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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-11-18 Council MinutesITEM A: AGENDA KENAI CITY COUNCIL -REGULAR MEETING November 18, 1998 7:00 P.M. KENAI CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS http://www.ci.kenai.ak.us STUDENT GOVERNMENT DAY AGENDA CALL TO ORDER 1. Pledge of Allegiance 2. Roll Call 3. Agenda Approval 4. Consent Agenda *All items listed with an asterisk (*) are considered to be routine and non -controversial by the Council and will be approved by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council Member so requests, in which case the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of the General Orders. ITEM B: SCHEDULED PUBLIC COMMENTS (10 minutes) ITEM C: PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Ordinance No. 1803-98 - Amending the Zoning Code at KMC 12.25.030 to More Clearly Define "Junk Vehicle." 2. Resolution No. 98-80 - Transferring $58,216 in the Kenai ARFF Capital Project Fund. 3. Resolution No. 98-81 - Accepting ADEC Grant No. 47547 from the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in the Amount of $450,000 for Well House No. 4 and Water Mains. 4. Resolution No. 98-82 - Accepting ADEC Grant No. 47548 from the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in the Amount of $326,243 to Upgrade Well Houses No. 1 and 2 and Construct a New Pump House. -1- ITEM D• STUDENT COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION REPORTS 1. Mayor 2. Council Members 3. City Manager 4. City Attorney 5. City Clerk 6. Finance Department Representative 7. Public Works Director 8. Airport Manager 9. Fire Chief 10. Animal Control Officer 11. Water/ Sewer Foreman 12. Librarian 13. Parks 8v Recreation Director 14. Police Chief ITEM E: MINUTES 1. *Regular Meeting of November 4, 1998. ITEM F: STUDENT MEETING ADJOURNMENT -2- AGENDA KENAI CITY COUNCIL -REGULAR MEETING November 18, 1998 ?:00 P.M. KENAI CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS http://www.ci.kenai.ak.us/ STUDENT GOVERNMENT DAY ITEM A: CALL TO ORDER 1. Pledge of Allegiance 2. Roll Call 3. Agenda Approval 4. Consent Agenda *All items listed with an asterisk (*) are considered to be routine and non -controversial by the Council and will be approved by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council Member so requests, in which case the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of the General Orders. ITEM B: ITEM C: SCHEDULED PUBLIC COMMENTS (10 minutes) PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Ordinance No. 1803-98 - Amending the Zoning Code at KMC 12.25.030 to More Clearly Define "Junk Vehicle." 2. Resolution No. 98-80 - Transferring $58,216 in the Kenai ARFF Capital Project Fund. 3. Resolution No. 98-81 - Accepting ADEC Grant No. 47547 from the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in the Amount of $450,000 for Well House No. 4 and Water Mains. 4. Resolution No. 98-82 - Accepting ADEC Grant No. 47548 from the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in the Amount of $326,243 to Upgrade Well Houses No. 1 and 2 and Construct a New Pump House. ITEM D: COMMISSION/ COMMITTEE REPORTS 1. Council on Aging 2. Airport Commission 3. Harbor Commission 4. Library Commission 5. Parks & Recreation Commission 6. Planning & Zoning Commission 7. Miscellaneous Commissions and Committees a. Beautification Committee b. Historic District Board C. Kenai Visitors & Convention Bureau Board d. Alaska Municipal League Report ITEM E: 1. ITEM F: *Regular Meeting of November 4, 1998. CORRESPONDENCE OLD BUSINESS 1. Discussion - Jim Carter's withdrawal of proposed "Professional Services Contract" to perform a user -interest survey regarding expansion of the Kenai Airport. 2. Discussion - Public Opinion Survey - Final Draft. ITEM H: 1. 2. 3. 5. 6. 7. ITEM I: 1. 2. NEW BUSINESS Bills to be Paid, Bills to be Ratified. Purchase Orders Exceeding $2,500. *Ordinance No. 1804-98 - Appropriating $17,056 in the General Fund for Legislative Department Salaries. *Ordinance No. 1805-98 - Appropriating $145,650 in the '98 Water System Improvements Capital Proj ect Fund. *Ordinance No. 1806-98 Appropriating $900,000 in the Well House No. 4 Capital Project Fund. Approval - Proposed Settlement of MarkAir Express Bankruptcy Claim. Approval - Proposed Settlement of Claim Against George Bradford. ADMINISTRATION REPORTS Mayor City Manager 3. Attorney 4. City Clerk S. Finance Director 6. Public Works 7. Airport Manager ITEM J: DISCUSSION 1. Citizens (live minutes) 2. Council EXECUTIVE SESSION -Possible executive session to discuss proposed settlements in Bradford and MarkAir (Items H-6 and H-7 above). ITEM K: ADJOURNMENT KENAI CITY COUNCIL - REGULAR MEETING 6 1 NOVEMBER 18, 1998 7:00 P.M. KENAI CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS STUDENT GOVERNMENT DAY ITEM A: CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Student Government Mayor Andy McCubbins at approximately 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers in the Kenai City Hall Building. A-1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Student Mayor McCubbins led those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance. A-2. ROLL CALL Roll of the Student Government Day Council was taken by Student Clerk Erin Kirby. Present were: Jess Darsey, Shawn Wilson, Patrick Espy, Jesse Babcock, Matt Brown and Jade Netherton. Kenai City Council roll was taken by the City Clerk. Present were: Moore, Measles, Williams, Bookey, and Swarner. Absent were: Bannock and Smalley. A-3., AGENDA APPROVAL Mayor McCubbins requested the following changes to the agenda: SUBSTITUTE: C-1, Ordinance No. 1803-98 - Substitute ordinance to replace Ordinance No. 1803-98 included in the packet. There were no further changes. STUDENT MOTION: Student Council Member Wilson MOVED to amend the agenda as requested and Student Council Member Brown SECONDED the motion There were no objections. SO ORDERED. MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED for approval of the amended agenda and Councilman Bookey SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED. A-54, CONSENT AGENDA Student Mayor McCubbins reported he had no changes to the consent agenda. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 2 STUDENT MOTION: Student Council Member Wilson MOVED for approval of the consent agenda and Student Councilman Espy SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED. MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED for approval of the consent agenda as presented and Councilman Moore SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED, ITEM B: SCHEDULED PUBLIC COMMENTS - None. ITEM C; PUBLIC HEARINGS C-1. Ordinance No. 1803-98 - Amending the Zoning Code at KMC 12.25.030 to More Clearly Define "Junk Vehicle." STUDENT MOTION: Student Council Member Espy MOVED to adopt Ordinance No. 1803-98 and Student Council Member Netherton SECONDED the motion. MOTION: Council Member Measles MOVED to adopt Ordinance No. 1803-98 and Council Member Bookey SECONDED the motion. There were no public comments. Student Mayor McCubbins reviewed Ordinance No. 1803-98. Student Council Member Broom asked how the amendment to the ordinance would be enforced. McCubbins explained, a person would be charged $100 every day a junk vehicle is left in the yard after the owner receives a warning. It would be up to the owner of the vehicle to remove it from the property. If needed, the owner may hire a contractor to remove the vehicle from the yard. STUDENT VOTE: Wilson: Yes Darsey: Yes Netherton: Yes Espy: Yes Babcock: Yes Brown: Yes McCubbins: Yes KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 3 STUDENT VOTE PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Mayor Williams asked if council had any comments or questions in regard to Ordinance No. 1803-98. Williams asked if race cars would be treated as junk vehicles since they may look as though they are junk vehicles. Attorney Graves answered, it could if it met the description of a junk vehicle as noted in the ordinance. He added, citations will not be automatic, a warning would first be issued. A grace period of up to 30 days may be given by the city manager to allow the vehicle to become operational. Councilman Measles noted, racing vehicles are not registered for operation on city streets. One of the descriptive items in the ordinance could make a race vehicle a junk vehicle even though it may be in running condition. Graves stated he was correct and had not thought about race cars when developing the ordinance. He added, under this ordinance, a race car could be classified as a junk vehicle. Williams noted there are a number of people living in the city who like to race cars. He would want them to be covered but also didn't want those people to have two or three vehicles in their yard that are junk and not running. Measles suggested an exception be added under (fl(1) to exempt race cars in active use. He added, there may be some situations when a race car is active, but others that are not and would be considered junk. Graves offered to write an amendment to the ordinance if council wanted to table the motion until the next meeting. MOTION TO TABLE: Councilman Measles MOVED to table Ordinance No. 1803-98 until the next meeting. Councilman Bookey SECONDED the motion. Annie Gray: Asked if a permit could be issued for a race car in running condition. Graves explained, in order to not have the ordinance struck down in the courts, clear standards need to be set as to what vehicle is permitted. He added, it is better to specify the exceptions within the ordinance. VOTE ON MOTION TO TABLE: There were no objections. SO ORDERED. ACTION ON ORDINANCE NO. 1803-98 WAS TABLED, C-2. Resolution No. 98-80 -- Transferring $58,216 in the Kenai ARFF Capital Project Fund. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 4 STUDENT MOTION: Student Council Member Espy MOVED for adoption of Resolution No. 98-80 and Student Council Member Wilson SECONDED the motion. COUNCIL MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED for adoption of Resolution No. 98-80 and requested UNANIMOUS CONSENT. Councilman Moore SECONDED the motion. There were no public comments. Student Council Member Brown asked why the money needed to be transferred. Student Finance Director Gray explained, the money was being moved from the ARFF project contingency account into the construction account to cover costs of approved change orders. STUDENT VOTE: Wilson: Yes Espy: No McCubbins: Yes MOTION PASSED, COUNCIL VOTE: Darsey: Yes Babcock: No Netherton: Yes Brown: Yes Williams noted unanimous consent had been requested. There were no objections. SO ORDERED, C-3. Resolution No. 98-81 - Accepting ADEC Grant No. 47547 Form the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in the Amount of $450,000 for Wellhouse No. 4 and Water Mains. STUDENT MOTION: Student Council Member Babcock MOVED to adoption Resolution No. 98-81 and Student Council Member Espy SECONDED the motion. Student Council Member Espy asked the purpose of the work. Student Public Works Manager Dana Schrader explained there is no Wellhouse No. 4 at this time. The funds will be used to build it which will upgrade the city water pressure. The ADEC grant funds will pay one-half of the cost and will be built like Wellhouse No. 3 and will be computerized. Another grant will upgrade Wellhouses No. 1 and 2 so they will also be computerized. