City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello, everybody. I'd like to call the August 19, 2026 City Council meeting to order. If we're able, please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Grimmie.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Askin?

Here.

Council Member Petty? He's not here. Council Member Kacena?

Here.

Council Member Sonnert? Here. Mayor Nackstead?

Here.

Council Member Daniel?

Here.

Student Representative Bolling?

Here.

You have a quorum.

Council, next we have the agenda, consent agenda, pleasure of council.

I move that we approve the agenda and consent agenda as presented.

Second. I request unanimous consent.

Moved and seconded. Are there any additions or revisions to the agenda or the consent agenda from council? Seeing none, would the clerk please read the consent agenda items into the record?

Thank you, Mayor Naxta. Approval of the regular meeting minutes of August 5th, 2026 brought to you by the city clerk. New business action approval bills to be ratified brought to you by the administration. New business action approval confirmation of mayoral nomination for a partial term appointment of Sherry Powell to the Beautification Commission brought to you by Mayor Nackstead. An introduction of ordinance number 3542-2026, providing for the submission to the qualified voters of the City of Kenai at the regular election to be held on November 3, 2026, the question of enacting Kenai Municipal Code Section 7.05.031, residential property tax exemption, to establish a residential property tax exemption in the amount of $75,000. brought to you by Mayor Nackstead and Councilmember Cassana. Public hearing scheduled for September 2nd, 2026, and that is your consent agenda.

Okay, thank you. Excuse me. Are there any public comments on any of the consent agenda items just read by the clerk? Seeing no one, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Hearing seeing no objections, the agenda and consent agenda are approved. We have no administrative reports. We have no scheduled public comments. So now we have unscheduled public comments. Are there any members from the public that would like to speak to any item not appearing on the agenda?

Anyone?

Please come forward and state your name and generally where you reside.

Thank you. Now everybody can hear me. Hello, my name is Mitch Michaud, and I live in Soldotna, and here today I represent the Kenai Watershed Forum. I am the acting interim director for the Watershed Forum. Our former director took a job with Cook Inlet Aquaculture, where he started many years ago. And I'm here just to bring you up to speed on a couple of little things that the watershed is doing. First, I'd like to thank the city for helping contribute to the cost of our baseline water sampling that we do. This is something that's been going on for about 20 years. And it's essentially, it's twice a year that we have volunteers and we go up and down the Kenai River, all the way up from Cooper Landing all the way down to the mouth of the Kenai. And we take baseline water samples. Been going on and you can spot trends and of course these are just two points in time and it's a fast moving river. But it's all done on the same day. Somehow you can derive some data from that. This year it's a little different that there's another sampling element and you've probably heard of a chemical that is used in tires. And this chemical prevents rot and increases wear on the tires, prevents oxidation. Also occurs in your brake shoes too, in the brake linings. And recently in California, some of the studies there have shown that this chemical is lethal to silver salmon smolt. Only silver salmon, which is kind of an interesting point. So with our silver salmon decline, this might be another thing. A big thing that we do is every year we do the stream watch program. And this occurs from, again, all the way from Cooper Landing all the way at the Russian, all the way down to the Kenai, where we have volunteers. This is a funded program through the US Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife at the refuge. And we have a series of volunteers that provide education to anglers, inform anglers of their regulations. Non-enforcement, you've probably seen them around. with their little shirts that say Streamwatch. And they play a big role in being a soft touch to all of our visitors and even our residents. I used to do that as part of another job I had. One of the things we'd do was keep people off of your dunes, which is always just a struggle in itself. So this past year, we had a few people something called the Dip Net Season Booth. They were getting about 50 public contacts a day. They were informing people about the rules to regs. Show them how to clean their fish, which is interesting. You'd think everybody would know that. We don't. We also do stream contacts cleanups and something called Trashercise. We sponsored that by community events. They come out and you can get exercise by helping pick trash on the weekends. I did that many years with the ski team too, by the way. That was another thing we were doing. We got a number of things typically that will pick anywhere from 100 to 400 pounds of trash when they're doing that. And I have to add, it's not just the watershed forum, there's a lot of groups. So anyway, I just want to tell you that we are active in the watershed and we appreciate your help. And if you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Our office is up on the banks of the Kenai, right next to Soldotna Creek Park.

