City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello everybody. Um, I would like to call the January 21st, 2026 city council meeting to order. If you're able, please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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, present. Vice Mayor Asin, here. Council member Petty, here. Council member Cassenna, here. Council member Sonart here. Mayor Nstead

here. Council member Daniel here. Student Representative Bowling here. You have a quorum. Okay. Thank you, council. Before we get to the agenda and consent agenda approval, I would like to bring to your attention the layown materials. Um we have um add on to resolution 2026 requested amendments. Pleasure of councel. Vice Mayor Askin. I move that we approve the agenda and consent agenda as presented with layowns and request unanimous consent. I'll second.

Okay. Are there any additional revisions to the agenda consent agenda? Clerk, would you please read the consent agenda items into the record?

Thank you, Mayor Maxstead. Approval of the regular meeting minutes of January 7th, 2026 brought to you by the city clerk. New business. Action approval. Bills to be ratified. Brought to you by the administration. Action approval. Purchase order and purchase order amendments requiring council approval in accordance with KMC 7152. Brought to you by the administration. Introduction of ordinance number 3500-2026. Suns setting the Harbor Commission amending Kenai Municipal Code 191 1901 general standards for standing advisory commissions. Repealing Kenai Municipal Code 195040, Harbor Commission. Repealing Kenai Municipal Code 1120, leasing of tidelands. Amending Kenai Municipal Code 14050100, duties and powers. Enacting Kenai Municipal Code 220516, tidelands available for leasing. Enacting Kenai Municipal Code Chapter 2210, Tidland leases for shore fisheries. and amending council policy 2020 to reflect the sun setting of the harbor commission. Public hearing scheduled for February 4th, 2026. Introduction of ordinance number 3501-2026 determining four city-owned properties in the Beaver Loop area are not needed for public purpose and authorizing sale by public sealed bid auction. Brought to you by the administration. Public hearing scheduled for February 4th, 2026. Introduction of ordinance number 3502 2026 authorizing the city to reimburse annual leave used by firefighter Garrick Martin for attending a paramedic intership paramedic internship program brought to you by the administration public hearing on February 4th, 2026 and introduction of ordinance number 3503-2026 increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the water and sewer capital project fund and accepting a loan from the state revolving fund program for water treatment pump house project brought to you by the

administration public hearing scheduled for February 4th, 2026. And that is your consent agenda. Okay. Thank you very much for that. Uh unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections?

Seeing no objections, the agenda and consent agenda are approved. [clears throat] Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you very much. Um, are there uh any any uh uh public comments on on any of the consent agenda items just read to the to us by the clerk? Seeing none. Thank you very much for that. Skipped right over it. So that brings us to uh item B, scheduled administrative reports. We have tonight uh Jack Penning, manager and partner with with Volair Aviation Consulting. and he's going to talk to us about the Kenai Municipal Airport Small Community Air Service Development Program. Welcome. Thank you very much. Um, Terry, is there anything you want to say before I jump in here?

All right, I will. Uh, I know some of you I've been here, it's been almost two years since I've been here to to talk to you about air service development here for the Kenai Municipal Airport. A lot has changed in the industry in that time. A lot has changed for our airport and for prospects for service. And so I thought it was important um that we have a reset on where we are. Uh we can go through essentially where the industry is today and what it means for our strategy. We've also spent a lot of time talking directly to airlines and and meeting in person with airlines. So we have a lot of feedback um that has helped to inform um our strategy. So with that in mind, just a reminder of who I am, a consultant to the city and to the airport in developing air service. My firm works for over a 100 airports all over the world in developing air service. We work for airports as large as Atlanta, which is the largest in the world, um to airports that don't have any air service at all. So we run the gamut. um and airports like this in developing air service. This is really where um our expertise lies. So with that, I I want to go through and I'll I'll try to keep this relatively concise, but we need to talk about some changes in service and some loss capacity because when you look at the employment numbers from the airport, you'll see we had an increase from from 2024 to 2025, but overall we have seen a decrease over time and those are not due to factors um with demand. There's plenty of demand in this market. It's due to capacity constraints. I want to talk about the industry just quickly at a glance. Um what we're seeing in terms of the economy and how that's going to impact uh this airport. Uh what's going on with Alaska Airlines because that is the airline of of the state. Um and major changes with that airline and how it impacts their strategy and where they want to put their aircraft and then

based on our feedback the strategy we have to develop additional air service to Keni. So with that in mind, changes here in this market. If you look at passengers per day, uh departing Kenai, um you go back to 2015, almost 300 a day. If you look at 2025, we're you know under 200 a day. So you'll see this general decline even if you take out the the pandemic years um in in the number of people using this airport. Down 31% from the peak. The big thing I want you to keep in mind, we're down 84 daily departing seats. So, if you look at the difference in passengers, it mirrors almost exactly the number of seats that have been taken out of the market. There simply aren't enough seats available for the people that want to fly in and out of this community. That's um point number one. Um, of course, Kenai Aviation ended operations towards the end of last year. Um, that pulled seven departures a day out of this market. uh that was a significant hit when you think about the number of seats that were operating. Illusion has launched service now, but that is just a single daily flight and as as we noted in in some conversations that we've had throughout the day, the schedule for that flight makes it difficult to connect to the lower 48. Um yeah, there you go. Um I I could not use it. I flew Grant. I trust Grant. Uh it's a great airline. Uh very frequent service. Um, Illusian is also a good airline, but the schedule is not in our favor. Grant has operated as many as 34 departures a day um from Kenai. Right now for next summer, there are 17 departures a day scheduled. That number will go up as we get closer to next summer, but as you can see, capacity down across the board. Of course, Raven Alaska is no longer in business. They provided a lot of our capacity if we go back in time. So you look at uh summer of of last year, 360

departing seats a day. We're anticipating less than 200 potentially this coming summer. So we do have a major capacity crunch in our market. If you look at how the service performs, you could see Grant far outperformed um Kenai Aviation. Grant filled 70% of available seats while Kenai was about half. Um, so Grant can consistently outperforms because Grant is reliable, because people know they can count on it, and because it's frequent enough that you can get the connections you need at Anchorage. Elucian does not have to report its numbers. So, we uh don't have those independently verified. Kenai passengers also suppressed by high fairs. Look at the average fair. Now, this is the combined fair of when you buy your ticket from here to Anchorage and then you buy another ticket beyond Anchorage. That's the oneway average to the final destination. $364 and you can see consistently high over time. Um, I don't think that's surprising to anybody here in this room. You're very used to spending a lot of money to fly locally, even just to fly out of Anchorage. Part of it is isolation, but this does suppress those who can use the service. So, our average fair though just from here to Anchorage is $145 one way and and that's what I spent to to fly. Um, but the average beyond is where we run into the issue. Um, and if you look at all of the Pacific Northwest, it's it's too much to read, but you can see the red line there, that's Keeney, second highest fair in the entire Pacific Northwest on average. So very expensive place to fly in and out of. That happens because we just don't have enough seats. And when you don't have enough seats, airlines have more pricing power. That's just the nature of the economy. So our passengers spend almost $100 more than the average

in each direction. Very, very expensive. Um you look at why, you know, Kenai has the number of passengers it has. The issue is the fair and 93% of those who are flying to and from our primary market area use Anchorage. Um, no no huge surprise there. So that's what's going on here in Kenai. Obviously from our perspective, our independent analysis would say there simply aren't enough seats and it's incumbent upon the airport to recruit additional service. That's the bottom line to serve the community better. You look at what's going on in the industry though and this really does inform what kind of service is even possible right now. Um we are seeing a period of slower economic growth. You can see as we're we're falling here uh towards the right side of that graph. We have the tariff uncertainty. We saw that just in the last two days. We had new tariffs for Europe and then we didn't have new tariffs for Europe and the market dropped um the the stock market dropped to over 2% and then it was up a point and a half today. So that uncertainty is causing people not to want to spend money and travel. We have high corporate debt. The labor market is somewhat weak. A little different here than in the rest of of the lower 48. Um but what we are seeing is a huge wealth gap. Um that is changing how people travel. The top 10% of wage earners in the United States now have 50% of the wealth. And that top 10% now accounts for 60% of all air travel. Just the top 10% of wage earners take 60% of the seats. So airlines are increasingly reliant upon those who have more income and they're increasingly pricing out those who have less income and that has been a trend over the last two years. Um but that

makes it harder for a lot of communities to support service. Um, you look at that premium revenue, first class on average is 17% of the seats that are offered, but it generates half of the money that airlines make. Well, we we don't have that kind of service here. So, airlines can't charge extra. But this shows you how reliant our airlines now are on those who make more. And that's probably not sustainable. That means there's likely to be major network changes if this goes back the other way. Uh which in all likelihood it will because there is not a bottomless amount of demand in that topway journer um group. They there will be travel saturation at some point and airlines will have to seek to fill the rest of the aircraft. Um airlines also are quickly retiring what we call small RJs. So RJ regional jets. These are the smaller ones, 50 seats or fewer. You go back to 2019 and there were almost 700 of these smaller aircraft flying around in regional markets, including um up here in Alaska. Today, we have less than 250 of them operating. What's happened is that 37 airports have lost at least one airline because of this. There simply aren't the right aircraft available to operate. larger aircraft with 70 or more seats are filling the gap, but we still have a net loss of about 150 planes. There just aren't as many planes that are the right size to go into markets like Kenai. And so airlines are constantly having to choose, okay, will this market make us 10 more dollars than that market? because we have to put the plane in the one that is the very best because we just don't have enough planes to serve

