[0:00] Yeah,
[0:03] yeah, yeah.
[0:11] sorry.
[0:23] we're on.
[0:26] man
[0:29] just made my day and then like three
minutes later
[0:34] see I vote too.
[0:46] think it's working.
[0:54] yeah.
[1:05] choices there.
[1:12] » [laughter]
[1:21] [laughter]
[1:33] » for the twist
[1:48] don't you just take them down?
[1:52] all right. What's the real time?
yeah.
[1:57] or not?
or not? I said Okay, you're ready.
[2:00] Ready.
Excellent. Great. So, I'm going to call
[2:05] the regular city council meeting of May
20th
[2:09] to order at 7:00. Will you join me in
the Pledge of Allegiance?
[2:15] Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the
[2:19] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[2:25] justice for all.
>> [clears throat]
[2:30] » Third, we take the roll.
Mayor Smith. Here. [clears throat] Sarah
[2:34] Adams.
>> Here. Lee Collins. Here. Aaron Hanson.
[2:38] » Here. Daisy Jacobson. Here. Mike
Michelson.
[2:42] Here.
Bonnie Rabin. Here. Dave Zastera. Here.
[2:46] All of council is present.
Wow. Great.
[2:52] Thanks to everyone. Um, we've got the
regular agenda before us. Are there any
[2:59] modifications to the agenda as
presented?
[3:05] Hearing
no objection, we'll consider the agenda
[3:09] approved.
Disclosures of conflicts of interest and
[3:12] ex parte communication, anything to
declare?
[3:16] Based on the primer of the clerk,
that's been included, which is great.
[3:23] Okay, communications by and petitions
from visitors. We
[3:27] don't have any scheduled guest speakers.
Are there audience members who want to
[3:33] come and comment on agenda items?
Yes, there are.
[3:42] Hello, my name is Chris Marino. I'm at
the 10 Lake Avenue.
[3:46] Um,
I came to make some comments on agenda
[3:49] item nine, uh, the discussion about
raising the mill rate and school
[3:52] funding.
Um, reading through the budget memo
[3:55] included with the agenda item nine in
tonight's meeting packet, I can't help
[3:59] but have a strong feeling of frustration
towards the city administration's
[4:03] attempt to use the school district
funding request as a scapegoat to push
[4:07] through an unnecessary property tax
hike.
[4:09] City administration has laid out a grim
narrative. We're being told that Cordova
[4:13] is staring down a downward financial
spiral. We're told our resources are
[4:17] bare-bones, our fishing forecast is
poor, and funding ongoing requests is
[4:22] unsustainable without extracting more
money from local citizens. To fix this,
[4:26] staff is recommending a mill rate hike
to 12.07, forcing the average Cordova
[4:31] family to take a $404 a year hit to
their household budgets.
[4:36] We're told this is a necessity to cover
the Cordova School District's $181,000
[4:40] budget increase. I don't believe it's a
necessity, and the provided budget memo
[4:44] clearly defends that point. It's time to
stop pretending Cordova has an
[4:48] unavoidable revenue problem, when
perhaps Cordova has a bad decision
[4:52] problem. Just a few meetings ago,
revenue was quite literally knocking on
[4:56] the door of City Hall. This exact
council had an offer on the table to
[5:01] sell city land for $171,000 in cash. The
proposer was willing to make an upfront
[5:06] cash deal, which would have put that
land onto our tax rolls permanently.
[5:09] Instead, this council voted to reject
that upfront cash.
[5:13] They chose to hand the land over to a
nonprofit with $0 to its name and zero
[5:17] obligation to ever pay a single penny in
property taxes.
[5:20] The irony is impossible to ignore. You
walked away from $171,000
[5:25] in cash, and after all the city fees and
permitting attached to the development,
[5:29] that number would have drastically
risen. Now, tonight, you're sitting here
[5:32] debating a recommendation of city
administration to force a tax tax hike
[5:37] on local property owners to generate
$181,000 for our schools. The math is
[5:42] very troubling, to say the least. You
passed up nearly that amount of money a
[5:45] little over a month ago, and now you
want local families to pay for your
[5:49] charity.
And it gets worse. On top of that
[5:51] rejected revenue,
the memo states that the governor just
[5:55] announced $610,749
[5:58] distribution in secure rural schools
money. Even after fully funding the
[6:02] $124,000 Second Street grant match, the
city's sitting on $486,613
[6:08] in unbudgeted cash. But instead of using
that federal cushion to bail out
[6:12] taxpayers or fund the school, the city
admin wants to pocket the entire half
[6:16] million dollars for a municipal capital
project account while keeping our
[6:20] property tax hike locked in place.
The recommendation provided by the city
[6:24] is double dipping on the backs of
Cordova residents while using the school
[6:27] district as a scapegoat to build a cash
cushion to cover up questionable policy
[6:32] choices.
You cannot reject for sure revenue and
[6:36] then turn around and look Cordova
families in the eye and say you have to
[6:39] raise your taxes to keep the schools
funded.
[6:42] In addition to the secure rural schools
money designated to aid municipalities
[6:46] in school funding, the city also has
ordinance 1231 funds to cover unexpected
[6:51] cash flow needs that may arise,
currently around 2.5 million.
[6:56] I'm asking that you protect Cordovans
from a senseless tax hike.
[7:00] When the June 3rd meeting comes, reject
the proposed 12.07 mill rate, use the
[7:04] federal secure rural schools money for
its intended purpose, and start making
[7:08] decisions that value the taxpayers of
this community.
[7:11] If an increase of the mill rate is to be
approved, I want it to be made clear
[7:15] that that tax increase is not a
consequence of the school district's
[7:18] funding request. It's a consequence of
this council's decision to prioritize
[7:23] padding the city's bank accounts to the
tune of $629,613
[7:29] over the affordability of the community.
Thank you.
[7:33] Thank you.
[7:40] Are there audience comments?
Oh.
[8:01] Great.
Thanks.
[8:03] Any other audience comments about agenda
items?
[8:08] I see staff and welcome to comment.
Chairpersons and representatives of
[8:14] boards and commissions.
I think
[8:19] votes.
Oops. Okay, approval of consent
[8:22] calendar. We don't have that. We don't
have minutes.
[8:26] We don't have bids.
Proposals for contracts.
[8:31] Reports of officers.
[8:35] I had secure remote schools written in
my report of officers.
[8:39] Imagine that. Um I did not include a
written report. I'm sorry. I didn't get
[8:42] to it last week.
And
[8:47] see.
[8:54] Um
I just been trying to track what's
[8:58] happening with the state operating
budget and I think most of you
[9:03] probably saw what happened with the
legislation about the
[9:06] defined benefits uh legislation and that
went down along with the
[9:13] uh or because of or um
not because of the governor not getting
[9:18] the terms that he wanted for the natural
gas pipeline. Anyway, that was um kind
[9:22] of a bummer. We're still I guess waiting
to see
[9:25] uh how he approves and what form the
governor approves the operating budget
[9:30] legis- legislation because he has line
item veto
[9:33] power. So, we'll wait and see what
what um
[9:37] comes through
from that process. My comment about the
[9:41] whole
budget process, which is apropos of what
[9:45] Chris was just talking about, was
um
[9:50] I wanted to urge people who are
listening and to people who are
[9:53] following this issue, especially here,
to
[9:56] not to oversimplify what's happening
with our decisions here tonight, because
[10:00] I think the whole issue around school
funding is it's not just
[10:06] there's a gap locally and we may or may
not raise property taxes to cover it. We
[10:11] know that funding coming from the
federal level is a lot less than it has
[10:14] been in many forms, which means that the
city is having to make up for a lot of
[10:18] different things. It's not just
the school. We know the fuel costs are
[10:22] increasing. We know that I don't know if
people saw the um
[10:26] opinion piece that Mayor LaFrance of
Anchorage and Mayor Hopkins of Fairbanks
[10:31] uh had in the ADN a couple days ago
talking about the fact that
[10:35] um
if the local
[10:39] property tax valuation goes up, then the
state contribution goes down. So,
[10:46] it's automatically built into the system
that we're getting less funding from the
[10:49] state than we should than we should be
able to keep up with inflation. Um so, I
[10:54] just wanted to encourage people who are
following all this, like I said, not to
[10:57] oversimplify the whole um
dynamic, because there are so many
[11:01] factors feeding into the fact that we
have a lot less money to work with in
[11:06] general to
do chip sealing on our roads, to pay our
[11:10] maintenance staff, to maintain our
vehicles, to maintain our recreation
[11:12] facilities, to pay our staff, to support
the school. So, there's a whole lot
[11:17] going on.
Um
[11:20] yeah, and
yeah, please just
[11:25] don't oversimplify, I guess is my
message, because um
[11:29] there's really something
So,
[11:32] that's my main report. I did want to
also comment on a
[11:36] the Secure Rural Schools program is
about to open up
[11:41] applications for seats on a committee to
help with allocating the Title II money.
[11:48] That's more considered more
discretionary, I would say. It's money
[11:51] that can go to fund projects that are on
or adjacent to Forest Service lands, and
[11:55] it can be for things like
um I know that the watershed project has
[12:00] applied for money for culvert
replacements. There have been trail
[12:03] projects funded with that money, a bunch
of different things.
[12:07] And it's really cool to sit on a body
where you get to spend money and get to
[12:11] help make things happen. So, if
anybody's interested in serving on that
[12:14] committee,
uh I think the notice of applications
[12:17] will be coming out in the next few
weeks, I would say. Yeah.
[12:21] So, um and it will be a Chugach
region-wide committee. We used to have a
[12:27] Prince William Sound committee, and
there was a committee over on the Kenai.
[12:30] They're going to combine those two
because
[12:32] over on the Kenai, they couldn't field
enough people to apply. We had really
[12:36] active
um hard-working committed committee,
[12:40] have had for years, and have found lots
of good ways to spend that money.
[12:45] Um but they have been unable to field
enough people to fill those seats. So,
[12:51] now it's going to be one committee for
both regions, but still spending two
[12:55] pots of money.
We don't have to We're not combining our
[12:58] money with Kenai money. So. What are
these 16 seats? Eight from Cordova,
[13:03] eight from the other side? Okay. Yeah.
Great.