Thank you, Mitch. Any questions? I want to say I appreciate what the Watershed Forum does, and that data is very useful to us being at the bottom of the river here. It all flows downhill. It all does. And also, you know what they say about interim directors, right?

Yes, I know. My wife was one at the college.

Okay. She's still there. She's permanent now. Maybe we'll be seeing you again as director. Okay. Well, we'll see. All right. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Mayor Mrakas, Is there anybody else that would have any that would like to speak to the Council on any item that not being on the agenda. Mayor Mrakas, So that brings us to public hearings, the first public hearing is ordinance number 3537 2026 increasing estimated fiscal year 2026 revenues and appropriations and the general fund. Mayor Mrakas, Police Department and accepting a grant from the US Department of Transportation pass through state of Alaska Department of Transportation and public facilities. for traffic enforcement, overtime expenditures brought to us by administration. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we enact ordinance number 3537-2026.

Council Member Grady, seconded that?

Yep.

I think your mic was off. Then it's off.

Okay. I seconded it.

Thank you. Is there anybody from the public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3537-2026? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council? Any comments? We would like to thank the police department for requesting and receiving the $8,331.18 to cover the traffic overtime. And I know that takes some effort, and here it is. Thank you. No further discussion. Clerk, please call the roll.

Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Council Member Kacena?

Yes.

Council Member Sonnard? Yes. Mayor Nackstead?

Yes.

Council Member Daniel?

Yes.

Council Member Grimmie?

Yes.

Student Representative Bolling?

Yes.

You have six yes votes. Ordinance number 3537-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. Now we are on item E2, ordinance number 3538-2026, increasing estimated fiscal year 2026 revenues and appropriations in the general fund. Police Department accepting a grant from the Alaska High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area for drug investigation overtime expenditures brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we enact ordinance number 3538-2026.

I second that.

Perfect. Thank you. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to ordinance 3538-2026? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion? Seeing no comments, I'd like to reiterate what I said before, thanking the police department for requesting and receiving the $1,094.24 for the drug trafficking overtime. And that is very helpful once again. So if there's no further questions, please call the roll.

Council Member Kucina?

Yes.

Council Member Sonnard? Yes, mayor next day.

Yes.

Council member Daniel.

Yes.

Council member grooming. Yes. Yes. Student representative bullying.

Yes.

You have 6 yes votes ordinance number 3538 dash 2026 is inactive.

Thank you. Next we have Item E3, Ordinance 3539-2026, amending Kenai Municipal Code Section 1420-030, establishment of zones and official map to add airport light industrial brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we enact Ordinance Number 3539-2026.

Second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3539-2026? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. See, we do have an amendment on page 13 of the packet. I think it's inserting a date. Vice Mayor Askin, are you ready?

I move that we amend the fourth whereas by filling in the blank with the word enact the new whereas after amendment would read. Whereas the Planning and Zoning Commission held the public hearing on August 12th, 2026 and recommended the City Council enact this ordinance and comma.

I'll second her question.

Any further discussion on the amendment? And then this consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, we have now Ordinance 3539-2026 as amended. Any further discussion? Mr. Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. Perhaps a quick overview from the city manager or the planner on what exactly we're doing here.

public. City Manager Upang.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Daniel, and I'm going to make a statement and then I'll let Kevin correct anything that I say incorrect. But in 2016 by ordinance 2884-2016 City Council created the airport light industrial zone. It was added to the zoning table of the city. What it wasn't added to, and I think it was just an oversight, was section 1420-030A, which lists all available zones within the city. This ordinance is just more of a cleanup that we will be adding airport light industrial zone to that list so that it's included in the list of all available zones within the city. So I would characterize this as just a cleanup.

Any further discussion?

Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. I appreciate the administration's efforts in bringing this to our attention and continuing to go through and cleaning up zoning and finding things like that as needed. So please keep up the good work. Thank you for all your efforts.

Yeah, thank you. It took 10 years. It's probably buried down in there somewhere, though. Thank you very much. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk please call the roll.

