City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 6:00. I'd like to call the regular council meeting May 12th to order, please. Madam clerk, would you call the role? Mayor Cooper here. Deputy Mayor Hanter here. Council member Allen and and Council Councilman Allen's gone and this will be an excused absence unless anybody has an objection. Thank you. Council member Carrington here, Council Member Collins here, Council Member Graham here, and Council Member Moer here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. And before we get started, folks, if you have a cell phone, please silence your cell phones. And on the council, if you have uh cell phones, please silence them. If you have any issues uh that need addressing, please let me know. Rachel, would you like to lead us in the pledge, please?

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. Thank you. Moving on to the agenda. What's the wishes of the council? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Any questions? Any concerns? Madame clerk, I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, but we do need to amend the agenda. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

That's okay. We just need to add the report from the GR greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce under item E and probably right after the AARP livable communities and then the proclamation recognizing military appreciation under item G. Thank you. Everybody get that? All right. Any objections? All right. Approved. That moves us on to communications and appearance request. So, AARP livable communities, you're up

already. Sure. Thank you. Just make sure the microphone is on. You do not have to sign in. No. Okay. Just yeah, push the button on the bottom. Have to hold it for about 3 seconds or so and then you'll see that you you'll see you'll see the green light come on. It should be on the side. I don't think it Okay, I'll try it. Maybe just tap it and see. There you go.

Yeah, there we go. We'll try this. Okay. Good evening, honorable mayor Cooper and um Palmer City Council members. Um my name is Rachel Greenberg. Um I am retired. I am currently the AERP state president for Alaska. Um I have I to be full fully frank I am not a resident of Palmer. However, I have worked in the city of Palmer for 25 years um as as the executive director of the Palmer Senior Center um ending in 2017. So, between 1993 and 2017, I was the executive director of the senior center or in a in a role at the senior center. Um in the past, the city of Palmer has been super supportive of seniors in our community ever since the senior center was incorporated in 1980. through um sponsoring grants, passroughs, um that kind of stuff, as well as contributing funds to the new senior center. I don't know if you remember, years and years ago, it used to be in the old Mormon church um at 832 South Jugad Street before we um spent 17 years trying to get the new building. Um, so as the current state president of AERP, I am super grateful to be flanked with some lovely ladies who are part of this very compassionate um um to um bring AERP livable communities to the city of Palmer. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Liz to take on the bulk of this conversation. Thank you, Rachel, and thank you, Mr. Mayor, and city council and staff for having us here this evening. Um, it's truly an honor, and we appreciate all

that you do for the city. Your care, dedication, and, uh, support really shows. Um, my name is Liz Jackson. I'm tonight I'm wearing my AAP volunteer hat. Um, I'm sure most of you are familiar with AAP, but I'd like to give you a little bit more information. AP was started in 1958 and is now the largest nonprofit organization in the country. Its mission is to empower people to choose how they live as their ag. And its vision is a society where all people live with dignity, purpose, and the opportunity to fulfill their goals and dreams. I am proud to be both a member and a volunteer for AARP. The Livable Community Projects Initiative began in 2012 and is in over 1,000 communities across the United States including Anchorage, Juno, and Fairbanks. It is our wish that Palmer would join that list. Rachel Bru Greenberg, whom you just met, and I are s serving as co-chairs of the Livable Community Project. As we began discussing the project, I thought about people who bring energy, vision, and connection to our community. I reached out to Emily Seus and she immediately said, "Count me in." Emily is deeply engaged in Palmer, passionate about bringing together people across generations and interests and was recently named Palmer's citizen of the year. One of the first steps in the livable community project is garnering community support and we have been grateful for the positive response we have received. We have provided information and requested support for the project from the Matsu Health Foundation, the MSCVB, Palmer Als Arts Council, Palmer Rotary, United Way of Matsu, Matsu Council on the Aging, Palmer Senior Center, Matsu Trails and Parks Foundation, Palmer Public Library,

and other community members. Tonight, we respectfully ask for your support as well. To enroll in the program, we must demonstrate broad community support and the city's participation is an important part of that process. The application also requires a letter of support from the highest election elected official of the city. You may be wondering, isn't Palmer already a livable community? And the answer is absolutely yes. But this project gives us the opportunity to intentionally build on our strengths and make our community even better for people of all ages. Through this project, we can learn from successful communities across the country, use proven tools to identify local needs and opportunities, access expert guidance and technical assistance, and apply for grants that can help bring meaningful improvements to our city. The livable community pro program focuses on eight domains of livability and those are shown in pages 33 and through 42 in your packet and are on the overhead and um Benji if you could just go through those. I'm not going to read each slide or do you have them there? Oh, good. Thank you. The first is outdoor spaces in buildings. The next would be an area of transportation. Area of housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, work and civic engagement, communication and information, community and health services. with your support uh we will apply. We've done the groundwork to get

community support. We're asking for your support. This is the areas that the livable community project would cover. With your support, we will apply to AARP for enrollment in the program and begin moving thoughtfully into implementation. We already have valuable input from the uh community through the choose Palmer meeting that was held at the depot last summer. feedback gathered during the Palmer Community Foundation celebration and findings from the Matsu Health Foundation's assessment of health and well-being. By bringing together this information along with conversations already happening throughout Palmer, we can identify meaningful priorities and begin working within one or more of the eight domains of livability. Importantly, we hope to identify community leaders who are interested in serving in an advisory capacity. We would welcome the opportunity to develop a collaborative partnership with the mayor, city council, and city staff so that the community's vision and goals remain aligned. We understand that some projects identified through this process may fall outside the city's direct authority or capacity to address. However, we hope to maintain open communication and collaboration as ideas and opportunities emerge. For that reason, we would value having a representative from the city participate on the advisory committee. Our role is to help assess where we are, where we want to go, and how best to get there. We hope to provide research, coordination, volunteer support, and grant opportunities that can benefit the community while minimizing costs to the city. At its heart, this project is about preserving what we love about Palmer while planning thoughtfully for the future. I invite you to join us in

helping make Palmer not only a livable community, but an exceptional one for generations to come. We thank you for your time and look forward to your support. I'm going to turn that over to Emily.

I will be very short and sweet because Rachel and Liz already covered all the important things, but my role in this committee is um implementation. So, we're going to be getting the word out after hopefully you agree that you want to be a part of the network. Um we will be hosting community conversations coming up this fall. So, I see this as a beautiful way to um have the city come together and just be a much more closerknit community even more than we already are. And we will be talking about the eight domains of livability. Like Liz said, we've already gotten some um surveys from the Matu Health Foundation and Palmer Community Foundation. So, we kind of have an idea of what the residents want, but the community conversations will help us really decide out of those eight domains of livability, what is important for the people who truly live here. I do actually live in city limits. Um, and I was I I grew up I grew up in Palmer. I born and raised Palmer Moose all the way. Um, so I'm very passionate. I also have three small children. So this is an ARP, which people generally associate with retired persons, but AP is for everyone. So we have we want to make sure we're reaching all the seniors all the way down to my little tiny three-year-old Nolan and make sure this is a city that works for every single person. So that is the goal. We've already talked to a few different nonprofits that are potentially going to donate their space so that we have an available available space to have these conversations, truly see what the city wants, come up with little um um micro groups and they will go forth and makes Palmer an even more wonderful city to live in. Thank you.