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 5 COUNCIL MOTION: Councilman Moore MOVED for approval of Resolution No. 98-81 and Councilman Bookey SECONDED the motion. There were no public or council comments. COUNCIL VOTE: Councilman Moore requested UNANIMOUS CONSENT. There were no objections. SO ORDERED. C-4. Resolution No. 98-82 - Accepting ADEC Grant No. 47548 From the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in the Amount of $326,243 to Upgrade Well Houses No. 1 and 2 and Construct a New Pump House. STUDENT MOTION: Student Council Member Espy MOVED to adopt Resolution No. 98-82 and Student Council Member Netherton SECONDED the motion. There were no public or student council comments. COUNCIL MOTION: Councilman Bookey MOVED for adoption of Resolution No. 98-82 and Councilman Measles SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED. STUDENT VOTE: Wilson: Yes Darsey: Yes Espy: Yes Babcock: Yes McCubbins: Yes MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Netherton: Yes Brown: Yes Student Mayor McCubbins noted the student vote had not been taken for Resolution No. 98-81 (Item C-3). The vote was taken and revealed: STUDENT VOTE: Wilson: Yes Darsey: Yes Netherton: Yes Espy: Yes Babcock: Yes Brown: Yes McCubbins: Yes KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 6 MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY, ITEM D: STUDENT COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION REPORTS D-1 and D-2. Mayor and Council Members Student Mayor Andy McCubbins reported their group of students were a part of Mr. Kiel's Government Class. They began the day by meeting with Mayor Williams in the Council Chambers and were introduced to the various department heads as well as the City Manager, City Clerk, and City Attorney. After that, Mayor Williams took the students on a tour of city facilities and the newly opened Alaska Regional Fire Training Facility where they fired the airliner fuel spill simulator. McCubbins reported also the group was taken to the Senior Center for lunch and then returned to City Hall where the students individually visited many of the city departments to learn more about the departments they would be representing during this meeting. McCubbins thanked Mr. Kiel, Mayor Williams and the city for the opportunity to participate in the Government Day activity. D-3. City Manager Student City Manager JoJo Nuj oy reported he also was involved in the tour of city and then joined with City Manager Ross who gave him a crash course on what is involved in performing the position of city manager. Nuj oy continued, he learned the city manager makes sure the people who work under him have the training tools and equipment to carry out the service to the community. The city manager also carries out the policies set by the council, i.e. the council sets the policy and the city manager implements it. The city manager is also responsible for developing a budget, which the council approves and administration implements. D-4. City Attorney Student City Attorney Jones reported he learned the city attorney defends the city. During his time with City Attorney Graves, they visited the court house and sat in on some of the actions taking place. D-5. City Clerk Student City Clerk Erin Kirby reported she learned the city clerk handles city elections and is involved with Borough, State and Federal elections. The city clerk is also 1 somewhat of a historian for the city as the position keeps the minutes of council meetings and makes sure meetings of the city are advertised as required by the Open KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 7 Meetings Act. Kirby continued, other duties for which the city clerk is responsible include selling mobile food vendor licenses and other permits, plaques and plantings for Memorial Park, cemetery plots, etc. D-6. Finance Department Representative Student Finance Department Representative Dani Gray reported she met with Robin Feltman of the Finance Department who explained the duties of the Finance Department and the involvement with developing and preparing the city budget, the process of purchase orders, vendor check, water/ sewer billings, etc. Gray added, the finance director is also the person who invests the city's funds. Gray reported, during her time with Feltman, they also discussed Resolution No. 98-80 which transferred money to the ARFF construction project and how the actual transfer is made within the budget. D-7. Public Works Manager Student Public Works Manager Carly White reported she was given a briefing on the plans for the Challenger Center and also on the improvements being made to the Kenai Community Library. She was also given a tour of the city and saw the land on which the Center is to be built. White noted, the Public Works Department is transferring building plans onto computer. D-8. Airport Manager Student Airport Manager Jake Hogue reported he was shown how to test the condition of the runways. During a tour of the airport, it was explained to him how terminal spaces are rented (gift show, restaurant, etc.) at $1.65/ square foot, plus ten percent of the gross earnings. He noted, he also learned the city receives $3.00 for each person who boards a plane in Kenai. Also, the city receives for airport parking. Hogue also reported, Airport Manager Atha is investigating the possibility of building a bigger hangar to use as for overnight parking rental space for business planes. Hogue added, the Kenai Municipal Airport is one of the few airports that is run by the city - most are run by the state. D-9. Fire Chief Student Fire Chief Jimmy White reported he met with Fire Chief Jason Elson who explained the responsibilities of fire suppression, fire rescue and emergency services. He also learned the Kenai Fire Department is responsible to serve approximately 33 square miles and 7,000 residents. He added, last year, the Kenai Fire Department were involved in 758 emergency rescues last year. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 8 D-109 Animal Control Officer Student Animal Control Officer Dustin Every reported he spent time with Chief Animal Control Officer Bill Godek and was given a tour of the new animal shelter which was much needed. Every added, he believed it a pretty hard job to catch stray animals and putting many animals to sleep. A large part of the job includes dealing with people. He added, it is a tough job and one he did not think he would want to do. Every added, there are animal at the shelter needing to be adopted and reminded the audience to spay and neuter their pets. D-11. Water/Sewer Foreman Student Water/Sewer Foreman David Easely reported he discussed the wellhouse funds and then visited Wellhouse No. 3 to understand why Wellhouses 1 and 2 needed to be upgraded in order to be as efficient as Wellhouse No. 3. D-129 Librarian Student Librarian Ryan Reid reported he spoke with the librarian and her staff and learned the Kenai Community Library is part of the Alaska State Network and is able to loan books to other libraries. Also, he learned the library has four full-time employees and three part-time employees. There are also volunteers who work at the library. The library is the home for approximately 65,000 books, as well as newspapers, magazines, and five computers with internet service for its patrons' use. The library is also hoping to have an addition built in the near future to allow for additional space for children's activities, storage, study and computer areas, etc. Reid reminded the audience, the library would be closed until December 7 for painting and new carpeting to be installed. Reid also reported a statewide workshop is to be held at the library regarding statewide network on December 12. The annual library open house is scheduled for December 13. D-13 9 Parks & Recreation Director Student Parks & Recreation Director Tyler Crane reported the department offers a wide range of services, i.e. developing parks, maintaining parks, offering activities for the city's youth through its recreational programs, as well as summer jobs for area youth who clean parks and trails, plant and weed flowers, etc. D-14. Police Chief - Absent Closure of student portion of the meeting. BREAK TAKEN: 7:50 P.M. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 9 BACK TO ORDER: 8:02 P.M. Mayor Williams called the meeting back to order and continued with the regular City Council agenda beginning with Item D, Commission/ Committee Reports. ITEM D: COMMISSION / COMMITTEE REPORTS D-1. Council on Aging Councilwoman Swarner (who arrived at 7:40 p.m.) reported there had been no meeting of the Council on Aging, although she reminded council and the audience the retirement party for Pat Porter would be held on Monday, November 23 at the Senior Center, beginning at 6:00 p.m. D-2. Airport Commission Councilman Measles reported the Commission met last week and the minutes of the meeting were included in the packet. He noted, most of the meeting was taken up by discussion and public testimony regarding the proposed professional service contract which was withdrawn prior to the meeting. D-3. Harbor Commission Councilman Bookey reported the minutes of the last Harbor Commission meeting were included in the packet. He also noted an application for a position on the Harbor Commission was included in the packet and submitted by William Leo Clay. It was noted Mr. Clay was present and Mayor Williams noted Clay had a wealth of experience in maritime activities. Williams offered Mr. Clay to be appointed to the Harbor Commission. There were no objections stated by council. D-4. Library Commission Councilman Moore reported the minutes of the November 3 meeting were included in the packet. He noted December 12 was scheduled to be Intellectual Freedom Day at the library. Moore also reported painting had begun at the library and reminded council and the audience the Holiday Open House was scheduled for December 13 from Noon to 4: 00 P.M. Moore also noted, the next commission meeting was scheduled for December 1, 1998. Mayor Williams reported Melinda Haring had submitted her application to be appointed as the student representative to the Commission. Williams offer Haring to be appointed to the Commission and there were no objections from council. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 10 D-5. Parks & Recreation Commission Parks & Recreation Director Frates reported the minutes of the November 5, 1998 Parks & Recreation Commission meeting were included in the packet. He noted, the Christmas decorations were being put up throughout town. D-6. Planning & Zoning Commission Public Works Manager La Shot reported the Commission's November 11 meeting had been cancelled as it was Veterans Day. The Commission would meet again on November 25, 1998. The minutes of the October 28 meeting were included in the packet. The resignation from the Commission of Art Graveley was noted which made three openings on the commission. Williams urged members of the community to submit applications to the City Clerk if they were interested in being considered for placement on the commission. Williams also reminded council a work session was scheduled for November 25, 1998 at the Senior Center, beginning at 7:00 p.m. where applications submitted for consideration would be reviewed and interviews held in regard to appointments to the commission. Appointments to the commission would be ratified at the December 2 council meeting. D-7. Miscellaneous Commissions and Committees D-7a. Beautification Committee Swarner reported no meeting had been held in November and the December meeting had been cancelled as well. During the January meeting, the election of officers would be held and she anticipated they would be in need of a new member at that time. D-7b. Historic District Board Moore reported the Board met and discussed their goals and objectives for the coming year. Six goals were selected: develop an Old Towne Exhibit at KVCC; research the battle of Kenai; participate with the National Parks Service regarding signage for the walking tour which would be placed by the "gold strike" sign; investigate the National Heritage Area Designation Program (a new federal program); and investigate historical significance and possible purchase of three lots in Old Towne which have been offered for sale. Moore added, the Board also was interested in including information in the city video regarding Old Towne development. Moore noted, the Board suggested other property owners in Old Towne be notified of city's possible interest in purchase of lots in Old Towne in case those property owners wanted to offer their lots for sale as well. D-7c. Kenai Visitors & Convention Bureau Board Bookey reported their meeting was held on November 10, however he did not attend as he attended the AML Conference in Fairbanks. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 11 D-?d. Alaska Municipal League Report Bookey reported he, Swarner, Smalley and Williams attended the conference. He ran for the position on the AML Board of Directors to replace Smalley. However Ron Drathsman of Homer won the election. Swarner stated there were resolutions on resource and economic development coming before the Legislature which should be followed. Williams thanked Councilwoman Swarner and City Clerk Freas for their involvement in preparing the necessary information to enter his name into the Elected Official of the Year Award, which he won, along with Anchorage Mayor Mystrom. He thanked council for the confidence they showed in him. ITEM G: OLD BUSINESS G-1. Discussion - Jim Carter's Withdrawal of Proposed "Professional Services Contract" to Perform a User -Interest Survey Regarding Expansion of the Kenai Airport. Williams explained this contract was before last week's Airport Commission for review and Carter submitted his letter of withdrawal prior to the meeting. He added, testimony was taken during the meeting and many of those giving testimony were also attending this council meeting. Williams requested council to take up discussion of the contract and determine how they wanted to proceed. Clerk Freas noted, the wrong contract was placed in the packet and the correct contract was distributed to council. The contract distributed was the last contract developed which was also the one before the Airport Commission during their meeting. Copies of the correct contract were made available to the public. Councilman Moore explained he was not promoting a heavy jet cargo facility in the City of Kenai and would not support a facility of that nature. However, he added, he was not afraid to ask questions and investigate this type of airport facility in the area. There are many possibilities for the future and he was not afraid to investigate those possibilities. He added, if there was an option of placing a heavy jet facility in Kenai, he would not support it. Councilman Measles stated he was disappointed, as others were, that Carter withdrew his proposed contract. He added, he still believed Carter was the best qualified person in the community to do this type of baseline study for the city. Measles continued, Carter had been involved in aviation for many years and had many of the contacts necessary to do such a study. Measles continued, he would like council to move ahead with a study and put a contract out for an RFP, limiting it strictly to the first phase of conducting the industry -user survey only. Until that was done, there was no KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 12 point in conducting any other study or survey until it was known if there was something feasible. Measles added, he would like the RFP out and available as soon as possible. Councilman Bookey stated, from the beginning he was willing to "stick my foot in cold water, but not willing to jump in all the way." Bookey added, he believed the subject had been misconstrued in that people believed the council was willing to jump in all the way. He added, at the beginning, he said he did not want to fast -track the program and still did not want to do that as he felt it could take its time because those on the council now would not be there if the facility ever came to fruition. Because he believed there was some merit to the program, Bookey stated, he liked Measles' suggestion the city go to an RFP for the first phase to find out if there was someone available to do a study and then the program could take a life of its own. A decision could be made at that point and then continue on. Councilwoman Swarner stated she was disappointed when the contract was withdrawn because she felt the airport was a gold mine for the city and should be developed. She added, there were differences of opinion in regard to stages of development and what should be done or not. However, she believed, council owed it to themselves and the citizens to go forward with a baseline study as Measles suggested. Bookey added, his intention was not to include the existing Kenai Airport now being used. He added, he did not support that area at all as a jet runway on a continuous basis. The proposed facility would need to be looked at as a completely different operation and completely away from the baseline of town. Swarner thanked Mr. Phillips (in the audience) for his letters to the editor as he did not take sides, but put out the facts. City Manager Ross stated, if council desired, he would use the scope of services on the back page of the proposed contract, and include the first three items to be placed in a draft RFP and bring it back to council for review at their mid -December meeting. Ross added, if council accepted those first three items as the scope of services or if they had modifications to make, it would speed the process if they were stated at this time. Measles stated he would include at least parts of No. 4 under the scope of services. Ross stated he looked at No. 4 as being a part of the administration of the contract. Measles had no objections. Williams stated, it was not his intention to park 747's in downtown Kenai either and noted, he received a letter from the Parish Director at his church who was deeply concerned about the issue. He noted, he and Mrs. Williams sat through church and used to live in that area when Alaska Airlines used to fly jets into Kenai. During that time, the City of Kenai passed an ordinance to mandate what hours the airlines could fly and do their practicing. He was aware of what jet noise was and the citizens' concerns. He added, it was his intention to examine the whole issue of air freight, KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 13 where it could be done if it were available to do and what the ramifications would be in doing it. He added, he pled guilty to trying to fast track the issue because in being in contact with the congressional delegation, they set time lines in which to consider funding. When the professional services contract issue was first discussed, it appeared an April 1 deadline could be met in order to put the city into the loop for the Appropriations' Committee funding somewhere next year. He was hoping that funding would come forth to the City of Kenai for the purposes of geo-technical studies and examination of land, water, environmental impact statements and all the reports mentioned by some members of the community. None of those reports could be done without first furnishing Congress with some evidence there was a reason to do the reports. Until some evidence was found to at least give a hint of whether to proceed, it would be jumping the gun to do any other report required. Williams added, the environmental impact statement that would be required for a project of this nature could run as much as $6 million, without the geo-technical surveys, soil samples and soil conditions, etc. He added, the city was a long way away from doing the environmental impact statement. Williams added, he was disappointed Carter pulled his contract. He added, he was in favor of moving ahead and would join in asking Administration to do that as it is something needing to be investigated now. Twenty to 25 years down the road, they may be glad they did. Williams added, over the years he had been involved as Mayor and commissioners with numerous studies, discussions and evaluations as to how the city should advance. Truthfully and unequivocally, Williams stated, if the city had not taken the aggressive position it had over the years, many of those in the audience would not be in the audience today because the city was a very small, dusty, dirty little town. Measles added, he did not think anyone on the council ever envisioned jumbo jets landing at the existing airport. In fact, during the early discussions of council, the council was in agreement that would not be a satisfactory project and was never under consideration for a jumbo jet landing on the existing airport. Measles continued, as far as every p fast -tracking there were many slow -downs in the project if at eve step of the way it looks positive, then they would move ahead. It was not a project that could be fast -tracked. He added, they were looking at a project that would take ten, fifteen or twenty years to become a reality, if every step of the way says it is a positive thing and council decides to continue. Measles noted, there was some urgency in the initial study, or first stages, needing to be done because well before the fifteen or twenty years, the project would be taken on by someone in the state. If Kenai doesn't at least get the baseline studies done and determine whether the city wants to be included in the group, it wouldn't be and the airport would be built somewhere else. Williams agreed. Williams opened the discussion to public comments. Phil North - 3810 Wild Rose, Kenai. I guess I11, first I'll dispose of kinda the bad news. Um and that is that I really have to take exception with Councilwoman KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 14 Swarner's applauding the letter to the editor. I think if she should applaud anything, she should applaud all the participation that's happened. The letters to the editor, all the letters to the editor, as well as the participation here. I read that letter that was there this morning and Mr. Phillips asserted... Williams: Let's not get into personalities with regard to what one has written to the paper or the other. I'm sure that throughout the audience we would have defenders of one position versus the other, so please don't involve yourself in personalities.... North: ... Well, congre... excuse me, Councilwoman Swarner applauded a letter that was patently false. Had no truth in it... Williams: I'm going to rule that objection out of order. You cannot stand there and declare that this letter that a citizen of the community wrote is patently false. I will not accept that line of rhetoric. Now, please continue, but please guard your conversation. North: Well, III move on. I guess my point has been made. I think there's been more clarification about what the intent of this project was here tonight than ever before. I know my first knowledge of this project was late spring or early summer, whenever that first meeting happened and there was an article in the paper that specifically talked about heavy cargo jets coming into Kenai and that was a very objectionable idea to me and like I said last time, I thought it was, and was quoted in the paper, I thought it was a bad idea for Kenai. I think that, I agree that information is good and, and that going out and getting that information and finding out what the possible, what the possibilities are for the use of the Kenai Airport is a good idea and so I would like to suggest that you do move forward on that with all the clarification that has been explained tonight. So.... Williams: All right. Thank you very much. Further comments from the general public? Jill Lipka - May name is Jill Lipka and I live in Kenai. 