everywhere that could make money. Um there are many many new planes on order though. So the timing for this effort is good because there are more than a thousand new planes that are going to be coming into the US fleet including Alaska Airlines actually upped this order from 88 to 110 new planes coming in. So Alaska will be growing. Delta also has a hub at Seattle. It will be growing. All of these carriers will be growing. The lowcost carriers as they take on new planes. So networks are going to change considerably because there will be more planes to fill the gap. Now, I said I wanted to talk about Alaska Airlines in particular because they uh their their hub is right in our backyard in Anchorage and I know many many of us fly Alaska very very heavily. Um Kenai's top market place where we have the most people traveling no surprise Seattle Tacoma. Uh on average we have 68 people a day in each direction who travel between our core market area which is just the immediate Kenai area and Seattle 68 a day in each direction. And you look at the other markets heavily lower 48 markets with the exception of Anchorage where we have 11 a day. Um, and so with that being the top market, it's pretty obvious and and when you look at the the places that that we have other people going to that Seattle makes a lot of sense for service even on a limited basis. Um, and there's a huge battle in Seattle right now between Delta and Alaska as they fight for supremacy. And Alaska now has big widebody airplanes flying to Asia and to Europe from Seattle or at least they they'll be they're flying to Asia today. They'll be flying to Europe by May. But

this is an intense rivalry. So there has been a lot of effort to connect more and more cities to Seattle uh in order to ensure that that Seattleites are served the best and that more people can connect at Seattle to fill all of the extra flying. Now Alaska has the superior Seattle connectivity for people from Alaska. Uh if we looked at service from Kaii to Alaska on an Alaska Airlines regional jet with 76 seats, there are 93 cities where we would have connections in both directions. Um that's if we had a redeye flight that left here late at night and got into Seattle early in the morning, we would have 93 connections each of those cities. I'm based in Tucson. It would make my life a lot easier coming to and from. um 300 passengers a day originate in Kenai and go to those cities. It would be a 76 seat plane. So when we've talked about this effort, I've had a lot of questions uh about is this truly viable? Is are there enough passengers that we can still support our local airlines Grant and Illusion and have this type of service? Well, just to those cities, we have 300 available passengers. We would still spill 224 passengers, which is more than we implain today, to the other carriers, even if we filled every seat on this service every single day of the week. So, there is plenty of demand in this market to support this service. It's just that most of it is driving to Anchorage instead of flying out of Kenai. So the Kai airport could better serve this region with this type of service. Um Alaska is one of the few remaining survivors. You will remember you can see many of these logos and and

many of these airlines served the greater Alaska community over time, but we're down to essentially five network carriers in the US and Alaska is one of them. But they are in a fight against the big four. um they are of course aligned with American as well, but we just don't have as many airlines to work with as we did. And so we have to really focus our efforts on those that we think have a business plan that already aligns with what it is that would work here. So Alaska Hawaiian, they are a single airline. Now Hawaiian's not separate. Hawaiian's headquarters is in Seattle, Washington, just like Alaska's headquarters. They have joint network planning in that office right there and we've met with them. They have a new loyalty program and they have significant network growth. That growth though the focus has changed considerably since the last time I was here and spoke to you. They've added 25 domestic routes since 2022, but only six new cities have been added to the network. So that is the these are the domestic additions. At the same time, they've cut four cities. So really, they've only added two cities in the last four years. Getting them to add a new city is very, very difficult. Um, you'll also note these are roots that have been cut. Longer roots are out of favor in favor of shorter roots. And I'll explain why in a bit. Also, the focus right now is intercontinental growth. Now, this is great for connectivity at Seattle, but it soaks up a lot of crew time that could be flying other things, and it soaks up a lot of time uh that the aircraft are using facilities at the

airport in Seattle. So, it limits the number of additional flights that can go to Seattle, believe it or not. Um, so this is going to continue. Alaska's goal is 12 intercontinental destinations in the next 5 years. So, we're going to see things change in Seattle and and this takes the focus off of new domestic ideas as well. But I said short hall is where the focus has been and those two ENAs are actually Bellingham and and Pasco. I have him marked his ENA as a as a comparison, but if you flew from Kenai to Seattle, just one round trip a day, we estimate it would generate about $38,000 in revenue to Alaska Airlines. That's a really good number, right? $38,000 a day they could make in this market. But you can take the exact same aircraft time and you can fly to Pasco and to Bellingham. You can fly Pasco twice a day and Bellingham once a day with the exact same aircraft time. And even at a lower fair and less money on every flight, you make $56,000 a day instead of $38,000. That's the problem. When aircraft are scarce, that's the calculus that's going on. And both of those routes were recently added. And the rationale was even though the fair is less, we can fly the plane six times instead of two times and make more money over the course of the day. So this is what we're fighting against and it will lead us into how our strategy is working. Um so we have two different strategies based on airline growth. If you look at the top two airlines in terms of seat growth over the last um essentially six quarters, they're lowcost carriers, Breeze and

Allegion. And if you look at Alaska, middle of middle of the uh you know chart, but most of the Alaska growth is just going to bigger airplanes. They have big wide bodies now. So they aren't actually flying more. They're just more flights, more destination. They're just flying more people because the plane is bigger. Same with all of those. The the network carriers are growing not because they're adding routes, but because the planes are bigger, the lowcost carriers are growing. So, knowing this, we sat down uh we traveled and sat down and met in person with a lot of these carriers, network carriers, lowcost carriers. The ones with surprising interest in flying to a market like Kenai are the lowcost carriers that fly maybe twice a week to a big city with a big plane with 170 seats at a time because they're looking for new destinations that they can take people to from places in the lower 48 and they hadn't really thought about Kenai. So that's strategy number two with Seattle of course being number one. But both are intriguing opportunities based on existing business plans of carriers that are growing today. So when I say we have a dual path to the lower 48, our focus is and will continue to be on connecting on a daily basis to a hub that gets everybody out to the lower 48 with a single stop. So you can get to Tucson, so you can get to Pittsburgh, those cities with a single stop. We have applied in the past and intend to apply for a small community air service development grant that allows us to offer an incentive to the carrier to provide this type of service uh in order to better compete with those

markets that maybe have less risk because they aren't as long of a flight. So, that's strategy number one to leverage that federal program um that we're still waiting on from last year and we're hoping will be out soon in order to develop an incentive for this type of service. But while we're doing that, we are still speaking with the lowcost carriers that we have some traction with about markets like Portland that could be flown on a Thursday and a Sunday with an exceptionally low fair. We're talking $109 each way. That kind of fair. Now, it wouldn't connect to anything. It would just take you to Portland. Now, you could create your own connection as we all in this community do, but it's not designed to connect. It's designed to generate traffic from Portland for people that want to come to the Kenai Peninsula. So, those are the two things that we are working on today. And our next opportunity to speak with these carriers will be in April. Um our our uh company brings in the carriers. We bring in our clients and we set up meetings between all of them. We'll be meeting in California with those carriers in midappril to discuss this and take this a step further. Um either path though is going to require some kind of incentive or risk mitigation. And so that's why we talk about this grant. So what the grant allows us to do is agree on the amount uh that the service is going to cost. So every flight will cost X. If the revenue the the amount that the people spend on fairs is above that number, we don't pay anything out of the grant. If it's below, we reimburse the difference to remove the risk in the first two years of service. That's what the grant is for. But airport fee waivers very very common where we don't charge for a

landing fee or for terminal rent for the first two years. We also need to better develop with the surrounding communities a marketing plan especially for lowcost service for who we are. Kenai Peninsula is real Alaska, right? That's how I feel about it as someone who comes and visits. this is what Alaska looks like in all the picture books and but we need to tell people that cuz when people in Portland are thinking about coming to Alaska they think about going to Anchorage and then getting in a car. So there's work to be done there. So we need to think about as we work through this process over the next months over the next years local and state sources that we can leverage in order to better tell the story if and when we do secure service. So, this is hard to read, but I want to point out the roots that Alaska has grown into virtually all of them have the type of incentive I'm talking about. Millions of dollars, this combined group, over $10 million in incentives that went to Alaska Airlines to begin these services. Now, in many cases, the the incentives aren't used. St. Louis Abyspo, the county put in $2 million. that money is still sitting there after four different routes because it was never needed. Um, but some of them will certainly use some of this funding, but in order to compete for that airplane, we have to go through this process and develop this funding, especially through the federal program and through our application. So, with that, uh, I went, I think, two minutes longer than I wanted to go. I apologize for that cuz I know you have a big agenda, but happy to take questions and and thanks again for having me. I think this reset is really important. This is a great market. This is highly underutilized airport and we want to do what we can to improve that.

Thank you, Mr. Penning. Thank you very much. Council, any questions? Council member Penny. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. underpinning for this very informative presentation with the federal grants that you're speaking of. Is that federal dollars that we could compete for to come into our community? Is that what you're mentioning?

Yes. So, the program is interesting, a small community program. It's focused on communities like this. The money comes from actually overflight fees from foreign airlines using our air traffic control. So there's no tax money in the program, but communities like ours compete on merit with an application for that funding. In the last round, Fairbanks won a grant and the department did not want to award two in Alaska, so we lost out to Fairbanks. In this round, we believe we'll be the only applicant in Alaska. And what is the size of the grants? We would hope for uh a $1 million so that we can be competitive.

Any further questions? Council member Cassenna. Yeah, thank you for your presentation first of all. Nice to meet you. Uh two questions. First one was, do other airlines like Delta look at the daily passenger count leaving the state and the tourism market as opportunities to wedge themselves into this market between them and Alaska. um knowing that they would take potentially and so is that something that's factored in when we when we pitch this to those airlines? Absolutely.

Absolutely. That's a great point. Uh we've met with Delta. Delta has been deemphasizing Alaska. You may have seen uh they ended service to Ketchacan. Um they Juno is the only market outside of Anchorage and Fairbanks that Delta flies to anymore. So Delta the the reason we focus on Alaska is our conversations with Delta to be quite frank have not been as productive. Now if we win the grant that's open to all carriers so we will meet with them again for sure. I guess a follow-up to that question before I ask my next one is that still something those smaller airlines were looking at as well knowing that they would that's a sales point for them.

Absolutely. For example, Sky West flies for both Alaska and Delta, and they would, we've met with them, and they could potentially fly it for either one.