Anybody have any questions? Yes, sir. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh these communities that are um in the process now, I thought I heard you mention Anchorage, Juno, Fairbanks, but are there small Palmersiz communities? I'm thinking Homer, Sitka, Bethl, whatever you could set off that have that have also taken this jump. Not in Alaska, but I know that there are through the United States, but I don't know specifically of communities this size. Okay, but thank you for the question. Um, so just so you know, um, Kodiak is also looking at, um, going forward, um, with a pro some process um, through AERP level communities.

So, Mr. Mayor, does going if we think this is a good idea, does going forward mean we have to do some type of resolution or is going forward just saying, "Hey, the mayor needs to write a letter saying we think this is great." I was just talking to the city clerk. We will do a resolution. Okay. Bring it bring it for the before the council. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Great. Any anybody else? I have a question. Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry.

Thanks. So at like a floor level, does um city support of this project require the city to do anything? Like in reading through the literature, it sound like maybe there's some gathering of information and providing it or it's a requirements of that nature or is it just uh partnership that we are involved as little or as much as as the city feels is appropriate at the time.

Sure. There's not a requirement. Um there we do want to make sure that we're in alignment. We don't want to do something the city doesn't the city council doesn't want to see done. Um so that's why there needs to be some kind of a partnership. Um I know that in Anchorage I think one of the assembly members is part of the group. Um and I think that's one of the mayors is actually in part of the group in Fairbanks and I can't remember. It's either a city council member or the mayor that's um part of the group. um in Juno. So, it's really a partnership, but it's really not a requirement of the city because we understand I think AERP understands and pretty much all of the volunteers understand there is a capacity issue. Um there's a lot of workforce issues all over in every segment and that includes city government as well.

Yes, ma'am. Is there a cost associated with the application for the support? Okay. No, there's no cost. And we really just have for to be enrolled in the livable communities project. You have to have the blessings of the council, those that are in charge, the highest dignitaries letter of approval. To be as effective and to go forward the best, you need to have that collaboration with those that are in charge. Yes, ma'am.

Yeah. So, I just want to say that I think this is um I look forward to seeing that resolution because I think this really works lock step with a lot of the priorities that city council has had. So, I look forward to seeing um the project you guys come up with because all of those things are what we value in Palmer. So, I think it's perfect. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else? Thank you. Thank you so much. By the way, they all live in Palmer. Yeah, close enough. So, can we from Chamber of Commerce, please?

Good evening, mayor, city council members. Um, so we have a couple exciting announcements soon as my thing turns back the right way. Um, coming up over the next few weeks. Tomorrow at the lunchon, we will proudly celebrate the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce's 55th anniversary. The Palmer Chamber was officially established on May 14th, 1971. And we are honored to continue supporting and advocating for our local business community more than five decades later. Friday Fling is also begins this Friday. It's 11 to 6:00 p.m. in the downtown pavilion. Friday planes continue to be a favorite summer tradition that brings residents and visitors together to support local businesses, vendors, artists, and food food vendors. Uh this season, we are excited to welcome several new vendors and a couple food trucks, adding even more variety and energy to the event throughout the summer. Friday Flings provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase local talent, encourage community engagement, and drive traffic into downtown Palmer. We have also upped our performers just a little bit. So, I'm I'm really excited to hear some of those new ones that are coming in. Also, this Friday at 3 p.m., the chamber will be hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony with a new Palmer Food Bank facility. Um, the food bank plays a critical role in supporting individuals and families throughout our community. And this new new space represents an important investment in expanding those services, providing accessibility, and strengthening food security for the residents in need. We are excited to celebrate this milestone along with our community partners, volunteers, and supporters that have helped make that happen. Um, we are also quickly quickly approaching Colony Days that's taking place June 12th, 13th, and 14th. This year's theme is rooted in community. It reflects the strong connection, shared history, and community spirit that makes Palmer such a special place to live and work. Colony Day remains one of Palmer's signature annual celebrations, highlighting the community. I just lost my place. uh strengthening community.

We're excited to celebrate this milestone along with our community partners, volunteers, and supporters. Oh, I already said that. Where am I at? Sorry, totally lost my place. Um we also with the ongoing traffic road construction and construction activity around the Friday flings and Colony Days event areas. I'd like to thank the city for working closely with the chamber to ensure we have a solid plan in place for these events. We appreciate the continued communication and partnership that we have navigated logistics, traffic flow, and vendor access. The chamber will continue to closely monitor the situation throughout the season and remain flexible should adjustments need to be made for vendors loading, unloading, getting in and out of the events to ensure everything runs as smoothly and safely as possible. Additionally, our next coffee and connections is next Thursday at Lacquer Coffee. These gatherings continue to provide valuable opportunities for local businesses, nonprofits, community members to connect and collaborate. Thank you for your continued partnership and support for the Palmer business community and the Palmer Chamber.

Any questions? Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

We will move on to proclamations. We have um madam you if you'd like to Arbor Day proclamation recognizing Arbor Day. Okay. The proclamation proclamation recognizing Arbor Day. Whereas trees and forests contribute significantly to the health, beauty, and environment, well-being of the city of Palmer by improving air quality, conserving water, reducing erosion, providing wildlife habitat, and enhancing the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. And whereas Arbor Day is a national observance that encourages the planting, care, and preservation of trees for future generations. And whereas the city of Palmer recognizes the importance of responsible stewardship of our natural resources and the value of maintaining healthy urban forest and green spaces throughout our community. And whereas trees play a vital role in strengthening neighborhoods, increasing property values, reducing energy cost, and contributing to the scenic character that makes Palmer a uni a unique and vibrant place to live. And whereas the observance of Arbor Day provides an opportunity for residents, schools, and businesses and community organizations to participate in activities that promote environmental awareness and conservation. And whereas the city of Palmer encourages all citizens to plant trees, care for existing trees, and support efforts that preserve and enhance our natural environment. Now therefore, by the mayor and the city council of the city of Palmer, Alaska, hereby proclaim May 12th, 2026 as Arbor

Day in the city of Palmer and urge all residents to celebrate Arbor Day by planting trees and promoting the care and preservation of our community's natural resources for present and future generations. in witness where I have here unto set my hand and caused the seal of the city of Palmer to be affixed to this 12th day of May. Signed by Jim Cooper. Mayor.

Thank you, ma'am. The next proclamation is recognizing Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a solemn occasion set aside to honor and remember the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces who gave their lives in service to our nation. Throughout history of the United States, generations of service members have answered the call to defend freedom, preserve democracy, and protect the liberties cherished by all Americans. The sacrifices made by these fallen heroes and the enduring strength and resilience of their families deserve the deepest gratitude and respect of every citizen. The city of Palmer recognizes the important contributions and sacrifices of veterans, active duty military personnel, reser, national guard members, and military families within in our community. Memorial Day serves as a time for reflection, remembrance, and unity, reminding us of the true cost of freedom and our shared responsibility to honor the legacy of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The residents in Palmer are encouraged to participate in ceremonies, moments of remembrance, and acts of service that pay tribute to the courageous individuals who laid down their lives for our country. Therefore, the mayor and city council of the city of Palmer hereby proclaim May 25th, 2026 as Memorial Day in the city of Palmer and urge all residents to honor the memory of our fallen service members with gratitude, respect, and remembrance. Thank you. We have a proclamation recognizing public works week.

Yes, ma'am. We do. We do. We do.

