[0:01] This world. >> This is

[0:04] Thank you. >> [laughter]

[0:08] » Moving back to the council, we're at the approval of the agenda. What is the

[0:11] wishes of the council? Move to approve.

[0:16] Um Mayor Cooper, if I may, I would like Can we get a

[0:20] second before we start moving? I would like to I would like to I

[0:23] Second. >> Ma'am,

[0:24] I would like to give a a second and once we get the approval of

[0:26] the agenda, then we will go and do the the things to move if you'd like.

[0:30] Second. I already second it. We all second.

[0:34] All right, now for open for discussion. Miss

[0:36] Councilwoman Mosher. Yes, I would like to move

[0:39] item B I to J

[0:44] for uh under unfinished business.

[0:49] And I would like to move uh items D E F

[0:56] G J K and L to item K for further discussion.

[1:04] And item K is action memorandums. Yes, can I recommend

[1:09] that we move the action memorandums to item I, which is the actual action

[1:13] memorandum part of the agenda? Right. I don't mind. Yes, we can move it there.

[1:18] You're welcome. Perfect. Thank you.

[1:21] All right, so moved.

[1:25] And just for the information of all council members, we don't need to vote

[1:28] on that. I know we have in the past, but once a council member recommends it,

[1:32] then we'll just move that. And Madam Clerk, if you would

[1:35] pay closer attention to that than I will, that would be great. Thank you.

[1:40] Mayor, I would also like to move items M and N

[1:45] to section I to item I.

[1:51] Oh, okay. Okay. So, before we vote, I just want to make

[1:55] sure that we have all the amendments correct. So, we are moving the

[1:59] introduction of ordinance 26-002 and instead of J unfinished business,

[2:05] cuz technically it's not, I would say K new business.

[2:09] So, K2 and then I have D E F G

[2:17] J K L M N be moved to item I, which is action memorandums.

[2:26] Okay. Please

[2:28] Please Please Please, if you would make sure that we do what we're supposed to

[2:32] do when we get there. I will. And then I'll take a roll call vote.

[2:37] Yes, ma'am. Okay. Mayor Cooper? Yes.

[2:41] Council member Collins? Yes.

[2:45] Deputy Mayor Al Kamitra? Yes.

[2:49] Council member Graham? Yes. Council member Mosher? Yes.

[2:54] Council member Allen? Yes. And council member Carrington? Yes. It is unanimous.

[3:00] It's approved as amended. Thank you very much.

[3:05] And if I look like I'm really confused, I'm on three screens here and I'm my

[3:09] son-in-law set me up with and I'm trying to figure out how to actually work them.

[3:14] So, we're under communications and appearance of requests. Um

[3:19] I guess we have it's a proclamation recognizing National Telecommunicators

[3:25] Week. And is

[3:28] Councilwoman Graham, are you reading that proclamation?

[3:31] Please.

[3:42] And if you'd please take the mic.

[4:00] This is a proclamation recognizing National Telecommunicators Week, which

[4:04] is April 12th through 18th, 2026. Public safety telecommunicators are the

[4:11] first and foremost critical point of contact for residents in times of

[4:13] emergency, providing a vital link between the public and emergency

[4:16] services. These dedicated professionals answer emergency and non-emergency

[4:21] calls, dispatch police, fire and emergency medical services and provide

[4:24] life-saving instructions to callers under stressful and often

[4:27] life-threatening circumstances. City of Palmer dispatchers demonstrate

[4:31] exceptional professionalism, compassion and composure while serving the

[4:34] community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their work is essential to the safety

[4:39] and well-being of the residents of Palmer, often going unseen, yet making a

[4:42] profound difference in emergency response outcomes.

[4:45] National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week provides an opportunity to

[4:48] recognize and honor their commitment, sacrifice and service of these

[4:52] individuals who are serve as calm voices in moments of crisis.

[4:57] Now, therefore, by the mayor and city council of Palmer, Alaska, we do hereby

[5:00] April 12th through the 18th, 2026 as National Telecommunicators Week in the

[5:05] city of Palmer and encourage all residents to join in recognizing the

[5:08] invaluable contributions of our public safety telecommunicators.

[5:13] » [applause] >> Thank you.

[5:15] Well done.

[5:26] Do they Amanda, do they want to say anything?

[5:32] » [laughter] >> No, they're fine.

[5:34] Okay. All right.

[5:39] Short break.

