It’s Tails, Linda Wins!
Posted on: October 27, 2009 | musiclover | Comments Off | Print Article | Rate Post:
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- Linda Amberg is Sworn in
By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News
A simple coin toss, followed two deadlocked 3-3 city council secret ballot votes, decided who would be appointed for the one-year term on the Seward City Council October 26. In that instant, Linda Amberg, a local insurance company owner, broker, and former city council member was chosen over Darryl Schaefermeyer, with whom she had twice tied. Schaefermeyer had once been the Seward City Manager, and is currently General Manager of the Alaska SeaLife Center. Amberg was immediately sworn in, and joined newly-elected councilwoman Vanta Shafer, Marianna Keil and Jean Bardarson to create a female-dominated council.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had that many before,” Vanta Shafer commented Tuesday. In addition, Shafer nominated Bardarson as Vice Mayor, and Robert Valdatta seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved. Bardarson will fill the seat of Willard Dunham, who was sworn in as the new city mayor.
None of the other four council applicants, John French, Cindy Ecklund, Randy Stauffer and Tim McDonald received any votes, although elected officials and the city manager praised the quality of all of the applicants and thanked them for applying. Dunham said it was “heartwarming” to see so much interest.
McDonald, of Nash Road, who ran as a write-in candidate October 6th, strongly felt that he should be selected because he was the only one of the six who had actively bothered to campaign in the municipal election. McDonald said he missed the filing campaign deadline while away fishing, so he became a write-in. Prior to the meeting McDonald had asked the clerk how many of the 130 write-in votes he actually received, but was told that the write-in votes and their break down had been disposed of. (SCN had also failed to receive a break-down following the election.) Registering a formal complaint, McDonald said he assumed that most of those votes had been for him. “The people have spoken and I am their choice,” McDonald said during his two-minute speech prior to the appointment.McDonald said he’d hate to think it was all about (those who have held positions) just taking turns. After Amberg’s appointment, he sarcastically thanked the council for not choosing him. “Every time I loose I gain more support,” he said.
(Jean Bardarson, Marianna Keil and Linda Amberg)In addition to the reorganization, the council passed a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with ECI/Hyer Inc., the firm selected to provide professional schematic design for the library museum replacement project. Phillip Oates can appropriate up to $162,000 for the 35% project design. (A $5 million general obligation bond for the project was supported by the majority of Seward voters Oct 6th, although they voted against a .5% sales tax increase by to pay for it.)
Jim Pruitt, who owns Seward Ships Drydock, Inc. asked the council to allow the city manager to negotiate a lengthier contract with the city for the land it leases. Pruitt would ideally like to see the lease extended beyond 2029 to make major future capital investments worthwhile. The longer the lease is, the more valuable and worth investing in capital improvements the facility becomes, Pruitt said. Smith asked why the council should extend the lease until the current work is completed. He might not do it otherwise, Oates replied. The council then set two work sessions the evenings of November 10 and 11th to discuss the matter further. The council should not fall for pressure tactics, and should not renew the lease, McDonald said during public comments, calling it “the worst contract the city has ever written.” He said extending the lease would be “throwing good money after bad.”
The council also passed three resolutions listing the city’s federal, state, and local capital improvement priorities. These lists will be distributed to the state congressional delegation, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and city lobbyist, and used as a guide by state and federal lobbyists seeking various sources of funding. The state list is particularly important as it is an election year, and the state now has a capital budget, whereas last year it had none from which to fund local projects.
Topping the state’s legislative priority list is a $5 million grant for building the new library museum, followed by $2 million for constructing a metal building to house emergency response equipment at the Fort Raymond Satellite Fire Station. A $2 million feasibility study for flood risk reduction at Lowell Creek tops the federal priority list. Next on the list is $2.1 million for dock improvements and two mooring dolphins for home basing the Alaska Region Research Vessel at Seward Marine Center. Keil voiced reservations about including on the federal priority list $1.15 million for a low-cost clinic at Providence Hospital (based on a Swedish Medical Home model in Seattle) that the council had never heard of. Keil also voted against the city’s own priority list, which included $15 million for building a new a city jail, which Keil said the city can ill afford.
(Contact heidizemach@yahoo.com)
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