All right. So, proclamation recognizing National Public Works Week. Whereas public works professionals provide essential services that support the health, safety, and quality of life of the residents and businesses of the city of Palmer. And whereas these dedicated employees plan, build, operate, and maintain critical infrastructure systems, including streets, water, and wastewater utilities, storm drainage, public facilities, equipment, parks, and other community assets. And whereas public works personnel serve the community every day with professionalism, skill, and commitment, often responding during emergencies, severe weather events, and other critical situations to ensure the continuity of vital services. And whereas the observance of National Public Works Week, sponsored annually by the American Public Works Association, recognizes the substantial contributions public works professionals make to our communities and highlights the importance of maintaining and improving public infrastructure. And whereas the city of Palmer values the dedication and hard work of its public works employees whose efforts help make Palmer a safe, sustainable, and thriving community. And whereas it is important to recognize the achievements and contributions of public works professionals and to encourage public awareness of the importance of public works services. Now therefore, the mayor and city council of the city of Palmer, Alaska, hereby proclaim May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Work works week in the city of Palmer and encourage all residents to join in recognizing and thanking the public works professionals who serve our community with dedication and pride. Thank you.

Thank you.

Um yes, ma'am. Our next one is proclamation recognizing peace officers memorial day.

Yeah, y'all can Yeah, y'all can come up come up front and center here. Don't Don't Don't don't don't be shy. Yeah. Yeah. Up here, folks. Come on. Come on. Come on. I know you did it, but I'll tell you. I will tell on you. I'll tell on all of you.

It's a proclamation recognizing Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15th, 2026. Whereas, Peace Officers Memorial Day provides an opportunity to honor law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in line of duty and to recognize the service and dedication of those who continue to protect and serve our communities. Peace officers throughout the United States, including those serving the city of Palmer, demonstrate courage, professionalism, and commitment in safeguarding the lives, rights, and property of the public. These dedicated men and women work tirelessly, often under difficult and dangerous circumstances to preserve public safety, uphold the law, and maintain peace within our community. The city of Palmer recognizes and deeply appreciates the sacrifices made not only by law enforcement officers, but by their families who provide unwavering support and strength. Congress and the president of the United States have designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and it is fitting and proper for the residents of Palmer to join the communities across the nation in honoring fallen officers in expressing gratitude to all peace officers for their dedicated public service. Now therefore, the mayor and city council of city of Palmer, Alaska, hereby proclaim May 15, 2026 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the city of Palmer and encourage all residents to honor the memory of fallen officers and to recognize the valuable contributions and sacrifices of law enforcement personnel who faithfully serve our community. Thank you guys.

Anything you want to say? Amanda says it all. Thank you. Proclamation recognizing military appreciation month.

You can represent here on this side. This side. I know Mr. Cooper, Coast Guard, Navy. Anybody else representing here? All right.

Oh, yeah. Navy. It's Navy. It's been a been a decade or two. uh proclamation pro uh proclamating May 2026 National Military Appreciation Month. Whereas the city of Palmer proudly recognizes the men and women of the United States Armed Forces whose courage, dedication, and sacrifice have safeguarded the freedom and liberties enjoyed by all Americans. And whereas the National Military Appreciation Month was designated by Congress in 1999 to encourage all Americans to observe and honor the service and sacrifice of current and former members of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard for Space Force, National Guard, and Reserve components. And whereas throughout the nation's histories, members of the military and their families have demonstrated unwavering commitment, resilience, and patriotism in service of our country. And whereas the city of Palmer is home to veterans, active duty service members, reser, military families, and supporters whose contributions strengthen our community and embody the highest ideals of service and citizenship. And whereas during National Military Appreciation Month, we especially recognize Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Armed Forces Day, and Memorial Day, each serving as an important reminder of the sacrifices made by service members and their loved ones. And whereas it is fitting that residents of Palmer express gratitude and appreciation to all who have served and continue to serve in the defense of our nation. Now therefore, the mayor and the city council of Palmer, Alaska, hereby proclaim May 2000

uh 2026 as National Military Appreciation Month in this city of Palmer and encourage all residents to honor and support our military personnel, veterans, and their families through acts of recognition, remembrance, and community appreciation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to report. City manager report, please.

Just wanted to recognize the public works department again. Um, these senior banners, if everyone noticed, were hung up on Main Street and they look wonderful. They were given last Wednesday to the public works department and they were up by Thursday. Um so thank you for the efficiency there. Um city cleanup week was a success. We have the community development department to come up and speak um about all that they did and all their work with that. Um, good evening, Mayor Cooper and council members and city staff. Last week was cleanup week for the city of Palmer and I would call it a success for being a month behind in the weather. Um, I want to recognize Alaska Demolition. Um people may not realize that they provide dumpsters for yard waste and building materials for cleanup week and they empty them whenever they begin to overflow. Uh the city has neither the neither the place to deposit the waste nor the personnel and equipment to do so. So Alaska Demolition takes them every night. So there's not an unauthorized dumping of household trash and they return them each morning. Um, so Alaska Demolition makes a great contribution to the city of Palmer cleanup week. Um, cleanup day was Saturday and once again I would count it a success despite the cold and the possibility of rain. We had families and community clubs that showed up ready to pick up trash around town. Um, a highlight every year uh for the kids is the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce donating bikes or other fun wheeled uh um toys. Um they donated eight bikes and scooters this year along with helmets so to protect from concussions

and that was used for our kids cleanup raffle. They brought a bag of trash in and they got their name entered into it. The Chamber's co-sponsors are Backcountry Bike and Ski, which donated a um an adult a big kids-sized bike, and the Matsu Health Foundation. Eight kids went home with wheels for the summer. Um we had two new community supporters this year. A blissful mascot squad of their own accord sent Elmo to distribute bags, and kids really enjoyed picking those up from Elmo. Um Joe from Patriot Towing and Recovery volunteered his Saturday to pick up all the bags that were set out from the week of cleanup. Um, the Palmer Rotary Club uh made a showing like they do every year and the Palmer Curling Club kind of adopted on their the surrounding area of the Palmer Sports Center and out on Chugat Street and um they had a big showing. Um, Palmer Fire and Rescue were out in full force. They always do a lot of the heavy lifting. It's and they bring their families and the Palmer Public Library staff were there. They provided games and activities. Uh Valley Community for recycling solutions brought an educational display and some games. After cleanup, there were hot dogs and snacks and face painting. Um so I also want to thank the council members and commission members who helped out with cleanup day. Uh, I've attended cleanup days probably in Palmer since at least being under 10 years old. And um, if you've never attended, I want to invite you to come next year. It's a great way for you to make Palmer, Alaska at its best.

Thank you. Anybody else? It's up to you. Um, the last the last part of uh, my report, I was just going to say that on Saturday um, Palmer Little League had their opening ceremonies. if anyone was around trying to find parking. It was packed. My husband coaches and my son plays and it was it was freezing. Um but it was great to see all the kids out. So they are playing until the end of June. So if anyone is around, they have been at the fields every day to support the youth. Any questions of this manager? Thank you. I'm sorry. Yes,

I do have a question. What is the status on the procurement manager getting hired? I would have to get back to you on that. I am not sure of the status of that this time.