Thank you. Uh, the other question I had for you, you mentioned grants, waiverss, um, burrowwide marketing. Um, are there other risk mitigation me measures that we could take to help sweeten the pot so to so to speak? Certainly one of the things that we look at and and we have not done this homework here is the business community and how they use air service. Uh a lot of our business travelers or people traveling for work are going within Alaska. So they would be on grant anyway. Uh but if we better understood where our business travelers are going in the lower 48, number one, and how that's going to change with new investment, that would help us explain to the sales departments at these airlines which companies they should be working with on corporate contracts, which could help.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions? Council member Daniel. Uh thank you. Marinax said, "Uh, appreciate you coming down again and visiting us. I know you don't have a crystal ball, but if we were competitive and we won the grant, what does that look like after what are what are the next steps for us at that point?"

So hopefully say say the grant comes out tomorrow, it would be due probably within 60 days. So that puts us at the end of March, 90 days till an award. So, we're looking midsummer for an award, which puts us in a very good position to at least discuss summer of 2027 with carriers. It doesn't mean we would for sure have success by that point, but if everything went perfectly, we could be talking about summer of 27. More likely, we're into 2028, that time frame. That's not a horrible thing because there are some things that would need to be done at the airport. for example, we have to get TSA back. Um, that that's a process. That's the the financials of that process are on the TSA, but it takes time. [snorts] So there once we have a grant, we're working to secure a letter of intent from a carrier. when we have a letter of intent from a carrier, we're working to get a timeline from TSA on when they can be here and some, you know, we've got to ensure that screen passengers are separated within the terminal. So, there may need to be some new walls installed in the terminal and then to ensure that the security um plan for the airport is up to the TSA standard. Once all of that is done, service can begin. Any further questions? Council Grammy,

you mentioned Fairbanks received the grant previously. I know that's a I know it's a different airport, a different market, larger than than Kenai substantially. Um, and some of those things are already in place. TSA is already there, etc. How, despite those differences and challenges um for Kenai versus Fairbanks, how has that grant been playing out for Fairbanks thus far? What what has worked and what hasn't worked? So that grant

Oh, sorry. That grant was written for service to Dallas Fort Worth. Um they have not secured that service. that that's going to be a challenging route because it is so far the risk I I mean we're looking at almost an 8 hour flight in in one direction. So the risk is ex I mean the cost of that operation is $75,000 each way. So the grant is very tiny relative to the cost of operation. So I think it's going to take time to formalize that with the carriers before they have success. Now you have 5 years to use that funding. So they're well set for the next several years as they recruit it. Uh Fairbanks has seen growth in service because they now have two flights a day to Portland. Um they've done well. Uh but that particular grant is going to be difficult to see through. About half of the grants that are awarded never result in service. So, am I hearing you say that it might be a better path to success for Kenai if awarded this grant if we were a little if if we bit off a little bit more at a time than basically trying to go to the other end of the country? I mean, quite literally Alaska to Texas. Um would your suggestion be that that we start smaller, a little bit more manageable and use that to show, look, this is working and then grow from there.

Yeah, I think that's why Seattle is such a great market because that is the the closest in the lower 48. It's about a threeh hour stage, 3 and 1/2 hour stage. So, uh it's not exorbitantly long. you can fly it with a 76 C plane instead of a very large 200 seat plane. And so you can you can reduce a significant amount of the risk with the amount of the grant we're talking about rather than a huge a huge long haul where the risk is exceptionally high. So I think you you keyed in on why we chose the strategy we chose.

Any further questions? I don't see any, but I want to say thank you and and what was on my mind, of course, how soon, how quickly can we do this? And I was concerned about timing, but you did answer that question. We have our runway going to be out of service basically next summer. So, and that would be the prime time. So, uh the 2728 um certainly would work for us. So, anyway, um thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you all. Okay, council, we uh we have no uh scheduled public comments. So, that brings us to un scheduled unscheduled public comments. Are there any members from the public who would like to speak on any item not appearing on the agenda? Not on the agenda here. Anyone? Anybody online? Okay. Not on the agenda. Okay.

Okay. Uh so that brings us to uh public hearings. Uh the first public hearing we have is ordinance 3498 2026 increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the general fund to provide supplemental funding for elected election costs in excess of budget amounts for the purpose of conducting a special election brought to us by the clerk. Pleasure of councel vice mayor Asen. I move that we adopt ordinance number 3498 2026.

I'll second. moved and seconded. Are there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to ordinance 3498 2026? Seeing no one, uh, that bring us back bring it back to council. Discussion of council. Madam clerk, do you want to talk about this at all or? Uh, think these are the numbers that I pulled together getting quotes from printers and software providers to fund an election, a special election. Thank you for that. Well, if there are no questions, clerk, please clerk, please call the role. Vice Mayor Askin,

yes. Council member Petty, yes. [clears throat] Council member Cassenna, yes. Council member Sonart, yes. Mayor Naxstead, yes. Council member Daniel, yes. Council member Grimmie, yes. Student Representative Bowling, yes. You have seven yes votes. Ordinance number 3498-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. Now we are in item E2, ordinance $34.99 2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations by $6,500 in the general fund for expenditures which could influence the outcome of the of the city of Kai ballot proposition number 26A in the April 14th, 2026 special election brought to us by the clerk. Pleasure of councel. Vice Mayor Asen. I move that we adopt ordinance number 34992026. I'll second.

Are there uh uh anybody from the general public that would like to speak to ordinance number 3499 2026? Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to council. Discussion, council. Um seeing no uh uh unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Council [clears throat] me asking, you're you're asking me something and I can't hear you. This This is an ordinance. We have to ask for the role. Oh, it is. Uh I was writing off my script. I apologize.

I knew that. I was going to correct that, but uh uh roll call, please. Thank you. Council member Petty, yes. Council member Cassenna, yes. Council member Sonart, yes. Mayor Naxstead, yes. Council member Daniel, yes. Council member Grimmie, yes. Vice Mayor Askin, yes. Student Representative Bowling, yes. You have seven yes votes. Ordinance 3499-2026 is enacted.

Thank you very much. that now we have uh item E3 resolution 2026-02 adopting the city's capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2027 through 2031 brought to us amendment by administration pleasure of council coun council member Asen. I move we adopt resolution 2026-02 and ask for unanimous consent. I'll second.

Moved and seconded. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-02? Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to council discussion. Council, madam's consent was requested. Are there any objections? With that, resolution 2026-02 is adopted. That brings us down to item E4, adopting goals to guide the preparation of f fiscal year 2027 annual budget brought to us by administration. Pleasure of council. Council member, vice mayor Asen,

I move that we adopt resolution 2026-03 and request unanimous consent. I second.

Okay. Moved and seconded. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-03? Seeing no one, bring it back to council for discussion. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Uh seeing none, resolution 2026-03 is adopted. Now we're on item E5, resolution 2026-04, authorizing budget transfer with the Kai Recreation Center improvements capital fund brought to us by administration. Pleasure of councel. Vice Mayor Asen.

I move we adopt resolution 2026-04 and request unanimous consent. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-04? Seeing no one, bring it We'll bring it back to council. City manager, would you like to speak to uh the budget transfer on this one? So, we don't have any questions. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Uh so, this resolution takes remaining funds from two completed capital projects. Uh we had one project that refinished the gym floor over there. We appropriated, we being council, you appropriated $75,000 to complete that project. We were able to use some grant funds to complete that project and didn't spend the $75,000. And then there is a secondary project. Um it was it involved the roof and a lot of other improvements there. And I believe there's around um $19,000. Um let me double check. uh looks like about $17,600 remaining in that one. Uh the total is about $92,600 um of available funds. Uh worked with um the parks and recck director and with public works. Um the department is requesting to redirect those funds to a new project um to do some improvements inside the gym. primary improvement is going to be um purchase an installation of a drop curtain. So, this is a curtain that will um give us the ability to divide the gym um for multiple uses at the same time, keep things separated. Um secondary project that they're looking to do is replace some acoustical tiles in there. These are tiles that hang on the the walls that actually help reduce the noise in there. Um can get quite loud with a lot of activity. And then if any remaining funds uh they'd like to um

potentially do some improvements or repairs to the scoreboard that's in there, but they've identified those and um are asking to redirect these uh funds from completed projects to be able to use for those u for those new projects. Thank you, city manager Eubank. Any questions to the city manager? Unanimous consent was request. Council member Cassenna, go ahead.

Uh thank you. I may have missed it, but uh if you mentioned it, I apologize. Um this would help go towards a capital improvement project that they already have on schedule for parks and wreck. Is that correct? They had a drop curtain on one of their items years ago. Andrew Eubank. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member, I'm I'm not aware of a prior plan. It could have been in a capital plan. I just I don't recall. I apologize. But um yeah. So, okay. I know it's a priority for them. All right. Thank you, Council Member Gman.

Um I I wanted [clears throat] to say two things. One, I appreciate again seeking and utilizing grant funds to reduce the city's financial output. Um and second, I think the drop curtain in particular is an especially good use of these funds. it will increase the ways that the gym can be can be utilized for community events and um when people rent the space it can be it can be divided up and which would increase the revenue that that space can be generating. So I think those two things considered I think it's an especially good reason to allow these funds to be reallocated.

Any further comments, questions? Um consent was requested. Are there any objections? Okay, seeing no objections, resolution 2026-04 is adopted. Now we have item E6 declaring a 20 foot pedestrian easement on lot 48 Shoreline Heights 2023 edition plat KN 2024-83 and is set forth on the attached exhibit A is not needed for public purpose and consenting to vacation of of the easement brought to us by administration pleasure of councel vice mayor Asen. I move we adopt resolution 2026-05 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second.