[5:50] Smile, Mr. Mayor. >> [laughter]

[6:00] » I I think uh former council

[6:03] member member Tutor's job has been just been taken over by Councilwoman Graham

[6:08] and the picture taking department.

[6:15] Okay, moving on moving on. We have the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually

[6:19] Impaired presentation. Folks, please come forward and

[6:27] Her name's Jackie Olson. Okay, thank you.

[6:39] Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Hi, my name's Jackie Olson. Thank you

[6:43] for having me. I work with the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually

[6:47] Impaired here in the Valley. I'm the Matsu program

[6:52] coordinator. I go out and I find blind people. By the way, there's 18% of

[6:57] Alaskans are visually impaired or legally blind.

[7:01] Um it's only me from Sutton all the way up to Trapper Creek, but I go out and I

[7:06] find people and I figure out what they need and then I try to find the

[7:11] services, the devices and the equipment to get them what they need. Um we are

[7:17] grant funded through the Matsu Health Foundation and we are also donation

[7:21] funded. Um we have right now two social groups I put on a month for anyone

[7:28] visually impaired. They're more educational and we have a lot of fun.

[7:33] We also have what's called a low vision clinic once a month. That's where I use

[7:38] my grant to try to buy you the devices and the services and the training that

[7:41] you might need. Mostly today, I just wanted to bring awareness, let you know

[7:46] we're here. We've been here for a long time. We've actually been in Alaska

[7:49] since 1972. Um but no one hears of us unless they

[7:53] lose their vision. So, I'm here to tell you that that it can happen to anyone.

[7:59] Um most of us expect it to be something age-related, but you know, one quick

[8:03] accident, one sickness, anything can happen. So, I'm just here to say if you

[8:08] know anyone vision impaired, let them know we're here. I'm located in the

[8:12] Matsu Health Foundation building. Um

[8:15] I'm also trying to get out there and push anywhere I can advertise, so I

[8:20] appreciate anything you can do for us and I just appreciate your time.

[8:25] Thanks. Jackie, I have a question for you.

[8:29] Um I might have missed this. Do you get all your funding through

[8:33] grants or from the Matsu Health Foundation or through any through the

[8:37] state? I don't get any through the state right

[8:40] now. It's all grant funded and hopefully donation funded, but not a lot of

[8:45] donations either. So, is the majority through the MSFHF or

[8:49] » Yes. For the for the Valley grant, for the Valley people. In Anchorage, we get

[8:53] a little bit more funding, but still we don't get any state or

[8:59] federal funding. So. All right. All right, ma'am. Thank you.

[9:02] » Any other quick questions before I sit down?

[9:05] All [snorts] right. Well, thank you. Thank you.

[9:12] » [applause]

[9:16] » Moving on to the reports. Madam Manager, please.

[9:21] Thank you. In addition to the online published report in the packet was just

[9:25] a recap of the finance director's last enterprise golf enterprise

[9:30] financial status. I have a few comments. It was just more intended to bring that

[9:36] report back up to the public because there was some

[9:40] discussion, just making it more available for everyone.

[9:44] On tonight's agenda for introduction is a proposed code change to allow

[9:48] individuals under the age of 18 to work for the city.

[9:51] And this change would allow 16-year-olds to apply for available positions across

[9:57] the city and we currently have openings that would be perfect for some of these

[10:01] kids that need some summertime jobs and those looking to work and kind of step

[10:05] into the workforce and then get introduced to government service.

[10:09] And then also moving on the official library groundbreaking ceremony will

[10:12] take place on May 30th at 3:00 p.m. followed by a celebration

[10:17] at the Depot and of course construction activity will occur before then because

[10:22] we are going to take advantage of the spring season but we are going to

[10:25] formally recognize the milestone on May 30th.

[10:29] Additionally celebrate Palmer will be held on April 29th marking the 75th

[10:34] anniversary of Palmer's founding. The event will take place at the Palmer

[10:38] Municipal Golf Course Clubhouse and we're planning a variety of activities

[10:42] for all ages and will also be a great opportunity to experience the

[10:46] reconfigured space that we're working on.

[10:48] Community development Ailish has done an excellent job of completing and

[10:53] going through several improvements at the Clubhouse including painting

[10:57] reorganizing some flooring and enhancing the overall functionality of the space

[11:02] to enjoy this beautiful asset that we have.