Any other questions, comments? Moving on. My report. Last week I attended a couple of ribbon cutings. Uh one was for Matsu Sentinel. Uh they've got a where Tal Skullberg used to have his law office. They they opened that up. Um it's all been the whole inside has been renovated. The basement as well. It was nice to see them move downtown out of her house into a brick and mortar business and uh also a ribbon cutting for Thrive, which is uh a surgical vet clinic. And it's one of the only full-time surgical vets that we have in the state. uh other other um vet clinics do bring in surgical vets uh for certain things, but they they're bringing them in like traveling nurses from outside. So, that was good to see that. I told you last a couple weeks ago that I was going to meet with DOT and I did uh that last that Friday. Uh we just I discussed our plans that we want with to have them, you know, put up barriers and and uh put in a light and all that kind of stuff and and the wheels of government turn ever so slowly and they have to study that issue. I also brought up a speed limit reduction. Um and that's I guess they have to go to National Transportation Safety Board for that. Um so I'm still going to be pushing that those issues. Um I'm actually meeting with um municipal planning organization and we're going to get those projects put on their list where DOT now has to come to MO to get permission to do anything in in that that area. So if we push that issue um and it gets approved by MO that that means the DOT will have to do it. Um so so I'm still working on that. Um I met with the senior center staff um with their board and the executive director says that they are in a much

better place than they were uh months ago that they're basically break even at this point and uh they're looking to move move forward and uh they were working on on business plan for food service and um and instead of starting from scratch I asked them if they would you know put down all the information that they had and uh already, you know, meeting the the mission statement and the vision statement and they're going to do that and we'll be meeting with them shortly, probably in a week or so again. Uh but it was it was good news that they said that they are, you know, basically not in the hole anymore. They own the building, they have no debt. Um and they're looking forward to actually uh building 90 new 90 new units for residents. um met with Big Cabbage Radio and uh discuss the projects that were going on in the near future for for Palmer. And for those who don't remember, May 26th starts construction of of Evergreen um or the deconstruction, whatever the term is you'd like to use. Um it's going to be uh the same kind of u situation that they did on fireweed. They're going to be removing the tracks and uh lowering the grade so that it's more more accessible and putting uh sidewalks on both sides. Um at the same time, uh they're and they're going to be working on Cedar Avenue and they're going to be pushing that through the tracks over to the police station so that the police have easier access out to the road. And of course, library is in full swing at this point. And so that that is the combination that the executive director from the chamber was talking about that uh the road in front of by the by the um

visitor center half of it will be closed uh so that buses can actually get in and park on one side. South side of the road will be open. Uh north side will be closed uh so that the all the construction trucks and stuff can actually get into the library parking lot. Um, I met with uh high school seniors. There were a number of them that came downtown um to look at all of the banners to get their pictures taken in front of the banners. Um, and that was pretty good. As you know, the the um it was mentioned that the it was kind of a they weren't sure whether they're going to get them or not, but they did get them last Wednesday and like the manager said, gave them to public works and they got them up on that next that next day, which is really good. There are 126 or 127 of them. Um I attended the uh senior awards banquet or the senior awards um where our police chief um awarded u couple some scholarships um and uh and also um Cold Graham uh awarded a couple of scholarships. Um, one was a Charlie Acres and the other one was Chief Gantini Memorial Scholarship and the police chief. It was for James Roland memorial scholarship and that was that and that was really good good thing to see. Um, today I gave a tour of city hall to I think it was at least 40 second graders. Um, it's kind of interesting. Um the most exciting part was that um they I took them downstairs and they all wanted to go inside the jail cell. So So I got a text back that said that was that was the best part of the whole whole trip. So So that was fun.

on Friday um or Thursday, I'm going to meet with the uh CEO of the fair and um we're going to be talking about uh some issues that the city has with some of the vendors out there. But just to introduce myself and and welcome him into the city. He's brand new and so that'll that'll be uh I think that'll be fun. And I was already mentioned the food banker ribbon cutting is Friday at 3 p.m. So are there any questions? Yes, sir.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh great report and thanks for everything that you do, especially showing up at Palmer High School and giving out the uh scholarships. It's fantastic to see that and a lot of lot of play on Facebook and other social media. So nice to see you out there for Palmer High. And just cuz I was half half in this thing, did you say 990 new units or 19 new units? 90. That's what I thought you said, but it is almost too hard to believe. So, um Okay. Thank you very much for everything. Anybody else? I've got a question. Oh, I'm sorry. You need to move your water bottle so I can see your red light.

Um, yes. I just want to be sure I was clear on the Arctic Avenue pedestrian issue there. So, we can't do anything at all without state approval. State approval. So, no putting in pedestrian lines, right? Okay. Yeah, we we will be discussing that later committee the whole but just real quickly uh there's some um solutions that they brought up that um are untenable I believe uh talking about medians so that there's no lefthand turns into you know whether it's three bears and or Fred Meyer

um a median at South Valley Way um to get you halfway across and then you have to run the other direction halfway Um, and there's, you know, obviously there's issues with the charter school building high school this year. You know, that's going to be another concern that we have. And they have a study that, uh, is going up Bailey Hill and uh, you know, the new fire station as well. And that includes coming around the corner Alaska of um, on Arctic to Alaska Street. That's under that part of the study. And then the other part of the study is from from Alaska to the to the well beyond but to the bridge for us. So

Okay. And then I did have one thing um just because you're meeting with the um is it CEO? I'm officer. Um I was wondering about parking. I know last year like traffic got like there was no parking so traffic was still out there. I didn't know if they were looking at anything as far as additional parking or if that's something you could address with him. I I I addressed it to the interim uh before and he kind of waved me off until they get the new CEO. Um you know, obviously they close the southern entrance to the parking lot and that will be part of the discussion that they hopefully they'll be able to open that up, allow people to come in a lot faster and and not block that whole intersection both directions. So, thank you.

You bet. Anybody else? Thank you, madam clerk.

Um, I will be out of the office but in the office next week because I will be at a conference. It's my international clerk's conference and part of my continuing education. So, I will be reachable via text message or email, but I might not get back to you right away and uh if you guys need anything. So, I'll just be down there Monday through Friday next week. And then also, we have picked a training day. So, we're going to do June 20th at 10:00 a.m. I'll send everybody an email and let you know and we'll put it officially on the calendar. It just Saturdays seem to work the best for everybody. It's not ideal, but unfortunately, it is what it is. So, that's all I have. If anybody has any questions for me,

so not sure if this is a a question for you or a question for the attorneys. Um, as far as I guess it's Something that's come up on that I have seen on social media is questions about the um executive sessions that happened in January. Uh is there a process and kind of can you give us a quick breakdown of what the process is for essentially making those public record and like what that review process would look like. So our code is pretty clear that they um they are never to be made public record. The only ones and I'm going off of memory so hopefully I'm correct. The only ones that can ask to review the executive sessions are um current council members that were not at that meeting for some reason. And then even then it's not public like they we've done this before. They literally sit in my office and watch the meeting and then they leave. We don't they don't take a copy. A copy never leaves here. And then if a new attorney comes on board and needs to watch that executive session for litigation purposes, they're the only two times that I am authorized to unseal the record. And also they are sealed. Like I have evidence tape on them. They're in a locked drawer. Like you can't they're not accessible. And um I pretty sure I'm the only one who has the key to that drawer. So we could be in trouble if I ever lose the key. But um that's so that they're never to be made public records.

Awesome. Thank you. That answered my question. Thank you. Madam Attorney.