Council Member Sonert? Yes. Mayor Nackstead? Yes. Council Member Daniel?

Yes.

Council Member Grimmie? Yes. Vice Mayor Eskin? Yes. Council Member Kucina? Yes. Student Representative Bowling?

Yes.

You have six yes votes. Ordinance number 3539-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. That brings us to item E4, ordinance number 3540-2026, accepting and appropriating a gift distribution from Meals on Wheels of America to the Kenai Senior Center brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we enact ordinance 3540-2026. I second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to ordinance 3540-2026? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. State Manager Eubank, if you would. And I see that we have Kathy Romaine from the Senior Center here. She might have a few words that she wants to, because I know that they put all the effort into this.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I definitely would ask Kathy to give a little bit, but this is basically a $10,000 donation from Meals on Wheels of America to support the senior center's nutrition program. I believe there was a criteria why we were eligible for this. I'll let you speak to that, Kathy.

Meals on Wheels of America, earlier this year, there's a philanthropist named Mackenzie Scott. Unfortunately, I've never heard of him before. But fortunately, he gave 70 million to Meals on Wheels of America. And what they decided to do at that point, they sent out a benchmark survey asking us as members where we were compared to COVID years, what we're looking like, what our greatest issues would be, and cost prohibitive things. If we have people on a wait list, fortunately, the Kenai Senior Center has never had to implement a wait list. which was very positive. And then they turned around, and after this was done, providers of good standing who did turn in their surveys were awarded $10,000 as a gift distribution. Came as a surprise to us, but a very pleasant one.

Thank you. Any further discussion, comments? Does the member agree?

OK.

Thank you for doing the survey. We appreciate it. That was a great surprise. And all the other things you do.

I just wanted to say, I think we're all in agreement that Meals on Wheels is a great program service that's offered to our seniors. I've had personal experience with Meals on Wheels recently, not in this community. My dad lives in North Pole. He's in his 80s and lives independently. And we were able to get him set up with Meals on Wheels. And it has been a game changer for my dad in regards to his ability to remain independent and meet his nutritional needs. So I know he's not in our community, but I just want to say that that is an example of somebody who's being personally served by this program in another Alaskan community. So I'm especially grateful for the work that you guys continue to do. And of course, the Fairbank Senior Center that's been feeding my dad. But thank you.

Any further discussion? Kathy, thank you very much for all your efforts down at the Senior Center and your staff in acquiring this. I know you had to fill out paperwork, and you have to do it. And it worked.

Thank you. Go ahead. I do believe it was the easiest, quote, grant I've ever done.

Well, you could have embellished, I mean, a little bit. But you had to do it. If you hadn't done it, we wouldn't be here. So thank you very much, $10,000. And it's going to a great cause. If there's no further discussion, clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Nackstead?

Yes.

Council Member Daniel?

Yes.

Council Member Grimmie? Yes. Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Council Member Kacena? Yes. Council Member Sonnert? Yes. Student Representative Bolling?

Yes.

You have six yes votes. Ordinance number 3540-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. Now we are on item E five resolution 2026 dash 55 authorizing a contract for digester pumping and disposal brought to us by administration pleasure of counsel the vice mayor asking, I move that we adopt resolution 2026 dash 55 and request unanimous consent. I'll second. Thank you. Moved and seconded. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-55? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion. Council member Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. A couple of things. I'm curious in looking at this. I know this is part of the project, but it was mentioned that we went this direction to save If you save some money from the original quote for the digester replacement, do we have an approximate savings going this direction versus doing with the project what the difference was?

City Manager Eubank?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council Member Daniels. I'm going to defer to Lee a little bit. I think some of the savings is an estimate because I don't know that we know the exact quantity. But go ahead, Lee.

I don't have the exact figure in front of me, but I believe it was about $200,000 that we deducted out of the contract amount for the construction project for us to handle it in-house. So that includes part of that is obviously going to here for the pumping portion of it, but we'll be doing some portion with our staff in-house as well.

Awesome. Thank you for doing that. I appreciate it.

Any further discussion? None of this consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, resolution 2026-55 is adopted. Next we are on item six, resolution 2026-56, authorizing the renewal of the city's Castle software licensing and support and corresponding purchase order for accounting, payroll, and human resources operations brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel, Vice Mayor Askin.