[11:05] And it's actually a very beautiful space so if anyone hasn't been out there

[11:08] please come out celebrate Palmer April 29th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

[11:14] Also May 2nd through the 3rd the Great Alaska Aviation Gathering will take

[11:19] place at the Palmer Municipal Airport and Alaska State Fairgrounds. Again come

[11:23] out support our aviation community and experience what Palmer Airport and

[11:28] Alaska State Fair has to do with this great gathering.

[11:32] I'm also pleased to announce that we've hired a new Golf Course Manager John

[11:36] Scharck. John brings extensive experience in

[11:39] South Central Alaska including his time at Settlers Bay along with his strong

[11:43] leadership skills and true city first mindset and we encourage everyone to

[11:47] come out and meet John April 29th at the grand reopening which will also be

[11:52] celebrate Palmer and then in a moment I will bring Ailish up for a

[11:58] introduction on the sports center including sponsorship opportunities at

[12:02] the new sports center and a recap of the ice season but before that I will bring

[12:07] John up right after this to kind of introduce

[12:10] himself. Finally I see some PAHA team members here in the audience and I

[12:16] just want to say congratulations on your state championship we win a few weeks

[12:20] ago. That was in a very exciting game to watch and Palmer's very proud of you

[12:24] guys accomplishments. That was excellent win. Congratulations. John you ready?

[12:30] Yep.

[12:34] Do I need this mic? I don't think so. >> [laughter]

[12:37] » They can't hear you over zoom if you don't use the mic. Correct. Oh they can

[12:41] hear me. They might through my mic. How's that?

[12:44] Is that Is it on? It's on. Okay.

[12:47] Greetings. Uh been a whirlwind

[12:51] week and so

[12:54] I'll give a little quick self history

[12:57] 50 years in the state of Alaska um

[13:01] and I'm a retired school teacher from Wasilla High School.

[13:06] And and so I've also I spent 20 years

[13:11] in the golf industry

[13:14] prior to this new job

[13:16] and I like to call it the Palmer Municipal Golf Course West

[13:23] otherwise known as Settlers Bay. Um

[13:27] and and while I was there at Settlers Bay I did uh

[13:43] Benji we've lost lost the

[13:49] I just texted Allison she said she's still there so we're okay.

[13:56] I cannot hear um Oh you can't hear Mr. Scharck? Okay

[14:00] here. No. Okay go ahead. Is it on? Give it a tap. Hold it for 3 seconds on

[14:05] the Yeah I can hear him now. You got me?

[14:10] Yes. Okay sorry about that.

[14:14] So so moving forward you know like uh

[14:18] the city manager spoke about the um the um

[14:22] painting and and the recapping of the of the pro shop there. Um Ailish

[14:29] Brian Zach Penny have done a phenomenal job of of that. We're still in the

[14:35] process but they have spent endless hours of it and I really appreciate it.

[14:41] It's looking great and look forward to the finished product

[14:46] of it. Um they and I walked the golf course

[14:50] today and I was pleasantly surprised that uh there was

[14:55] a very limited amount of snow on the golf

[14:59] course and water. I mean obviously there were

[15:03] going to be some but um it's uh it's getting getting there

[15:07] closer than I imagined. We have done some hiring we are in the

[15:12] process of still doing some hiring and hopefully we can get a grounds crews

[15:16] out there very soon to start removing some tarps

[15:21] and debris off the golf course. Um

[15:28] Had a lot of a lot of people come in a lot of a lot of positive feedback and

[15:33] um and so I'm looking forward to it. I know

[15:36] there's been some there's been some different dialogue out there.

[15:40] And and so hopefully we can move forward from that.

[15:45] Um I'm hoping by the end of next week we will have holes one and two paved

[15:51] for the airport. That's a joke.

[15:55] » [laughter]

[15:57] » And um and so

[16:01] so yeah I'm I'm looking forward to it. It's

[16:04] going to be a adventure and um

[16:08] I hope that it becomes positive. Questions?

[16:13] Mr. Mayor. Yes please.

[16:16] Yeah. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh thank you Mr. Scharck for being here.

[16:20] I just wanted to let folks know it won't come as any shock to anybody in this

[16:24] room or on the dais up here that I'm the most vociferous voice of the city not

[16:29] running this golf course but I've known John Scharck for 40 years. I

[16:35] shudder to think how long we've known each other and

[16:37] and it's a great hire. I think he'll do great things if we're going to have it

[16:42] run by the city. I think the city's made an excellent choice and

[16:47] I look forward to seeing you out there in the golf course on April 29th and see

[16:51] if we can get it open as soon as we can. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody

[16:56] else?