Okay, short report. Benji took half of my report telling you when the um training will be. And uh council member Graham, we are going to talk about open meetings act at that training just so everybody has a refresher. I It's always the intent and the purpose of this body to do as much of their business in public as you can. I think you're doing that. But sometimes it's nice to have the reassurance that you should be talking about difficult things online. So we'll go through that on the 20th as well. If you have topics that you want to have specifically addressed, you can submit that information to Anna Query or me ahead of the meeting through the clerk or directly. Um, sometimes you'll have something that'll come up in your reviewing of the packets or at your meetings that you think, "Oh gosh, maybe we should talk a little more in depth about that." We're happy to include that in our presentation. Um, short report on the actual legal side of our work. We're continuing to assist the city with contract reviews, reviewing legislation as requested, um quite a few records requests, um and so we're doing our work as we're asked and um enjoying it and getting to know um additional folks down the line and our directors and their and their staff. Um and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have about some of those projects.

Yes, sir. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm not sure if this question for uh Miss Need or for yourself, but kind of refresh my memory. What are are we in a one-year contract with Landy Bennett Bloomstein? What's our what's our move going forward? And I I asked this because the history of Palmer has been, you know, the Michael Gotti, the Jack Nodgrasses, the Sarah East that were, you know, uh attorneys that were from here. No offense to any Anchorage people. He may even live in the valley for all I know. But I guess I'm just curious. Did we say we're going to go with LBB for the next year or what what is our what is our plan here?

I believe I I believe and Lesie might remember better than me that we did hire them as our city contract and we're in a contract with them and I believe it's a year at a time with three possible continuances. I think it's a there's a base term and then extension terms as well. Yes. Yep. The base term is this calendar year. I believe it's three. Maybe I'm getting new information. I believe it's three with the option to extend it. Three with two options, I believe. Okay. Thank you. And for whatever that's worth, that's pretty standard for municipalities that have outside legal counsel. So, yep. Any other questions? Moving on. Audience participation.

Yes, we're we're at audience participation. Three minutes per person, limited to a total time of not more than 30 minutes. Sign in and state your name. Three minutes per person. Council meeting rules protect your right to testify and be heard even if others in the room disagree with you. Council meeting rules also ensure that those attending can express their views if they do not interfere with the rights of others to see and hear the proceedings. At all times, order decorum will be maintained in keeping with civility and dignity of the legislative process. Please be respectful during audience participation. No disruptions to city business or threats of any kind will be allowed. Individuals who cannot follow these guidelines will be removed. Any threats against others could result in criminal prosecution. Again, please sign in, state your name, and three minutes per person.

Michelle Grimes Okay. All right. Very good. Thank you. Okay. My name is Michelle Grimes and I want to speak tonight about the city's handling of the Palmer Golf Course liquor license issue. In February, I did come here to discuss the liquor license history, but what I've learned is that there is additional information in the public record that I believe should be discussed. Public records show that from at least 2007 to 2024, the golf course operated under a year-round liquor license. In 2025, the city itself changed that license to seasonal status. Despite this, what is in the record is that on January 9th, the city reported the prior golf course operator, George Colum, and Eagle Golf Course management to the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office for alleged long-standing seasonal alcohol sales violations. AMCO was told that this quote appears to be a long-standing practice. Included in that report was 5 years of monthly alcohol sales data prepared by the city on January 12th. The record indicates that the council was also likely told that the operator engaged in long-standing license violations. You may also have been provided with the same spreadsheets that Amco received showing years of monthly sales data. On January 27th, the public was told that the license had been seasonal for decades. The AMCO report against Mr. column in Eagle Golf. The information presented to the council and the statements made to the public were false. I am not here to speculate on intent, but I do think it is reasonable to say that the city either

knew or should have known the correct liquor license history before making an allegation to a state regulatory agency against a private citizen. This is not a minor clerical issue and this is certainly not intended to be a gotcha, right? This involved a longtime operator amid ongoing contract negotiations and the reputations of people that live in our community. So, I urge the council to examine how this happened. I urge you to look at what safeguards exist to prevent this from happening again. The person responsible is your employee and employees actions reflect directly on the city. I acknowledge that serving on the city council is not an easy role and I've definitely learned that in the time that I've spent attending these meetings and watching them. It's not easy sitting here in this seat sharing this information with you. I understand this is difficult. Um, and this is not something that I'm bringing forward lightly, but the fact remains you have an obligation to address staff concerns when they arise and correct the public record when the statements have been made. I do hope that you see this as an opportunity to help restore public trust. The community needs confidence that city decisions are made with diligence and good faith, and you're here to ensure that that happens. Thank you, Uh hello, my name is Bruce Kelly, a former cart kid for three seasons at the Palmer Golf Course. I'm here at the request of my grandfather, Dan Gman, who devoted 30 years of his life helping the Palmer Golf Course, arguably the best and friendliest course in the state. Unfortunately, now that the curse has returned to being cityrun, two of the

the department heads in charge had indicated publicly that we were the swamp and they have drained the swamp. I'm not sure how several hundred,000 of profits the city has received over the last 18 years or swampy. Um, as as you as you may already know, it has come to light that the city manager, the mayor, and some city council members apparently had no intention of honoring the twice voted extension of Eagle Golf Course Management to run the course for 2026. As far back as October 2025 and again in December, the city manager had directed department heads, including the airport manager and the council to brainstorm ways that the Palm Golf Course could return to being cityrun in violation of the Open Meetings Act and with no public participation. With with that in mind, the ethical thing would have been to tell George from the start uh that you want to go in different directions. However, through bad uh faith uh negotiations, uh the city manager disregarded the directions given uh her from the council and drug the process out for months with absolutely absurd demands. At an earlier council meeting, my grandpa reminded the council that the city manager works uh works for and at the direction of the council. However, uh as evident from the earlier uh those early members, the city manager, it appears that some of you on the council think that you work for her. As members of the community, we deserve the ethical honest and ethical government for the for the past 8 months and maybe even longer. We have not had that from from some of you, and now it's probably too late. My grandpa and many others in the community have little or no little or no confidence that this body will operate ethically and legally. It may be time for a change in leadership. Anybody else wishing to come forward?

Oh, is it on? Okay. Um, I was going to talk about one thing, but I'm going to talk about another. Say your name for the

Oh, my name is Cindy Heel. Harsh. I'll try to fit both in. Um, tried to catch your attention, Benji. Um, You said you're unsure and then you gave us a dialogue about whether or not the recordings can ever be accessed, which didn't answer Amanda's question. Um, I just pulled it up. Under specific regulations of Palmer, Alaska, recordings of closed door executive sessions are overseen and cataloged by the city clerk and are not immediately accessible to the public. However, according to the city's mandate, these records can be made public under the following specific conditions. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but before you answered the question, please do not keep No, I won't say you don't give misinformation by saying I think this is important. Amanda's answering a question that probably came in from 150 of her constituents. she's elected and I'm not not just to you, but you're doing your job by trying to find out if you can access those things. So, thank you. But it would be nice if we had a complete and good legal answer before saying they're locked up and no one can ever get to them. The reasons are outlined below. I don't know if this fits, but it's just important to know that we need that kind of answer in this forum to be accurate. So, so anyway, um that is all I have to say for now.

Thank you.

