City Council - Regular Meeting

No.

You tell people that you know they go they think that they're hippies. Uh call this meeting to order. March 17th, regular meeting of the Whittier City Council at 7:02 p.m. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the stand, one nation under God, indivisible with justice for all. Before we begin tonight's meeting, please note that digital copies of the packet are available on our website. A QR code is provided by the door or on the top lefthand corner of the YouTube video. You can open your phone's camera and scan the code and access the packet there digitally. Madame Clerk, will you please call the role?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mrs. Borg here. Mr. Wagner here. Mr. Mccalto here. Mr. Pinkush absent. Mr. Denmark here. Mrs. Lan here. Mayor Shen here. You have a quorum.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Um before we continue further um I'd ask everyone here the community has lost a um a pillar of our community and if you would please join me in a moment of silence um for Millie. Thank you. Thank you. Citizen comments. Citizen comments on any agenda item except those scheduled for public hearing are welcome at this time. Those who have signed in will be given first opportunity to speak. And then council, please remember this is not a time for dialogue. It is a time for citizens to speak in the council to listen. Madame clerk, is anyone signed in for citizen comments?

No one is signed in. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would wish to speak at this time? Okay. Thank you. And then is there a motion and a second to approve tonight's agenda and consent agenda? Second. Thank you. Okay. I'd like to remove item 2026. Your microphone. I would like to remove item 26 20 2613 from the consent agenda.

Is there a second? Good second. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Any other amendments? Okay. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Will you please call the role? Voting on the motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda. Mr. Denmark? Yes. Mr. Malto? Yes, Mrs. Borg. Yes, Mr. Wagner. Yes, Mrs. Loan. Yes, Mayor Shen. Yes.

The motion passes and the agenda and consent agenda are approved. On tonight's consent agenda are resolution 2026-012 amending resolution 2026- 2026-006 to change the date of the board of equalization hearing. approval of the January 20th, 2026 regular meeting minutes and confirming the reappointment to Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council Board of Directors for Mike Bender.

Thank you. Uh at this time, does anyone wish to declare a substantial conflict of financial interest in matter appearing on the agenda tonight? Okay, thank you. Presentations and reports. I have nothing to report at this time. Um, Vice Mayor.

Okay. Thank you. And then Miss Wild. Yes, Mayor and Council. I do um my report is in the packet, but I would like to uh give some of my time to for an update on the USS Ted Stevens by Sheree Curry. if she can come forward and give you guys an update on the USS Ted Stevens. I'd appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you for having me tonight, Jackie. Thanks for your time. Um, very exciting, right? I mean, was it two and a half years ago we were standing here and um brought the Navy down. Um we started with a uh a meeting when Chuck and I first came on the on the team and the meeting was well we're going to go to Anchorage and then we're going to go to Seward and we were already working with you guys as cont on as contractors and Chuck asked why wouldn't we be going to Whittier and everybody kind of was like really you know and we knew you know the beautiful terminal was not quite done yet but we knew that it was potential and so we really need to give Representative Cop credit for that. He really pushed on them and we made that happen. And then when we brought the Navy here, they you guys rolled out the red carpet more than anyone else. And here we are. We uh we were nervous for a while because they announced Alaska, but they didn't announce Whittier and there was a lot of things behind the scenes where people were pushing on other cities, but we just kept pushing hard back and and here we are. We're very excited to let you know. We will definitely will have town hall meetings so everyone understands because it's a big project for our small place right and um you know the commissioning day itself is ran by the Navy not by us but in the meantime we're working on logistics I met with the tunnel yesterday we have a logistics team tomorrow meeting tomorrow we are just moving forward like it is this fall and um everybody's excited the whole state's excited and We're very honored to have been able to make this happen for you guys. Does anybody have any questions? I know Chuck has a few things he'd like to say. No questions yet, right? You've all got my email if you do have questions. Um just just reach out and of course Tom and Jamie with um working with Huna will