I move we adopt Resolution 2026-56 and request unanimous consent.

I second that.

Thank you. Is there anybody from the public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-56? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion? Councilmember Cramming?

I just wanted to point out that I was very appreciative in the memo that the finance director pointed out. why it was a good idea to keep doing this, and specifically in regard to use of staff time to not need to be retrained, not have to incur any transition costs. I appreciated that being mentioned in this memo, and I just, I wanted to take a second to point that out. I think it was important information that sometimes we don't get, and that information is important to me in making these decisions, so I appreciate that.

Very good. Any further discussion? None of consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, resolution 2026-56 is adopted. That brings us to item E7, resolution number 2026-57, authorizing the city manager to enter into a grant agreement at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District to support community access to the Kenai Central High School swimming pool brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel, Vice Mayor Raskin.

I move that we adopt Resolution 2026-57 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second.

Okay, we're going to second it. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-57? Mr. Lyon, please come forward.

Good evening, Mayor Nackstead, members of the council. My name is Kevin Lyon. I am the Planning Operations Director for the Kenan Peninsula School District. I am a Sterling resident, and I'm here to speak to you in support of Resolution 2026-57. Superintendent Holland is unable to come today, so I'm here speaking on his behalf and for the district. I would like to express our appreciation from the district for your consideration of Resolution 2026-57. Kenai Central High School pool is a valuable asset to the community that serves students, families, and residents throughout the City of Kenai. and surrounding areas. The district remains committed to maintaining community access to the facility during the fiscal year 2027, including lap swim, open swim opportunities, swim instruction, Saturday rentals for community groups and individuals. The request contribution will help offset rising utility costs associated with operating the pool and will directly support the continued operations of this service. I'm going to say this partnership between the city of Kenai and the district demonstrates a shared commitment to providing opportunities and promoting water safety and ensuring that this important community asset remains available for the residents. We respectfully ask your support of Resolution 2026-57, and thank you for your continued partnership with serving the community.

Thank you for that and being here. Are you available for any questions Council may have? Council? Council Member Grenny.

Sorry, I have several. I know, no surprise, right? I want to preface my questions by saying I support the need for our pools in general to stay open, but I have some questions because I have some concerns about the relationship that would be created between the city and the school district if this were to pass. So my first question is, did the district also seek funding from Kenai Peninsula Community Pools? Because according to their website, they collected a large amount of money from Peninsula residents, and their intention was to use that money to help keep pools open, starting with the SoHi pool. Did the district contact them or work with them to try to get any funding from them?

We have been in contact with the group for the Peninsula Pools and we're working hand in hand to continue the discussion with them. They did not have funds available immediately to do that even though they've quote unquote raised funds, but they've not been made available to the district at this time.

Okay. In the letter from Mr. Holland, the fees that were lined out what the district would be charging were more than what we were told the Piranhas would be charging if they had taken over operation of the pool. Can you help me understand why?

The fees that are identified there, the group was still working on trying to figure out what those fees would be. And so these are realistic to try to get us through to the end of the fiscal year for the funds available to the location in Kenai.

Since you're requesting funds specifically from the city of Kenai, municipality of Kenai, the letter from Mr. Holland does not provide increased access or reduced rate access for city of Kenai residents, though we would be paying more money that other municipalities, people from other parts of the peninsula would not be contributing. Is that something that would change? Why or why not?

I THINK THAT WOULD BE WITH THE AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY MANAGER AND WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT ON THAT POINT, IF WHAT'S THERE. THAT WAS WHAT THE LETTER WE REQUESTED, AND IT WOULD MATTER ON A RESPONSE.

Mr. Holland's letter and your statements highlight the educational importance of a pool and access to a pool, especially as we know water deaths in Alaska are significant. I'm curious why that educational importance seems to be leveraged for the Kenai pool but was not for the SoHi pool.

There are two pools in Soldotna, and one is in Sohi and one is at Skyview, or in the Soldotna area, and Skyview will remain open for Soldotna.

But not for Soldotna high school students to use for swimming class?