Anybody else? Mr. Stfansky. My name's Joel Stfansky. Um, I got several questions and hopefully, um, the council can address some of these when they have their chance to speak at the end of the meeting. Um, we always seem to when we have important questions like the procurement office said, we never seem to have that right answer for those very important questions. It's always sidetracked. Never, we never find an answer. So I at the end I'd like to get the council members to kind of respond to some of these questions I have. Um number one, thank you Amanda again way back the release of obligation. Uh where are we with that? I'd like to have your response at the end. Master plan for the airport. I want to know if the golf course is left out of the master plan. Um, this is for you because you you're a big trigger leader for the golf course. How are we doing with the employees? Do we have any answers on that? I'd like to go play some golf and maybe June. Um, possible. I want to know if it's if I could spend the money or should I go somewhere else. Um, how many employees have been hired? Um, I'd like to form a golf course advisory board just like the uh airport advisory and have real golfers on there, please. Just like the airport advisory. Um, you know, the council young man spoke about truth. The council has been

running from the public, running from the truth for a long time now. The community deserves decisions to be made in public, not executive session. The community deserves transparency, not emails telling department heads on what how to find out things that discredit the golf course operator. We need to be transparent and we need to not tell the department heads to try to make the golf course look bad for the airport. I remind the council about all the lies. The labor law is broken. None. Amco violations. None. Out of compliance, none. Eagles on the golf course. We're going to have to patrol them. You know, these kind of things. We This community deserves better leadership than constant lies. And it's really pathetic to be associated with this beautiful town and people don't want to ask the right questions. One of the things this is directed towards your attorney. Um have you shared with the council about some things that have gone on with the airport recently? you need to share with them in executive session, please.

Joel, that's your time. Yep. Thank you. I I can write it down.

Thanks. I am the community development director. Uh we were going to do a golf course update, but I chose not to. Um but apparently we should have. So, uh just for a reminder of everybody that gets up here, you can ask all the questions you want. uh they can't answer you. Um you can say whatever you want, doesn't make it facts. And the reason why we have executive sessions is because George and every contractor is allowed privacy in those negotiations. That's why we have them. Not everybody was in there. There was one that I was called in, but both G and I, the finance director, were kept in the back of the depot and were not called upon. It is illegal for us to talk about those things because George and any other contractor has that right. That's why we do not discuss those. As for emails that were exchanged, we didn't know what was going on. We we tried. George reached out. We both sat down. George re may have reached out more than I did. Like I've heard that before. I'm not going to argue it. We had sat down several times. Unfortunately, the contract, not by George, George didn't write the contract. My predecessor wrote the contract. Unfortunately, there were things in that contract that were not legal. That is not George's fault. I never said it was George's fault. The city manager never said it was George's fault. That was the contract's fault. As a procurement officer in a previous life, I looked at the contract and there were at least five things wrong with it. That is not George's fault. George did what was good for George and his company. That's what he's supposed to do. He's a private entity running a p a public golf course. That's okay. I was his biggest advocate for the longest time. You can laugh if you want to come up and talk. It's fine. I was a huge

advocate. But the more the layers uncovered, the more I had to correct the contract. I had to sign that. Nobody else. I sign the contract. I forward it over. It's my name on that contract. It cannot be renewed every five years. Just like the attorney's contract, three years or two year, one-year options, right? State procurement law. So now imagine how we did that for 19 years. That's not George's fault. George is no. Yeah, I'll take the contract. No big deal. Nobody said he did a bad job. Not once did that come out of my mouth. Not once that was a discussion. Not once have I ever said George did a bad job. Everybody can get up here and say whatever they want, but everybody, my name, my email, my phone number is public. Nobody has ever reached out to me. It's easier to get up here and yell at the Das. They can't answer you. I can. And as for Facebook, yeah, somebody said, "We need to drain the swamp of polar." And you know what? I got up there.

This might be a discussion. You might this might be a discussion you want have in private with the other people that have questions for you. Thank you. I had a private conversation with the last council meeting and I'm thankful for the people that participated.

Hello. My name is John Sher. Um I've spoken to you uh several times about the golf course. Um, I've spoken about other topics as well, but uh, the golf course in Palmer here is is uh, dear to me, my family, my friends. We go there a lot. And to me, golf is a great game. One of the greatest virtues of golf and the game is the honesty. And I think the truth is something we can all handle, although we might not want to hear it. The truth here, Peter, is that the city decided to run the golf course itself last December. The truth is there is no need or basis for the unrealistic lease rate issue. There's no need for the FAA compliance issue narrative, the management contract issue, the Department of Justice threat, the self-inflicted AMCO issue, or any number of other issues which have now been set aside seemingly without merit or any further need. And there's obviously no need for the two unanimous votes to extend the contract as that decision had apparently already been made. Um, if this council had been honest to the public from the beginning with its intentions, you could have saved us a great deal of stress and worry. After all, most of us just wanted to keep the golf course open. You could have also saved yourselves the appearance of OMA violations and the appearance of bad faith negotiations. And most importantly, there would have been no reason to stain someone's reputation who honorably devoted two decades of his life to service in this community. You might not want to hear it, but I think that's the truth. Um, moving forward, I hope this council is continuing to seek the release of obligation that you all voted for. And I hope you have also instructed the airport supervisor uh to remove the golf course land from the master plan. And I also sincerely wish the best of luck to the city and the employees of the golf course in your

new venture. And I have been out there a couple times and they are putting in the work and it does look pretty good. So I am currently optimistic. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing no one close the public hearing and move moving on new business. Can we take a short break? Yeah. Any objection to a five minute break? All right, we'll take a break.

Are you

That was I will see what

biggest

Ready. like to bring the uh city council meeting back to order, please.

Thank you. We're under new business. Resolution 26013 opposing Matt Nuska Susittna Burough ordinance serial number 26032 adopting Matubo 1.10.170 1 0.170 and Matsubo 3.35.6.5% arewide sales tax repealing area wide property tax and submitting the proposition to the voters at the November 3rd, 2026 regular burough election. What's the wishes of the council? Move to approve.

Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Would you like to have Yes, sir. Yeah, I'll take a bite of this apple for sure. um for this apple cost me 10 and a half% more. Uh yeah, anything you know as I talked about when we raised our sales tax stacks from 3 to 4%. It's the most regressive tax you can lay on a community and when they start talking about, hey, here's a wonderful thing. We're going to cap it at $1,000. So, we're going to cap it for people's, you know, groceries and people that are struggling to get by and their electric bills and everything else, but we're not going to person that can afford a $75,000 truck that's going to be capped. So, I just think this uh idea of, you know, having sales tax to replace property tax is uh um not something I'll ever support obviously. So, I will be very much supportive of this uh resolution to oppose this. And uh thank you very much, Mr. Yeah.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh, I definitely want to agree with the opposition of the city for this. Um, I think one of the things that is easily missed in MSB ordinance uh 2632 is that it will not levy an areaide property tax, but there will still be a significant number of taxes on property at that point. It's not replacing all property tax within the Matsue Burough, just the area wide property tax, which um sounds a little bit misleading the way that they've been marketing this. And I wish that they had had a little bit more clear information put out to the public on it. Um and it does not bode well for the future of if this were to pass, it not spiraling out of control. I also don't think that financially it makes very much sense when I look at it. So, I would I hope that uh anybody who is in the audience or listening at home or or reading the notes afterward goes through and actually looks at this and then does show up at Matt Suburo assembly meetings. Um they just passed the budget pretty quickly and one of the things that they cited for passing it so quickly was that nobody was there to speak about it. So, um I think it's important to not just handle thing or not handle not just come in to talk about things you want handled within the city but also the burough wider because obviously it touches on everybody.