probably have a lot of answers for you too. Yes, Mir. No questions, but thank you very much for your efforts on this. Yeah, we're very excited. I when I was driving in tonight, I thought, you know, the Secretary of Navy, because he was the one kind of hanging out, waiting, right? We um thanks to Senator Sullivan and Senator Macowski, they really did help us a lot. But I thought, wow, he's going to drive in here and I know it's going to be sunny because every time the Navy's visited so far, it's been sunny and it was sunny today when I drove in. And I thought he's just going to be blown away with the beauty and uh the fact that it is a military town originally. So, we're excited. Thank you, Chuck.

Um, yes, council members, um, Chuck Cop here. Um, just to underscore what Sheree said, but add to it that the, uh, the buzz around the cap here in Juno is just over the moon. People are so excited for the city of Whittier um, to have this commissioning event here in Alaska. a ship of this class is once in a generation opportunity and um and just you know the the opportunity that Sheree and I are personally excited about people um experiencing Whittier and seeing seeing Whittier uh seeing it as truly the gateway not only to Prince William Sound going out but really that the gateway to central Alaska and um yeah I just I just think um the opportunity is uh going to be uh felt uh many times over for the city in so many ways. And this gives us a a good leadup, you know, to um experience uh this event and and all the um the recognition it's going to bring to the city. So, yeah, it's the ship is officially called precommissioning unit USS Ted Stevens. And when it leaves Whittier, it will be the United States ship Ted Stevens. So Whittier is going to be the one that gives it its official name. It will no longer be called a pre-commissioning unit. So very excited to be part of it. Super proud of the city and and uh we're just delighted to see this coming coming to life.

Thank you, Chuck and Sheree. I do want to add that even at the DC level um where I am today anytime I mention that I'm from Whittier Alaska I am followed up with is that where the commissioning is happening. So that's pretty cool because while it's at the hill in at the capitol in Juno, it is also in DC and it is a really big buzz here. So it's really exciting news. Uh so I just thank for the efforts and look forward to what it's going to bring for Whittier. Um I would like to also uh give some of my time to Representative Kai Holland.

Hi. Good evening. I just want to check and make sure you can hear on this uh Zoom connection. We Okay. Yes, we can hear you.

Perfect. Thanks. I I appreciate just a moment of time again. and Kaihal and Representative House District 9 and I'm really pleased uh to be a part and support you and support others that are involved in the USS Ted Stevens commissioning. This is an exciting project. I'm looking forward to being a part of that and a part of the visibility that it's going to bring um our state uh Whittier um and the support for the military and their mission particularly at this time when it's getting so much attention. Um, I did want to let folks know that we did pass House Bill 216 out of uh the U community and regional affairs committee today. That's the railroad transfer legislation. Um, it is now uh on its way to the rules and to the full House vote. Um, I don't have a date on exactly when it will hit the House floor, but uh I collected most of the names and commitments today that I need. So, that is on the move. I expect to see that very soon going to the House floor for their full support and at which time it will then go across to the Senate for some concurrence action with um their U bill over there. We'll see kind of how that all comes together. But um it is been kind of quiet for a few weeks and uh it was an exciting day this morning to move that out of committee. also had another one of my bills, House Bill 34, that's an innovation economic development bill, looking at what we're doing to support emerging industries including outdoor recreation and tourism and visitor industry u and much more in terms of the opportunity for growth of businesses in future. I'll leave it at that for the moment. My key message today was to let you know about that news about this morning's um passage of 216 and its progress to the floor. Thanks for a moment of your time. Thank you, Representative Holland. I really appreciate the effort that everybody has done. Our railroad bill is that close and how exciting it is.

Jackie, you've muted yourself, it looks like. Yeah, I did. So, there you are. I um I just want to say thank you to everyone for uh the support and the railroad bill and all the support that is happening. I would like Shelby to give an update, a little update about the Buckner building and then I will be done with my city manager's report unless there are any questions.

