A new clerk
The assembly decided to offer professional pilot Mike Denker the open borough clerk position, pending a background check. The move comes after Denker and Margarette Jones interviewed for the role last week.
Denker is currently on a biweekly schedule with a medevac company and said last week that he would not be able to start full-time for at least a month but could potentially do some work for the assembly in the interim.
By any other name
Back in March, the assembly voted unanimously to require vehicles using engine brakes – often called Jake brakes – to either muffle them or have a noise-suppressing system to keep them quiet.
Now they’re having to update that law after the owners of the copyright for the phrase Jake Brake (also known as a Jacobs Engine Brake, made by Cummins) informed the borough of a copyright violation.
“Kleenex are facial tissues by the way and Jello is a brand name for gelatin and Coca Cola is a brand of cola,” Mayor Tom Morphet joked.
The assembly voted unanimously to remove the word “Jake” from the law and replace it with the generic term “engine brakes.”
An extra executive session
Assembly member Cheryl Stickler recommended that they consider setting a separate meeting for executive sessions rather than holding them at the end of regular assembly meetings. She argued that late-night decision-making after hours of deliberation on other matters is not conducive to careful and thoughtful discussion.
“After sitting here at the dais for three-plus hours, it’s difficult for us to have any fuel left to give the serious consideration for our executive sessions that they deserve,” Stickler said.
On the subject of executive sessions, the assembly advanced a measure that would restrict attendance at executive sessions. Under the proposed rule, assembly members who cannot attend in person would be limited to participating by telephone and only if they affirm that no one else is present or able to overhear the call. They would also be prohibited from recording or taking notes of the session.
This measure will be considered again in a public hearing on Feb. 11.
New assembly member code of conduct?
Stickler also floated the idea of creating a code of conduct for the assembly following an incident after the Jan. 14 meeting when assembly members Craig Loomis and Mark Smith clashed over a conflict Loomis was having with the borough’s acting police chief.
She pointed out that while the borough has a code of ethics, it does not have a code of conduct that outlines expectations and consequences for violations. She referenced model language from the International Code Council, which includes disciplinary measures such as reprimand, censure, and recall for misconduct.
Stickler said she had received calls from community members urging the assembly to address the incident.
“Because we serve in a position of shared leadership, we must hold one another accountable,” she said.
Stickler urged assembly members to honor diversity as one of the body’s strengths.
“Diversity, when it’s mishandled, will result in division, and this division will destroy us. Diversity, when it’s accepted, will result in unity. This unity allows us to discover a best path forward as a body and as a whole community,” she said.
Stickler challenged assembly members to separate issues from the individuals discussing them, approach each other with respect, and shake hands at the end of meetings. Morphet supported the discussion, and thanked Stickler for challenges.
“I think that’s a great idea that we finish the meetings with handshakes,” he said. “I think in church that’s called a sign of peace, right? Give the sign of peace? Why the hell not?”
Debate over nonprofit funding
The assembly debated allocating $100,000 in borough funds to local nonprofits, but concerns about fairness and financial oversight led to a delay in finalizing awards.
The Government Affairs and Services Committee initially proposed awarding funding based on the percentage of each organization’s request. But public commenters, including Debra Schnabel and Liz Heywood, pointed out that this method disproportionately favored large requests rather than aligning with community values.
“The largest asks got the largest grants, regardless of their scores in meeting the committee’s criteria,” Schnabel said. She said that process did not follow the rubric that was given to nonprofits.
Stickler raised concerns, saying that she worried that the decision to put $100,000 toward nonprofits had come at a time when it was not facing what she called “critical budgetary concerns.”
She and Smith also opposed using public funds for nonprofit support.
“I belong to a number of nonprofits in this town, and I serve on the boards of a number of nonprofits,” Stickler said. “We raise our own money because we don’t want the government responsibilities, the government ties that come with accepting government money.”
Smith took a broader stance against the government’s role in nonprofit funding.
“Americans are a very giving people. This town is loaded with giving human beings,” he said, arguing that government funding discourages private donations.
Kevin Forster pushed back against this view, arguing that many nonprofits provide essential services that the borough might otherwise have to fund.
“You will simply not get a better return on your dollar than investing in volunteer-driven, mission-driven organizations in your community,” he said. “To say that we’re going to pull $100,000 and pretend that that’s a huge portion of our budget in comparison to the return that you get out of these organizations would be a massive fail, in my opinion.”
Ultimately, the assembly voted 4-2 to postpone a decision and allow the full assembly to re-score the applications.
Water infrastructure
The assembly also introduced two loan agreements with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Alaska Clean Water Fund to expand borough water infrastructure and improve wastewater infrastructure.
The first, a Small Tracts water main extension is a $2.8 million project that would extend borough water services to the area. The project comes with loan forgiveness of $2.5 million, according to borough documentation.
“It’s an area that has, we suspect, a lot of failed septic next to drinking water wells,” said borough finance director Jila Stuart. “We’ve been applying to the Department of Environmental Conservation for funding for many, many years.”
She said that in order to proceed with the project, the borough will need to figure out which property owners will benefit and hold a public meeting. Then property owners will have the opportunity to vote on whether they want to move forward.
The second project is a wastewater treatment plant upgrade that could receive a loan of just over $1.2 million with loan forgiveness of $1 million. The upgrade should prevent debris from entering the treatment plant during significant storm events.
Public hearings on both will be held in February.
Volunteer property tax exemption
The borough’s Property Tax Assessment Advisory Committee proposed a property tax exemption of up to $10,000 in assessed value for volunteer firefighters and EMTs as a recognition of their service. Fire chief Brian Clay supported the idea, noting that they needed incentives to attract and retain volunteers. And, he highlighted Cindy “CJ” Jones, who he said responded to 138 EMS calls last year.
“Out of 463, she did 138 of them, OK? Figure each ambulance call is about two hours, about 276 hours of her time,” he said.
That proposal is headed to the finance committee for more discussion.