[13:06] Yeah, so it's a really great opportunity
for anybody who wants to
[13:10] um participate. The meetings happen
at the most once every 2 years. It's not
[13:15] a um
a committee that meets a lot. When it
[13:18] does meet, it's kind of an all-day thing
or
[13:21] maybe 1 and 1/2 days, but um it's not
a huge lift on an annual basis. So.
[13:30] Yeah, so we're happy to answer questions
about anything that we or anything else
[13:36] that we've been talking about.
[13:43] Thanks.
Great, then I will we can move on to the
[13:47] city manager's report.
And also the city manager report
[13:53] continues this package. Um,
do you have some
[13:58] pretty cool news that um
the audit team is leaving early because
[14:04] we are so good.
And I'm super proud of the finance team
[14:08] and how they pulled that together. I
mean
[14:11] the auditors are like uh from last year
to this year is just unbelievable.
[14:17] So I think we should be very grateful
for our
[14:21] team finance director. Yep, and the team
that works too. You know, they're
[14:25] pulling stuff at Mach 90 every morning
when the auditors are doing stuff at
[14:30] 4:30 and it's just because they work
together so well over the years.
[14:35] You know, worked out the
craziness
[14:38] 24 and you know, we're doing the 25 on
it.
[14:42] And it's just yeah, it's impressive. I
mean the auditors and Gavin are just
[14:47] they pie cuz it's so nice.
So I just want to say that they're doing
[14:51] a great job. Cheryl's got a great handle
on it.
[14:54] Team is a great job burning the limits.
Tammy Merritt and Pam also it's just
[15:00] it's incredible.
So to hold that down, everybody gets hit
[15:03] by the audit. We all have get pulled
something,
[15:06] but those guys took the brunt.
Um
[15:11] So then we can talk more after
we're having lunch.
[15:16] After their lunch?
We celebrate a little bit, but yeah,
[15:20] it's good things.
Um other than that, I've just been uh
[15:25] finalizing the lease truck. We're almost
there. It's a lot of paper stuff back
[15:31] and forth.
That truck should be here by mid-June,
[15:34] which will be really really nice. Well,
well, I'll just say that's contingent on
[15:39] Alaska state lease schedule.
But, that's good.
[15:44] I'll get them
all good running vehicles in town or
[15:48] door to door delivery here. And then
we'll figure out another vehicle in the
[15:52] future.
[15:55] And then we've been working on liability
insurance a lot, learning a lot, working
[16:00] with our insurance brokers to to be
talking about some of the
[16:05] deductibles and some of the other things
that maybe we can look at to help us
[16:09] save a few bucks. Um, insurance
medical insurance have been talking with
[16:15] that broker as well. Things are looking
better. We are continually looking at
[16:20] where we're at.
We're doing some alternatives where
[16:23] maybe we split from the hospital for
some crazy reason. Smaller groups are
[16:27] getting better options than larger ones.
So, we're we're investigating every
[16:32] route possible.
Um, and we've also looked into the
[16:36] I don't know how to say this wrong, HSA.
HSA, which is
[16:42] having a health savings account. And we
are doing that this year, and so we
[16:46] continue to do that
moving forward. And that has saved a lot
[16:50] of senior employees senior employees.
So,
[16:53] we're trying to you know, figure out
ways to make things a little
[16:58] a little less a little less expensive,
but still good.
[17:02] So, that's all I got for the business
side. If you have questions, certainly
[17:05] open.
[17:10] Thanks, Sam. Do you have any questions
from the council members or um
[17:14] council member online
or the managing members?
[17:27] Hey, let's move on to the city clerk's
report.
[17:31] Um I've included in there the vacancy of
the Pizwak board member that is a city
[17:37] rep. Uh
the next meetings they have are in
[17:40] October, so it'd be great to get that
filled before then.
[17:45] And those are in October.
All the days.
[17:50] They like the first week of October.
Um so please spread that around.
[17:56] Hopefully people are listening and
looking at it. It's on the Facebook and
[18:00] the website and then this packet.
Sent in dove delivery, so we'll see if
[18:06] we can get someone. It's kind of a
unique individual because they can't
[18:10] they can't hold a permit or a permit.
Because there's enough of them already
[18:16] on the board.
Um I
[18:19] I see that last meeting though you guys
filled the housing supply accelerator.
[18:25] And then you guys filled the one of the
last trails members, so
[18:29] we're in good shape on boards and
commissions minus this one.
[18:34] That's all in my report. Anyone have any
questions?
[18:41] Thank you.
Yeah, I
[18:44] I asked around a little bit last night
to see if you knew anybody who
[18:47] knew anybody.
Because it has to be somebody who's not
[18:51] a permit holder, not
Um not a board and not related to a
[18:56] process, not doing Yes. affiliated or
affiliated with a process. They're
[19:00] either or yeah, or I guess either or
them.
[19:03] And or a processor.
So somebody who runs a tender wouldn't
[19:07] be
No, not eligible.
[19:11] Yeah. So no, I could ask.
Depends who it is. funding their
[19:15] process. I mean, they would just
naturally generally have a contract with
[19:18] the process servers. Right.
>> So. But, right. So, I mean,
[19:22] that's what Yeah, right. That's what
Yeah. But, then maybe if they're an
[19:25] owner, maybe if they're just at tender.
Well, we can. I don't know. I I I
[19:32] haven't looked into it. Yeah. We have
somebody in mind.
[19:35] Um I'm talking to Renschler to see.
[19:39] Um you know what? Yeah.
It's Alaska season.
[19:45] Yeah.
The Venn diagram is
[19:48] Yes, the little the one in the middle is
pretty
[19:51] small.
Okay.
[19:55] Um All right. So,
we don't have correspondence in this
[20:00] packet, and that brings us to an board a
resolution.
[20:06] Uh resolution 05-26-21.
[20:12] Entertain a motion.
Move.
[20:17] Um who was that from?
I think it was Mike Olson.
[20:22] Uh I move to approve resolution
05-26-21,
[20:26] adopting the city of Cordova 2026 local
hazard mitigation plan. Second.
[20:35] Excellent. Resounding vote there.
[20:40] Did you hear me in the back? Zastro and
second with Main. That was number
[20:45] Zastro. Yeah. Um
Obviously, we needed that. When the last
[20:49] update was 2018,
and we've been moving through a process
[20:53] with city staff as with public comments
since 2004. And um
[20:59] and I I guess I didn't realize too that
having this in place makes it able for
[21:04] us to have a a mitigation plan that's
within 5 years allows us the opportunity
[21:10] to forget some federal dollars to throw
on the side. We're missing out on those
[21:14] opportunities that might come up.
Um
[21:17] I haven't looked it over with a
fine-tooth comb, but it looks uh like
[21:21] it's very comprehensive and
and move it forward.
[21:27] I remember reading I did look through
with a fine-tooth comb but when it came
[21:30] out for public review in 2015 with the
planning commission and put comments
[21:35] into them and so um yeah, and I could
have checked it out online. So and they
[21:39] addressed everything I had a concern
about. So I pretty comprehensive.
[21:44] Great.
[21:47] Any other council member comments or um
yeah, council members
[21:53] at the table or online?
[22:03] Well, it's great that this puts us in a
position to be eligible for grant money,
[22:07] not certainly.
[22:10] Good step.
Great step to take. So
[22:14] Okay, all those in favor of adopting
resolution 05-26-21
[22:20] to approve the local hazard mitigation
plan
[22:24] please signify by saying I. I. I.
That's everyone.
[22:32] Motion carries.
[22:35] Okay.
So let's go
[22:42] the big issue right here once council
discussion of Cordova School District
[22:46] funding
other revenue shortfalls and setting the
[22:49] 2026 mill rate.
So we have a memo
[22:54] in the packet from the city manager
which
[22:57] follows up a little bit on the memo from
the May 6th meeting where manager laid
[23:03] out some options.
Um
[23:06] I think the one new piece of information
in here is as was brought up in the
[23:10] agenda comments that we have learned
about the second payment for
[23:14] uh forest service receipts where as the
city manager points out we're we're
[23:18] booking them both in 2026, but
they came in two
[23:23] payments because one was effectively
four
[23:26] I don't know if you say it that one was
for 2025 and one was for 2026 or one was
[23:30] for 2024 and one was for 2025, but
effectively they are both showing up
[23:35] uh and being entered as revenue this
year also.
[23:38] But so now we have the amount for the
second one.
[23:42] Yeah.
Um
[23:45] and did did you want to make any other
comments, Jim?
[23:49] I
No, I feel like a lot of things I'm kind
[23:53] of curious to see if there's any
questions, what y'all want to talk
[23:56] through. Um
You
[24:00] I'm just throwing down on the paperwork
we're dealing with every day at the city
[24:05] so
I'm more than happy to answer any
[24:08] questions we
[24:14] I guess just to recap when we
I mean maybe people went back and looked
[24:18] at it also, but um at the May 6th
meeting the options were
[24:22] uh in terms of the school's request for
additional funding, lower or don't fund
[24:26] the request. We did lower it. Uh raise
the mill rate. Take some portion or all
[24:31] of it from the 3 million that we
borrowed from the permanent fund.
[24:36] And use
at the time the unknown amount of forest
[24:40] service receipts. We now know what that
number is.
[24:43] Um
and those are I think still essentially
[24:49] the options in front of us. We
We There's maybe I'm going to
[24:53] remake it on that. I I the important
point that I'm trying to make
[24:59] is sustainability.
The only sustainable way to have that
[25:04] revenue for the future for the school
is to do it properly.
[25:09] We may never see commercial receipts
again. I don't know. Nobody knows. I
[25:13] mean, we're not budgeting, they're not
budgeting in '26. There's no anticipated
[25:18] to be budgeting them in '27 at the
direction of
[25:22] council.
So, it's not a
[25:26] guaranteed so the income. We do well
above the minimum amount to the school.
[25:32] And you know, I'm not I think it's
great. Like we can do it, we can do it,
[25:37] but we can't continue to cut the city's
budget
[25:42] to fund it.
And that is where we live right now.
[25:47] You take $181,000
and we don't decide how to fund it.
[25:51] And we don't have any money for
the $192,000 that we spent on the oil
[25:58] and gas team taxes that we didn't know
about, the pool 100 grand, $35,000 for a
[26:03] master plan.