Moved and second. Is there anyone from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-05? Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to the council for discussion. City manager Eubank, do you want to kind of explain what we're doing here? Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I'll I'll do a little bit. We also have our planning director on on available by Zoom to answer more specific questions, but this will vacate a 20 foot wide pedestrian easement. Um, it's around lot 48, Shoreline Heights subdivision, 2023 edition. Um, the vacation went before planning and zoning commission October 22nd of 2005. Uh they recommended it then forwarded to uh burough planning commission uh on January 5th. The burough planning commission request city council concurrence. Uh that's a process that I believe we have 30 days to complete. What I'd like to point out to council is that silence is concurrence. So if council takes no action um then that would be concurring with [snorts] the vacation and and the bureau would go ahead and execute. So the only way to stop this would be to vote against and I can ask Mr. Bner to explain more about why the vacation is taking place uh in there in Shoreline Heights.

Good evening members of council through the city manager Mr. Eubank. uh this vacation back when the original plats and uh patents were put through was to allow people to have access to the beach uh via the bluff. Uh currently the way that this particular subdivision's been laid out, lot 48 is the northeast corner of the shoreline. So it's the in inland lot on pay drive at the very north end. The current pedestrian easement on the east side terminates on private property. there is no connection to anything other than someone's private property to the west. We're not uh vacating that piece. So, theoretically, there is still access uh public access down to the beach. This particular easement being 20 ft wide prohibits the uh land owner to develop that to the best and fullest extent that they want. We are retaining a 10ft utility easement on the north end um for a water line. I do believe this just allows an extra 10 ft that they could put possibly a shed or a shop or something on their property should they want to in the future. Uh and again, it's a literal path to nowhere. [clears throat]

Thank you for that. Uh any questions for council?

I I concur with the vacation of the easement. it really doesn't serve a purpose. And I I think when it was conceived to uh to go to the beach, which it doesn't now, it was probably not the greatest idea either for a 20 foot pedestrian path that goes to a uh an 80 foot bluff. But uh anyway, that's how I saw it there. So anyway, if there's no further uh discussion, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, uh, we we have resolution 2026-05 is is adopted. So that brings us to item E7. Resolution 2026-06 scheduling a special election for April 14, 2026 for the purpose of providing for submission to the qualified voters of the city of Kenai the questions of amending Kenai Municipal Charter sections 10-1 annual election time brought to us by the the entire council here as Sonart Daniel Cenna Remy Petty and myself Nagad pleasure of councel Vice Mayor Askin.

I move we adopt resolution 2026-06 and request unanimous consent. I'll second. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to to resolution 2026-06? Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to council. Council discussion. Madame Clerk, do you have anything you want to add to this since it's a it's a pretty major major deal, but I think it's pretty straightforward.

Yeah, thank you very No, this is the time that I would need to get ballots printed, logic and accuracy testing done, boards recruited, and our charter is specific from the date that this resolution is enacted. We have a specific amount of time before we can conduct the election. and April 14th was selected because it meets that timeline and it's a Tuesday and people are used to voting on Tuesdays. I'm available for questions.

Any questions of the clerk? Seeing none, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Okay, seeing none, resolution 2026-06 is adopted. So now we are on item E8, resolution 2026-07, providing for submission to the qualified voters of the city of Kenai at the special election to be held on April 14th, 2026. the question of amending Kenai Municipal Charter section 101 annual election times to provide that the annual date of the city's general election is aligned with the current annual election date of the Kenai Peninsula Burough brought to us u by Asen Sonart Daniel Cassenna Grammy Petty and Naxstead of councel vice mayor Asen

I move we adopt resolution 2026-07 and request unanimous consent I second that Okay, thank you. Moved and seconded. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-07? Seeing no one, I'll bring it back to council for discussion. Council, Council Member Petty.

Um, just to have it on the record. Um because this um special election because of the election uh rules were in our city charter, the council could not change it. It had to go before the voters. So that's why all these resolutions are coming forth for us. So that um I I wanted that to be on the record so that um anyone who would be listening to this would wonder why we just didn't go ahead and change it. It was because it was in the city charter and with our rules for the city charter, it has to go before the voters and um because of uh the burrow changing it um on the last election uh we'd be all alone and it would be more costly for the city to have an election outside not in conjunction with the burrow. And um I know that Satana was able to change it just their council, but that was because it was not in the city charter because ours was in the city charter. We have to have a spe special election. So I just wanted that stated for the record.

Okay, thank you for that. I appreciate that. Um any further discussion? Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Resolution 2026-07 is adopted. Now we are on item E9 resolution 2026-08 providing for submission to qualified voters of the city of Kenai at the special election to be held on April 14th 2026 the question of amending Kenai municipal charter section 101 annual election times to set the fixed date of the city's annual general election in 2026 and therefore remove the fixed date of the city's annual general election and authorize the city council to establish the annual General election date by ordinance brought to us by the entire city council here. Aspen, Sonart, Daniel, Cassenna, Grammy, Teddy, and Axed. Pleasure of councel, Vice Mayor Asen.

I move that we adopt resolution 2026-08 and request unanimous consent. I will second that. Moved and seconded. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-08? Okay, seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion. Council member Grammy,

I just want to make note that I I think having these set out separately clearly um illustrates what how the council felt about this issue in our last meeting and at our prior work session and it it makes the both questions very clear for the voters to be able to to to answer both questions independently of one another. Thank you, Council Member Daniel. Uh, Council Member Grammy beat me to it. Uh, it was basically that but a followup and perhaps the uh, clerk wouldn't mind giving a brief overview of why they're separate like that just so for the public if you don't mind. Clerk Ser,

thank you. So the first question is is the question that were was put to burrow voters last election was moving their election to the same date as the state and that is what our first question would do is align that. The second question does the same thing, but it only makes it for 2026 and then allows future election dates to be set by ordinance in municipal code in the future for council. Available for additional questions.

Thank you. [clears throat] Any further discussion? Okay. Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, that leaves resolution 2026-08 as adopted as as presented. That brings us to item E10, resolution 2026-09, authorizing contract for design of a new approach procedure for the temporary runway to be used during the main runway rehabilitation pro project brought to us by administration. Council member or vice mayor uh Asken.

I move we adopt resolution 2026-09 and request unanimous consent. I'll second that. Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to resolution 2026-09? This is your opportunity because I know what some of you are here for. [clears throat] you'd speak your state your name and what city you live in or general area, please. Uh, yeah. And and if you could turn on the light, if the light comes on red, you're good. There you go, Travis.

All right. I'm Travis Penro. I live in the um just outside the city, but I work uh for Hill Corp uh in out of the airport flying the otter. Uh and uh it was a surprise to all of us that this uh that the runway, not that it was being resurfaced, that we weren't going to have an approach to go in. Uh it's it's vital for us. We use it oh between 15 and 20 flights a day. Uh and a lot of times that is IFR which means you need an approach to get in. Uh the question that that I have and I had talked with uh the air airport manager and then Terry the city manager. Uh sounds like there's a company that's going to put the approach in. Uh I know we have put in approaches on the west side for our facilities on the west side of the Cook Inlet and uh they're amazing. It's a GPS approach and before you select just things that uh [clears throat] our director of operation was concerned with is is there going to be approach on both ends uh with the with the provider who's going to build the approach and uh are the minimums uh the other person the minimums were going to bring you down to uh 250 ft and one mile viz. is and if the person who's going to be putting in or the company's going are they going to give you those same minimums? Uh and uh is it sounds like April? Yeah, I think it's May 15th, isn't it? That that it's going to be put in uh by is if that person's going to guarantee it or is it going to get pushed further into the summer? uh before you select

whoever does it, all we know want is to make sure we have an approach to to fly it. Uh for for those who are questioning whether to adopt and I mean I can't even imagine Keenite going an entire summer without an approach uh with the amount of traffic and stuff we've got coming in here. I mean the cost seems to be almost insignificant to what we would lose in revenue. Uh, and I'm sure there's other members who have a similar comment. So, uh, [clears throat] Mr. Pinrod, we don't normally at this point do the back and forth, but I nobody at the council here, but I'm the only pilot here, I believe, and I'm not instrument rated.

Yeah. And, uh, you are professional pilot that flies in and out of here. So I think those are pertinent questions and and uh I would like to you know if it if it usual process is to uh perhaps through the city manager um answer some some of those questions about what what the minimums would be uh with this with this approach with this consultant because that seemed to be your the crutch of your question. Correct. Yes. you know, manager Eubank, we have our airport manager here that might help.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so when the scope of services was sent out, um, we were able to public works assisted with the procurement. They were able to identify two vendors that, um, appeared to be able to provide these services. The same scope of work was provided to both. Um neither company is guaranteeing a minimum. Um one did reference their target the effort the the other one did not. Um but I think it's safe to say that I think they're going to achieve whatever minimums the the lowest minimums that they can. Um but neither is able to guarantee at this time until they actually go through the pro process of what those minimums will be. So, um, as if if we're talking just about the minimums

that, uh, I would indicate that we're doing the best we can. Don't forget your mic. I think you're going to go ahead.

Yeah. Uh, yeah. And that that the timeline is similar. All I just the engineer on the project is I guess is out of Anchorage as well. and this particular company got with them when they knew when they sensed the need and put the put the plan in action and has done [clears throat] the paperwork and all that to get it to to to realize those would be the minimum. So uh and the timeline would be uh [clears throat] they could they could put in writing that they would be done by that particular time. Like I say, I don't all I want is an approach some, you know, in a reasonable amount of time that would get us down as low as we could. So, uh, you know, that's that's my vested interest, but just making sure that you guys did the due diligence to make sure that the provider is going to give you what is, you know, the best possible solution.

Appreciate that. C [clears throat] council member, did you have a question?

