January 8, 2013 Borough Assembly Meeting Report
By Sue McClure

At our first meeting since early December, the one item that had brought about the most public comment and had brought the crowd to the meeting was pulled from the agenda. Ordinance 2013-03, sponsored by Assembly Member Kelly Wolf, would have amended borough code by basically repealing Ordinance 2011-12, which had increased the coverage of the anadromous fish protection in the borough. When possible violations of the Open Meetings Act were pointed out by President Murphy and also by the Clerk, Mr. Wolf chose to pull the ordinance from being introduced. There currently is a Task Force dealing with Ordinance 2011-12, and we heard a scheduled presentation from the facilitator of that group, Chief of Staff Paul Ostrander, on the group’s progress. It is hoped that by mid-April they will have recommendations to present to the Assembly.

In other business, we passed Resolution 2013-001 on the consent agenda. This finalizes the borough’s State Capital Project Priorities for FY 2013, which will be presented in Juneau. On the list of borough-wide priorities, the Tier 1, #1 request is for $5 million to establish a capital fund to fund flood mitigation projects in the Seward Bear Creek Flood Service Area. This would require a local match of 25% from local, state or federal sources.

We moved several ordinances on for public hearing on 2/5, including Ordinance 2013-01, which would amend borough code to change the start time for Borough Assembly meetings from 7 PM to 6 PM.

Three ordinances were approved unanimously. One authorized the acquisition of two properties by Central Peninsula Hospital, for the sum of nearly $3.6 million. Another, Ordinance 2012-39, amends borough code to require notice by mail to owners of properties located in zoning districts proposed to be created, amended or abolished.

Of local note, we also confirmed the reappointment of several board members, including Ron Long to Alternate A on the Board of Adjustment.

Our next meeting will be January 22. As always, I can be reached for questions or comments at smcclure@borough.kenai.ak.us or 224-6784. The entire agenda is available at www.borough.kenai.ak.us. Our meetings are broadcast in the Seward area on FM 88.1. The Seward Annex office and the Flood Service Area offices in the Sea View Plaza in Seward are good sources of information as well. An additional note: there still is an open seat on the Seward Bear Creek Flood Service Area Board, and that individual can live anywhere in the service area.