[17:00] Yes ma'am. Real quick Mr. Mayor

[17:02] um Yes. can

[17:06] Never mind I'll I'll have it as an aside never mind.

[17:10] All right thank you. Uh

[17:12] Mr. Mayor. Yes please. Uh

[17:15] actually a comment um not to Mr. Scharck but on the uh

[17:19] uh introduction of that ordinance. Can I comment on that?

[17:24] Just uh the 26003.

[17:29] Positive. >> [laughter]

[17:30] » Yeah and could you >> [clears throat]

[17:32] » and John could you tell me which one that that one is? Uh that's that's just

[17:35] the one recommended for public hearing at our special meeting the the one to

[17:40] lower the age of hiring to 16. Yeah let me let me ask you clerk a

[17:47] question. Did we move that one? So Oh if we didn't then I'm I so it it

[17:51] was approved as part of the consent agenda but as part of my report I was

[17:55] going to mention we can't have it on the 21st we need to have the public hearing

[17:59] on the 28th. Yes ma'am. Yeah so you can certainly make a comment. Yeah

[18:04] just just briefly Mr. Mayor. As long yeah. Yes please go yeah please go

[18:08] ahead. Uh I just wanted to say I'm excited [clears throat] about this uh

[18:13] uh ordinance. I guess I didn't realize never have realized that uh

[18:19] there was a 18-year-old requirement to uh work for the city so um

[18:25] you know I I flash back on my older brother going to Kodiak at 14 and

[18:30] sending checks home to raise the rest of us when he was 15 years old. So I I uh

[18:36] and I know people get hired at Carrs at 14 and 15

[18:39] but at Carrs grocery store not to drive a car. So I just wondered is 16 I'll ask

[18:45] the city manager is 16 the the low point because of needing um

[18:51] employees to have driver's licenses and things of that nature.

[18:54] Well with the firefighters through their little youth program is 14 but 16 we

[18:59] wanted it so that it more of like reliable transportation they can drive

[19:02] they can drive a golf cart if they want to.

[19:05] Um just kind of hit that age level so that they can be a little bit more

[19:09] reliable for other departments than just working the fire truck. Thank you. I'll

[19:14] just say I'll save my comments for the 28th but I think it's a good step in the

[19:18] right direction. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:22] Any other comments? Yes ma'am.

[19:24] Sorry this is unrelated to the thing earlier and I'm not sure if I should

[19:27] wait to ask this until after Ailish comes up because this is more of a

[19:32] question for you regarding it is regarding the golf course but I know

[19:35] AMCO had their meeting today. Do we have any results from that?

[19:40] We were not on their agenda so there are no results. It was

[19:44] not in table seven? We were not we were not on their board

[19:49] packet for April 7th. No for today's meeting. No we [clears throat] were not

[19:53] on their board packet. We did not present. We were not before them today.

[19:56] Okay. Thank you.

[20:01] All right, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you for

[20:04] your introduction.

[20:10] So So my report is pretty short. Mr. Mayor

[20:15] Sorry. I'm I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

[20:20] » [laughter] >> Elish, you're up. Okay. She's here.

[20:38] All right.

[20:41] Did it go off already? >> [laughter]

[20:44] » No. I promise we can hear you, isn't It's okay.

[20:47] Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Elish Van. I am the Parks and

[20:51] Facilities Manager for the City of Palmer.

[20:53] Uh we just finished up actually about 2 hours ago taking the ice out for the

[20:58] season. Less than 48 hours after we turned off our compressor system. Not

[21:03] sure if that's a record or not, but um I'm proud of my staff for for powering

[21:08] through that today. And since Sunday night, um

[21:13] I want to start off by I'm very honored to have our 10U A state

[21:20] champions joining us tonight. Um if Reese and Gino and Zach, Kaya, who else?