[26:06] We're kind of hurting ourselves. Like
we're we're hurting our own purse by
[26:10] doing We need to have a sustainable way
to continue to fund the school. We're
[26:15] hurting the school, we're hurting
ourselves.
[26:18] That's just my
take home point. Like
[26:21] how are we going to keep moving forward?
We don't know what's going to happen
[26:24] between now and
end of the year. The money that is in
[26:29] the
2.5 million, we've already eaten
[26:32] $500,000 of that out. It's gone.
This keeps us from running from June
[26:39] in at our lowest revenue point when
we're paying a lot of money out, but
[26:44] we're not getting any revenue. This for
cash flow, that was the intention of
[26:48] that.
So, I think we really have to be cuz
[26:53] consider it. That's fine. We're better
off
[26:55] of how much they need and what and what
we're spending it on.
[26:59] And how we're going to sustain if this
were something that comes
[27:03] over and over and again.
Can't hire an employee.
[27:07] Can't hire an employee.
You don't know how to sustain that
[27:11] ability. Yeah.
It's It's important
[27:14] to really think this past
right now.
[27:20] Thanks. Council member Council member
Cummings.
[27:23] I want to see who
who was first.
[27:27] I don't have it over there. How the hell
did I get over there? Council member
[27:31] Vincent.
So, I I do want to start off with that
[27:35] last sales topic failed city out in my
opinion.
[27:39] Um there are too many
>> [clears throat]
[27:42] » things uh working against us um as far
as the budget goes.
[27:46] Um
I do appreciate
[27:50] you know, the
community member coming in
[27:53] saying what he did and
um
[27:56] being here and
adding his opinion.
[27:59] But, we are in a very really bad spot.
Um
[28:02] and I will beat this to death every
meeting that we had completely stripped
[28:06] our maintenance budget for every
department.
[28:10] Our facilities are aging. Our equipment
is aging. That requires more attention
[28:15] and more costs. Our facilities are
aging. The cost of gas is up raised.
[28:20] Utilities The the
overall [clears throat] cost of
[28:23] utilities were raised.
Um
[28:27] the schools are We're not just going to
sixth grade graduation. The class eight
[28:31] kids This [snorts] uh
swipe
[28:35] young families are coming back because
of school in Cordova.
[28:40] We don't have a
huge revenue gain in my opinion that is
[28:46] right now.
There's we we need to continue on the
[28:50] road that we are with extending the
housing to have more sustainable room
[28:56] and growth for the community to to
continue to flourish.
[29:00] We are about to guess a
uh
[29:05] can we decide to operate this kind of
local
[29:08] our general revenue?
So,
[29:11] by the way, then,
if we want to maintain things that we
[29:15] have, want to maintain the school and
the amenities that we have, it's going
[29:20] to take more money.
So, it brings us to raise taxes.
[29:27] Which only goes so far, and then you
have to ask your question of what
[29:34] At what point in the city's budget when
we can't pay for the things that are
[29:39] necessary, can you keep the workforce
busy? They can't afford the tools, and
[29:43] they can't afford
the
[29:47] the items that are necessary to complete
their job.
[29:50] That when
we're we're up against raising taxes and
[29:54] cutting employees. I don't understand I
I there's no other way that I can run it
[30:00] through my mind
knowing that even though that we're
[30:03] balanced, we are behind.
So,
[30:08] that's
that's my two cents.
[30:13] Thank you.
You all set with me?
[30:17] Um
the word sustainable though,
[30:20] I don't think is a good word to use
because
[30:23] sustainability
also applies to the mill rate.
[30:28] We are on a very
steep curve here and a teetering
[30:34] piece of wood, and you can only tax the
community members to a certain point,
[30:38] and then people are going to leave.
I think we've reached that point.
[30:43] Fuel alone
the sales tax we're going to get from
[30:46] fuel is going to be, I believe, more
than we budgeted. But, just as an
[30:50] example, 2025
my sales tax for 1 month
[30:56] in April for last year doubled this year
for fuel.
[31:02] So, I went from 875 bucks to 1750.
And that is 1 month, and that's across
[31:08] the board. We get the tax from the fuel
dock, we get
[31:13] sales tax online. Those prices are
increasing, and that the tax is
[31:17] increasing. So, I think that we will see
more than we budgeted for that, but we
[31:20] cannot continue to solve our problems by
taxing the property holders of the
[31:26] community. We cannot. That is not
sustainable. That may be sustainable in
[31:31] the definition of where the money's
going to come from, but it's not
[31:34] sustainable for the people who are
carrying the burden.
[31:37] Taxpayers cannot afford it. We cannot
afford more taxes.
[31:42] I think the 436,000
that's coming in off those
[31:47] secure world schools will take care of
that extra money we wanted to bring to
[31:51] the school district. And no, it may not
be here next year, but
[31:56] the answer is not to raise the mill
rate. The answer is not to put more
[31:59] burden on the community at this point.
Everything is going up, and we did just
[32:06] raise the mill rate again. We can't We
can't continue to
[32:12] suck dry the folks that are that are
sustaining the community that we have.
[32:22] Any Any
Are there other Assembly members
[32:27] Member Adams, do you
Just one [clears throat] point I'd like
[32:31] to bring up is that, um,
things
[32:34] might change for the better in Juno
with this the November election.
[32:40] And the attitude towards funding schools
might change. I mean, right now we have
[32:47] a pretty
um
[32:49] unsupportive
funding source
[32:53] government leader in Juno
um who seems to be hostile towards
[32:57] schools.
And I
[32:59] I'm hoping that that changes.
And um
[33:04] that the base student allocation will
will not point go up.
[33:10] And so
yeah, there are some grim
[33:14] future outlooks here, but I'm hopeful
that something's going to change in
[33:19] Juno.
[33:23] Yeah, I mean, but I'm hopeful for in the
near term is that the money they've
[33:26] allocated an extra 144 million for
schools for this year, so
[33:32] we're hoping some of that comes to bear,
but we'll see. Uh guarantee and we won't
[33:37] know for another
I don't know, 6 weeks.
[33:40] Yeah, Council member Saster.
Um well, a couple of thoughts going back
[33:44] to a few things that have been said
already.
[33:46] I actually
what Council member Adam said earlier
[33:49] resonates with me. We're in a very
unusual time right now.
[33:53] Fuel prices are going through the roof
because of what's going on
[33:56] geopolitically right now. I mean,
there's just a weird bubble we're in
[33:59] with tariffs and oil prices just going
through the roof
[34:03] over things that may change here in the
next year or so. Let's hope they do.
[34:08] Let's hope they do with with changes of
of leadership. Um
[34:12] I also want to go back to uh mayor's
comments about um
[34:17] in general what we're facing isn't just
about what what we approved for
[34:21] additional funds to the school. It's
it's so much more complicated. I just
[34:24] want to reiterate that for folks that
are listening that it's not just about
[34:28] the school. It's a million things we've
been dealing with for the last several
[34:31] years when it comes to the budget and
they've getting gloomier and gloomier.
[34:34] So, I think it's it gives me genuine to
say any decision we make on mill rate is
[34:39] specifically because of school costs.
That's just not the case.
[34:43] Um
I I
[34:47] And again, I think I again I just want
to recognize that
[34:51] what our council member Randy just said
Um
[34:55] you know, the mill rate you raised it
last year cost of living gone up for
[34:59] community members for a variety of
things, food costs, fuel costs. And
[35:03] there is truly a point at which people
won't be able to continue to pay higher
[35:08] rates.
What that means for this year's mill
[35:11] rate, I'm not exactly sure yet. But that
is something we have to consider because
[35:16] it's it's
Yeah, it's certainly not
[35:19] um a stat- status quo from where we were
last year. We raised the mill rate.
[35:25] Things are vastly different they are a
year from that time or where we are
[35:28] today. So, I mean it's it's Yeah, I it's
dramatically different to where we were
[35:34] a year ago. So, lots to consider there.
[35:44] Callen's online. So, I make sure
everybody gets a chance to chime in if
[35:48] they want or anyone else wants to. I I
definitely have comments here.
[35:54] Can you hear me okay?
We got you.
[35:57] Well, uh I I think the way that I
comment on this is you know, fuel tax
[36:02] has certainly got brought up. And if you
consider
[36:06] there's there's 400 boats in the gillnet
fleet.
[36:09] When I was only gillnetting, I burned
about 5,000 gallons of gas a year.
[36:13] So, if if you say that the whole fleet
burns about that much,
[36:18] that's uh
that's 2 million gallons of gas.
[36:22] And I've I've heard it from multiple
members of the fleet, from our our
[36:27] Russian community, from people that live
here, from people that are coming here,
[36:30] that they're planning on not
coming to town nearly as often. So,
[36:35] that's going to
that's people are going to camp out, and
[36:38] that's going to reflect in local
businesses. I mean, you know, after this
[36:42] winter where we're we're seeing very few
businesses open, it's not going to help
[36:47] the ones that we have.
And so, I think if there was ever a year
[36:50] to throw the community a bone, it's this
year, and don't raise the mill rate, and
[36:55] you know,
I understand that that we shouldn't be
[36:59] budgeting for forest receipts, and and
and I I'm glad that we're not, but in my
[37:03] mind, it makes sense to pull that
um
[37:07] request from the school district out of
that
[37:09] forest receipts, and use the rest of it
for uh
[37:13] un- unforeseen fuel costs, um
maintenance. Uh I I think it's not going
[37:18] to be hard to absorb that, um just with
with cost overruns from a variety of
[37:24] factors. I I just ordered some stuff
from AML, and there was a 30% uh fuel
[37:29] shipping surcharge. So, that's going to
have a big effect on our community as
[37:33] well.
Um
[37:35] I think the other thing in terms of the
mill rate is, you know, when when we're
[37:38] looking at processors that have other
locations in Prince William Sound,
[37:43] there's sort of a balance to strike here
because
[37:47] you know, the number of of cannery
workers that it takes to operate one of
[37:51] those plants,
you know, they have a lot of money in in
[37:54] facilities down there. And so, the mill
rate affects them a lot more than it's
[37:58] going to pick affect the average person.