I did. Thank you. Uh, forgive my continued ignorance about many things. Um, but, uh, would you mind explaining uh, what an approach is? And, uh, the importance of an approach for those of us who might just [clears throat] use planes. Uh so with without a certified instrument approach you're limited to a certain minimum that you can come down to. So if the clouds are above below that minimum where you can see visually then your only option is to to fly a published instrument approach using instruments in your airplane to get down to a lower minimum. Uh the more precise you can do it the better which gets you down lower. So when I say uh you know they have minimums of 250 ft that's above the ground and a visibility of one mile. Right now the approach coming into Kenai the active runway that they have on the lowest approach get you down to uh 200 ft. Uh and the minimums are half mile. Uh so this one is really close and I know uh that the approaches that we had put in across the inlet get us down to those minimums and that's flying into the blue air strip which is a gravel strip. uh so very precise uh and the same instrumentation is available here at Kenai the the GPS and the um and it's augmented so you can get it down even lower even more precise so uh but without anything you're you're limited to a very high altitude for coming in and you're just not going to be able to do it a lot of the time commercially it would be [snorts] it'd be devastating

for people not be able to catch their flight. So, uh so the need is is absolutely imperative. Uh and we couldn't do a lot of time we couldn't get our people to the west side because we would have to leave here with much higher minimums if we didn't have the approach to do it. Uh the other question that I did have is is the provider going to or does the departure procedure that we currently have instrument departure procedure work for for the the temporary runway. Penro, I don't know if we can answer that, but I think the city manager did have something else he wanted to uh to explain.

Yeah. And I'm I'm not going to anywhere even try to what he said is accurate. What what I found very interesting in this as a non-pilot as well is that um what I learned about approaches is that the here on the ground we could you could be the ceiling could be at 1500 ft and you could see for 10 miles. The problem is is that if the aircraft is above the ceiling, so if the aircraft's at 2,000 ft and the clouds are below it, they can't descend into Kenai without an approved approach. They can't even This isn't all about landing. And that was really difficult for a non-pilot like me to comprehend this is about like des not only a landing, but descending through a cloud layer. You have to have an IFR approach approved in order to do that. Once you're below the cloud layer, if it's at 1500 ft and you can see 10 miles, you can go visual flight rules with VFR, which doesn't require instrument and you would be fine. But we're not just talking about when it's really bad weather here necessarily on the ground. It can be where that cloud layer is between here and Anchorage that could really disrupt service. some of the weather data that we were able to get at, it looked like you would see probably between a 10 and 20% failure rate. Um, and that's really difficult because if it's broken, I mean, there's a lot of variables in there, but it it was enough of an occurrence that we thought the disruption to our carriers was warranted us going this I I believe we've done our due diligence. I appreciate all of your questions regarding the the contractor that we um are recommending. Um they've met the same scope of work. They've committed to a timeline that is appropriate for the project. They've committed to the delivery by May 14th. Um projects scheduled to kick off May 16th. Um

they've committed to maintaining the approaches through the project period for us. Um I I believe we've done our due diligence. Um, you know, because of unfortunately because of the tight timeline we were under, um, we were we typically at this dollar value, we would do a, um, a request for proposals. We would do a more extensive, we ended up requesting quotes. Um, uh, this provider was about 50% cheaper than, um, the other or the other's 50% more expensive. So based upon um and they have this other vendor has done work in Alaska as well. So I believe we've done our due diligence. We're going to do everything we can contractually to bind them to do what they're saying they're going to do. This is the way these things kind of work sometimes. Um and um that's why we're recommending um one to do the approaches. It will be on both ends. You will have a north and a south approach. Um and um this is the vendor that we're recommending at this time.

Mr. Penrod, thank you. And and uh you know the uh as you know the airports ours, but the nav aids are not. It's all FAA and and and and and they're the ones that are that's driving that. So therefore, we're creating the best we can and it sounds like it's a work in progress like I mentioned before. So, you know, I would say that as we as we enter into this, you might want to uh check with the with the airport manager, you know, her office is there and kind of get updates on that. But, uh, does that satisfy most your questions that we can actually answer?

Oh, no, no, that that's, uh, that's it. And like I say, the approach for everybody, this is this is critical from a pilot who flies in here, been flying in here for 40 years, is critical. I mean to say no, we're not going to do this would just be almost be, you know, reckless because we have so many important things happening. So that's that's the main thing, you know, having another vendor that can do it in the state of Alaska that gives competition for for other work that needs to be done on the Kai Peninsula, you know what I mean? So if they can do it, that that'd be great. [clears throat] Thank you, Mr. Penro.

Questions? Yeah. Is there uh is there anyone else from the public that would like to speak? Alex, if you want to state your name and uh generally where you live, that'd be great. Good evening. Uh Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I'm Alex Agosti. I live just outside of Kai city limits off of K Beach. Um it sounds largely like most of the questions were answered by city manager Mr. Eubank there. um [clears throat] regarding timelines and utilizing uh a different vendor or at least a different bid, putting it to bid uh so to speak with an an additional vendor. Um [clears throat] my last concern which isn't addressed, we the timeline is very critical that this needs to be put in place before the the runway becomes uh unusable and we cannot utilize these approaches. So for example, I I fly for Guardian Flight here locally, the Medevac Service out of the Kenai airport. I've been flying for them for the last three years and flying professionally for the last 10. Um [clears throat] some preliminary weather data that I have pulled in 2025 which is a fairly good weather year so to speak as Kenite. We all remember the year prior to that and it was rather nasty. Um so looking forward from a good weather data year 2025 we had 140 days where we had that IFR weather where a um it was 130 to 140 somewhere in sitting in the middle there where the an approach was going to be necessary absolutely necessary not even just from the bare bones safety perspective but from the legality perspective as well. So absolutely critical and I do appreciate that the manager spoke about not just from the landing perspective but also above the cloud layer. You have to think of it not metaphorically from the 2,000 ft view but realistically from the 200 foot view. Um and without getting into the legal jargon and uh aviation rules and regulations for instrument flight, the minimum in route altitude for our local area around the Kenai airport is 2,000 ft both north and south of the runway. So we have to look

at it from that 2,000 foot view of we need to be able to get below that layer. Um so when you aggregate that weather data of 2,000 ft rough weather ceiling days um into those 140 days roughly approximately of IFR days, you get an additional 96 days annually where you our operation would be extremely affected. So anywhere from 226 to 236 days out of the year, our operation could potentially be hindered. So I think it's really important to look at that from not only an economic vitality standpoint, but from the standpoint of human welfare and well-being. Uh we operate critical care medical services uh from the Kenai airport and we love serving our community and want to continue to be able to do that. So if we have any sort of interruption in that service because we've delayed this process by utilizing another vendor that could severely hurt us and also uh those in the community. So thank you.

Uh would you mind sitting for uh questions if council has any questions for you, Mr. Agosti? Thank you. Is there anybody else from the general public that would like to speak to uh resolution 2026-09? come forward, state your name and uh generally where you're from.

Hello everybody. I'm Gareth Block. I live in Anchorage. Um but I've worked for Grand Aviation for 14 years and I've been part of this operation for a long time and it's a it's a vital part of our whole company. And I just most of my questions were answered in the previous discussion. I just wanted to speak more to the logistical side of it. um like with the two approaches and everything like that, how important that would be for us and the the level of disruption would be really high if uh if our timelines didn't match up. Uh June 1st, we moved to usually our summer schedule. We we increase our flight load and everything like that. And the degree of disruption we would we would experience would be really high if if if there were delays in in that approach process. and the number of flights it would affect for us would be pretty significant and it would cause a lot of disruption for passengers coming in and out of the community and uh I'm we're just you know concerned of making sure that the timelines match up and I know with different vendors and stuff delivering on certain timelines is a big deal and I just wanted to make sure that that we're understanding the criticality of this with with the community and and access to flying in and out of Anchorage.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Block. Is there any questions from council for Mr. Block? I'm concerned, too. So, we'll we're going to get this taken care of. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the general public that would like to speak to uh resolution 2026-09? Do we have anybody online? Okay. So, uh seeing none, I'll bring it back to uh the council council council uh city count vice mayor. very

um I'd like to amend uh 2026-09 with um adding the seventh whereas by or replacing the seventh whereas with the following whereas it is in the best interest of the city to contract with Hughes Aerospace Corporation in the amount of $43,850 to design a new approach procedure for the temporary runway as this cost is fair and reasonable based on compar comparison of the two quotes. Amend section one and the memorandum to fill in the blanks for the contractor and price with the following. Contractor Hughes Aerospace Corporation price $43,0008 $43,850.

I will second that and uh request unanimous consent. Okay. Is there any objections to unanimous consent? Resolution 2026-09 has been amended. Any further discussion on council member Cassen? I believe there's a ladder reference here. Could come back out of it.

Resolution 2026 J9 has amended. Daniel. Thank you. Um, Mayor Nstead. Uh, yes. I fully support this base. It would be devastating. It's a good term to use if we don't have these approaches in place. So, I really appreciate you all coming out and explaining that to us, especially as non-pilots. I guess my question is um how for next time, not placing blame, how do we miss this? And this pie city manager, city manager Eubank.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh council member Daniel, I think that's a great question. Um it definitely was an active discussion I think about two years ago when the decision was made. Um I think unfortunately I don't think things were explained quite clearly. I think there was some mis misinformation. So in 2008 this was the exact process that was utilized. Um the main runway was completely closed. The parallel taxi way was the runway. Um the difference back then was FAA authorized use of a sideep approach they called it. So they allowed the existing approaches to be utilized until the aircraft got below the cloud layer. They could then go VFR. They would side step over and transition from the runway to the taxi way and they would land. That is no longer evidently an acceptable practice. Um the FAA's made it abundantly clear that they will be um issuing a notm which is a notice to airmen. Um that's how they communicate um with pilots regarding restrictions or things on on airports. They will be noting noto not notoing off um the any of our current approaches because they will not allow uh approaches to closed runways. So I don't think that was clear when the runway safety plan came out for this project. It became abundantly clear. Um you know there was a conference call Monday Mary with 27 users of the airport that participated in that. Um and um honestly the decision had already been made that this is the direction we were going but again that was just reinforcement of of the potential impact to operations at at the airport. So, um

I wish it would have been made um wish we'd have had better communication. Um and um I certainly certainly think lessons learned, but I think that's why we're kind of put a little bit behind the the gun timing wise, but um I'm going to take a company at its word that they can they can get these approaches produced in the time that they're committing to and um do everything we can to minimize disruption of to operators based on this project. Council member Dan,

just a follow up. I really appreciate that. Thank you. And it wasn't a placing blame. It was more of a what can we do in the future. So I I appreciate we're taking care of it and bringing this forward. So thank you again,

Council Member Grammy.