[21:29] That's it. If you guys will stand, please, and show them what you brought

[21:33] them to see. >> [laughter]

[21:37] » Oh, nice. Nice. Congratulations. [applause]

[21:43] So they're also here with their parents and their coaches, Amanda Marshall,

[21:47] assistant coach Brian Cable, and assistant coach Kirk Zarkou. Um I had

[21:52] the honor of getting to watch these kids um compete in that championship. And um

[21:59] fight their little hearts out to win that for the first time in 15 years the

[22:03] 10U A has brought home a state championship. So I'm excited that

[22:08] they're here tonight um and also excited and very supportive of changing the age

[22:13] for hiring because we've definitely been working on these kids on training them

[22:17] how to work at the rink. Um so >> [laughter]

[22:20] » they'll be more than ready by the time they're 16 to uh to work at the rink

[22:24] that they all love so much. So I'd like to start out with just um a

[22:29] quick season recap. Our start date this year was August 3rd,

[22:33] which was a little bit more than a month earlier than we had started my first

[22:38] year in 2024. So we were really excited about that. We

[22:42] had a week-long camp and then we had a several sheets for PAHA to do warm-up

[22:46] ice. The high school got preseason ice out of

[22:50] all of that and it was amazing. Um so August 3rd to April 12th was our season

[22:55] this year, which is awesome. So our goal this year was to have 1,200

[23:01] sheets of ice. A sheet of ice is an hour. And I just ran the numbers today

[23:05] and we're at 1,490. So that was really exciting as well. Um

[23:11] we had a lot of people wanting to book ice that we haven't seen before. We

[23:16] opened up the day after Thanksgiving to host an overflow tournament from

[23:19] Chugiak. They were very grateful that we were willing to do that. Uh we hosted an

[23:24] extra curling tournament this year and many more curling

[23:29] learn to curls after the Olympics. Everyone was really wanting to try

[23:32] curling. Um so we we capitalized on that with the

[23:36] Palmer Curling Club. Um and so they had you'll see from the sheet that I handed

[23:41] out to all of you um that there's 368 new curlers floating

[23:45] around the world or around the valley, I should say. Um and the sheet that I

[23:50] handed you is just some from 2025 or 2025 and 2026.

[23:55] Um so we're on track. We're breaking records already this season. I didn't

[23:59] leave myself one of those copies. If there's an extra one, I'll take it.

[24:03] » [laughter]

[24:09] » So as you can see, we're up already almost beating our number from 2025 to

[24:14] 2026. We're only four under, which we should have just tried a little bit

[24:18] harder to get four more public skaters. Um but we still have more of our season

[24:22] left. So we have we'll our numbers will go up in until the end

[24:26] of December this year. So um our stick time, our stick and puck,

[24:30] these are both internal programming opportunities we provide for the

[24:33] community. So that these numbers are huge. Um we added a lot more public

[24:37] skates. We started doing neon public skates, which were wildly popular. If I

[24:41] could do neon golf, I would absolutely ask John permission to come out and do

[24:45] neon golf because the neon public skates are such a good time. Um they do make

[24:50] neon golf balls, so we're halfway there. Um [clears throat]

[24:53] So in addition to these public skate numbers and these stick time numbers,

[24:57] we the pretzels down here, how many pretzels our staff sold in 2025 versus

[25:01] 2026. My guys are tired of pretzels for the

[25:05] season, so we're looking forward to not selling any for the next few months. Um

[25:09] but also to recap our season, we're proud to be the home of six

[25:14] championships this season alone, all within our 10A um division of PAHA. So

[25:20] 10As [clears throat] and 10Bs, they each won three. So we've got some really cute

[25:24] pictures of the teams in the rink hanging up for those guys

[25:26] [clears throat] to see over the next 8 years of their life while they're

[25:30] playing at at Palmer. So we're excited for that. I I encourage all of you to

[25:34] watch these kids >> [clears throat]

[25:35] » behind me cuz they're they're pretty amazing to watch and they're going to be

[25:38] nothing but incredible from here on out. We got to host the Division II State

[25:43] High School Championships for the first time ever uh in February. That kicked

[25:47] off our 5-week-long tournament uh schedule where all those pretzels were

[25:51] sold. Excuse me. Um that was an incredible experience.

[25:55] ASA was very pleased with our hosting. They were

[26:01] they're excited that we're hosting next year, too. So we'll be hosting the 2027

[26:04] High School State Championships as well. And then we also did something new this

[26:08] year by hosting concerts on ice. We did three of them.

[26:12] Uh the first one was in November as a fundraiser for

[26:16] Mat-Su Special Santa. Uh we just had one a couple weeks ago, which was a

[26:19] fundraiser for Mat-Su Sentinel, in which we divided the ice for half of it was

[26:24] concert and the other half we let people skate.