Thank you, Jackie. Um, so as you might remember, the city was awarded an $800,000 grant from the EPA for um it's a multi-purpose grant. So we do assessment and we do some cleanup with that money. Um the big the big project, as you can probably guess, is the Buckner building. However, um because it's multi-purpose, it has to be more than one site. So there are two other sites that are identified as part of this project. Um, one is where the future park is. So, South End Glacier Avenue is what it's called in the contaminated sites database. And then the other one is um which has levels of petroleum that are um not acceptable in the dirt. So, that's one site. The other one is the Whittier School. Um, so we still need to receive approval from EPA to use um to include those sites in this project, but um that's part of it. The other part is um we have a $5 million uh congressionally directed spending from Senator Mowski and that is specifically for remediation of the Buckner building itself. So these will work hand in hand. Um, as a third piece, we have also received um, it's not a grant, but a service from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. They have selected our Future Park, South End Glacier Avenue Snow Storage, if that's how you refer to it, um, as a site that they're going to do an assessment on. So, there's a couple different assessments you have to do in order to figure out what the contamination is. Then, you have to make a plan for what you're going to do about the contamination. Um, and the community is a really big part of that plan. Um, about what we're going to do about the contamination. We have to list a couple different options, one of them being do nothing. Um, and then the other ones

will come from our experts that are really good at this stuff that we are in the process of hiring. So, at the moment, the city has out an RFP, a request for proposals for a qualified environmental professional, which is the person who's like certified to do all the stuff for the EPA. They do things to the standards that the EPA requires, and um as a project manager because this is going to be a pretty complicated project. Um so, that is where we're at. We are expecting proposals to be submitted by the end of March. I I'm sorry I don't I don't have the date off the top of my head, but uh towards the end of March is when we expect proposals to be in and we hope to bring to you at your April meeting a contract um a selected proposer with their contract to approve at that meeting so that we can move forward on spending the money that they gave us. So, thank you for your time. Thank you, Shelby. Any questions? Any questions on for the city manager report? Okay, let's move forward resolutions. Resolution 2026-013 regarding the request by Good LLC DB/ A Good Cannabis for a one-year extension on the city's conditional protest of its state of Alaska retail marijuana store license application. I have a motion.

I'll make the motion. Wait for discussion. Second. Okay. Motion in a second. Discussion, please. Um, uh, staff report. Actually, we'll start with the staff report. Thank you, Mayor. I'll have Assistant City Manager Carlson give that staff report.

Thank you. So, as you um probably read in your packet, the conditional protests that the city put in on this application for a marijuana license um it it expired January 31st of this year. Uh we received a request from their the applicants legal council which is included on page 20 um to extend for an additional year. They they say in their letter they have not um they have not tried to meet any of the other requirements in the conditional protest that was approved last year. Um it would have been at the January meeting I believe uh that you approved a conditional protest extension of one year then and um their reasoning is just that one of the conditions is that federal law change to allow um to legalize marijuana. One of the conditions of the master lease or with the railroad, which is the land that this particular license is um applied to be on, is under the master lease, which requires that we abide by all federal, state, and local laws. In addition, our own leasing code also requires that leases abide by federal, state, and municipal law. So because of those um they would need the feds to change their law in order for them to proceed with having this license this store on this piece of leased land. Um, so because their license or their uh our conditional protest essentially was you need to meet the requirements of our protest, our objection to their license um by January 31st of this year because

federal law hasn't changed. They have not done so. Um they are requesting that we extend for an additional year. It would be as of January 31st of this year to January 31st of next year. Um you and so we're bringing this to you for your decision. Um administration would like to know how council feels you can either approve this resolution which which grants the year extension. So you would be waiting um another year to see if federal law changes and to give them an opportunity to meet the other conditions of our protest. Um, or you could vote to postpone indefinitely this resolution, which would tell us that you do not want to extend this protest, the conditional protest for another year. That would mean that they would be denied their application for a marijuana license by the marijuana the alcohol and marijuana control board. uh they would have to reapply and um I'm sure I my understanding is it's kind of a lengthy process but not impossible for them to reapply for a license at a later date maybe when the law federal law changes. So we leave it in your hands