I think based on the the testimony of the of Mr. Penrod Agosti and Block and just all of our experience in this community, we all agree how vital the airport is to our community, most [clears throat] especially in the summer months. Um, with that in mind and because this was a a a short time frame to get this plan in place and rolling and potentially a short period of time for the vendor to make it happen. Um, but with consideration for how vital that runway is for our community, is there a plan in place to be checking in on a regular basis with the vendor for their status on this project? So we don't get to May 12th or something and it's oh sorry blank happened and we're not going to be able to get you anything until July or you I guess I is there a a failsafe plan in place to hopefully address any issues that might come up as they come up to prevent disaster.

City manager Eubank.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council Member Ging. Um a foolproof plan I cannot promise you. What what I can promise you is diligence by staff to monitor this. Uh, honestly, my greatest concern right now at this point regarding timeline is um potential another government shutdown that is being discussed and can potentially be looming. And if the FAA shuts down, I I can almost guarantee you there's going to be a delay. Um, but that's outside of control of either of these vendors and both would experience that. That's right now I think that's our greatest concern. We're hoping that that gets avoided, but we will absolutely um you know do our vigilance and and work with the contractor to um make sure we're staying on timeline and things are getting submitted when they need to.

Thank you. I'm and I trust that you will. I just wanted to put that out into the universe. [laughter] Thank you. Any council member Daniel, one last followup. Do we know I mean I heard a little bit about a timeline up for this project. Do we know what their process is? Do they have to come here? Is it just FAA work? Do we do we know that piece of it or does it matter? I'm just curious. Um well, we're going to go through the city manager at this point. City manager Eubank.

Uh yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I I can't tell you I'm an exact expert in what they're going to do. I it will involve you know um certainly getting GPS data on on our current runways and things like that. Um but then there is just a lot of paperwork that has to get filed um with the FAA timely and be processed. Um these approaches are limited and so they will not be available necessarily to the general public. These aren't like our general approaches right now that the FAA pays for that then are made available to any pilot using IFR. We will have to grant access to these approaches to each company that or individual at that point that's going to use them. Now we have no intentions on not allowing people to use them but they are not public approaches and I think that's the distinction on why they can be created in an expeditious manner and be pushed through. So um they are a little bit different um but um I if you want more clarification on the process that's I I can't provide that level of detail. Council member Petty. Uh yes uh mayor through the city manager uh because of the critical uh timeliness of this. Is there any way that we could work with the vendor to expedite this process so that we could have it done in the most timely uh quickest manner? could is there something that we could do to encourage them to expedite this and put this on the very top shelf and recognize that this is a very critical aspect for our community so that we could move it along quickly.

Manager Eubank.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Council Member Petty, I think we threw in that. I, you know, um, public works director reached out to the proposed vendor today, let them know that it was going to be recommended tonight um to contract with them. Uh, they immediately responded. They're excited to get work started. We're doing everything we can to minimize contract period. So, we'll be uh working on that first thing tomorrow to get the contracts issued, to get them working. um you know um it's not lost upon staff the administration the importance of this. So, if the contractor needs anything from the city, it um it will take, you know, it'll have a very high priority and um uh could we offer a bonus to our contractor if we said that they got it completed in uh a timely manner and gave them a more um robust timeline? Um, and if they met that timeline, then we could offer them x amount of resources because of that uh efficiency knowing that what you just mentioned about um a possible government shutdown, you know, I'm praying against that, but uh I think it would behoove our community if [laughter] we put a a a bonus in there if they could expedite this and get it done by, let's say, April the 30th. City Manager, Eubank, is there a possibility for change order at some point if if you wanted to do that?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Coun um Council Member Petty. You know, I would not be comfortable with bringing that forward. I mean, we're we're substantially changing the terms of this what we sent out to these vendors. They responded in good faith. We we describe the timelines that are there to them. I like I said I I I have to take companies at their word that they can perform. They have committed to um producing these two approaches by May 14thly. Um which is you know I agree it's tight but I can tell you when we uh originally started and we had conversations with the other vendor they were 3 to four months for one and four to 6 months for two. we don't have 6 months for two. So, you know, they were willing to work and compress their timeline as well, but I think this is I'm telling you right up front, this is going to be a compressed timeline. Um, it's going to take a lot of coordination and uh we're going to do our best to limit the disruption to our our air carriers and the service at the airport, but um

we are a little bit beyond behind the gun right now. I appreciate that so very much. Um I was just trying to offer a creative um opportunity to see if it could be expedited even further. Thank you.

Any further discussion? Um I'm absolutely in support of this. We we have we have to do this. Um the other thing um I don't have all the information on why the FAA is doing what it's doing. Um and uh because of that I can't can't speak for what's between their ears, collective ears. But um the uh the the approaches to the airport, I believe the ILS is going to be out of service because the instrument landing just one of them. I think there's five approaches into Kenai, maybe six um because of the work that's going to be done and that's understood, but they're going to close down all approaches. And uh our airport is u of course we have carriers here that are wanting to get in and out during IFR conditions. You notice the military that comes and goes and a lot of the other aircraft come down here don't land. They shoot an approach and they do what's called a missed approach. they come down to some minimum and go off and then it's it's practice that way they don't have to do it in the busy Anchorage airspace they can do it here that's one of the things that we provide here um also in in my opinion um is that uh the these these some of the approaches that are still here should still be available the the runway is independent of the approach if you get down below the cloud layer like you are hearing and you do that at a certain decision distance you you get there and you make that decision and then the pilot is is what they call BFR and they can do the side step and uh I would encourage the administration if you haven't pushed it as far as you can um to uh to push a little farther because I I'm I'm I'm not getting it but and again like I just said I don't I don't know everything that was discussed and what what their thinking is. I don't

uh from where I'm sitting, I don't agree with it, but they're the ones that make the rules, I suppose. So, is there is there any further discussion? Unanimous consent was requested. Is there any objection? Seeing none, resolution 2026-09 is approved. So that brings us down to new business business item H7, action approval, confirmation of mayoral nomination for a partial term appointment of Autumn Carlson to the beautifification commission and the parks recreation commission. And uh we have uh uh Autumn here in our audience, I understand. So, u looking for a for a motion from councel for approval. Vice mayor asking

I move that um we appoint Autumn Carlson to the beautifification and parks and recck commission and ask for unanimous consent. I'll second that.

Moved and seconded. Are there any objections? Seeing none, Miss Carlson, you are you are now on both of those commissions and you had a very good resume. I look forward to uh to you being on those commissions. Thank you. Now we are on item H8. Um action approval authorizing the use of city facility people counter cameras for operational and safety purposes brought to us by administration. Pleasure of councel. Vice Mayor Asen.

I move we authorize the use of city facility people counter cameras for operational and safety purposes and request unanimous consent. I'll second moved and seconded. Um city manager Eubank, you want to explain uh how we're going to be utilizing these cameras before we uh discuss it?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So, um during the CO 19, um pandemic or what, however you'd like to describe it, uh the city utilized some of its CARES Act funding for the installation of um these are the make no mistake, these are cameras. So um these cameras through software have the capability of counting individuals coming into a facility or leaving a facility. Um at the time we installed them the the purpose the main purpose for installing them during CO was to monitor um occupancy in um different facilities. So they were installed at the Kenai Senior Center, they were installed at the Kenai Rec Center and they were installed at our visitors center. Um at that time, um I you know this my opinion, but uh council was um concerned about the lack of maybe public involvement in the installation of cameras and council restricted the use of those cameras until council um gave other direction to only being used for people counting. Um I have had interest from some staff, you know, and this is predominantly at the rec center to utilize some of these cameras for other purposes. Now, um um and you know, unfortunately with the number of people that are in and out of there, we have certain things that happen, security things, and you know, things that they feel like cameras could be a deterrent for. And in order for us to do that, um, one, we need council's approval to start using them beyond just for county occupancy.

And, um, two, um, passage of this tonight does not mean those cameras would be turned on to be used as cameras immediately. There would be licensing requirements that it would have to be met. I think the licensing cost is about, if I remember correctly, about $500 for three years. So, departments are going to have to find that in their budgets as well. But this would allow us to um use cameras that are currently installed, completely capable of being used for um security purposes and and other types of things. Um but they're currently not. So, um, that's kind of the history of this and, uh, why it's back before you tonight.

Thank you, city manager Eupick. Now that we have that, uh, that explanation, which makes makes this a little clearer, I'd like to back up just a half a step and and just see if there's anybody from the general public that would like to comment on on these cameras. Is there anybody online? Okay. I just wanted to make sure we had all bases covered. So, uh, um, bring it back to council. Council questions. Council member Cassenna.

Thank you. Uh, just wanted to start off by saying I don't have any general objection to using cameras for camera purposes. Uh, but we're was curious on a number of things. Um, the type of cameras, how are they used? So, do we have uh secure cameras that are hosted just internally uh or are they web- based hosted? Uh who who do we intend to have access to those cameras? How do we intend to use them beyond security? Do we intend to use them for security and employee discipline um or just security? How do we provide access to the footage? How do we restrict access to that footage for the public request process? Um, you know, is it are they are they just video? Are they video and audio? Are they interior exterior? I might have mentioned that already. Um, so uh are they flop cameras which are quite popular now to be discussed? Uh, just a number of questions about the cameras that weren't addressed. If you could uh address any of that, that would be great.