[26:27] And so that was really cool, including the band also skated with their

[26:31] instruments while they they which was awesome. If you haven't seen the videos,

[26:35] there are videos. Um and there was a proposal during that concert as well and

[26:41] she said yes, apparently. So um it was a really special season and I'm just

[26:46] honored to have gotten to spend 2 years in this position and um

[26:51] watching kids grow up and watching the community come out to this rink and just

[26:55] see people really take ownership of it and and just having new people walk in

[27:00] the door every day not knowing that it was even there. And we've been

[27:05] here for 20 years and we still have people walk in every day that have never

[27:08] been there before. So if I had numbers for you on how many

[27:13] walkers we see every day, that was something we really pushed this season

[27:17] to encourage people to come walk around the rink because as we all know, winter

[27:22] wasn't great. Okay, it's probably over, but we just aren't really sure yet. So

[27:28] we had we have the our same walkers that we

[27:31] always have, but we saw probably 10 to 15 new faces that we'd never seen before

[27:35] in my in my tenure. So that was really exciting. People are

[27:39] very very grateful to have a warm, which is weird to say, place to walk in the

[27:43] wintertime where there's no wind and um and it's free to the community. So we we

[27:49] enjoy being able to offer that as well. Um

[27:52] we did host 10 tournaments over the course of the season

[27:56] and um those were great. We're hoping to host

[28:01] more house tournaments next season to show off and allow our house skaters to

[28:06] skate at their home rink. Um so that's my recap for the year.

[28:12] Um and I wanted the main reason I'm here

[28:15] other than to get a recap. I asked the manager if I could do a recap because it

[28:19] was such an incredible season, but we've been talking in uh internally about

[28:24] what the future of the rink looks like and so you guys have a packet in front

[28:30] of you and we are moving away from our branded

[28:34] licen- licensing agreement with MTA and we're rebranding into the Palmer Sports

[28:40] Center, which we really feel is more reflective of who we are now and where

[28:44] we're going. And so I'm not going to read what I wrote in this packet for

[28:48] you. You can read it. Um but I just wanted to

[28:54] tell you I wanted you guys to see this first before we put this out on the

[28:57] street, but we to my knowledge, we've never put a sponsorship packet like this

[29:01] together. And so this provides multiple opportunities for people to be a part of

[29:06] our growth and get their business in front of multiple

[29:11] people. 70,000 is what we had. I don't have numbers for 2025. I'm sure it's

[29:15] more, but the our numbers from 2024 were just about 70,000 over the course of the

[29:20] season. And really like we're only open September through April. So that's in 8

[29:25] months, 9 months. And so it's a lot of people and we're excited

[29:30] to move forward with this offering opportunities for people that are low

[29:35] dollar value up into the high dollar value. And you can see from this packet

[29:39] that it is low dollar up into high dollar. Um

[29:42] last fall, we were when budgets were being presented, there was talk of more

[29:49] research and everything going into a second or into an outdoor rink at at our

[29:54] facility, and that was something that really excited myself and every single

[29:58] person in this room that plays hockey because there's been a lot of people

[30:02] asking me about a second sheet of ice and what can we do to get more ice? Can

[30:05] we be open in the summer? All the things because there's lots and lots of growth

[30:10] in hockey, in curling, and it's it's pretty crazy to think

[30:15] about. So, um we are

[30:18] I would like to be future-focused on the rink, the outdoor sheet, and so

[30:24] we're going to try and work on funding and

[30:28] finding um grants and

[30:31] sponsorships to help us build an outdoor rink that can hopefully one day become a

[30:35] second fully refrigerated sheet of ice. Building it with the future in mind, but

[30:41] not investing in the new refrigeration system, which believe it or not is going

[30:45] to be more expensive than all the rest of it. It's all expensive, but we are

[30:49] hopeful that it will be ready to go so we don't turn

[30:53] into Big Lake, which is just now being run by the borough, and they're going to

[30:56] rip all the concrete out and refrigerate it. So, I don't want us I don't as like

[31:00] as a taxpayer and as a city employee, I don't really want to do it backwards. I

[31:03] would rather maybe never need the refrigeration, but

[31:06] we have it there if we need it. Um and that would involve adding a third

[31:10] compressor to our two existing that we have. So,

[31:13] » [clears throat] >> it's a big deal, but I want to just

[31:16] plant the seed that I think that that's how we should move forward. Um

[31:21] and I have a lot of people who uh that are very much behind this as well. So,

[31:26] um that is our goal, and we will work on some sort of

[31:30] bigger funding project and present [clears throat] that to you guys at a

[31:33] later time.

Palmer Council Meeting 2026 4 14 Part One with Video and Audio

Transcript