I believe Soldotna high school students will be coming to join the team over at Kenai to have a stronger peninsular presence in swimming.

right for the swim team but for swim class as part of physical education they would be going to so to uh skyview they are going to go over there yep okay um if with if the city does not approve these funds would the pool would you keep the pool open i won't speak for the for the superintendent on this point right here but without those funds i don't believe the pool has the resources to stay open Okay. And then my final question was my understanding was the district received money from the state to help cover increased utility costs across the board in addition to BSA funds. Are any of those funds available to fill this utility gap instead of seeking funds from the city?

At this time, those funds have not been distributed by the state. And so there's actually a meeting in the first part of September to see how those could be distributed from the state of Alaska.

Okay. Thank you.

Mayor Mrakas, Any further questions council member.

Mayor Mrakas, Daniel Thank you, my next just one quick one, the letter notes for fiscal year 27 are there any I mean I know we don't crystal balls, but do we have any thoughts for 28 would look like if there's something we could continue or the too early to tell.

Right now, I'm going to say it's too early to tell. I know we're looking to make sure everything's sustainable. And so we're working with the groups that are around to try to get this so it's something we don't have to deal with every single year with the school board.

I'm going to follow up on that. So would the district, you think, maintain the responsibility? Or is the district trying to get this to another party to manage in the future? Both.

Any further questions of Mr. Lyon? Thank you very much for being here tonight. We might even need you in a little bit, so just if you don't leave. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak to council on this item? Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to council. City Manager Eubank, I know this has been a long haul for you to get to this point, and I thought maybe you might want to give us an overview and any other

information that might be appropriate yeah thank you mr mayor members of council um you know this all started uh probably last june or july when the school district passed their fiscal 26 operating budget and direction was given these are my words i don't know if they're precisely correct but direction was given to the school district administration that the um to try to find community solutions to keeping these pools open because they planned on closing them at the end of the fiscal year. so at that time staff here council gave direction to the administration to uh... try to engage in those conversations and try to find a community solution uh... we started seeking information last august uh... that progressed i think finally with a presentation from the school district administration in january uh... that uh... kind of uh... mayor mcchickey's office and um... there was predominantly kind of three different areas of of concern one you know with management of it one being with the long-term maintenance of it and the last piece being kind of the personnel situation there and i think um mayor machiki getting involved in um you know assuring that maintenance would continue in the facilities provided they stayed in control of the district i think was a big help in moving these projects forward or this process forward. So, yeah, it has been. We worked, I think, collaboratively with the swim club. And, you know, at the end of the day, I think they, you know, Uh, they understand, I think their fees are going up, I think, relatively substantially. I want to say they pay 35 dollars an hour. Now. I think those numbers are going to, like, 90 dollars an hour per hour for the club to use the pool. Um, but they seem to be supportive of this, um. proposal by the district and you know I think this is a solution to keeping the pool open. I share some of Councilmember Grimmie's concerns. You know it is a one year solution. I hate to see us back here next year with that number being substantially higher or something to keep the pool open. I don't necessarily think it's the city's responsibility for this, but I think it's good to try to be part of a solution in these cases. But that would be an area of concern, is that this is just a one-year deal. But other than that, I'm happy to try to answer any questions. I think we've, as a city, have just always tried to facilitate the conversation and potentially be part of a solution, but not the solution.

Any questions?

Is it possible to add a caveat that this money would be made available to the district after we were offered some assurances, I don't know, with a time frame, 60 days or whatever, that the Kenai Peninsula Community Pools group that collected a huge amount of money, or reportedly collected a huge amount of money in this area, to go towards this exact scenario, that their funds aren't available and that the utility um money in addition to the bsa from the state it can that that money isn't going to be received timely enough to resolve this issue for the district can we add caveats to this for those two things mr ubank

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council Member Green. I think we can add whatever caveats you want. I would just caution that, one, the district would have to agree to them. Two, I want to make sure that they're kind of measurable and Yeah, I guess just measurable and definable. I mean, some of the things you just described are very open to interpretation. And I think those sometimes are where we get into trouble in agreements is how people interpret things differently. So I'd want that to be very, very clear what what is meant by. you know those funds become available timely i don't you know i mean i would want to set a deadline rather than to say something like timely but we can absolutely put caveats in any agreement or attempt to any further discussion you know consent was requested are there any objections