1606 Salmo Circle. My speech seems to be changing according to what's discussed here so you'll have to bear with me. Um, between the market or the baseline study, would it be at all possible between that and the decision to go forward looking for funding, would then there do you it would be appropriate to possibly look into the impact study on Kenai? That would be something that I was hoping to put forth here. Ah, it has already been suggested by myself to the Airport Commission that the Kenai Community Impact Study be done with regard to that expansion or as it's starting to look like relocation of the airport and you may ask, what is meant by Community Impact Study, and this will be review for some of you who were at the Airport Commission meeting. What is meant, some examples that I'd like to outline for you are, are things such as the impact of air pollution on the Kenai, the community of the Kenai, resulting from frequent take -offs and landings of jumbo jets; the general health KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 15 affects on populations living near busy jumbo jet airports (for example increases in cancers, heart disease, respiratory illness, mortality rates, and mental illness); the impact of chronic exposure to airport noise on nearby populations, especially children (for example, sleep deprivation because we're talking about planes taking off year- round, night and day, has been my understanding; potential increases in children in the incidence of ADD, high blood pressure, lower standardized test scores, stress hormone responses, those things are measured, measurable); the impact of contaminated water run-off from the airport on surface and ground water, for example, de-icers are used and those often do get into the ground water and the surface water near airports, it's very common; the impact on population demographics and potential relocation of the current Kenai population living in the neighborhoods living near the proposed expanded or relocated airport; the impact on the healthy cultural functioning of the neighborhood communities living near the airport; impact on property values and potential tax revenue decline; safety of citizens and homes near the airport that may be used for emergency landings; the impact of potential changes in population demographics on existing small businesses in the Kenai community; the impact of an air cargo facility on tourism; legal implications and potential lawsuits by residents living near an expanded airport; impact on cultural and educational facilities near the airport, such as churches and school - will people be sitting in their churches and in their classrooms listening to jets going overhead; and the impact on wildlife habitat and wetlands near the proposed airport. I do have a handout and I apologize for not giving it to you in the first place. I'm not sure that I have one for everyone ... inaudible.... And, I think hindsight is 20 / 20 as foresight is worth its weight in gold. This one huge project will not fix our economic insecurities. I think that that's kind of how people are looking at it - that this will be a fix and I, and I think that this may, in my opinion, create more problems than it solves. We pride ourselves in being different from the lower 48 here in this community, I think, and Alaska in general. And yet it seems that in some ways our local government is striving to create the very problems that set us apart from the rest of of many communities across America. Can we not learn from others' mistakes? Can we not be an example of the right way to do things? Once the funds, this is concern of mine, that once the funds have been secured or allocated, that no EIS will stop the process. So once the noise, day and night, the noise and pollution day and night are here, we cannot go back and wish that we had never done this. We can't do that. Once it's here, it's done and we need to have foresight and think about what we're doing. This is a big deal. Good neighbor projects unite, not divide. The purpose, or I propose that we do a follow-up to the April 1997 Kenai Economic Outlook Forum. Together we can find the answers without the noise and without the pollution. The need for sustainable economics and quality of life are things that we can all agree on. Thank you. Williams: Thank you very much. Are there questions from council, yeah, please maintain your position there. Councilwoman Swarner? KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 16 Swarner: Ms. Lipka, would you please explain EIS. Lipka: Environmental impact statement. Any, anything else? Williams: Any further questions? Thank you very much. Let me assure you that this list that you've presented to the council tonight, is only a partial list of the things that would be looked at if, and I strongly say if, the Congress decides it's worth putting five or six million dollars into it. Until we get to that point where Congress is convinced that his might be a viable project, we will never know the answer to any of these questions because this particular list and those that would be added to it are far beyond the financial capability of the City of Kenai. We would not, in any way, jeopardize our funds, either from the Airport or the City Council, the General Fund, to undertake a scope of services of this nature. So, once again, if everything went perfect, we disregard the time line we're presently in, and we move it off one year to April of the year 2000, until funds were appropriated through the budgetary process, those funds becoming available to us on October 1, I believe, isn't it, the federal budget of the year 2000, given another period of time, I can't even see us beginning much of this project until some time in the year 2001 or later. So, that was, that would be if everything went perfect from the present standpoint. And I'm, I'm just laying that out as a time line. So, what we're really looking at is a long term look at the future and whether or not it's going to impact the community really can't even be discussed at this point because we don't know where it's going to be. We have a good idea of where the lands available are and most of them are a long ways away from downtown Kenai, I can guarantee you that, and some of them are under Federal and State control and may not be able to be used and of course, the geo-technical report says that there's a lot of wetlands between here and Anchorage as well, so we really don't know where just exactly we would go with it or where it would go and that part, as a result of tonight's meeting, may be sometime in the distant future because the location is not included in what we called the proposed list of services. So with that, is there further discussions? Yes. Tim Navarre: Thank you Mayor and Council. My name is Tim Navarre. I'm speaking to you as a citizen as a resident of the City of Kenai not as a Borough Assemblyman. Ah, I just want to come up here first and thank you for your vision and for your, that you shouldn't have to make an apology because something gets inputted in either our minds or the public's mind that what you meant is that big 747s were going to come in and take it. I didn't take it that way. I looked you as looking out for this city and this Borough 50 years down the road and what's going to have to be and having those thoughts and those ideas and investigating so maybe one day we won't have an airport in the middle of downtown Kenai. Maybe it is out five miles or ten miles. Maybe it is more centrally located and yet, the City of Kenai is still a big player because they had vision and they looked at it as to where it should be and where Emergency Access Road will probably be a four -lane highway and it'll come in and, and connect to it and Swanson River Road will come in and whatever the case might be. But, I applaud you for looking at it. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 17 The last thing that I would like to say is that even though Mr. Carter withdrew his ah contract, or I would hope that maybe that you would reconsider even in the RFP. I think that if you look at the contacts that Mr. Carter, I think that you should maybe make a motion and say we should have the city manager negotiate and see if there's something that we can come in and give him the contract. I think it's in the best interest. I think he has, in some cases, some of the knowledge already and some of the contacts of the Native corporation, the feeling of the land, he's familiar of this city, he has the caring of the city. You ll probably remember he started out tens or twenty years ago, I forget how long, with help creating the Economic Development District here. I remember coming to you a few years back and and you put in $40,000 into the, the Economic Development Center and I appreciate you for that and that's going to come forward and it's going, it's going to materialize. But if he didn't have those beliefs and those dreams and that's why I believe, I haven't even spoken other than for a few minutes tonight, to Mr. Carter to tell him I was going to be here and I was wondering if he was going to be here only because I thought that there was a lot of name-calling and you know, Mr. Carter probably pulled out it, and I never even asked him this, but he probably pulled out because he didn't want to be, he didn't want to be the clod to throw this thing away and not let the city go forward with this. I think you need to come back and ask him again to come back and that you do believe him like I believe in you and I believe the majority of the citizens of this city believe in you and that this isn't an issue that you're going to ignore. All the issues that are out there that I even deal with on a borough standpoint, environmental or otherwise, we're all becoming a lot more environmental -friendly in that, and I believe as you went down the road, you would have addressed those things and you wouldn't have done harm to this city at the betterment of the other. There has to be a balance and sometimes you have to just say no. But don't be afraid to look and don't be afraid to dream like you always have and I think you should support Jim Carter on this and I think you should look at a contract that you could give him on that first phase. I think he could move on it and I think we could have a good contract out of it. Thank you. Williams: Thank you. Any questions of Mr. Navarre? Okay. Members of the general public? Debbie Sonberg: My name is Debbie Sonberg and I'm at 410 Cinderella Street here in Kenai. I was glad to hear Councilman Bookey and Councilman Moore both mention their initial reluctancy with the project because as I recall on the June third meeting, they asked to be on the record as a reluctant yes and I believe there may have been one or two others as well. When I read through those minutes a few weeks ago, the minutes don't reflect that. I'm sure the transcript does but I did not find that in the minutes. And they agreed because this was a study and we've gone through a lot of evolution - � over the last few month ' s with this study and I think we're getting to a point where I'm KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 18 fairly satisfied with going ahead the way Rick Ross has presented it in his memo with the first phase and going to RFP. I also personally don't have any problem whatsoever with Mr. Carter being an applicant in that process. I also understood from the beginning that jumbo jets were not going to come into our current Kenai Airport but I still think that there's a lot of affect that it could have even if it's out a few miles or