Thank you. Madame Assemblywoman, would you like to come forward and speak to this at all? I know. Do you want to speak to the your other proposal potentially? I can I'd rather you come now if you would rather just a few you know you can give us your three minute dissertation right now on on your proposal please this is a this is people don't don't know yeah come on Stephanie has an alternative to this going go before the burough assembly

so it's uh normally I'm not here I'm over across the way and I usually listen to your meetings on one and a half So, everybody's got a little bit lower timber in their voice and slower. Um, just identify yourself.

Oh, thank you. Um, Stephanie Ners uh sit on the burough assembly for the greater Palmer area and um I will say this proposal and the discussions of property tax um and how to give some relief to local residents got me thinking. So, um I will I have introduced a proposal. I would love to get the city's feedback on um not tonight. I'll give you a chance to to look at it and if I can email it to the clerk so folks can look at it. Um what it would do is uh kind of trying to solve the same problem of giving relief to local residents and diversifying our tax base. So, it's a 1 and a.5% sales tax outside the cities. So, it does not stack on the cities and it gives a $75,000 property tax exemption to everybody with a residence here. So, for the average person, that's about $750 relief on their property taxes. Um, it's modeled after the city, so everything's just about the same. The cap is $1,000. Um, definitely thinking about that because of some of the feedback I've gotten so far. Um, and I really appreciate any any feedback on it. It's always good to have extra eyes on it. Um, so you know, the the thing I was trying to do is do the most to bring in some of those dollars from people who come to the burrow and use our services but pay nothing. So you get some of that visitor funding and do the most to benefit residents uh, who live here. So that's what the exemption is about. And so um that is going to be on the agenda on June 16th in front of the assembly. If it passes, it would go before the voters in November. And that's the same night we'll be talking about the 6 and 12%

uh sales tax. So again, it was that proposal that got me thinking about ways to solve this problem and um I will send it to the clerk and it would be great to have any feedback folks up here have and from the community as a whole. Thank you. Any other discussion on Yes, ma'am.

Yeah. Um thank you, Mr. Harris, for that. I find that a really interesting proposal. Um, I always hear, you know, when uh sales tax is brought up, the thing is that it's the most regressive tax. Um, and so I've done a fair amount of well, you know, I'm not didn't go to school for it obviously, but done some reading on that because I the issue is very interesting to me. Um, and from what I've read, I talk about it being the most regressive tax, meaning that um, a the lower income an individual has, um, the greater percentage of their disposable income is taken up by property tax, sorry, sales tax. Whereas those with higher income, that sales tax is a very small percentage of their disposable disposable income. That being said, everything I've read though um compares it to a competitive housing market. So it says that um okay, this is bad uh sales tax increased sales tax is bad for lower income individuals. Um and property tax isn't bad for them because uh it's not passed on to them as renters. Um but we're in a different housing market. Uh and I I think I said a competitive we are in a very competitive housing market, a tight housing market. Um where I think those extra costs of landlords are being passed down to renters. Like I'm not convinced from what I've read so far that uh the analysis that's been done um really applies to the situation our community is in right now. And I would describe our housing market as having been quite tight since like the 80s. Um, so to automatically like I feel like some folks hear sales tax and bam, no

way. That's bad. Um, it's I'm not convinced uh on based on what I've read. Now, am I in support of a 6.5% area wide sales tax? I'm not saying that either. Uh that's why I'm really interested in um perhaps some of these in between um approaches where we are able to take advantage of um uh spending as far as folks coming into the community and spending. Um but I'm really concerned about the cost of housing right now too in the area because I I it really limits I think particularly the younger individuals um and those with young families in the community. And so to continue to place say we're abs just to automatically say we're not going to consider sales tax if we need additional revenue. We're going to increase property tax. I don't think that's necessarily the answer for our community either. So I'm still researching considering um options. I'm pleased to hear that there are other um alternatives being put forward and so I'm interested in looking at those in more detail.

Yes, ma'am.

So, um thank you Stephanie for speaking with us today. Uh I'm not I I have other concerns. One of them uh is with the bureau's adoption, would it undermine uh the city's home rule uh jurisdiction? Um and and that's for all the cities within the Matsubo, not just Palmer. Um the other concerns I have, especially for young families, are what other costs uh may become more expensive. I just had two daughters move out of the state of Alaska and with no set return date um simply based on the fact that they can't buy a house. They can't child care is very hard. And so some of those are child and youth activities may become more uh expensive. School related purchases, clothes supplies, sports gear, and sports gear will cost more. And again, like Allison was talking about the housing um and you know, and families may shop in Anchorage, they may shop in Loil. We've already heard that in public hearings uh with our own sales tax. Um and that could hurt our small businesses here in Palmer. And so I am in support of this and I would really like to hear um Miss Nau's uh uh proposal and I'd like to read it a little bit more to make a final decision. So thank you.

Anybody else? Just a quick comment. I I've kind of researched a little bit on the the U new proposal and to me it makes a whole lot of sense. uh much better than obviously this one and a half% sales tax you know excluding all the cities uh $75,000 uh reduction in your property uh assessment which is the maximum which the state allows and at this point um and obviously that will go up with inflation um or cost of living every year um so I too am looking forward to seeing that report uh from them or the new resolution from them the ordinance from them. Um, yeah, but I am am I am totally u against their their ordinance and in favor of our our resolution. So, any other questions, comments, concerns? Madame Clerk,

Deputy May Canra, yes. Council member Carrington, yes. Council member Moer, yes. Council member Collins, yes. Council member Graham, yes. Mayor Cooper, yes. It is passed unanimous. Thank you. Um, I don't think we have any regular items placed on the table. I have two things. I have some letters of support regarding the AARP livable community to distribute to you guys and then a copy of MSB ordinance 26-032.

Thank you. Moving on again, audience participation if this is a again three minutes per person. Council meeting rules protect your right to testify and be heard even if others in the room disagree with you. Council meeting rules also ensure that those attending can express their views if they do not interfere with the rights of others to see and hear the proceedings at all times. Ordering decor will be maintained in keeping with civility and dignity of the legislative process. Please be respectful during audience participation. No disruptions to city business or threats of any kind will be allowed. Individuals who cannot follow these guidelines will be removed. Any threats against others could result in criminal prosecution. Again, please sign in, state your name, and three minutes per person. Anyone wishing to come forward.