City manager Eubank, you want I think I counted about 15 questions in there, but I'll repeat them all quickly. probably be summarized in some way.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member consent. We we actually worked with staff um and um it was an exhaust, you know, it was an expansive uh piece of work where a camera policy was adopted or was recommended um you know, that went through um a lot of review which included it. So, these will be city hosted cameras. These are not web- based. These will be internally hosted. um you know uh we we then worked the policy after working with it. It worked through the legal department. It then went out to all department heads um to review make comments on those comments were incorporated back through legal review back um to me for final um review. So um it definitely defines who has access and is absolutely limited. Um, I think yes, these could be used in cases for employee discipline. If you know we had suspicion or something where maybe we had attendance issues or things like that, it definitely could be used. Um, I can generally tell you and and like that that anytime there's any sort of law enforcement action, I think one of the first questions that always gets asked is, do we have camera footage? do we have? You know, I I think that's just standard whether it's city cameras or private cameras or anything. They're looking for uh camera footage to to document what happened or see it. I don't believe these have audio capabilities. I think these are only cameras. Um so uh the the access is absolutely going to be limited um to facility managers and you know or you know potentially if it's an HR issue HR would be involved and uh any release to the public um would require a public information request that would go through our normal processes that would be reviewed um you know ultimately by legal um for approval

to release before we would release that type of information. So, I don't know if I got everything. I I tried the shotgun approach like you did, I think, but um happy to address anything else if you have more. Um before we go on, thank you for city city attorney Bloom.

Thank you, Mayor Nex. I just wanted to add uh council member Cassenna that all the video is only going to be uh recording in places that people don't have an expectation of privacy. like we're not going to be recording employee break rooms or anything like that. Um so these are going to be uh used put in place for specific purposes and uh there will be signage indicating that uh cameras are in use. So we're not going to be secretly recording any of our employees or anything like that. And we do have a policy that is uh a public policy that you guys can look at at any time uh once it's been adopted.

Your powers combined. I think you got them all. Thank you very much. That's that's pretty super. Vice Mayor Askin. Um Mr. Bloom answered my question. Council member Gmy,

I appreciate the thoughtful process that went into creating the policy um in a way that would garner um the support and and and buyin of of city staff. Um, and I am in support of anything that gives us the ability to increase and maintain the safety and security of city staff, city residents, city property and and buildings. And I mean, when you're in a public place, in a public space, there's there's an expectation that what you're doing is is publicly viewable. So, I I think and I I would say in my professional career, I've I'm betting I've read more police reports than my my counterparts here. And you're you're right. I mean, the the question now is was there a camera? Was was there a security camera? Was there a Ring cam? Was there a a game camera? Was there any cell phone video? Um, and I think that would give us the ability to protect not only our staff and our residents, but our our city property as as well. So, I I think that this is a great way to to sort of reuse a resource that we already have that was provided to us for another use. And as our our needs have evolved, we're going to take advantage of what we already have.

Any further discussion? I uh concur with Council Member Grammy on that. And the drive here um from home, I was probably there's probably a number of cameras that I'm unaware of. If I had to stop by the grocery store, they're everywhere. Um certainly in the bank, all these other places. It it's always assumed that you are being anymore, you know, it it's it's kind of a normal thing, you know. So, um it would seem like this would be a reasonable thing for the city to do just for the reasons that were stated. If uh there's no further uh questions, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections to unanimous consent? Seeing none, item H8 is approved. So, that brings us down to item H9, open discussion item uh regarding the International Pacific Halibet Commission. That's the IPHC proposed fisheries regulation reducing sport codalibet in Alaska from two fish to one fish per day brought to us by Grammy and asken. So um one of you too want to uh council member Grammy

and Mr. Bloom step in if I say anything incorrect or if you have more to add. Um I guess the short of it is um the IPC um had their meeting on Monday to consider reducing the number of um halalibet that fishermen are allowed to take from two to one. Um there is there is um question and discussion as to whether or not by the state fishing game whether fish and wildlife whether IPC has the authority to actually make that choice or not. Um but regardless it's it's on their their plate to consider. Um as I understand from Mr. Bloom they're going to actually vote on the issue tomorrow. Um, originally, Miss Ain and I had intended to ask the council to um send a letter of support um to not change this limit from from 2 to 1. Um, but their meeting occurred before our current meeting. So what we would request is that it I think essentially we just are keeping it in mind if this comes up again through IPC or another organization that that does have the ability to make this decision that we as a council consider issuing a statement of support and not changing the limit from two to one. Um, we ask this because of the impact that can have on on so many city residents. I mean, while you're not most of us aren't catching halalibit in Kenai, I mean, some are beach fishing, but the difference between one and two is the difference between can is it viable to take the boat out to go fishing for halibit or not? um are we going to have enough fish

in the freezer for the winter or not? Um this is something that definitely is going could impact you know every every household most households in Kenai not commercial fishermen not satin netters but the folks who are using Alaska's resources to fill their freezers every summer to feed their families every winter.

Vice Mayor Askin, did you have anything you wanted to add to that? Um yes, my my other concern about this is that this is being brought by the commission not necessarily as a consideration of um the population or abundance of our fish, but as a way to help the commercial side um gain more um gain more fish and at the expense of our our citizens and our sport industry. Any uh any further discussion? Council member Daniel.

Sorry, may I jump in there. Oh, Mr. Bloom.

I can just I was just going to add a little bit. Yeah. So, this was brought to me by uh Council Member Grimmie and uh Council Member Asin. The deadline to provide comments was last Sunday, so we couldn't provide comments. It's sort of like a board of fish procedure that you guys might be more familiar with where they accept proposals. So, this was a proposal from a longline fisherman group actually based out of Seattle. And you know, one thing that I think the city has consistently done is made its decisions in support or against of uh fishery decisions that affect our residents. We've always said, you know, we we promote science-based decisions. And if you read this proposal, there's no science in it. Um, and so I think that's opposing this, if it comes down some point in the future, can be consistent with um, past practice of the city when we have weighed into fisheries issues.

Daniel, thank you. You beat me to it, Mr. Bloom. That was I was going to ask, what's the science say? Because that's historically how we've done it here. So yeah, I would depend how this plays out. I definitely like, you know, would like us as a body to to, you know, see the science and consider if this comes to pass to push back against it.

Any further discussion? Thank you for bringing it to our attention. And I did read a little bit about it after I saw this on the agenda here. So, um I think uh hopefully next time if if something like this happens, we'll have an opportunity to get a get a resolution forward. So, if there's no further discussion, I'll move on down to Commissioner reports. Um Council on Aging, Vice Mayor Asen.

Thank you, Mayor Nstead. Um Council on Aging met on January 8th. We had a bare quorum and the only thing that was on their agenda was to review the work plan and to go forward with the 2026 work plan and the two um most active people that were working the report weren't available so we postponed until the next meeting on February 12th.

Thank you. Airport commission council member Sonar or did somebody cover that for you? I I covered the airport commission while Miss Sonart was watching the canes play.

Um so the airport commission met on uh January 8th. Uh they reelected uh Glendin as chair and Paul Manulga as vice chair. They um had there was considerable discussion about the approaches and um wanting to see that happen. and they were disappointed that the Sierra um project got moved back a year and um they chose not to to um come up with any new goals or um or a work plan. They they felt like that was a waste of time. Anyway, their next meeting is February the 16th. Okay, thank you. Harbor Commission, Council Member Cassenna.

Nothing to report. Brings us to Parks and Recreation Commission, Granny. We have not met since the last meeting. Okay. Planning and Zoning Commission. Back to Cassenna.

Uh the uh Commissioner Keaton was [clears throat] elected as the new chair. Commissioner Dothet, new newly returning uh commissioner, was elected as vice chair. Uh the commission also had a fairly short agenda and reviewed one cup for an auto shop off Fathom Drive for the second meeting in a row. Um and after a long deliberation, voted against and their next regular meeting is scheduled for January 28th at 7 p.m. Okay. Thank you. And finally, beautifification committee. Council member Petty,

I attended in Miss Petty's absence and there was no we did meet um on January 13th. There was not a quorum. So um we didn't have a meeting and next meeting is scheduled for April 14th.

Okay. Thank you. And I appreciate everybody covering for each other too. So that brings us to the uh report of the mayor. I just have a few things. Uh uh last Thursday we we met with Salamanov tribe and I thought that was a very very productive productive meeting. Um and uh I look forward to uh to having further meetings with with the tribe as we go forward. Um after our meeting that evening, there was a fire at the Salamanov uh the lodge on the south side of the river. Um, and uh uh it was a a pretty nasty night and uh our fire department was there and they brought in other other I'm probably taking some of city manager uh um steam here, but other fire departments were there too. They were able to contain it to uh to a couple of uh structures that weren't exactly the lodge and were able to save it in very difficult conditions. I and they were there all night with that. I think they had the fire under control by one, something like that. And so, uh, shout out to our Kenai Fire Department, you know, for what they do daily, but in particular that on that night. Um, on the street end, um, the last two weeks we've had rain, we've had snow, we've had wind, rain, and snow, we've had ice, we've had everything weather can throw at us. And uh from my my assessment of driving around in our town, the city street folks have done an excellent job sanding, grading um and scarifying and all of that kind of stuff. So that that is much appreciated. Um the last thank you I have is for our clerk. Most of most of the work tonight that we went over on the election uh was brought up from the clerk and uh that um went very well. I thought it was a heavy lift and uh there's more to be done, but uh

getting over this uh it's a hurdle, you know, getting to this point uh was was quite a lift and uh it's much appreciated. [clears throat] So, thank you very much for all your efforts on that. And uh I guess the last thing I have and it's just kind of a kind of a more of a statement is the challenger centers there. I'm certainly uh hoping we can come to a resolution what we're going to do with that building soon. I don't like having any building empty. It's not good for it. And uh if we can come up with um what we're going to do with it, we have to also probably come up with where we're going to get the funds. So the the sooner we um arrive at that the better. So that is uh end of my report. So that brings us to administration reports. City manager Ubank.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I'll start with some staffing and recruitment. Um so we're excited to welcome Shandra Mayu. Did I say that rightly? Um, Shandra is going to be the city's new building official. She will start the uh the first week of February. So, I think she's going to fly up here, work for a period of time, and then um navigate the move when uh roads and things are probably more conducive to for her. So, uh looking forward to her starting. Uh today, we made uh three conditional offers of employment. um two uh were to utility operators um to fill two vacancies we have there. And we also have made one conditional offer to a janitor. Um active recruitments right now the airport manager. We're recruiting a firefighter, a part-time driver for the senior center, and we also have um uh some other janitor vacancies that we're recruiting for. Um I did want to recognize um the officer and dispatcher of the year. Uh so these are um internally generated awards. These come from their peers. So the the all the folks at the police department and dispatch um nominate um for an officer and dispatcher of the year. Um for for 2025, Chad Larson was named officer of the year and Jen Savly was named dispatcher of the year. Um both were recognized for their professionalism, dedication, and positive impacts on the department. Uh we want to congratulate both of them on well-earned recognition. Uh last week um [clears throat] Senator Sullivan's office organized um a housing briefing where we had a number of federal agencies