And so, I I think
[38:02] we need to at least discuss that when
we're making our decision. And, you
[38:06] know, $400 for a household doesn't sound
like that much, but,
[38:09] you know, there's a big segment of our
community that doesn't have a regular
[38:13] job where you get annual raises or or
raises every once in a while. I mean,
[38:18] fish prices are
lower or similar to what they were 10
[38:23] years ago. And when you add inflation
in, they're generally less across the
[38:27] board. And so I I just want to be
conscious of that before anybody starts
[38:32] making decisions here because
um
[38:35] you know, there's
These are not simple simple issues and
[38:40] it's been been brought up and and and
there is nuance to this, but in in my
[38:44] mind it's really clear that we need to
use those forest receipts to pay for the
[38:48] school and the and the rest for
maintenance and cost overruns
[38:52] related to fuel.
[38:57] Thanks, Councilmember Nicholson. Um
Councilmember Kinchen, are you
[39:02] Yeah, and again, I'm just
[clears throat]
[39:05] coming from different communities. Um
I've always seen a mill rate or anything
[39:09] associated with
that's is tied to the school district.
[39:13] So, if we're saying we have one mill or
a percentage, generally it's a
[39:16] percentage I mean a mill,
whatever you want to say, a percentage
[39:19] of this for the school, a percentage. If
we're raising property tax 100% whatever
[39:24] 1%, then
then we're going to say 0.25 of that is
[39:28] going to the school, 0.25 is going to
prevent the maintenance, 0.25 is going
[39:33] to these out. So, we don't have that
accountability. So, that's what ties a
[39:36] mill increase to sustainability. Is we
have all of those mills accounted to
[39:41] something.
And so I I think that's probably what we
[39:46] need to get a handle on is where are our
current mills going today?
[39:52] And where do we want them to go in the
future?
[39:55] Okay, as I say, mills, the money. We
have the money that's there. Where is it
[39:59] going? Where do we want it to go? Where
as a community do we want it to go? Do
[40:03] you want it to go to the school? Do you
want it to go to Darke County? Do you
[40:06] want it to go to EMS? Do we want it to
go to our roads that are
[40:11] freaking atrocious right now to drive
on? And
[40:15] I think this is a good broader
conversation of what do we want as a
[40:20] community? What do we want with our new
monies that we currently have? No one
[40:23] wants to pay more taxes, great. Then
what are you willing to give up?
[40:27] I mean that's what it is. What are you
willing to give up? This is where we're
[40:30] at. And what service, what amenity
who which one of I mean
[40:37] to Councilman point, which one of your
neighbors do you want them to lose their
[40:40] job?
I mean that that as we go through and
[40:44] look at and break down the cost of us as
a community
[40:49] fast and well over 50% is tied to
personnel.
[40:54] And that that's where the funding and
that's for any organization. And that's
[40:58] not just the city, that's you know we
can talk to school, we can talk the
[41:01] business I work for, we can talk to any
any place. If you're going to attract
[41:05] people, you want them to be here, you're
going to pay them.
[41:09] And so that I think this is just
a much broader conversation. So if
[41:17] No, if the appetite is and I can
actually agree with some sentiment from
[41:22] uh Councilman Nicholson and the state of
our community today and relation to uh
[41:31] and relation to the raising not raising
the mill rate, but that as a community
[41:36] that's fine. We don't have to raise the
mill rate.
[41:39] Yeah.
Everything still costs money.
[41:44] And I don't think people understand that
our opportunity to raise that revenue is
[41:49] today and then in 6 months we're going
to have our budget.
[41:53] So we don't really know how we're going
to end our year.
[41:57] And here's here we are today and that's
just how
[42:01] old and how we handle our finances and I
don't know if we need to shift that or
[42:05] change that. I don't know that process.
And I don't know that if we have a way
[42:11] to allocate
mills to certain
[42:15] pockets of money, to certain budget
codes, to certain departments, certain
[42:19] things that we as a community want to
spend our money on. But I have that's
[42:23] how I have my own personal budget. I
mean, I know where my money comes from
[42:27] and I know which percentages go to
things.
[42:30] So.
[42:35] My vision of how we get to the
sustainability.
[42:39] And if we are raising the mill rate,
then we can go to the community and this
[42:43] is what we're raising it for, not
abstractly to
[42:46] we need more cash flow, which is great,
but where where needs more cash flow?
[42:52] And we could be more accountable for
that.
[42:56] I think that's a good discussion point
because yeah, we can take the money out
[43:01] of the forest or seas for this year. So
there's 180 out of that. I'm going to
[43:05] forward to that. We don't know what our
fuel costs are going to be. We pumped
[43:08] the lake for months.
On diesel fuel.
[43:13] And just it wasn't at its highest a
week, but during part of that time it
[43:17] was. We don't know what we're moving
forward to.
[43:21] I know that the fire truck engine has a
mechanical issue that we need to deal
[43:27] with. We can't have
We have a fire truck that's 24 years old
[43:32] and a back up that's 32 years old.
I remember a council member saying, "I
[43:38] want the fire truck to come to my
house."
[43:40] Well, these are things that we have to
deal with and
[43:45] We we have to think about
this. Maybe we spend $300,000 of that
[43:51] $400,000
to just get through 26. What are we
[43:56] going to do in 27?
[44:00] And what what what is it
that we're going to give up because
[44:06] and I mean
every person who works in the city,
[44:11] lives in the city, pays taxes in the
city
[44:15] and I feel like it always comes back to
the city
[44:18] budget.
Right? There's
[44:21] you know, it always comes back to the
city budget getting cut.
[44:25] Every cut, every cut. I mean, how many
positions could go away every time it's
[44:29] in the memo? How many times have you
read that list?
[44:32] I just I don't know
what I I I guess I just don't know what
[44:38] we need to do. And like
how
[44:43] I mean, you use it how do you use
revenue?
[44:46] Unfortunately, this generated from
taxes. I mean, I didn't create this
[44:49] rule.
Right? This is how it works. Yeah. And
[44:55] I want kids to go to school. I want kids
to have a great education, but I also
[44:59] also want my streets plowed.
I want the people work here to feel
[45:03] secure in their jobs.
They work hard. Look at what we've done
[45:07] in finance in a year.
I mean,
[45:11] I I just
I mean, nobody is saying this isn't
[45:14] hard. I know, but I'm just trying to see
the other side of it, right? Right. I
[45:18] mean, I I think people get that.
>> Yeah. I know it's hard for everybody,
[45:22] but I still feel like Right. it always
comes back to the city taking the
[45:27] biggest hit.
Well, that's it.
[45:29] » And so
>> Well, I I think the thing that you we
[45:32] also need to consider is, you know, this
year
[45:36] one of the gillnet sources, which is the
main bay hatchery, is basically going to
[45:43] be a run failure. Um
is is what what's happening. There was
[45:47] there was a big die-off that happened.
Um the some of the some of the fish got
[45:51] a disease. Um
It's a naturally occurring disease
[45:55] that's in all sockeye populations. So,
there's already going to be less revenue
[45:59] from that.
Um just there's there's a few different
[46:03] factors that are happening, but
the good news is is that
[46:07] the prices across the board are getting
better. They're substantially better.
[46:12] Um,
I mean, people are getting paid really
[46:14] well for halibut right now, but
you know,
[46:19] that that's sort of the thing is that
we're we're likely to have a pretty good
[46:23] year next year and we're we're likely to
have a lot more fish coming through
[46:27] town. Um, processors are going to be
gearing up with with with more more
[46:33] people. There's going to be
there's just going to be a lot more
[46:36] money in town next year just in general.
I mean, you can never say with
[46:40] certainty, but there's the likelihood is
very good. This year
[46:44] the outlook is poor kind of across the
board.
[46:47] Um,
[46:50] there's there's also been some news
today that the Board of Fisheries, which
[46:54] has a pretty great sway over our
community, has just uh
[47:01] basically had their hand slapped and
said that they need to follow their
[47:03] ethical
um
[47:06] obligations. And that's really good
because, you know,
[47:09] one of the reasons we're looking at what
we're looking at is, you know, there was
[47:14] a few different things that went into
moving the gillnet fishery back
[47:18] um
7 days. And you look at fishermen coming
[47:21] here that much later and that usually
that's a big boost for our community.
[47:26] That's a bunch of money that comes in.
And so, you know, there's just a lot of
[47:29] factors why this is a is a challenging
year. That's that's that's more
[47:32] challenging, frankly, than a lot of the
other years that we've had. And
[47:37] I do think that the future is brighter.
I don't think that the decisions that
[47:41] we're making this year are going to be
nearly as drastic when we're looking at
[47:46] what happens in the future, but we just
need to be aware when we do have these
[47:49] better years
[47:53] we we still need to be really cautious
and conservative is my my thought here.
[48:02] And so, we can [clears throat] we're
basically kind of hashing through the
[48:06] options. We're not um
scheduled to make a decision tonight. I
[48:11] think people know that. Yeah, they'll
know that this is discussion item. But
[48:14] we are going to have to make that
decision at the next meeting, so.
[48:17] And I appreciate we're having this
discussion now before the next meeting.
[48:21] » Yeah. And thank you for uh to the clerk
for putting that summary page together.
[48:25] Cuz that definitely helps with Yeah.
Looking at the different scenarios. I
[48:28] know for me the last 2 years when we got
to this point, having this in front of
[48:31] us we might have to make a decision was
very
[48:33] very helpful to have nice thoughts about
it first.
[48:36] Um
Uh
[48:38] and I guess yes but as everybody's been
speaking, uh you have the all the
[48:42] unknowns and everything. Um I I guess
that our our one comment earlier today
[48:47] from the public about uh padding the
budget, which I I just don't disagree. I
[48:51] don't agree with that because you do
what you can. You put money away for a
[48:55] rainy day. You know, we have to put
money away for what we know we're going
[48:59] to need in the future. As our manager
just has uh mentioned, we've got
[49:03] incredibly aging
um emergency medical or emergency fire
[49:07] uh equipment with our with our engines.
And medical.
[49:11] Sorry? And medical. And there
Yeah, we
[49:14] we've got so many things that could fail
at any moment. We just don't know when
[49:18] it's going to happen. So, and again to
uh key in on um what uh Councilmember
[49:23] Kimble said, you know, what are we going
to choose? What are the choices we're
[49:26] going to make? If if we get to a point
we can't fund everything, what do we
[49:29] decide not to fund? And what we don't
want to happen is being in an emergency
[49:34] situation where we have to make that
decision. We want to be a little more
[49:36] proactive, I would think, to make that
decision before the emergency.