several miles and so I was still concerned about that. Again, I think the study's being re -suggested in a way that I'm must more comfortable with it. Another thing is that I don't believe I ever heard about this April deadline until the Airport Commission meeting. I don't recall that ever coming up before and there's been bits and pieces coming out all along and each time we learn more, we understand more, we probably agree more in some ways. For a while, it separates out then it comes back to more agreement. But that's something that if it was critical to the progress, we probably needed to know that earlier too. Maybe we could have handled things differently ourselves. But, if we don't know, we can't use that information in our decision -making. So as you go ahead and as you meet other deadlines as other things come up or other issues come up, just as much as possible, if there is something as important as an April deadline, it may not seem important at the time, I imagine last June it didn't seem important, maybe that's why it didn't get brought up. As time went on, it became very important. But, and now we're past that and maybe looking at a different April deadline down the road. I just wanted to mention that. Williams: Thank you very much. Yes, back in June, May or June of this past year, the April deadline was what appeared to be a doable situation. As I said earlier, I'm going to pull back on that particular deadline. That was a self-imposed deadline that I asked the council to accept based on my conversations, of course, with Senator Stevens and the federal delegation, so there's nothing down in writing. There isn't a set date that you must have this done. It's just that we know from experience that the Appropriations Committee goes through their final draws in April. That they get the budget all ready before they come home for their summer vacation or their spring vacation and they go back to work of course, and all the work from the various committees is finished at that time and from there, it goes right on through. It's virtually, the budget is virtually is a cut-and-dried deal once the committees have dealt with it. That particular deadline is no longer valid. There's no way in the world that we could even begin to meet it so well put it off for one more year. ItIl have to be a year down the road. Yes? Sonberg: One more point that I forgot to make is if this study does go ahead as proposed in the memo from Rick Ross, the study is done and at that point, you're moving forward with a future steps, I would like to see a community survey and a community impact study. Not just other things, but those two things in particular be really early in the time line for the next steps, not down the road when it looks like it's kind of a done .....TAPE CHANGE.... really early on. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 19 Williams: I think before any meaningful funding from Congress is given, well probably have to have much more data than what well be able to produce with the first report anyway. All right, further comments? Mark Schrag - My concern, I guess is with the rhetoric here and ah, I don't think it has to be as divisive as it's been. I really, I've heard most, people have concerns about the airport, but for the most part, a lot of it's been trying to fine-tune the concerns with the contract itself. I think I've heard from different places that that was, there were some questions out there. So, and for everybody to be portrayed, it seems like anybody who has, who has been questioning the contract is started to be demonized, and I just, I really don't like that you know. Mayor, you didn't like it when you were referred to as a "good ole boy network" and remember that feeling and that's the same feeling I get you know, when you start talking about, that we're stopping economic development, that we've been accursed of promoting starvation on the Peninsula. You know, just because we're questioning this process a little bit, you know, I, you go on the record back there, and I've been on the record along, all along saying go ahead with it but I'm concerned with, with some of the parts of that. And just because we're questioning that, doesn't mean that we don't have the good of the city at heart you know. I just think we'd get a lot further along on this, on other projects, if we all come from the premise that we have the interest of the city at heart and to try to work from there, even though we have some, you know, some questions and disagreements in how to go ahead. So, I just hope that we can cool down the rhetoric a little bit and not have the accusations and attributing motives to other people, you know, we just have to try to take care of ourselves and try and present facts to build our case rather than, than accusations and things like that. So that's my main concern is that we do that. Williams: Thank you very much for those comments. I appreciate those comments very much. I think that as human beings, we all want tend to want to protect our own turf when, in fact, if we could all separate out our individual personalities from the task at hand, it would probably be much better. I for one have a failing in that area. I've struggled for years, especially setting in the position here at the council, to try to remove myself. I've struggled for years to try remove myself from the emotional effect of an ordinance that you might be dealing with or a rule that you might be looking at and I've tried to step back and look at it from an objective position and that's exactly what you're saying and, you know, all human beings are guilty of the same thing. They don't like to be picked on and I appreciate your comment about being demonized because that's exactly how I felt. So, I think that if we could move on from here with the discussions and the long-term discussions in the future, to try to find a successful solution to the future of the city and that's what we're all interested is just exactly what our future holds for us. So, thank you again for those comments. Kristine Schmidt - My name is Kristine Schmidt. I live at 513 Ash Avenue. First I want to say I'm in 100% disagreement with Ms. Swarner's comments. Number two, I personally have no problem with examining development opportunities for the airport and if the RF... if this proposal could be written that way, as suggested by the city -� Pp manager, I would support that. g KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 20 I believe after ten years of public service in local government, that the RFP process is the best option. It's in the best, it's the best option for meeting the public interest. I also believe, I also want to echo Ms. Lipka's comments that after the study's done, the results should be brought to the public for an open public meeting to get community consensus on any kind of project that would be considered for the city airport. And that doesn't cost any money. Okay, I think that's what we're all asking for is that there be community consensus and that there be open discussion of of any projects that are identified as a possible for the, for this, for the Kenai Airport, whether it be expansion, whether it be relocation or whether it be projects to, that would be going on in the existing airport. Thank you. Williams: Thank you very much. Are there questions from council? All right. Good. Anyone else from the general public. Your name for the record please. William Phillips: I live in Kenai. You know, my wife would be proud of me tonight. I was called a liar to my face and I just sat there and didn't say anything. So, so that's one, so my wife at least is proud of me tonight. But to carry on, I have listened to the previous what has happened and quite frankly, whenever you plan a study process and a tactic that has been used frequently outside and is being used by more and more groups, is to in fact, to attack the initial process, not saying no to the project, but to weigh it down with so many burdens that it cannot move forward at all. What we need to do is make this initial study to find out if it is a possibility and if it is a possibility, the economic benefits for this particular community for the borough and even the state are tremendous. I could take an hour of your time and I could outline the, what I think would be the benefits from it, and unlike some of you out there who have accused me of well what's his financial interest in it... Williams: Let's be a little cautious in our comments. Voice: No one's said anything about money yet. Phillips: Well, there has been a person or two that have said that I have a financial interest in it... Williams: Just a little caution in our comments... Phillips: I am, folks, I'm retired. My wife's retired. I'm not looking for a job out of this, but I do believe is what I learned back in college, that 40 years ago this semester, when the Philosophy professor talked about enlightened self-interest, over the long haul it's very important. My retirement depends not on the money I have quote saved, or the retirement that I have earned, it depends upon the people now currently working do and what the people in the future do. So it is in everyone's best interest KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 21 that our children and grandchildren have excellent opportunities so they can continue to afford to create that wealth that makes it possible for all of who retire. That is in fact, economic reality. The savings we put away, you know, are theoretically held there, but it's based upon what the future generations are going to be able to produce in the form of wealth. This is one of the reasons why I am in favor of that even though you could say, from my point of view, I don't need a job, I'm not going to benefit from it directly, but I think it's important to the community and the state that we look at it and it's important to this community because, I feel, that this the best, I've lived here for lived here for 17 years now, this is the best proposal for economic development that has been made in the area on a large scale on that time frame. And the off -shoots that could come from it are tremendous. Now, I knew when it was discussed there was no way that the existing airport was going to be expanded. That this would have to be built out somewhere. The reason is very simple: you can't shut down our airport for two years while you rebuild the runway. You know - what's going to happen, are we going to cut ourselves off currently for two years? No way. I mean, realistically, I accepted that fact right off the bat that it was going to have to be located out somewhere. But the thing I want to applaud this city for, the City of Kenai has in fact, been the most aggressive towards working towards developing the local economy and I think that's very important because we have to look down the road at what will happen. Things are good now, but there are so many problems on the, sitting out there it will create for us and we need to look at other things. I might remind all of you that if you watched the news tonight, Alaska crude dropped another forty cents down, I believe it was 10-88 and the state prepared its budget this year based on 15-something a barrel. So, we're now one-third below what the state projected to develop its budget. And we've got to look at the days when the oil runs out. Otherwise, and you know, people say, what about my property value. If you were here in 86 when oil dropped to nine dollars a barrel, and Prudhoe Bay shut down like that, housing, value of houses dropped in many cases to one-third to what they were before that price crash hit. So we've got to look to the future and this is a long-range thing. This is not something that could