Seeing none, Resolution 2026-57 is adopted. Thank you, Mr. Land. Now we are on item E8, Resolution 2026-58, Redirecting Previously Appropriated Capital Funds in the Vintage Point Improvement Capital Project for the Repair and Replacement of Windows, brought to us by Administration, Pleasure of Counsel, Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-58 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second. Moved and seconded. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-58? Seeing no one, I'll bring it back to council. City Manager Eubank, would you please?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. This year, staff have discovered some water damage that's occurring. It's isolated, I think, to two apartments. Three, three apartments. That's right. Three stories. So it's isolated to three apartments over there. We've had some water intrusion that's causing some associated rot and things that need to be fixed. Staff have worked with our architect to come up with a scope of work to do the fix. What resolution 2026-58 does is it's going to redirect funds that were previously appropriated for the kitchen and bathroom remodel project that we're still working on design for. So we'll divert some of those funds to affect these repairs. It does say window replacement. Those windows will be being replaced, but it's also to to fix some water damage that has also occurred. So this will redirect $75,000 of those project funds to a project to complete this work. And Mr. Frey, did I miss anything? Okay.

I saw a thumbs up. Any questions of the city manager? Or any further discussion? Seeing none, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, Resolution 2026-58 is adopted. Moving on, we have under item G, no unfinished business. Brings us to item I, commission reports. First is Council on Aging. Vice Mayor Askin.

Thank you, Mayor Nykstad. Council on Aging did not meet in August because of no agenda items. Their next meeting is September 10th.

Thank you. Airport Commission, Council Member Sonar.

Thank you, Mayor. Next. There was no August meeting. It was canceled. And I'm not sure the September date. It would be the second Thursday.

Thank you. And Parks and Recreation Commission, Council Member Grimmie.

There was no meeting last month. There is a work session scheduled for August 27th that will be a facility tour. And the next meeting is scheduled for September 3rd.

Thank you. Now we have Planning and Zoning Commission.

Councilmember Daniel. Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. Not a ton on the agenda just because of how things had to get reshuffled. They only had one thing, a resolution, PZ2026 in Thompson Park. Plymouth Replat, there we go. And that was approved. And then the other thing that we talked about tonight, and we also approved it, was the the zoning code for the adding airport light industrial to the zone list, and we approved that. And that was it. The next meeting is next Wednesday.

Thank you. Next, we have Beautification Commission. Clerk, do you have a report?

Their next meeting, I'm sorry, is for, I thought I had it and then I got distracted. September 9th, I believe.

Hold on.

Yep, September 8th, sorry. September 8th is the next beautification meeting. Thank you very much.