[49:41] So, um having a little bit of money on
hand, we're not talking about a huge
[49:46] amount of money here that's that's being
held for potential needs in the future.
[49:50] So, um I I just take exception with that
that thought about somehow that
[49:55] the city's adding their budget of ships
on the base.
[50:02] Yeah, thank you for that perspective.
Right. I mean, I that's um
[50:07] As I was saying earlier, I'm urging
people not to over simplify because we
[50:11] have all heard about the capital needs
here on the water distribution system,
[50:14] the
water treatment plants.
[50:17] Yeah.
We
[50:20] We are banking on it all continuing to
function as it always has. Right. No
[50:24] guarantee. Right. No guarantee.
Yes. Along I mean, since we're talking
[50:29] mill rate, then I understand we're
discussing Well, we're going to really
[50:33] set for next week. I
There's been some conversations. Been
[50:38] things that other municipalities have
done, and that is really tying a mill
[50:42] rate to a local business, local
resident.
[50:46] And we can That can be done through One,
you have You set your mill rate. 20 20
[50:52] mills are I mean, it's just simple math.
But if you can prove or you can claim
[50:56] similar to a
sales or a veteran or any of these
[51:00] things. If you can prove that you're a
resident, this is where you live. You
[51:03] live in Cordova year-round.
Okay. Your mill rate you get a discount
[51:07] on your mill rate. We can say you have
You can't say you have a different mill
[51:10] rate, but you can offer a discount. I
believe that's how I've seen it in other
[51:13] communities or a reduced mill rate. I
think it's just off the assessed value
[51:18] you can do. So, then it's off of So,
it's the same mill, but then you have
[51:23] less of an assessed value or it or a
credited
[51:26] » a homeowner's exemption.
I don't think it can be to 75,000.
[51:32] And based off of what specifically?
Well, it would be onerous to administer
[51:37] that program because it would be similar
to the senior exemption except tenfold
[51:44] because everybody's going to claim that
they live here year round kind of thing
[51:48] and that would be
doable but
[51:53] onerous.
And
[51:58] And it's not a conversation to have for
next meeting. I hope everyone knows I'm
[52:02] really just trying to get you know just
poking around I think
[52:05] Susan and I have had conversations about
what Valdez does for their mill rates.
[52:10] Obviously they have a much different pot
of money but also then maybe even more
[52:14] important for us and our limited pot of
money of
[52:19] There there are people who live in our
community
[52:22] who have homes in our community who do
not live in our
[52:25] and have no intention of living in our
community.
[52:29] So I just the thing is you can look
forward to the future and obviously fit
[52:33] the
the piece there is a threshold there too
[52:37] where the ownership is yes us
administering this is not we're going to
[52:41] pay us more and we're going to have to
go with outside consultation or insert
[52:47] all these additional costs and then it's
not worth it. You're right at that point
[52:50] it's not.
[52:53] It'd be a calculation to undertake.
Come up with some kind of scenarios for
[52:58] that.
But there is the conversation that does
[53:01] happen why can we not tax them more well
this is a a way
[53:07] is it worth it? I don't know.
Um
[53:11] Yeah definitely nice.
Someone brought up to me today a
[53:15] suggestion along the same lines of
if
[53:18] ownership and living in Cordova and the
senior exemption all kind of tied
[53:22] together and just putting this out on
the table as well I thought it was an
[53:26] interesting suggestion is that um
the senior exemption and there are
[53:32] seniors who have two homes.
They have a home in Cordova and they
[53:37] have a home elsewhere
and snowbird
[53:42] and
this community members
[53:45] take was if you can afford two homes,
then perhaps you don't need the senior
[53:49] exemption.
[53:52] Uh
Pardon me?
[53:55] I'm just thinking the administration on
that. Well, I think it's a state it's a
[53:58] state law. State statute. We don't have
we can't already clear. Okay, we can
[54:02] again. Right. I was on you know, this is
something brought to my attention today
[54:06] and I said well,
yeah, crazy. Um
[54:09] I know but I'm
thinking
[54:11] so maybe that applies to maybe 20 people
and what what does that gain us? I mean,
[54:16] that would be the question is Mhm.
>> 150,000 * 20 you times the mill, right?
[54:21] Yeah. And taxes, so that's something.
Something. But it's it might be more
[54:26] than 20. There's like 250 seniors on the
list. Right. But how many of them have
[54:30] second homes is what I was thinking.
Well, but how many
[54:35] are truly here? Mhm. for the income
record of time, right? And who just
[54:39] signs the newspaper that says they are.
Mhm.
[54:41] Yeah.
I just don't know what it would net us
[54:45] enough to
Well, there would be Maybe the statute
[54:49] doesn't allow us to do it. It's a new
point anyway. Yeah, you could
[54:52] raise
changing that statute, which nobody
[54:56] would like, but a lot of other states
have it that the senior exemption is
[55:00] need based.
So, you don't just get it cuz you're 65,
[55:04] you get it
if you fall below certain income levels
[55:09] and are 65.
But that's not the case for Alaska.
[55:13] But a lot of other states do have that
in mind. You know, one thing that was
[55:16] talked about in the past that
uh we still wouldn't be probably with um
[55:20] is a real property tax a personal
property tax because there are a lot of
[55:24] people who fish here who don't live here
who have their boats here.
[55:27] And those are not taxed.
And
[55:30] and you know how that conversation goes
every time we have it. Yeah, I do. But I
[55:33] was saying I mean, if if you know, if
people are upset enough, this is you
[55:36] know, this is where we're at. This is,
you know, where You can't tax You can't
[55:41] tax people who don't live here. You
can't tax just people who don't live
[55:43] here. No, so no, but it has the
potential to do something where you
[55:47] that is somehow you offset that. Like,
does that enable you to lower, if you
[55:51] get some property tax some
um personal property tax revenue, does
[55:56] that enable you to lower the mill rate a
certain amount to give the people who do
[55:59] live here
a break? Yeah.
[56:02] Does that offset some of the tax burden
for other folks? Well, I can I can speak
[56:08] to that personal property tax to some
extent. There's There's places where
[56:11] they do it, like Crystal Bay,
where there's basically one fishery
[56:15] that's happening.
Um
[56:17] they there's it's a fairly simple
fishery. It's a short time of year.
[56:21] Really makes sense out there, but you
know, like I have 14 gillnets. I think
[56:26] the average person that participates in
this fishery has somewhere between 10
[56:31] and 12.
And then you're you're you're looking
[56:35] at, well, what's a gillnet worth? Like,
because a new gillnet's like 7,500
[56:40] bucks, you know,
and a trash gillnet's maybe $500. So, so
[56:46] how do you evaluate that? And how much
staff time is it going to take
[56:50] for the fleet? And there's a lot of
fleet that just like is going to leave
[56:53] more of their stuff other places, spend
less time here if you do that.
[56:57] I think it's going to be really hard to
administer. There's going to be people
[57:00] that have lockers and gear.
It It just really It's It's not going to
[57:05] be easy to implement that, and it It's,
you know,
[57:10] my my take on all this is how how do we
get people to spend more time and spend
[57:14] more money here?
And so, when you're looking at things
[57:17] like raising the mill rate, like let's
say you have a load of halibut.
[57:22] The processors
the reason they have survived is because
[57:26] they're really paying attention to their
bottom line. So, every every single cost
[57:30] that they have kind of gets passed on to
some extent when someone delivers
[57:34] halibut and so it reflects with a lower
price. So,
[57:37] you know, if fuel is more expensive here
because we tax
[57:40] we tax that at a higher rate or
so on and so forth and so
[57:46] you know, there's
there's a real conversation, you know,
[57:49] when you're looking at
mill rate and looking at senior
[57:53] exemptions, like that's a little bit of
money, but you know, every gillnetter
[57:57] that's here
on average from a lot of people that I
[58:00] talk to looking at the my receipts,
they're they're spending 40 grand a year
[58:03] on their on their going operation. Like
that's a significant amount of money.
[58:07] That's a lot more than you're getting
from
[58:09] changing someone's house assessment to
get $5,000 a year versus $4,000 a year.
[58:15] You know,
we want we want to be making it so that
[58:19] those people that that are coming here
to fish want to continue to fish here,
[58:23] want to keep their gear here because
they spend money here. That's just the
[58:26] bottom line.
And so I think
[58:30] if you put a personal property tax,
you're just going to drive people away
[58:34] and
you know, it
[58:37] if you ever get a chance as we're taking
a field trip to Yakutat because their
[58:40] their fisheries have really declined.
Um
[58:44] for a variety of reasons, but it it it
kind of reminds me of of Cordova in the
[58:48] '90s after the oil spill when when
things were really going poorly and
[58:51] there was a
national
[58:54] salmon fishing depression and and
you know, you know,
[58:58] we're headed that direction
the way we're going right now and and
[59:03] I I understand that we need to generate
money, but but we just need to be really
[59:08] cautious about
what the unintended consequences are
[59:11] going to be of some of these things that
sound great on the surface.
[59:16] That just makes me think if we had a
state income tax, would people not come
[59:19] here and work around that? Yeah, I just
got to say I mean I I totally I think
[59:25] Representative
is so knowledgeable about the fishery
[59:28] and everything he just described, but
the one thing I do kind of hear often
[59:32] when we're talking about raising any
kind of fee in court, well, we'll do it,
[59:35] we're just going to go somewhere else.
That's not necessarily always the case,
[59:39] and that's what you're getting at, you
know, you have to be a balance, right?
[59:42] You have to make it worth their while
and worth worth the city's while or be
[59:46] able to have a functioning community
here.
[59:48] Um, obviously, you wouldn't just go wild
with any kind of personal tax, but you
[59:52] figure out what that balance point is.
And um, just to say that, oh, you're
[59:57] just going to run people elsewhere,
that's that's I think that's just too
[1:00:02] um, black and white, Councilman.