discussion. Thank you

Peter. Um, I can only offer my personal opinion, but I would support uh um postponing this indefinitely. At the core of this issue, I don't think a cannabis shop is appropriate for Whittier. We are a maritime town. Uh people using cannabis will are precluded from bringing any on any Coast Guard inspected vessel. Um, and people who are motivated can find it close enough elsewhere. Um, I just don't think it's appropriate for our small town proximity to the school and the maritime issues that are extent. Thank you.

Thank you, Peter. What uh what benefit? What I mean, how do I say this? Uh I realize that there's issues with banking and taxes. I don't know that much about it. But hypothetically, if this was a successful business in Whittier monetarily, what advantage would it bring to us? Miss Wild, perhaps you could other than other than the lease.

Uh, Council Member Wagner, honestly, that is not a question that we would answer even at this time. We wouldn't know the monetary um standards, you know, the the licensing in general. we wouldn't we wouldn't be able to um even discuss what that would be because we don't know what it would look like. I mean I know that from previous uh previous cities that I've worked for, you know, it it is not something that is even handled at the city level. It's moved towards the bureau and then to the state. And so I I honestly couldn't answer what that monetary position would be. Um I will put my two cents in with um agreeing with council member Denmark on postponing this indefinitely until you know laws change and your code is changed to recognize what that could look like in Whittier is probably the smartest and um wisest avenue to go. Yeah, without knowing anything else, I agree with u Mr. Dunmark as well. I I just I don't I I don't see the advantage to the city versus uh another business uh you know, yeah, occupying that spot and providing uh a different type of service. We'll just leave it at that. Other comments?

Yes. Go ahead, Tom. So, um, going back to what you said earlier, so should we just vote no or do we have to make another motion to postpone this indefinitely? I would recommend that you make a motion to postpone it indefinitely and that supersedes your original motion. So you don't have to do anything with your first motion to approve it. That makes sense. I'll make that motion to close. I will second. Thank you. Any final discussion? Okay, madame clerk, please call the role.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Voting on the motion to postpone resolution 2026-013 indefinitely, which is a resolution regarding the request by Good LLC doing business as good cannabis for a one-year extension of the city's conditional protest of its state of Alaska retail marijuana store license application. Mr. Denmark, yes. Mr. Wagner, yes. Mrs. Loan, yes. Mrs. Borg, yes. Mr. Mr. Malto. Yes. Mr. Mayor. Yes.

The motion passes and resolution 2026-013 is postponed indefinitely.

Thank you. Okay. All right. Other new business. Um, we have a request to reschedule our May council meeting. Um, I believe this was concerning our um, annual trip to Washington DC and looking at rescheduling it to May 12th, one week earlier. Second Okay. Any uh any questions or conflicts for um moving the meeting from May 19th to May 12th?

Um oh, I think that's also when the city will be hosting the symposium. I don't know what time that is. Mr. Mayor, if I if I could jump in, I apologize. Um we had tossed around two dates, May 12th and May 28th. Uh let's see what's Tuesday 26th.

Um you did by consent approve the resolution that moved the board of equalization hearing to May 26 which is the day that um our assessor would be available to be present at the board of equalization meeting. Um, so if if we could could we amend this approval to say May 26 to be in alignment with the board of equalization hearing? Is that acceptable? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. That's all around.

Okay. Would you like to vote on that motion? Yes. Okay. Let's vote. Voting on the motion to reschedule the May council meeting to May 26, 2026. Mr. Denmark, yes. Mr. Wagner, yes. Mr. Malto, yes. Mrs. Loan, yes. Mrs. Borg, yes. Mayor Shen, yes. The motion passes and the May council meeting is rescheduled to May 26, 2026. Thank you.

