01:31:14,160 --> 01:31:18,440
appreciation to you and the people of
Cordova, all of whom were warm and

1268
01:31:17,200 --> 01:31:23,280
welcoming.
um The event was an overall success and

1269
01:31:20,760 --> 01:31:25,520
provides great momentum.
And with gratitude Alaska

1270
01:31:24,378 --> 01:31:30,000
[clears throat] Democrats, but anyway,
they also felt like it was welcoming and

1271
01:31:28,160 --> 01:31:33,160
friendly and a great place to have a
meeting. Everybody raved about this

1272
01:31:31,400 --> 01:31:36,920
building. I think I said that already
but

1273
01:31:34,520 --> 01:31:40,040
super um impressed. So yeah,
again, just echoing reinforcing all the

1274
01:31:38,760 --> 01:31:42,280
comments that people have already made
about

1275
01:31:41,440 --> 01:31:47,800
the
special community. So

1276
01:31:45,160 --> 01:31:54,280
Yeah, thank you.
All right. Well, then we will

1277
01:31:50,760 --> 01:31:54,280
I guess there's one more motion.

1278
01:31:54,920 --> 01:32:03,080
Move to adjourn. Second. Okay.
Yeah, third.

1279
01:32:00,520 --> 01:32:06,600
8:31 by the phones. Want to give me that
card? I'll put it over next packet of

1280
01:32:04,520 --> 01:32:11,600
the mail.
Then that comes to you right away. It's

1281
01:32:08,280 --> 01:32:15,000
for me. Yeah. Yeah, but as mayor or as
Yeah, so I'll put it in the next packet.

1282
01:32:16,160 --> 01:32:22,400
Well, you don't want me to?
I mean I Yeah.

1283
01:32:24,320 --> 01:32:26,760
I understand.