I I wanted to be clear, too, when I
[1:00:06] talked about a personal property tax,
the way it was being discussed earlier,
[1:00:10] which I remember from maybe 15 years
ago, was
[1:00:14] um, I I never heard it applied to um,
fishing nets, Councilman Erickson. Maybe
[1:00:20] that's what they do in Bristol Bay, but
I was thinking mostly boats and planes
[1:00:23] is what I remember hearing. But that
doesn't I'm just I was just saying that
[1:00:27] that is something that has been
discussed, and I'm not and advocating
[1:00:31] for it, but I'm just saying that And
that's something you can determine
[1:00:34] easily through registrations. Right.
Yeah. Right. And you can do it based on
[1:00:38] value, or you can do it we were
considering doing it just flat rate
[1:00:42] based on the
number of feet of the boat.
[1:00:46] So, literally 100 bucks for a skiff,
right? But 150 for a bow netter and 300
[1:00:53] for a seiner or something. Yeah, like
that.
[1:00:56] Yeah, food for thought. And Bristol Bay
is based on value and it's boats only.
[1:01:01] Mhm.
Pretty sure. Okay. So. That's everything
[1:01:05] I've known in other states I've lived.
Everything when you register your
[1:01:09] vehicle, you're paying your tax on your
vehicle every single year. I'm not
[1:01:14] saying that's what we need to do here,
I'm just saying that's
[1:01:17] very common source of revenue for
everywhere else.
[1:01:21] I mean, that would just be one way of
everybody says, how do we how do we tax
[1:01:25] the people who come here because we have
a harbor, because we have a fishery?
[1:01:29] They call and they do it every single
year.
[1:01:30] » Yeah, they do. Not every every year.
So, yeah, it it it yeah, it's very much
[1:01:36] a balance, you know, and and I am not
suggesting that we
[1:01:40] completely load on new revenue and not
offset it somehow or another way because
[1:01:45] you don't want to
>> [clears throat]
[1:01:47] » keep increasing the burden on the people
who live here, obviously, than us. The
[1:01:50] point but it is to distribute it among
the you know, to have more hands in the
[1:01:54] pot. So,
yeah, I mean, this has been a topic over
[1:01:58] and over again is
we're all reaching into the same pocket
[1:02:03] to try and pull more money.
The goal
[1:02:07] is to find that outside revenue
to
[1:02:11] to add into the pot, not just hand it
from so-and-so or so-and-so.
[1:02:16] And
I mean, we've had many great
[1:02:20] discussions
adding homes to this community to add to
[1:02:26] the tax base, to add to the workforce.
[1:02:31] All great discussions.
Problem that we have
[1:02:35] is right now, it's in our face.
How do we fund it?
[1:02:45] I mean, too, that um
the same question becomes the other way,
[1:02:50] when do we stop
spending money?
[1:02:54] Right? I mean, if we
and as Mr. Wilson said, you know, if we
[1:03:00] are pushing people away, then maybe we
need to
[1:03:04] stop spending some money.
And we have to give up
[1:03:09] But I I'll have to suggest that we're
not chasing people away. I mean, look at
[1:03:14] the population of our schools.
There are growing families here.
[1:03:19] You know, um the grade school cannot
it's just about at capacity
[1:03:25] um
with um classrooms and the number of
[1:03:29] people in classrooms.
Um classrooms are not big enough for 36
[1:03:33] children.
Um so I I don't feel like we are
[1:03:38] pushing people away. In fact, people are
staying in
[1:03:43] my experience just based on the other
school.
[1:03:46] Um I might be wrong, but um
that's the evidence that in our school
[1:03:51] population.
But I I guess I was going to throw one
[1:03:55] other question out and to explore and
that is
[1:03:58] the interest on our permanent fund
money.
[1:04:02] Um where does that go? Where does it
stay? Is it something that can be
[1:04:07] um
considered
[1:04:11] um
in an
[1:04:13] emergency budget shortfall? Not the
permanent fund principle itself, but its
[1:04:17] interest.
Currently, it's reinvested into the
[1:04:22] permanent fund.
Um
[1:04:26] No, I
I think the end goal is not to
[1:04:31] pull and take and pull and take out of
permanent fund cuz you're selling
[1:04:35] you could be selling at the worst
possible time. And so you're you're not
[1:04:39] only taking that money out, but you're
losing
[1:04:43] money. We're just talking about the
interest.
[1:04:45] » I'm just talking about the interest. I'm
not I'm not pulling funds out. Just like
[1:04:48] But you're not reinvesting any money
into the Well, I think that you just So
[1:04:51] the answer is at at this point it's
getting reinvested. I think that was
[1:04:55] approved by The laws of the income. Uh
I don't know about the laws of the
[1:05:00] income.
>> We would have to look at that.
[1:05:01] » Well, we had I mean the when we did
two three years ago when we changed who
[1:05:06] was investing our permanent fund and how
they're doing I mean great presentation.
[1:05:11] And his recommendation was and I would
have to look back the dollar amount.
[1:05:15] He's like, "Before you start using your
interest
[1:05:20] as part of your budget, you should be at
this amount. When you're at this amount,
[1:05:25] then it makes sense for you to take a
portion of that interest, and you can
[1:05:29] include that into your budget." And
there were different projections on that
[1:05:34] of when we could reach that point, but
the whole idea was I mean, we were what?
[1:05:39] Well, million in there.
[1:05:44] Whatever you were at, $5 million in
there, yeah.
[1:05:47] I was thinking of where our budget
Yeah, but Yeah, I mean, we can look into
[1:05:53] that, and we can also have Blake come
here, and and he has been asking to
[1:05:56] come. I think he wanted to come today.
No, no. Good. Blake is the um
[1:06:03] Alaska permanent
capital management. Who's From Alaska.
[1:06:07] Sounds like a construction company. Like
it's uh United States of America,
[1:06:11] something like that. But um yeah.
I mean, and I'll throw this out on the
[1:06:15] table cuz we have this discussion every
year, so we might as well get it out
[1:06:18] there now.
We're at 6% um
[1:06:21] net tax and
a lot.
[1:06:26] April April accommodation at Pop Store
in downtown.
[1:06:32] Revenue in your own
>> [laughter]
[1:06:35] » They will pay. They got no other
building to put at least their buildings
[1:06:37] in there. They will pay. They They They
got um Is it a modular?
[1:06:42] I mean, that's all they got in site
prep. Yeah, they today uh a man who went
[1:06:46] checked out their foundations to make
sure they were there um
[1:06:50] The backs. Thank you. And so Yeah,
they're moving. Cool.
[1:06:56] A good company. I mean, that is a
until revenue source.
[1:07:01] Well, I mean, it'd be interesting to
know so what is that figure? What's what
[1:07:04] what if we if we bump it up to seven,
what's the 1%? I'm just going to bring
[1:07:08] the budget in here, do you know?
>> Yeah, yeah. I mean, but that might be
[1:07:11] » we've talked it like about Gerald. Take
the amount in the budget for that and
[1:07:16] add a percent. I think it was like we
did that.
[1:07:20] But we don't know what the map We don't
know what the marijuana tax is going to
[1:07:24] be.
>> Right, but even though we just do one
[1:07:26] one.
No, it should be better than what we
[1:07:30] have.
We had We had that figured.
[1:07:33] » It was like 80 grand.
Yeah, it was like 80 grand.
[1:07:36] » It was proposed, yeah. I don't know
about weed. It's an unknown amount from
[1:07:41] a marijuana. Right, but uh
wasn't the issue that
[1:07:47] the bed tax is 7%, but the other one is
at six? The bed tax is six. Everything
[1:07:53] is at six. Our taxes are six.
>> Okay.
[1:07:55] » Sales tax is six.
>> So that's Oh, oh, oh, that's what I
[1:07:58] heard.
Do we have a head tax for the tourists
[1:08:03] who um um cruise ships? Yes. It's very
minimal.
[1:08:08] It's a Only takes it.
Pardon me? That's the harbor enterprise.
[1:08:12] There are rules about where you can put
that head tax. It is also very minimal.
[1:08:17] We put and we don't meet the threshold
for state funding. state funding. Yeah,
[1:08:24] what is that called? The cruise
passenger vessel tax. I don't I don't
[1:08:27] know. Right, that would be a share.
Where you get a share from. We don't
[1:08:34] Did we have any
cruise ships? We only had one sailing
[1:08:37] this year, right? Yesterday. Yeah, one
cruise was here this week.
[1:08:42] Yeah, like You think we had I think we
had five people. I think it was five or
[1:08:46] six here. Five or six this year. Yeah, I
think it was like 30 people.
[1:08:49] Okay.
I know we did.
[1:08:52] Well,
>> So, I would say are there are there
[1:08:55] specific things that we want to ask the
manager or the finance director to
[1:08:59] prepare, like if you're looking for
figures for
[1:09:02] sake
that you'd like to have for the next
[1:09:05] meeting.
Is there anything that
[1:09:09] or
perhaps you could we couldn't get that
[1:09:14] information if you if you come away with
I mean with the next meeting is June
[1:09:18] 3rd, so the deadline for that packet is
next Wednesday.
[1:09:21] So if you have ideas for things that you
would like to see in the packet that
[1:09:25] would help with the discussion for June
3rd.
[1:09:29] Um can we get that to the manager by
I'm already done. Do you already have
[1:09:34] anything? Yeah, I know. Well, I mean
sometimes you think about it a couple
[1:09:38] days later, so I'm just saying what
Monday?
[1:09:42] Um
get it to Sam or learn anything by
[1:09:44] Monday? No.
Monday is Memorial Day. Oh.
[1:09:49] Yeah, maybe Friday I mean we're off
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is the
[1:09:53] packet. We have to be able to pull
together. I mean depending on what the
[1:09:56] question
is. Hard to know if you don't know what
[1:09:58] the question is.
I mean we could do the math tax season.
[1:10:03] I mean
I mean we kind of have a rough guess
[1:10:05] right now.
It increased
[1:10:07] from last year. I don't foresee our
sales tax going up next year
[1:10:11] for fiscal year '27
other than we will have marijuana tax.
[1:10:18] Yeah, so our math should increase even
though we don't
[1:10:23] I I will say though we lost uh
huge work forces with these type of
[1:10:30] grants that are not downtown.
Uh
[1:10:34] Aren't we going to have a lot of work
starting this fall?