Okay. Um before we move to council comments, are there any comments, questions or concerns on anything on theformational items and reports for items 10 through 14? Financial report, parks committee committee meetings, state legislative report, the beautifification matching grant proposal. Um any comments, questions on those? Okay. We'll move on to council comments. Peter Rener Jamie Tom.

Uh, yes. So, I would like to make a motion to have uh well, I guess myself work uh talk with Jackie about a resolution to bring forward to the council about selling um city land that we own currently that we are not doing anything with. Are you looking for council approval for you to work with her?

Um, well, basically direct administration to come up with a resolution to bring to the council um for proposed land sale. Sorry, I'm not very good at words. Does anyone support? Okay. Do you have specific parcels in mind?

Uh, kind of. Um, but I'm going to defer to Jackie a little bit more on this. This is Here's what I'm going to say. Oh, sorry. Um, this is property that we have owned forever. Um, I don't know why we haven't sold it. It would probably, and I don't want to speak out of turn, it's going to be an auction. So, so which which properties? They're up on Shotgun Cove Road. I couldn't give you the lot numbers. Are you talking about the end of the road Emerald Cove properties?

Well, The last time I spoke about this, I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, that wanted to get roped into it, and I don't want it roped into it. Um, but I haven't gotten that far yet with Jackie. I want them to be two separate things. The sale of the property at Emerald Cove and the stuff that's close here to town. Can I offer some advice,

please? So, uh, Council Member Denmark, Council Member Wagner came in, um, talking about the the properties at right by, um, the Buckner building and then when we entered into the feasibility study for Mountain Goat Court, you know, realizing that we have lands that have have been on the city books but are not a a purpose for city purposes and um, city infrastructure. So the the best outlier of that would be doing a municipal land auction for those type of properties. I would say most of them are on the Shotgun Cove Road properties and off of the Mountain Goat. Um they're they're areas that have been already platted have identified as separate parcels. uh even to the extent of if you remember when we were doing the um possible land trade with the railroad, three properties up by the Manor and Buckner building were incorporated at that time realizing that they have been you know sitting on the books of the the city with no intent of the city doing any infrastructure on them. So, I suggested to council member Wagner that uh you know, we could look forward to uh possibly working together if the council approved to do a supporting resolution that would open up a land sale. And before the land sale would go forward, you know, we bring that land in front of council and make sure that they want to sell it and then um open up a possible land sale for 2027. 2027. What?

I'm kidding, Tom. What else do we need? Uh I mean, what what do we need to move forward here from from here? Um, we need

Mayor, this just takes administrative time and it is an additional project. And so in order for us to move forward with helping the council and council member Wagner and the city, I would just like direction as a whole from council on whether or not they approve that time being spent to create what this land sale would look like.

Go ahead, Peter. Um, might this muddle the waters with the um transactions being discussed with the railroad?

Um, Peter or Council Member Denmark? No, it wouldn't because these lands um while those three lots were, you know, sort of the start of what that looks like. um after after those three lots were brought to light and then when we started the feasibility study for Mountain Go Court, you know, we're realizing that we have seven lots up there that have just been sitting on on our books and wouldn't it be better to put them onto the tax roll and by doing that you would you would want to do it as a land sale. Uh so it wouldn't have anything to uh it wouldn't conflict with what your the the proposal and the work that we've been doing with the railroad on those lands.

Thank you. I mean, I myself have no problem having time spent on this if it's means that we can um get lands out to um entities that can develop it um and put on the tax roll. Yep. I I have no problem other than the Emerald Crow properties of which there are still a number of potentials being floated and

and Mr. Yeah, Mr. Denmark, I wouldn't I wouldn't put the Emerald Cove properties on it at this time. I I would I would really I would focus more on the lands that are right off of the Shotgun Cove Road as it is already completed. The areas that are already completed where we own land that um we already have the rideaways and we already have the plats. Thank you,

Miss Wild. Do you need um approval from other council members or just Yeah, I would I would really like uh a motion to allow u myself and council member Wagner to bring forward a resolution.