I think I put you on the spot there. So that brings us to the report of the mayor. Just have a couple of things. I want to remind everybody that industry appreciation is coming up this Saturday, 12 to 4. Hopefully the weather will hold. It's always a lot of fun. I know you've all been there and bring your family. Other things to think about is, I think school started today. I saw buses with kids and I saw Mr. Bowling down there. Mayor Mrakas, nodding you know so watch out for watch out for the kids along the road and there's a bunch of new drivers out there, and you know it's that time of year, so please do that, and hopefully everybody was able to vote in the primary that was concluded yesterday and. Mayor Mrakas, The next thing I like to to do. Mayor Mrakas, Going you don't have to. From here, I just want to thank you for your service over the last year. It's a one-year hitch for the student representative. And we have for you a certificate of appreciation. And it says, in part, the certificate of appreciation is awarded to Josh Bowling in recognition for exemplary service as student representative of the city council from October 2025 to September 2026. Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure and an honor having you here on the council with us. It's okay to blush a little bit. The other thing I'll say is it's almost Mr. Bloom's birthday, so I want to wish Mr. Bloom a birthday. It's on my calendar. It wouldn't be the same at the next meeting because it would have, you know. So now we have administrative reports. City Manager Eubank.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of Council, there's a couple things to report on the staffing and recruitment front. We are pleased to welcome two new employees to the city. Nicholas Wade Bowman is a lateral police officer coming to the city, and Jacob Nagel is a new utility operator that will be joining the city. The finance department has also made a conditional offer of employment for their newly authorized system administrator position. So look forward to that becoming final. And the city is currently recruiting for a part-time recreation center attendance. Looks like there's multiple of those. Temporary equipment operators for winter operations, both I think in the street department and at the airport, is still open. And I think there is now another opening for a utility operator as well they'll be trying to fill. A couple of events bring up. The city's public surplus auction is currently active. It opened on August 9th. It will close August 23rd, which is Monday at 5 p.m. There's definitely a variety of surplus items, including office furniture, vehicles, and equipment that are available. And for more information, you can see the city's website or public surplus dot com is where those items can be viewed. Remind Council of the Kenai area wide old timers luncheon is scheduled for not this Friday, but the following Friday, the 28th. at the Kenai Senior Center. This annual event celebrates the Peninsula's history and provides an opportunity for longtime residents to reconnect. Reservations are requested through the Kenai Senior Center, so make sure you reach out to them. I did want to give a little update on Denina Point Estates. The city, we did execute the MOU authorized by council with Tidewater LLC for replatting and future development of Denina Point Estates. And Tidewater LLC did execute their purchase agreements for the remaining parcels. And we're looking forward to the replat and future development with Tidewater LLC. Lastly, I want to give Council an update. We did receive word today that Wildwood Drive repaving is Right now, we're still scheduled for completion this fall. They're looking at timing of repaving of that, likely around Labor Day weekend. Before or after, we're not exactly sure of that timing, but we are coordinating with the state right now on detours associated with that project. It's going to be a quick project. They're estimating four days. So hopefully not a lot of inconvenience, but I think whatever little bit of inconvenience there's going to be, it's going to be, it way outweighs the drive down Wildwood Drive. So looking forward to getting that project completed and really appreciate the state and DOTs working with us on that. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions of the city manager? I have. One, if you want to elaborate on what's going on at the airport, a lot of asphalt trucks, and they're not running now.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. So that project, the runway reconstruction project, I believe is a little ahead of schedule at this point. They had some great weather, and they were able to get both lifts of paving. So that all 150 foot wide by 7,850 feet has been repaved in two lifts. And now that asphalt needs to sit for a minimum of 30 days and cure before they can go out and grind the grooves into it for the aircraft. So, but that project is still, I think it's a little ahead of schedule at this point. So that's good news. There's still a lot of work to do. The next big hurdle will be the actual asphalt markings that will have to take place after the grinding. So we'll need another bit of weather so they can get all the stripes and everything painted on it. But I think the project's coming along nicely. QAP's been, I think, a good contractor to work with. When we've contacted them about any issues, they've sent street sweepers out, cleaned up things, and they've been pretty responsive. So I think it's been working well.

Thank you. If I could follow up on just another airport question. We did have a lot of concern earlier in that project about the instrument approach not existing. The city paid for one. Has that worked out OK with our carriers here?

Yeah, thank you. Mr. Mayor was a council. It has. There were definitely some tenuous moments in there, but the approaches are now fully in place. They now are available after before sun up and after sundown. So they are fairly operational and I don't think any of our carriers has seen. any impacts of the project on related to those approaches. So I'm happy to report that and I'm glad some of our carriers out there were extremely busy this summer. We saw employment numbers above what we've seen in the past and so I'm really happy that it didn't impact our operations.

Any further questions? City Manager? City Attorney?

Thank you. Mayor Nackstead, members of council, I don't have anything to report, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Anybody's got any?

City clerk?

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. Candidate filing period is open. It closes on August 31st at 4.30 p.m. And we are actively recruiting for election workers this year. So I am available for questions.

Any questions of Clerk Sanner? Seeing none, that gets us down to additional public comments. Are there any members from the public who would like to address the council at this time on any subject at all? Anybody online? Seeing no one, we covered all the bases. That gets us to council comments. Student rep Bowling, you're up.