[1:10:40] And so the you mean for Odiak? So Odiak
Do we have Yeah, Odiak might be in South
[1:10:45] Hadley, but I mean we're talking like
the approval of what? Five people at the
[1:10:48] And not I thought maybe White Church
Road or what I mean that's the spring of
[1:10:52] '27. And the same with Second Street. I
wouldn't see those projects bringing in
[1:10:56] like exponential sales tax savings.
They're going to bring all their
[1:11:00] supplies.
And then yeah, you're going to have a
[1:11:02] crew here that's going to be spending a
lot of money. But like
[1:11:05] » Again, we're not talking hundreds of
people coming for this project.
[1:11:08] » Yeah.
Yeah. But some we do have a group of
[1:11:13] people staying at the school starting
next week.
[1:11:17] And I don't know if that's National
Guard or CERT or RT. The red the
[1:11:20] readiness team, the NDE. Are they paying
rent to the school?
[1:11:25] The National Guard is? Yes.
I suppose so. I don't know for sure. Um
[1:11:31] Okay, I Additional revenue? I don't
know. I I can't answer definitively.
[1:11:36] Sorry.
Yeah.
[1:11:38] Well, I'm just suggesting that if folks
think of
[1:11:41] things they would like a little bit more
information on to help with this
[1:11:44] discussion, it'd be good to
get that to the manager. Let's just say
[1:11:48] maybe by the end of the day on Friday.
Ideally.
[1:11:57] Yeah, are there other
considerations, other things? I'm just
[1:12:02] trying to think of a couple other
information we might want or other ways
[1:12:06] we can make this as constructive as
possible.
[1:12:10] Um
I mean, it seems like the main the the
[1:12:14] most immediate levers we have are
I don't know.
[1:12:18] Property tax, the map tax.
[1:12:23] Um I see employees. Yeah, cutting staff.
Well, we don't
[1:12:28] have to do that now, but if we don't if
we do certain things, then it will
[1:12:33] become I'm just saying. I mean Okay.
It's just services. It's cutting
[1:12:37] services, which equates to work staff.
It does, but that one is what the
[1:12:42] community needs to hear is what service
are we cutting?
[1:12:48] Which is in turn going to mean
letting people
[1:12:52] go.
Hiring people. Because we can't afford
[1:12:55] this service in our community.
[1:13:00] Yeah, and I also think the thing that we
were made very aware of by the manager
[1:13:04] last meeting when we made a decision to
approve the 181 for the school district
[1:13:09] for South Colonie at 26.
So, that's it's urgent. That's happening
[1:13:14] this year. We need to be able to cover
that.
[1:13:20] And I don't I also
I hope everybody understands that
[1:13:24] doesn't relieve you our school payments.
That just keeps it from increasing until
[1:13:29] we sign. That's all it's doing.
It's not taking away.
[1:13:35] So, we still have large payments in
2027.
[1:13:39] Payments in 2027.
I mean, you're probably making
[1:13:43] Making this huge less huge. Right. It's
not offsetting though. It's just
[1:13:48] beneficial to both the school and the
city.
[1:13:54] Okay, well, are there any other
points folks want to make tonight?
[1:14:01] I don't want to cut anybody off.
I also want to be asked.
[1:14:09] I think this discussion is possible
then.
[1:14:15] Okay, why don't we
take a quick look if we have anything
[1:14:22] else I mean pending agenda. This is a
huge pending agenda item, but is there
[1:14:26] anything else we feel like we need to
put on
[1:14:29] pending agenda or the calendar?
Next meeting is June 3rd.
[1:14:36] There will be a public hearing also with
the one Saturday version 1 fee when we
[1:14:41] went to the school of public hearing and
now ready is a break.
[1:14:45] Mhm. Okay.
[1:14:49] Yeah. maybe
just I think
[1:14:53] some of us are here, but
moving our
[1:14:57] um
annual I'm going to have an annual but
[1:15:00] our uh
state of the finance where we're at. I
[1:15:05] know there's been I I think I'm going to
go down here on quarterly basis, but
[1:15:10] that's not sustainable but in the near
future we can get a year to be able to
[1:15:14] where our finance I know it's wildly
productive.
[1:15:18] Last year to be able to just have a and
ended up being about a mid-year as of
[1:15:22] end of June and our first of July
meeting audit is done.
[1:15:28] Um I
just want to throw that out there
[1:15:31] sometime in the next month finance can
get that to us.
[1:15:37] Just and hopefully that helps us all
come budget cycle because we're seeing
[1:15:41] where we're at today. We
>> [clears throat]
[1:15:46] » You can do anything.
>> I mean
[1:15:49] um
all we have right now is the first
[1:15:52] quarter's figures, right? And we won't
have additional figures till the end of
[1:15:58] till June 30th or
What if the lag time is after that?
[1:16:01] That's what it'll be. Yeah, so
potentially we could get uh a budget
[1:16:06] versus actual report maybe in mid-July.
Yeah.
[1:16:10] Seems like that would be
um and with the audit would we get an
[1:16:16] audit presentation from the auditors in
June? Are they No, when do they
[1:16:23] And we're not that good.
Even though like this week we gotten
[1:16:28] through that part of the process. Sorry,
I just invited Yeah, no, you're good. Um
[1:16:33] it audit isn't over. Yeah, yeah, I know
I know. There's still follow-up back and
[1:16:37] forth. Um so that's a process and then
the reports to be written. We do
[1:16:42] anticipate that it will be sooner than
the past couple years it's been like
[1:16:46] September 28th when it's due to the
state by the 30th. We're hoping for
[1:16:51] sooner than that.
Yeah. Okay.
[1:16:55] Well, good. So, okay. So, we should
maybe just look for the budget versus
[1:16:58] actual for this year by the middle of
July and
[1:17:03] after July 31st would be better cuz then
you'd have after second quarter sales
[1:17:07] tax.
Oh, cuz it's not due until July 31st.
[1:17:12] Okay.
There's always updated information. Like
[1:17:15] at some point we just need to pick a
date and say let's do it today.
[1:17:20] Um not today.
I think the little bit of bills we can
[1:17:23] see in the first of July is what the
impact to the
[1:17:27] to the city was for electric
fuel.
[1:17:30] » Yes.
And we can see where that's trending
[1:17:33] even without I mean it's revenue is one
thing, but it's still
[1:17:36] Sure. And expenses never stop going.
That.
[1:17:40] Like in June. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Last
year we had a work session. It was a I
[1:17:46] don't know, probably 30 45-minute work
session or something like that. But it
[1:17:50] was we were able to just ask what I can
ask and dialogue. Where are we trending?
[1:17:54] What do we need to start thinking about
for our actual budget cycle. It's It was
[1:17:59] just really nice instead of October when
we really started the budget and then
[1:18:03] with past administrations, this Okay.
Oh, shoot. We're Everything's on fire. I
[1:18:08] wish we would have known this in June,
which we could have seen this in May.
[1:18:13] And this is where
So, So, maybe meeting or maybe first
[1:18:18] July meeting.
I had work session previous to one of
[1:18:21] those two.
Um like energy costs.
[1:18:25] Contingency. This is June to December.
So, you're okay.
[1:18:28] Okay.
Okay. No.
[1:18:30] We don't show the fuel. We'll show the
electricity.
[1:18:34] Yeah, we
We won't have revenue. It's not going to
[1:18:38] be a very good
shot.
[1:18:41] Yeah, we won't really have an idea on
that yet just cuz our largest revenue
[1:18:46] orders are second and third. Right.
Okay.
[1:18:50] Thank you.
[1:18:53] All right. So then
let's go to audience participation.
[1:19:01] Do you audience people want to
participate? Why not?
[1:19:07] Okay.
Then we'll go to council comments. We're
[1:19:11] going to start on this side with council
member Kintz.
[1:19:16] Uh I would just right up the bat thank
you Cheryl and Brenda and Tammy and Pam
[1:19:21] for a great audit this year. And really
it's fantastic to see year over year. We
[1:19:26] know where we were at last year and how
much we added to.
[1:19:29] And I'm excited to see when they
actually finish their audit and can get
[1:19:33] back to us cuz I'll I'll go and track
and see when they did their presentation
[1:19:37] last year and we can skip.
But anyways, great that they're leaving
[1:19:42] um
because they feel confident and what
[1:19:46] they're seeing is why they're leaving.
It's great. I I think that's that's
[1:19:50] really
um something I want to highlight as
[1:19:54] we're talking about all these all these
cuts, all these things. That's great,
[1:19:57] but this is an accomplishment. This is
what gives our city credibility. This is
[1:20:03] what um
really hopefully makes everyone just
[1:20:08] listening feel
better about the money you're spending.
[1:20:11] It's all accounted. We don't have I mean
it's and it's being accounted for based
[1:20:16] off of
financial principles and guidelines and
[1:20:20] guidance that's all set at even a
national level. Um so it's a great
[1:20:25] accomplishment pointing to us finally
having a financial director. So uh
[1:20:30] position we've
and had been vacant for
[1:20:35] a long time. And having someone
here
[1:20:39] and I know we've gone back and forth
with um having some
[1:20:43] outside services to fill some of that
position. Um so,
[1:20:48] thank you for that. That was great news,
actually, to just highlight what what we
[1:20:52] do in the city.
Um
[1:20:57] I
the answer some comment public comment.
[1:21:01] We There's a public hearing next week
about the mill rate. Love to hear some
[1:21:06] suggestions on
well, what you would like to see us do
[1:21:10] besides just don't raise the mill rate.
It's not productive.
[1:21:14] It's not. It's not productive for
anyone. It's not a conversation piece.
[1:21:18] Um
really isn't.
[1:21:20] I'm the people here from us and
generally you see us around in the
[1:21:25] community or all of our emails are
posted online or whatever whatever you
[1:21:30] feel like you need to do, you have a
message, you get it out, get it out. Let
[1:21:34] us know.
This is our community.
[1:21:38] It's our community.
And at least I'm I'm I feel very
[1:21:42] fortunate. Yeah. Very nice little plan
on looking at her, so.
[1:21:46] Um I know
property taxes I've paid in a lot of
[1:21:51] other communities are
far more expensive than the property
[1:21:55] taxes here. Some other cost of living
items here. That's
[1:21:59] That's happening.