be done tomorrow or the next day, but we got to, first off we got to see, is it possible and that's what this contract is for and I think it needs to go forward on that basis. Is it possible? Is the need out there? Quite frankly, I've done a lot of reading in a lot of areas and I know the, the alternatives that they've got available, and none of them are good. They're not going to put it in Russia because Russia is too unstable. That originally was talked about, was about ten years ago, when the wall came down, the crash came, they were going to move through the Soviet Union or through Russia for cargo handling. They're not going to do it because Russia is too unstable. We have the probably the best shot well have over the next few years and I think that it's imperative that you move forward with a study as you've discussed tonight and we get it and find out if we can make it happen, then we're going to provide economic benefits KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 22 for children and our grandchildren who in turn then will be able to support us in our old ages with their taxes and other benefits. Thank you. Williams: Thank you very much for the comments. Is there anyone else from the general public who would like to comment? Carol Dallman - My name is Carol Dallman and I live at 524 Pine, Kenai. The only thing that concerns, has concerned me since I became involved in this issue of a couple months ago is what, is, is the common refrain that I have heard from a number of people or the feeling that some of us are anti -development reactionaries, if you will and I just don't think that's an accurate portrait. Watchdogs, if you will, that term has been used and I take that as a positive remark. If that's what I am, so be it. I think we're, we need to have watchdogs in our society and I, like I said, I, I, became involved in the process because I too am looking to the future. I too am looking at the, at the economic impact that development would have but I'm also looking at all the other areas of impact that ah, any you know, process this large could eventually entail. I also have the best interest of my children and my grandchildren in mind and I'm looking to the future. But I think where I became concerned and probably I speak for a lot of the others, is that the original contract, and I heard this expression recently for the first time in many years and it just really reminded me of the original contract, the devil was in the details and that bothered me. There was just a lot, a lot of things about the original contract that bothered me. I feel a lot better now that some of the has been ironed out, torn apart, looked at very, very closely and I certainly can be a lot more comfortable, I am a lot more comfortable with taking it in smaller pieces, smaller segments and moving forward very, very slowly. So, I just want to go on the record saying that I am not anti -development, I just want development to be looked at very, very closely and very, very slowly and very, very correctly because anything worth doing is worth taking its time and doing well. Thank you. Williams: Thank you for your comments. Questions from council? All right. Is there anyone else from the audience? I think they've, if anyone else wants to make some comments, please come forward. Yes. James Carter - Thank you Mr. Mayor and council. Mine only has to do, since you've, you have a motion on the floor, or do you have a motion on the floor? Williams: I think it was just a discussion.... Carter: Just a discussion, okay. In the, in the scope of work that you're talking about, I didn't bring any papers with me tonight, it's either Item 2 or 3, Fairbanks is listed. In Item 2? With all the energy I can muster, I, I would like to suggest that Fairbanks not be a part of that. I think it adds a negative factor to it. As you KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 23 remember, all of the discussion that we've had, has been about Anchorage running out of space and Kenai being the alternative. If Fairbanks is to be discussed, whoever does the RFP, let the air carriers bring that discussion out and I think it's ah, it makes it a better scope of service if you do that. That's all the comment I had. Williams: Thank you. Further comments. Rebecca Lambourn -- Yes, my name is Rebecca Lambourn and I live at 1506 Toyon Way. I am frankly pleased at the process that I've observed over the last few weeks of seeing so many people get involved in this project expressing their opinion. Getting involved in the democratic process. I was really concerned when my husband came to a meeting, I don't know if was a month or six weeks ago, where he was the only person here and the council voted on an ordinance for $100,000 for a contract for Mr. Carter. The comment was made to him at that time that nobody really cares about this and I have been very excited to see so many people come out who have cared and who have commented and been concerned over the contract. Unfortunately, over the last few days, there have been a lot of potshots taken. I've had people phone me and tell me that I'm the object of them on the radio and in the newspaper and that I should pay attention to it and I should respond. I'm not going to respond. I am proud of what has happened here. I see a lot of consensus forming and I think that's exciting. The city council, the mayor, the city manager, the Airport Commission, has been listening and they see the point that of, that we've been making that this is a very big project. That the possibilities of having air cargo jet airport has been mentioned in that contract, in newspaper articles, so it was something that we were very valid to address. I, I think that ah feasibility study or looking at the future of the Kenai Airport is something that is necessary, of course. But before anything that would be drastic to our community should happen, such as a air cargo jet airport, there needs to be pause, where a community impact study would be done, I think we're probably quibbling as to exactly where that should be done, but most people seem to feel that that should be done before any significant progress on the project happened. You may wonder what's fueling things like a community impact study for some of the group that has been looking at that. I have a list of some studies that have been done by other groups across the country. This is a nice summary of that. It's footnoted as to where the research is. It's something that the Airport Commission could very easily do, ask to get some of these studies. It does reflect some things as increases in cancer rates, heart disease and respiratory illnesses near airports. It gives facts and figures already done. Studies already done on how much air pollution results from the take- off from one 747. It, it already has studies that have been done on noise pollution, safety, water pollution, etc. so the cash outlay for something like this is really not that big. We don't have to go out and do that research. It's been done. And that's what I'm asking the city to do before moving into any full-scale ahead, moving ahead with the project like this. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 24 I'm also concerned. I, I hope the motivation behind this project isn't just that there's federal dollars out there. Just because there's federal dollars out there doesn't mean that we have to use it to do something to our community that would have an impact that would impact us forever and destroy the character of the community that we have. It's a beautiful community. We have wonderful schools. We have wonderful bonds within the neighborhoods. We're surrounded by a beautiful area. That itself is a draw for people to come here. I'm hearing, I've been listening a lot to people lately. I've been really trying hard to listen and I, I see a lot of areas where there is common ground. So it makes me sad when it degenerates into a sort of a name-calling situation. We're spouting at each other instead of having dialog. Spouting instead of listening to each other and I hope we can come together for some forums in that sort of a setting where we can listen to each other. I'm hearing that people feel that the Kenai Peninsula is a nice place to live. Nice communities, nice schools, neighborhoods and a beautiful area and before we would move ahead on a project like this, people want to know what the impact would be and they want to know where it would be. We don't know where this airport would be and that's critical. I'm also hearing that from other people, that although the economy is healthy now, some people are worried that it won't be in the future. This is a very valid concern. We're all concerned with this. We would like to have the opportunity for our children and our grandchildren to live here and work here and have jobs. They may not want to, but it would be nice that they have that opportunity. So the question is how to preserve the beauty of this place, the community we have here. I think we've built a very close to ideal community in Kenai. It's a very nice place to live and I would just like to keep it that way so that our children will want to live here. Thank you. Williams: Thank you. Any questions from council? Thank you very much for your comments. All right, do we have any others that would like to address the issue. If not, well move along. All right, Councilman Measles, would you care to put a motion on the floor with regard to, excuse me, Councilman Bookey. Bookey: I'd like to make a couple comments before we go into a motion and that is in response to Mr. Carter and eliminating the Fairbanks aspects of the capabilities of the present plans of the Anchorage and Fairbanks Airports. I'd like to see us leave Fairbanks in there. I think Fairbanks is a key player in this thing and I'd like to know what their plans are, what their immediate programs are going to be and I don't know that I could make a decision without having that in there because they're both state- owned airports which are going to be a critical part to any type of funding that we're going to do here in the future with the state or the federal. So, I would like to see that stay that as is. Thank you. Williams: I suppose we could debate that particular question for a while. Mr. City Manager, you looked like you were about ready to make a content, a comment of some sort. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 25 Ross: I, I agree with Councilman Bookey. I believe it should stay in. Not only are you looking at a situation long-term where you may be in competition, but you're in competition with the State of Alaska and you need to know exactly where they're headed. They have a deep pocket. You need to know where they're headed. Also, if the report leaves out Fairbanks, I'm not sure you're going to get a balanced information to determine what Kenai's niches is in development. Carriers are much like professional teams. They move wherever the, the deal is the best and, and I think it's very important to have, know what the two major state airports could be in competition with you are doing, how they are planning for the future, and what niches are available for you. Williams: Any further comments from the council? The whole issue that's just surfacing about our competitiveness with other groups. We are one of the very few municipally owned airports in the entire state. Our airport is often held up as a measure of success to other communities throughout the United States as a community that learned how to run an airport and how to run an airport successfully. Virtually every other major airport in the State of Alaska is run by the State. In commenting on Fairbanks' airport, Fairbanks' airport cannot struggle and survive on the income that it receives from the traffic that they get. They, in fact get, I think about one-third of their budget is offset by additional revenues from the Anchorage facility there. I, I don't know whether including air, Fairbanks in it is a worthwhile situation except from the standpoint that they are a state airport. It brings up another question as to whether or not the state would even participate in some of the funding. We have kind of a 93 / 7 split with the federal government and of that seven percent, I believe, three and one-half percent is supposed to come from the state and three and one-half percent from the local match and I can't remember the last time that the state ever gave us their three and on -half percent. I think we did get a chunk on ARFF. But the ARFF money was kind of a separate thing and I think it came down the political channel. I remember when the Department of Transportation said to me that we're going to give you this money and I said, no I don't want your money because I already promised the Governor I wouldn't spend it and the administration said, wait a minute, wait a minute, this is a chunk of dough we're talking about and they're willing to give it to us. But it isn't often that we get the State to pony -up their share of it. Yeah? Ross: Mr. Mayor, there's also one other factor. When, when you go forward, let's say this project goes to the point that we're going after federal funding, we're going to need a recommendation from the Aviation Division of the Department of Transportation of the State. We're going to need State support for the project. If we don't know what they have planned for Fairbanks, we're going in to argue with them without knowing the cards that are being held. And, I just think that we need to leave Fairbanks in it. Williams: I believe that down the road in the not -too -distant future there's going to be enough traffic for all of us to take care of anyway. When we were in Fairbanks at the meeting, several of us attended a conferences dealing with world traffic, world trade, KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 26 the internet system, world commerce. As we're all well -aware, any person anywhere in the world can buy virtually anything in the world and have it shipped right to where ever you want it shipped and there's only one way to get most of that cargo there and that's by jumbo jets and that's why there's such a proliferation of air cargo usage and the numbers of facilities that are being utilized for them. Unless the world were to go into a dramatic recession and even then, just a matter of time to where the thing would be back up and running, so we're facing events in the coming century unlike any we've ever dealt with, unlike any we can imagine and we might as well become a part of it is my theory. So, all right, Councilman Measles, did you have a motion for us? Measles: I would move that the council direct administration to proceed with an RFP for a professional services contract using the first four or the first three items of the Scope of Services on the previous contract as a basis. Swarner: Second. Williams: Okay. A motion's on the floor. It's been seconded to develop a basis of a contract utilizing the first three areas and I believe the city manager had indicated the fourth one would be part of the unit. All right, is there further discussion with regard to the contract? All right, seeing no further discussion, Clerk will call the roll. Clerk: Moore? Moore: Yes. Clerk: Measles? Measles: Yes. Clerk: Williams? Williams: Yes. Clerk: Bookey? Bookey: Yes Clerk: Swarner? Swarner: Yes. Williams: Allright. Thank you. END OF VERBATIM. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 27 BREAK TAKEN: 9:21 P.M. BACK TO ORDER: 9:36 P.M. G-2. Discussion - Public Opinion Survey - Final Draft. Ross explained the document in the packet was a draft based on the comments received. He noted, there are two errors in the draft which had been noted and would be corrected (Question 33 and Question 35 where they referred back to another question). During reformatting the wrong numbers were picked up. Swarner referred to Question 47 regarding senior citizen services and suggested the question would be better placed after Question 33 because those questions were both related to senior services (Question 47 would become Question 34). Ross stated he had no objection to making that change, but explained questionnaire questions were often broken out as a means for validation and he wasn't aware of who designed the original questionnaire which was used as a basis for the draft before council. Swarner noted Question 48 talked about rating senior services and Question 46 talked about funding in new taxes and didn't believe the two questions belonged together. Ross stated he would make that change. Ross also reported Division of Elections was contacted by the Clerk and stated they would be able to forward a list of registered voters in the city who voted in the last four elections. He added, he hoped that erased the concerns of not having an updated voter registration list. Williams noted, the list could still have errors, but that was not anything that could be changed until after the census was completed, etc. Measles stated he believed there is some merit to breaking out some of the questions and lumping them altogether. There were no objections to the draft stated. Williams stated he received some comments from several people regarding voter interest and including a question on the questionnaire asking whether the person had voted in one of the previous four elections or whether the person votes on a regular basis in the city. Williams stated he believed it would give a better idea of the percentage of population that votes compared to those who are registered. Williams noted, he believed a lot of the information garnered from the survey would be rhetorical after the census. Swarner stated she agreed that would be a valid question because then it would be known if the person didn't bother to vote if they bothered to vote. Council agreed to add the question regarding voter activity. Ross stated, instead of bringing the document back in another draft, he would move Question 47 and add a question about regular voting in municipal elections. Ross noted, the list used for those to be surveyed would be a list of people who voted in the last four years (city, state and federal elections) . KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 28 Jill Lipka - Lipka asked if she did not receive a survey by mail, could she pick one up at City Hall to fill out. Ross answered, to keep the process from being skewed by an interest group, etc. the survey should only be sent out. He suggested after the questions are out and responded to, questionnaires could be made available to others. Council consensus was to move ahead with the questionnaire administratively. ITEM H: NEW BUSINESS H-1. Bills to be Paid, Bills to be Ratified MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED to pay the bills and Councilwoman Swarner SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED, H-2. Purchase Orders Exceeding $2,500 MOTION: Councilman Bookey MOVED to approve the purchase orders exceeding $2,500 and Councilman Moore SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED. H-3. Ordinance No. 1804-98 - Appropriating $17,056 in the General Fund for Legislative Department Salaries. Introduced by consent agenda. H-4. Ordinance No. 1805-98 - Appropriating $145,650 in the '98 Water System Improvements Capital Pro j ect Fund. Introduced by consent agenda. H-5. Ordinance No. 1806-98 - Appropriating $900,000 in the Well House No. 4 Capital Project Fund. Introduced by consent agenda. H-6. Approval - Proposed Settlement of MarkAir Express Bankruptcy Claim. Williams stated the City Attorney suggested, if council desires, an executive session could be entered into further discuss this matter and Item H-7. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 29 Bookey asked if the attorney and city manager felt the settlement proposals were the best the City of Kenai could get. Attorney Graves answered yes. He added, he believed this was a very favorable settlement offer received from the trustee. Bookey asked if he felt the same for both settlements. Graves answered, the settlement offer from the trustee, yes, and the Bradford claim, there was nothing more the city could get. He explained, there were eight lots which were divided up to avoid bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Attorney Haggart and he felt these would be the most the city could get. Bookey stated he saw no reason to hold an executive session. MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED for approval of the settlement offer on the MarkAir Express bankruptcy claim. Councilman Bookey SECONDED the motion. VOTE: There were no objections. SO ORDERED, H-?. Approval - Proposed Settlement of Claim Against George Bradford. Graves explained, Bradford was one of the Inlet Woods defendants who had very little in the way of non-exempt property. This was all Attorney Haggart was able to identify. Graves added, he and Haggart both felt there was no more property to get and the only other alternative would be for Bradford to file bankruptcy which would not be favorable. He added, they believed this was the best that could be done with this defendant. MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED to approve the settlement agreement as presented between the City of Kenai and George Bradford. Councilman Bookey SECONDED the motion and requested UNANIMOUS CONSENT, Councilman Moore noted, after reviewing the agreement, it appeared it was all but done with exception of the city's signing it. Graves explained, the city required Bradford to sign it before submittal to council because previously in the litigation a settlement agreement was approved and the other party refused to sign it (not by Bradford) . However, to avoid the same situation, Graves explained, he told Haggart the city wanted a signature prior to submitting the agreement to council. Moore asked the difference between this settlement and the MarkAir settlement. Graves explained, he had in his office a letter from the attorney of the Bankruptcy Trustee which made the settlement offer. If the Trustee backed out of the offer, he could submit the letter to the bankruptcy judge and have the offer enforced. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 30 VOTE: There were no objections. SO ORDERED, ITEM I: I-10 Mayor ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS a. Proposed Birch Island Wayside Park -- Williams reported he was pleased to advise that the Proposed Birch Island Wayside Park project had some success. He added, he visited with the Kenaitze Indian Tribal Council and they were very pleased and want to become part of the process. The project would accelerate in value to approximately $2.4 million. Williams continued, during the AML Conference there was a lot of discussion regarding tribal/ city government interfacing. In the future there will be needed more and more discussion and consensus between tribal governments and city governments. Williams stated, he believed the Tribe, Kenai Natives Association, and Salamatof Native Association would become more and more involved in the economic health of the community in the future due to their growth, investment of money, etc. Williams suggested the city begin more open dialog with Native groups in the area through periodic breakfast meetings to discuss mutual concerns, interaction with the city, etc. He added, the first meeting should be limited to council, two or three representatives from each Native group, and the city manager. From there, plans could be made to continue with additional meetings in two to three months. Williams noted, the meetings would be advertised and requested Clerk Freas to correspond with the three groups and invite them to breakfast on January 31 at 7:00 a.m, at Mr. D's Restaurant. He requested the City Clerk and City Attorney also attend the meeting. There were no objections from council. I-2. City Manager a. MAPS Gift -- Ross reported he received (during the meeting) from the MAPS area representatives a T-shirt making him an honorary official MAPS member. He noted, during the Economic Forum the city held three years prior, some of the discussion was about the city being user friendly. Ross stated, he believed, through this gift, the MAPS group must have found the city administration to be user friendly and the information they had requested was forwarded to them in a friendly manner from Marilyn Kebschull, Sheryl Padilla, Kim Howard, Jan Taylor and Carol Freas. Ross added, he would accept the T-shirt for all of them. b. Proposed Borough Animal Control Ordinance - Ross reported he received a copy of the new proposed Borough animal control ordinance and upon KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 31 review of the ordinance by city administration, a copy would be forwarded to council for their information and consideration. At that time, an analysis from city administration will be attached to the proposed ordinance. C. City Video/CD -Ross reported he spoke at length with Paul Gray who told him it would not be difficult to go from a video to a CD. Once the video is produced, it could be processed onto a CD. When the city is read to go forward with the RFP, it could specify the amount of videos and CD's desired. d. Multi -Purpose Facility - Ross reported a proposed contract for the facility would be submitted to council at their next meeting. They were hoping to get a proposal from the Challenger group as well on how they will be using the property as there may be a savings in engineering of the parking lots and utilities. e. Golf Course Lots - Ross reported there were seven lots sold and one sale pending. There were five remaining lots which were not bid on during the bid process. Also, two of the lots were sold by negotiated sale after the bid process was complete, negotiating on the minimum. Ross noted, one of the bidders asked if he withdrew his offer and forfeited his deposit could he make a negotiated sale. Ross explained, although there was nothing in the Code or the bid specifications that would preclude this from being done, he did not feel it would be fair to those who submitted bids and the rest of the public as they assumed after the bidding process was completed, the bids were closed. So, Ross added, if anyone wished to withdraw a bid, he intended to allow those properties to be available for 30 days and who submits the highest bid on the property would have it. He believed this would be fair to the rest of the public. Ross added, there continues to be interest and expected the majority of the lots would be sold by spring. Williams asked when the main block of property would be marketed as a tract. Ross answered, until the well, mains, and utilities were installed to the properties he would not want to market the properties. He added, upon the installations of those items, the value of the land would be raised. Ross continued, it would be up to council to determine how the property would marketed, however administration had discussed the issue whether to leave it zoned Recreational and marketed as a block, etc. Unless there is some immediacy, he believed it would be best to wait until the water, mains and utilities were installed. Williams suggested the property be marketed as a block and the water, mains and utilities could be installed by the developer which would offset the costs to the city. He added, if the city waits and puts in the utilities itself, grant monies and city funds will be involved. The question would be whether that would enhance the value of the block sufficiently to offset some of the city's matching grant funds required. Williams noted, his preference would be to block the whole tract and allow a developer develop the properties. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 32 Bookey agreed and thought council's intentions had been that all along and would have no problem in doing what Williams suggested. Bookey suggested that in the future, when going to bid, and there's a high number and no one has a lower bid and the buyer wants to renegotiate a lower price, the city should stand firm with the bid made and the bidder would accept the bid made or be excluded from purchase of the property, unless a new sale is advertised. Williams asked Graves if that could be done and Graves stated he would investigate it for future bid documents. Bookey added, he didn't believe renegotiating the price when there are no other bidders is a fair situation for the public. Ross stated he had no obj ections to doing what he asked for future bids, if it is allowable and the bid documents include that information in them. He added, the present proposal was an attempt to make for equity. Measles agreed that when a bid is submitted on a piece of property, he believed it was an agreement by the purchaser to pay that price for the piece of property. Ross agreed with Measles, however he noted the bid documents stated the bid could be forfeited and if that was done, the $500 was also forfeited. The documents did not address anything beyond that. He added, the Code states once the property is offered for public sale, it is subject to negotiation. Ross noted, there was a hole in the procedure and administration is attempting to handle it with equity and fairness. Measles suggested, in future bids, allow the high bid determine the minimum bid. Ross noted, that could have worked if the two blocks were bid evenly, however Block 2 was not bid at the same level as Block 1. He added, that is a matter subject to negotiation. I-3, City Attorney - Attorney Graves referred to his memorandum included in the packet which explained he contacted APOC in regard to the council's question of whether someone submitting their name to be considered for appointment for Councilman Smalley's position would need to submit a Conflict of Interest Form prior to consideration. APOC told him the person would be required to submit the completed form within 30 days after taking the oath of office. I-4. City Clerk a. Annual Employee Appreciation Dinner - Clerk Freas referred to her memorandum included in the packet in which she requested council to set a date for the annual dinner. Council requested January 23 be set as the date for the dinner. Clerk Freas was asked to change the date of the breakfast with the Native groups to January 25. b. Council Seat Vacancy Advertisement - Freas referred to her memorandum and draft advertisement included in the packet. Council had no changes to the advertisement and requested the advertisement begin on December 1 and the deadline for accepting letters of interest and resumes be set as December 28. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 33 C. Youth Court Donation Request - Freas referred to the letter of request from the Kenai Peninsula Youth Court, Inc. which was included in the packet. She noted council had included $5,000 in their Legislative Budget for this purpose. MOTION: Councilman Measles MOVED for issuance of a check in the amount of $5,000 as budgeted in the Legislative Budget. Councilman Moore SECONDED the motion. There were no objections. SO ORDERED. d. Planning & Zoning Commission Training - Freas referred to her memorandum included in the packet regarding training for the Planning & Zoning Commission. She noted, she had been speaking with a private consultant as well as a representative from the Community and Regional Affairs office. Price information would be coming in December. The memorandum included topics for discussion and suggested two days of training: the first, a Friday evening for basic review and Saturday, more in-depth discussion. Freas also noted, in the past when the City of Soldotna and the Borough had offered similar training, they invited members of the other Peninsula cities to the training session. Bookey stated he would want the training to be held after the necessary appointments are made to the Planning & Zoning Commission. He added, he had no objections to inviting the other groups to the training, but felt the main benefit should be to the City of Kenai's Planning & Zoning Commission. Swarner suggested a future training session be held on parliamentary procedure. I-5. Finance Director - No report. I-6. Public Works a. Public Works Manager Kornelis - Kornelis reported there were three STIP projects he had been working with DOT on which received enough priority points to make the first cut. They were the Birch Island Wayside Park (DNR project) , boat launch road and parking, and Overland new sidewalk and town clock project. The projects will now be reviewed in Juneau and given points. Williams requested Kornelis to investigate whether it would be advantageous to send representatives to Juneau during the scoring procedure. Williams added, Kornelis had reported to him the city had received as many points as possible for community support for the three projects. Williams noted, these projects were listed on the proposed project list for 2000 and 2002. b. Public Works Manager La Shot - La Shot reminded council during the next two weeks the painting and carpeting installation would be taking place at City Hall. He noted, thing will be disrupted a bit, but the offices would remain open for business. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 34 La Shot also reported the Challenger group had reached the 30% design level with the project. I-7. Airport Manager - No report. ITEM J: DISCUSSION J-1. Citizens - None. J-2. Council Bookey - No comments. Swarner - Noted the AML Touchstone had an article included in it called Council Link which may be of interest. Swarner noted she had flown back from Anchorage that afternoon and spoke with a person who was not happy with customer service with ERA. She reported, she told him the council was looking at customer service and trying to do something that everyone is treated fairly when there is no competition. Swarner noted the restaurant at the airport was not open when she was there on the morning she was leaving for the AML Conference. She added, a sign on the door stated the restaurant was no longer open on the weekends. She suggested when the lease expires, administration and council need to come up with a visionary concept for the restaurant as what is transpiring now was not working. Swarner noted the walkway from the plane to the airport entrance was icy. She also asked if there was something that could be done regarding the float plane basin. Bookey noted, when they were walking to the plane leaving for the AML Conference, he noticed oil dripping from the plane engine onto the taxiway. No pad was placed to absorb the oil by the airline workers. He suggested the matter be discussed with the airline as there is concern of it becoming more of an environmental impact over a year's time. Moore - No comments. Measles - No comments. Williams - No comments. EXECUTIVE SESSION -Possible executive session to discuss proposed settlements in Bradford and MarkAir (Items H-6 and H-7 above). No executive session was held. KENAI CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 1998 PAGE 35 ITEM K: ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at approximately 10 : 3 5 p.m. Minutes transcribed and prepared by: Carol L. Freas, City Clerk ) �. .�++� 'a art DATE C LER