um that were we all met by um team zoom uh some online um mechanism and discussed uh different funding options and and things that each agency has available to it. and we really appreciate um Senator's office uh organizing that for us and staff. Um uh there's quite a bit of activity going on right now as far as um potential development in the city. Um we've got a number of different lease applications and purchase applications that staff are working through. Um we definitely be able to I I don't know that um we've deemed any of those applications at this point complete. Um we're working with the applicants to um cure some deficiencies and um once complete we'll definitely report to council on those. Um [sighs and gasps] uh next month February 18th our planning director Mr. Bner will present um at the chambers uh the Kai chamber is hosting a business um chamber business symposium and um Mr. Bner is going to be speaking um uh to that group and doing a presentation. Um uh appreciate the mayor's leadin for this. Uh I wanted to let council know that um we did get a quote from the architect who did the public safety um assessment project for us. Um uh we do have a quote now to uh do the analysis on the Challenger Center and look at that as a possible solution. Um and um I'm I'm happy to say that um we have enough funds remaining in that project. Don't need additional funds uh to award that. Um timewise, I think once we get everything in place, he's looking at 30 days, we're hoping. So I think we'll continue to move forward with that. In the meantime, we are um beginning to work and prepare uh the the

request for interest that we potentially will issue. Um, we've chosen to not issue that request for interest at this point in time. Um, just I don't want to be disingenuous to anybody that might provide a response to that RFI. If we're going to then in turn just internalize it and use it for public safety purpose. So, we want to get through that analysis first and decide if that's a viable solution. And um if not, then we'd absolutely will continue to work towards um issuing the RFI. Um uh the mayor also mentioned the Salanto fire last Wednesday night. Uh yeah, really do appreciate the efforts of our department. Um but both CES and the Kiski fire had crews and apparatus there. U the biggest hurdle over there, biggest challenge on that side of the river is water. So, uh, it did not take long for our department to exhaust the water that they have in both of our engines upon arriving on scene. But, um, once the water chain was, uh, set up and implemented, they were able to go more offensive and and knock the fire down. Um, but it took it took the work of a lot of firefighters, not just the cities. Uh, I also like to give a shout out to our street department that um was called immediately once they got over there. um responded with sand trucks trying to provide a lot of sand um on the route to get water. Um uh I do believe we still ended up with a couple of apparatus in the ditch um during the night. It was just, you know, horrible conditions, but um I think they did an amazing job. There is some loss over there, but they were able to spare um the major um structures over there at at um Salamanto. I did talk to um Chris Mumpford uh um the next day and um you

know they're definitely disappointed but I think it was one of those things it was as good as it could have been considering the situation. So they're very appreciative of the department. Uh the mayor did mention our roads. I I got to give a shout out too. I mean our our roads crew does an amazing job uh here in the city. I don't want to leave out the airport too because the whole time we're out there plowing roads trying to keep that open. We got a crew of individuals out there on the airport trying to keep our runway open and uh they did an amazing job and um so I think we've got some great city employees put in a lot of hours and really care and I think it shows in situations like that. Uh with that I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for the city manager? Council member. Thank you. Um, Mayor Knack said, "A quick question on the um the propo the proposal or contract for reviewing the Challenger Center. Are they going to what's the scope of work? Is it just looking at that one building or if they go one direction or another? Would they make a recommendation for the existing facility or do we know what the scope is exactly?" Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Lee, would you mind? You quoted it to me today, but I can't say it again. [laughter]

No problem. Um, so the architect's essentially going to use the analysis they did to look at the space that we would be doing if we were to construct a new facility for each either one of the departments, a fire or police. Um, and kind of plug down the needs assessment we did to for space requirements into that facility. Um, so analyze it for police, analyze it for fire, see if either one makes a good fit to go into that facility with minimum number of modifications. Um, obviously if we went with either department, we'd be looking at building garage space out there, those types of things. Um, so just kind of looking at it overall the building, which one possibly makes sense if either of them do to move um, either one in there. Um, once we would do that analysis, then we could be looking what do we do with the other? Does it make sense to move both over there? Um, and just kind of seeing what the economics most make sense to to move forward from there.

Thank you. Any further questions of the city manager? Thank you, city manager Eubank. Attorney Bloom. Thank you, Mayor said. I have nothing. No comments, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Mr. Bloom? Kind of come up with something. Guess not. City man uh city clerk center. Thank you, Mayor Next. [clears throat] Nothing to report other than thank you for the acknowledging the work on the election. and the work is really just now begun. [laughter] Thank you.

Any questions for the clerk? Thank you. So, that brings us down to uh additional public comments. Um are there any members of the public who would like to address the council at this time? So, it would be an opportunity uh anything that's on your mind or anything that we've discussed this evening if there's anybody here or online. Okay. Seeing no one, uh, that brings us to council comments. Uh, student rep, you're up.

Thank you. Um, good evening, Mayor Knax and council members. Um, we haven't got much tonight, but we would like to thank council member Grimmie for visiting our leadership class. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed hearing Miss Grimmie's story and gaining insight into what and who a local leader is. Because of council members Cassenna and Grimmie, multiple students have expressed their interest in applying to commissions in the future. KCHS baseball and softball are now are now starting up. We look forward to a strong season. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you for your report, Council Member Grammy.

Thank you. Um, [clears throat] I was glad to be part of the Salomatop tribe meeting last week and I wanted to thank um, Madame Clerk for even though my mother's internet wasn't cooperating, thank you for having Zoom um, set up so that I could still participate while I was in Fairbanks helping my my folks. I I appreciated um, still being able to participate from afar. Um, I am looking forward to KCHS basketball to so high tourney this weekend, tomorrow through Saturday. Um, I did enjoy my trip to visit KCHS leadership um, class last week. Um, they asked some great great questions and um, he already left. Um, but I wanted to thank Evan Rhodess Cub Scout that was here. Um, he needed to observe um, a city council meeting to complete his community badge. Um, my son is an Eagle Scout. He did his project for the city of Kenai. Um, so scouting is near and dear to my heart and I am I'm really glad that he's choosing to be part of his community by by observing our meeting tonight.

Thank you, Council Member Cassenna.

Uh, thank you. Uh, yeah, unfortunately I missed the uh work session last week. I was uh doing nothing but working on my government budget for the year. So thankfully that draft is done. Uh other than that, I got to travel to Seattle last week to uh cheer for the KPHA 12U girls hockey team who competed at the Seattle Voyagers Cup tournament and took uh third place. Uh consisted girls teams across the Northwest and and Canada. So, it was it was pretty cool to see. Uh, and yeah, as somebody who drove to Anchorage last Friday morning, uh, I can say that the roads between here and Anchorage, uh, Kenai were the nicest. And, uh, I look forward to being able to fly directly to Seattle from Kenai someday [laughter] instead of driving.

Yeah, you're here. Uh, Council Member Petty.

Thank you, Mayor Axad. Um, I would like to thank uh Miss Grimmmy for filling in for me while my family and I were out uh on holiday for the beautifification commission. Thank you so very much. I appreciate your time and attention. Uh, also I wanted to thank uh the administration, the city manager for working very uh uh very wonderfully in helping getting the uh approaches for our um for our businesses and aircraft in our community um put in place so that they would be um available so that we could continue our economic development. and not have any losses in our area. Um, I'd also like to thank the city clerk for all of her efforts in putting forth for this special election and encourage all of our community members to uh take this very seriously as we move forward in that election and I wish you all a good night. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Council member Daniel, it's been a long evening. I'm just going to say no comment tonight. in and out. Okay. Uh, Council Member Sonar.

Thank you, Mayor Nstead. I too would like to thank our group of employees, the uh the City Street Crew. Um, you guys are amazing. You've done great work. Um, so thank you. And I'd also like to thank our clerk for all the work she did on the special election. Um, I know this kind of just the beginning of the work because once the election gets closer, she's going to have her hands full putting that together. So, thank you in advance. I'd also like to thank um Vice Mayor Asen for filling in for me at the airport meeting while I was at the Fiesta Bowl literally and I had like one bar in my phone and I could barely get out a text in that stadium. So, there was no way I could have zoomed in. So anyway, thank you. And um um I enjoyed the uh the tribal council meeting last week. I think that was a good thing to do and um a lot of positives that came out of that evening that I look forward to seeing fruition down the road. So with that, I'll just say good night to everybody.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Raskin.

Thank you, Mayor Nstead. Um I too want to shout out about the roads. I was driving in Anchorage last Tuesday morning and the roads are so rudded. You know, everybody does the low rider thing through the intersection, but I was driving down Sea Street and I saw a police car with the lights on and I thought, "Oh, they just pulled somebody over. There was a Jeep laying sideways in the road. It must have tried to take the the road too fast and tipped it over." [laughter] So I our roads are awesome compared to what they've got going on up there. Um I appreciated the cooperiveness with the Salanto Association and our meeting and look forward to some good things happening there. I watched the glow of the Canary fire that night. I was happy to hear that there wasn't more damage. Um congratulations to Officer Larson and dispatcher Sadley. And I'd like to thank the airport manager and administration for their work on the approach contract. You guys like hopped too. That was a pretty big thing. And um thank you to Shelley for her work on the special election. And that's all I have.

Okay. Thank you. We have no executive session or pending items. So we are at adjournment. Thank you.