There is also a price to live in
[1:22:02] paradise.
And the amenities that we have here
[1:22:07] um
uh
[1:22:11] are the amenities that you truly want.
And how do we want to pay for them?
[1:22:18] Thank you. Member Reading.
Uh congratulations, Cheryl and finance
[1:22:23] team. That's great work. Um
I appreciate
[1:22:29] every comment that's brought in to the
table.
[1:22:32] Um
Comments brought to us helpful.
[1:22:36] festivals on Facebook not helpful.
So, if you have something to say,
[1:22:41] bring it to us and say it on the record
and have the discussion.
[1:22:46] Um
[1:22:49] That's about all we got.
[1:22:52] Assembly Adams.
Um
[1:22:57] Echo the congratulations to Sheryl and
the department for um
[1:23:00] successful audit.
I know that when we had it at the
[1:23:03] school, it's a successful time for that
department as well. So, um
[1:23:08] congratulations on that.
Um
[1:23:11] just uh hopeful wish for the fleet
um for good fishing and safe fishing. Um
[1:23:18] And I have
one thing I wanted to share that I
[1:23:22] thought was appropriate tonight and uh
Councilman Kinsman you brought up the
[1:23:25] the privilege of living here.
Um
[1:23:28] Gabe Jacko wrote today on Facebook and I
think it's we'll just end on a
[1:23:34] high high note here.
I recently hosted a couple of friends
[1:23:37] from Anchorage for Shorebird Festival.
Showing them around Cordova reminded me
[1:23:41] of what a wonderful place this is,
filled with amazing people and so much
[1:23:45] going for us here.
And he has a list. State Ferry, Alaska
[1:23:49] Airlines, US Coast Guard, Fish and Game,
US Forest Service, Native Village of
[1:23:54] Eyak, Prince William Sound Science
Center, Copper River Watershed Project,
[1:23:59] Community Medical Center, Ilanka Health
Center, Cordova Center, Library and
[1:24:03] Museum, Bidarki Rec Center, Cordova
Community Foundation, Ilanka Cultural
[1:24:08] Center, Volunteer Fire Department,
Pioneers
[1:24:12] and Moose, Modern Small Boat Harbor,
operating fish processors, world-class
[1:24:17] commercial and sport fishing, oysters
and kelp, trails, diverse, caring, and
[1:24:22] involved and talented population,
volunteers to help with our long list of
[1:24:26] festivals, special events, and times of
need. Good schools with great teachers,
[1:24:31] dance, music, and theater, charters and
outfitters, significant power source
[1:24:36] from hydro.
So many great small businesses, Net
[1:24:40] Loft, Copper River Brewery, Baja Taco,
Orca Adventure Lodge, Whale's Tail,
[1:24:45] Reluctant Fisherman, Little Bakery,
Jen's Pizzeria, Pet Projects, Cordova
[1:24:50] Gear, Seafood Sales, two grocery stores,
Napa, Ace Hardware, LFS, Sue's knives,
[1:24:56] Powerhouse, and so much more. Envy of
any small town and surrounded by
[1:25:02] nature's wilderness,
beauty and bounty. Remember, no place
[1:25:06] anywhere ever stays the same.
[1:25:10] Oh, I just I think we all need to hear
that.
[1:25:14] Great.
Wonderful tribute.
[1:25:16] Um, I want to go online to you, Council
Member Mickelson.
[1:25:22] Your council comments?
Yeah, I Well, first uh
[1:25:27] wish
uh congratulations to the graduating
[1:25:30] seniors. That's super exciting. Um
And uh yeah, thanks. It's It's nice to
[1:25:36] hear some some good stuff on the
on the audit and and I appreciate all
[1:25:40] the hard work that's happened there.
Um I'm I'm glad we're starting this
[1:25:45] discussion early and yeah, I hope I hope
our community comes out. It and that
[1:25:49] sort of brings me to another thing that
has been brought up in the past is
[1:25:53] how how are people that are out on the
fishing grounds? Have we Have we come up
[1:25:57] with a way that they can
call in the meetings and comment
[1:26:01] because,
you know, uh I'm leaving here in a
[1:26:04] couple hours for this first opener.
And if we get back on our Monday and
[1:26:09] Thursday schedule, which hopefully we
will, there's going to be a lot of
[1:26:12] people that are going to be anchored up
in their spots Wednesday night. So I I
[1:26:16] like to
put in another plug for having um a way
[1:26:21] for those those of us that are community
members that would like to participate
[1:26:25] in our local government to call in. So,
thank you.
[1:26:31] Thank you, Councilmember Nicholson. Um
Councilmember Aspen. I'm just thinking
[1:26:35] about what Councilmember Nicholson said.
I'm I'm sure there's a way for people to
[1:26:38] do written comments that could be
brought here in during sessions that are
[1:26:41] not that are not here more. So,
hopefully there's some way they can
[1:26:43] provide those. Yeah. It's a It's a good
point.
[1:26:47] Um
Yeah, congratulations to our finance
[1:26:51] team as as well. And I love seeing our
our manager with that bright, cheery
[1:26:55] look on her face when she was telling us
about it. A very bright spot, I'm sure,
[1:26:58] for staff, which is fantastic. Um
Um I too am really thankful to have this
[1:27:03] discussion tonight before we actually
have the hard decisions we need to make
[1:27:07] next week. And I know for myself, I'm
going to spend quite a bit of time
[1:27:11] thinking and ruminating and asking
questions of staff before the next
[1:27:14] meeting. So, that um I'm as prepared as
I can be for any decisions that we make
[1:27:19] on how we're going to deal with this
problem.
[1:27:21] Um
I'd also like to thank Councilmember
[1:27:26] Aspen for bringing up Dave Janka's um
description of why Cordova is so
[1:27:30] special. And coming from uh Dave Janka,
that's huge. I just recently had the
[1:27:34] pleasure over at um Councilmember
Rainey's uh lodge to meet a couple of
[1:27:39] people that I had worked with over 30
years ago here in Cordova through an uh
[1:27:44] um international program called uh
uh
[1:27:47] um Raleigh International. And uh this
person that I met there was only here
[1:27:52] for a short couple of months, and they
had the opportunity to take advantage of
[1:27:56] Dave Janka's uh um
uh
[1:27:59] boat to get transported to different
work sites. She remembered how amazing
[1:28:04] he was, how friendly, how how welcoming
he was to our community. And that's
[1:28:08] something I think that people will spend
a a couple months here, a couple days
[1:28:14] here, and they feel so welcomed in our
community, and they remember that, and
[1:28:18] they talk about how special Cordova is,
even if they've only been here once for
[1:28:21] a short period of time. Literally, 30
years later, she had said that it was
[1:28:24] the one of the most formative
times in her life being here in Cordova.
[1:28:29] So, that's a testament to how amazing
this place Cordova is.
[1:28:35] It's an awesome place.
Thanks. Thank you to City staff and all
[1:28:39] the hard workers. You guys voted and
everything.
[1:28:42] Awesome.
Just doing our
[1:28:45] another tough situation, once again.
Um
[1:28:49] and
I hope to never be in the situation
[1:28:54] where we were last year where
Anne Marie came and sat down with her
[1:28:58] kids after she was terminated.
And
[1:29:03] I apologize for you to make that happen
to me by calling and doing that.
[1:29:08] And
that still sits with me today. So,
[1:29:12] I don't say those things lightly.
Um Cordova is an amazing place.
[1:29:17] I mean, I I showed up here, and I never
left.
[1:29:20] Um
I've grown up in a
[1:29:23] commercial fishing family,
and commercial fishing was my whole
[1:29:27] life, and uh
growing up,
[1:29:33] the ebb and flow of finding
We lived high, we lived low.
[1:29:38] That's how it always was.
Um and for this community,
[1:29:42] uh it's it's seen some lows, and it's
seen some highs, and it's going to
[1:29:46] continue to ebb and flow. And
I'm glad that we're here to make these
[1:29:51] decisions and have conversations to to
move forward.
[1:29:55] And uh
thank you everybody at [clears throat]
[1:29:58] the table for all their comments.
[1:30:02] Thank you.
Awesome comments.
[1:30:08] I guess I really appreciated
on top of the session I heard from
[1:30:14] other council. I think I didn't
interview much to it and thanks to them
[1:30:19] for starting process. So staff and
council as well as staff is going to be
[1:30:23] a little better
understanding going to next meeting. So
[1:30:29] we appreciate everyone's
different perspectives on
[1:30:35] I wanted to share too. I got a thank you
card from the Alaska Democratic Party
[1:30:40] after the convention in April and their
comments were a little bit briefer than
[1:30:44] Dave's but echoed um
Let's see. Cordova reminded me of home
[1:30:50] and I'll never forget it. That was one
comment. There were like four people who
[1:30:53] wrote on this card.
And let's see. Your city is stunning,
[1:30:57] warm, and friendly and such a great
community. Thank you for please don't
[1:31:01] hesitate to let us know how we can
support you.
[1:31:04] um
600,000
[1:31:07] people
[1:31:11] On behalf of the Alaska Democratic
Party, we send our sincere thanks and
[1:31:14] appreciation to you and the people of
Cordova, all of whom were warm and
[1:31:17] welcoming.
um The event was an overall success and
[1:31:20] provides great momentum.
And with gratitude Alaska
[1:31:24] [clears throat] Democrats, but anyway,
they also felt like it was welcoming and
[1:31:28] friendly and a great place to have a
meeting. Everybody raved about this
[1:31:31] building. I think I said that already
but
[1:31:34] super um impressed. So yeah,
again, just echoing reinforcing all the
[1:31:38] comments that people have already made
about
[1:31:41] the
special community. So
[1:31:45] Yeah, thank you.
All right. Well, then we will
[1:31:50] I guess there's one more motion.
[1:31:54] Move to adjourn. Second. Okay.
Yeah, third.
[1:32:00] 8:31 by the phones. Want to give me that
card? I'll put it over next packet of
[1:32:04] the mail.
Then that comes to you right away. It's
[1:32:08] for me. Yeah. Yeah, but as mayor or as
Yeah, so I'll put it in the next packet.
[1:32:16] Well, you don't want me to?
I mean I Yeah.
[1:32:24] I understand.