We have a motion. I I'll make the motion. Second that.

Any further discussion? I just wanted to add in a comment that um I know right now of two long-standing family members, I'm sorry, families um you know with children that um were seriously considering moving. And I'm not going to get into the reasons why. Um but this would change that picture. And um I I'm hoping to see some residential uh development up there um to keep some of these families here in Whittier. So we need to keep our families here. Any other discussion? Okay. Madam Clerk, will you please call the role? Just to confirm, the motion that I wrote down is to direct administration to prepare a resolution for a city land sale. I know it doesn't call out council member Wagner specifically, Miss Wild, but um if I recall, I think legal council advised us not to like direct administration to work with one specific council member. But

I I would prefer it to say council work with administration. Direct count direct council to work with administration. I would have the resolution specifically state that you're approving administration to work with council on creating a resolution for future land sale. Okay. So, what I have is direct administration to work with council to prepare a resolution for a future city land sale. Yeah. Does that work for you, Mr. Wagner?

Oh. Oh, yeah. I'll I'll share the misery. Yeah. Anybody wants to help help? Thank you. Okay. Voting on the motion to direct administration to work with council to prepare a resolution for a future city land sale. Mr. Wagner. Yes. Mrs. Borg. Yes. Mrs. Loan. Yes. Mr. uh Malto. Yes. Mr. Denmark. Yes. Mayor Shen. Yes. The motion passes and administration is so directed.

Other council comments. Miss Bart. I have one. I guess it's not I could have said it in my mayor's report, but um over the past week I took a personal trip up into interior Alaska and I happened to I happened to had the opportunity to meet up with mayors of the mayors of Denali Burough Nana the city administrator from Delta Junction and got to you know have in-depth discussions about their their successes and the challenges is up up up where they're at and um and get an insight on their communities. And I am just want to express my um gratitude to our council and our city staff especially for all the hard work they've done um you know in getting making sure our finances are in order um and having long range planning um done and thinking thinking outside the box. So, thank you so much for that. I have no other council comments. Um, citizen comments. Uh, come on up, Mr. Bender.

Good evening. I'll make this short. Um, I just wanted to say I appreciate your re uh confidence in reconfirming me as the Prince William Sound RCAC representative for the city of Woodier. I do take that uh that mission pretty seriously. I try to uh inform uh folks of of what goes on over in Vald. It seems like it's a long way away, but um I think I'm I'm going to invest in a a a chart, a 16700 chart that shows the tanker uh tanker passage that leaves Valdis and goes out through uh Monu entrance because it's only about 40 miles away, right out that way. And um so I I think it'll it'll go a long way to help us remember the tragedy that happened in in March of 1989. So, it's one of the things that's big big about the uh citizens council is we try to u try to veer away from from complacency. That's a word that can get a lot of people into a lot of trouble. We've used that quite often in our our discussions and our meetings. It's uh that's what made that tragedy happen is too many people were complacent and they were all complacent at the same time. So, um, with that said, uh, the fall meeting for the RCAC council is right here. Uh, actually it's 6 months from today on, uh, September 17th and 18th. So, uh, we, uh, we rotate in the fall all the, uh, to all the towns that are affected by the Exxon Valley's oil spill. So, uh, I hope that the city or the RCAC folks uh, have started to work, put things in in motion. and I didn't check before I came but the big challenge here is you know obviously I think this this room will work but it was of lodging so that's uh that's the challenge that we come to you know towns like Sovia is another one when we go there it's a really small town so but it somehow they make it all work out so thank you again

thank you Mr. vendor. I just traveled through Valdis and saw the oil terminal and the tankers there and drove alongside the pipeline for many hundreds of miles. And um we appreciate your dedication, your time to that. Any last comments? If not, um, I adjourn this meeting at 6:46. Wait, sorry, 7 7:46.

Thank you. Good night.