For the last time, huh? Good evening, Mayor Nackstead and council members. I'd like to start by congratulating the KCHS football team for their 52-6 point win against Homer last week, starting it off pretty strong. Volleyball, cross-country running, cheer, and swimming are also all underway now. Recognizing our students also reminds me of how important it is to have local leaders who are willing to listen to them and invest in our community. I've been fortunate this year to have a front row seat to that, and I'd like to take a moment to thank the members of this council for the way you welcomed me and allowed me to be part of that work. Mayor Nackstead and City Manager Eubank, I'd like to thank you for your warm welcome onto the council and for giving me the opportunity to participate in conversations regarding students, where students usually aren't able to present their concerns. Member Grimmie, The KCHS leadership class appreciated you coming to discuss local leadership and how you got involved. The whole class loved what you had to say, and as with all of our local leaders who have spoken to the class, you never ran out of questions. Member Cassana, thank you for coming as well. During your visit as a class, we discussed what students think the greatest issues in our community are. What meant most to me is that seeing that some of those ideas, particularly the road and sidewalk improvement projects, made their way into the capital improvement plan. That showed me that listening to the youth can actually turn into action. Vice Mayor Askin, I also really appreciated you coming into our class and sharing your leadership story. It showed our students that leadership doesn't start with just a position, but by getting involved. Council members Daniel, Petty, and Sonar, thank you for welcoming me into this council. I've learned a lot simply from listening to you. We'd like to have you come to the school though, still. City Attorney Bloom, I'd like to thank you once again for volunteering as a guest speaker at our yearly KPBSD High School Leadership Conference. City Clerk Sainar, I'd like to thank you for your kindness and help over the last two years. I'm not sure if I would have made it through my first airport commissioner meeting without being shunned the ropes by the very best. Thank you all once again, and I look forward to seeing the good work the council continues to do.

Wow, you're hired. Thank you. Council Member Grimmie.

I just want to remind everybody that as Mr. Boland mentioned that football and volleyball are underway. There's another football game, two, JV and varsity, Friday, 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock. And KCHS volleyball on Saturday at 11, 12, and 1. So pretty good weekend of Cardinal sports if you don't have anything else more pressing to do. I will be sitting in the stands freezing.

Thank you. Council Member Cassana.

Well, not much. I just wanted to say thanks, Josh. It's been great having you here. Thanks for inviting all of us to your class to listen to your government class. I think that was, I don't know, I think it was probably more fun for me than it was for your class, so I appreciate it. I want to thank the election staff who worked on Shoot, I've lost track of the days.

Tuesday.

Tuesday it was. No, it wasn't.

It was yesterday. Just yesterday.

Right, of course. Anyway, thank you for doing that. I'm always thankful for those who sign up to do things that I do not do. And then congrats to Sherry Powell for the part-time position on beautification. So that's it for me.

Thank you. Councilmember Daniel.

A couple quick things. Let's see here. First of all, Josh, thank you. It has been fun. Hope you come back. And let's see here. I really appreciate Mr. Lyons coming tonight to testify on behalf of the district about the pool agreement. I love a good partnership, especially the fund that's very important to the community. So I really appreciate the district working with the city administration. We all coming together to find something that's a win for the community. So thank you. Thank you for doing that. And I know it's when you took a team. So thank you on the district side and the city staff side. I also want to say I do appreciate the work we did today at the work session with the property tax exemption. Looking forward to seeing how that plays out. I think we had a good discussion, a lot of good points to go into that. And I'm just glad that this body can work together on those type of things. So thank you, everybody. And it's the first day of school, as was mentioned earlier. Watch out for all those kiddos, and have a great night.

Thank you. Council Member Sonnard.

Thank you, Mayor Nexted. No specific comments per se, just general well wishes for everyone, and I look forward to seeing all of you again down the road.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Askin.

Thank you, Mayor Nexted. Thank you, Student Representative Bolling. I hope that you apply to serve with us again. It's been a pleasure. I appreciated all the information that we got on the exemption tonight. It was a really good discussion and I learned a lot more. Remember, Saturday is industry appreciation day. If you can get out, hopefully it'll be nice. And Saturday night is the food bank fundraiser if you can attend. And that's all I have.

Thank you. Moving on, we have no executive session, no pending items. And that brings us to adjournment. Having no further business, the body is adjourned. Thank you.