I'm Cindy Hill. Um, what I was going to do was read an email to you guys that some people have talked about um, a December email and wondering why negotiations were even continued with George. And I realize that you guys may not be in the loop about what anybody's talking about. Um, the foyer request that was not done by me, but um, since this was made public by them, I I don't know. I guess it just kind of stunned me. So, this is dated December 24th, 2025 from Colby to Erica, um, Gina Davis, Jude Bilifer, and Nathaniel Outs. Except I said that wrong. Um, it's just an email from her that surprised me. It says, "Hi, team. I've spoken with some of you regarding the possibility of returning golf course operations to the city. There appease appears to be some council support for this option though many questions remain. As with any discussion of this nature, council could decide to move in a different direction. At the January 13th council meeting, there will be an opportunity during committee of the whole to discuss this possibility. Please be prepared to speak on how this change could affect your respective department. In particular, we need to understand what whether or not this would be feasible for the 2026 season. There is no right or wrong answer here. I'm looking for facts, impacts, and consideration so council can have a clear and informed discussion to avoid unnecessary concern or speculation. Please keep any discussions outside of this group to a minimum. We can plan to meet next week and walk through this together. In the meantime, merry Christmas to everyone. So, this indicates to me that she had a plan. our city manager, whose job,

when I read her job description, doesn't really indicate this. Um, she was working on moving this to city management in December. Um, I feel bad that you guys had all these votes and that we've all been coming out. If I know as you know that this information was shared with you, it really undermines the trust that I have for this body. It is it blows my mind that you've all kindly said that you support the golf course. Um the folks that she included in these emails, there are people who lived here when the golf course was under city management. If they were going to talk about this, I have no idea why they wouldn't have talked about the terrible failure that there was when the city ran the golf course compared to now. If it was a way to save the city 600 grand, well, it's not going to do that. It created I I want the golf course to succeed. I I won't say I don't care who has the contract. I want the person who rents our golf course to be someone who does a great job for us. So anyway,

thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing no one, we'll close audience participation. Bring it back to the council. We are I we are in a committee of the whole. I'd like to have a motion. I'd like to have a motion to go in the city. Committee of the whole. I move that we go into uh committee of the whole to discuss the Arctic Avenue traffic safety options and note that um the council uh may take action following the committee of the whole second.

Any any opposition to that? All right, we are in the in the uh committee the whole to discuss Artic Avenue traffic safety options. Um this is a continuation from April 28th meeting and I kind of discussed that a little bit about what what's been happening. Like I say, I met with DOT um laid out our options. Um you know, starting at the the bridge even before that, we have a as you know, there's a 55 mph speed limit that comes up to the bridge. It goes into 45 around the corner and then drops to 35 just before you get to the charter school. The problem with that is people are still going 45 plus as they round that corner uh and entering the where the charter school and or the the um the park is. Um so my suggestion to them was move that 55 speed limit back towards the but area more. Um put 45 speed limit uh before you get to the bridge and then before you get to that first corner make it 35. And then so as they come around the corner, they'll actually be going um you know hopefully 35 u by the time they get to the charter school. And like I said that one of the issues is that the charter school is going to be building a high school there which will add obviously a lot more traffic to to Arctic. Um the concern uh that the state has is they want to put a bypass if you want to call it that out of the high school in through the neighborhood. uh change the road so that so that there's not that many people entering Arctic that actually are going to go into into the neighborhood and then and then uh come up to a light or wherever it's going to be at a different intersection. Uh that to me is kind of an untenable solution. I don't want to have uh all those people running into a neighborhood from the high school. Um so

there are options there that whether it's a blinking light or something that that they're going to put there. They're also talking about they need crosswalks um or sidewalks and crosswalks there. Um so moving this direction um we we talked about um Valley Way uh where Leer Coffee is in and the old Glenn. Um my comment to them was we need to have a light there. Um they their suggestion was let's put in a median strip uh so people can run halfway across the street and stop in the median and then look both ways and run across the street uh the other direction. Um when I was when I was coming to that meeting I um I live on Bonanza Street. So I happened to look that direction. Um, I saw there were two women pushing strollers running across the street at Valleyway um, while traffic was was was cruising. Once they leave Alaska Street on the light, everybody knows that they step on the gas cuz they're going to the uh the but area. Um, you know, and so I mentioned that the the uh median is not necessarily a good idea either. Uh, they wanted to extend that past where um, Brewhaha is. So you can't turn into brewhaha from coming from the but um and so you know I you know I pushed the I'm pushing the light issue and of course they said oh we have to go you know there's other restrictions and other organizations that we have to go through to um to get permission to do that light but that's you know that that's something that I think that we need to pursue. They were talking about having an overpass there for pedestrian

overpass. Um, which is, I guess, okay, but I'm not sure if I was a young kid on a bicycle, I'm not going to push my bike up and over the overpass and or if I was a a a mother with a stroller, I don't think I would do that either. So, um, that's that's, you know, that's another issue that, um, they're discussing as well. uh moving closer. You know, there's a there is a a a problem as you come off the the Glenn Highway coming on to Arctic Street. Uh I'm sure everyone has experienced people turning left into the Three Bears parking lot to get to their gas station and that immediately stops traffic. Um and particularly bad when school that's out at 215 or whatever that is, you know, you see traffic backed up all the way up the hill. So my suggestion was they need to buy right away so that they can extend that middle lane all the way to the light so people can actually get in the middle lane and not block a block a highway. Their suggestion solution was um the little alleyway that's behind or right next to where um Big Dipper is. Um they wanted to have put a median in from from uh the Glenn Highway to almost Alaska Street. So you cannot turn left either direction either into Three Bears or into Fred Meyer gas station. Uh and so they wanted people to go up to Alaska Street, turn left, go behind um where Big Dipper is, use that little alleyway to get into Three Bears. Um, that's kind of crazy. Um, for lack of a better term, you know, they keep their dumpsters back there. It's a small, narrow road. There's houses that are right there. There are people that walk on that road. Um, and that is city

property and I don't think that we would I would not profess to allow that to happen as well. Um, so turning the corner, uh, you know, they're they have a plan going up. uh they want to fix the road, if you will, to go up to where the new fire station is going to be up by Scott Road area and their solution was close off Eagle Street. Um so there's no access from Eagle Street onto the Glenn Highway. Um my comment to them was that is the main access, the only straight through access from the Glenn Highway to the schools. Um one straight shot. Um, at a minimum it should be right turn in, right turn out, but they cannot close that road. Um, so that's kind of where we are with um, DOT and like I mentioned um, I'm going to meet with DOT and U executive director from the MO and discuss those issues and we're going to put it before the policy board and once the municipal planning organization uh, adopts that uh, our suggestions then uh, the state has to pretty much you know go along with what we approve. And um so that's kind of where we are with that. Does anybody have any questions about Yes, ma'am.

So I just want to make sure that I'm clear. One of the things that DOT said that we would need additional bureaucratic oversight for is putting lights on that road. Putting a traffic light. It was my suggest a traffic light at South Valley or Valleyway and Arctic. Did the topic of putting up the temporary like flashy there's people here lights come up or because it's not officially a crosswalk. DOT says it doesn't exist.

Yeah, it it it you know but you remember unfortunately is a state road. Um but that right my s suggestion if we're going to if they're going to do that it would not be temporary that we would actually have a permanent flashing light like we do on uh if you go up Alaska Street you know andor down by the school they have flashing it's only 25 mph sign that flashes all the time right so we had talked about that being temporary until they decided you know to put the light in and all of that I guess I don't understand what is keeping the city from putting up cautionary sites in the city right ofway. That's it's a a long Alaska street state rightway.

Okay. So, what's keeping the city from putting up the lights uh slightly on the other side of the state right of way? Um if they're not going to give us permission to use the state ride ofway in a way that will keep our community safe. Yeah, Nate was meeting as well. Hi, Nathaniel. It's community development director. Uh what what what questions do you have?

I I want to know if the topic of putting up temporary or permanent caution lights at that crossing or non-crossing came up and um if so, what was DO's like reason for not allowing it? And if not, what is keeping the city from just doing it? So, let me start with answering a question ask. I'm not sure is that on.

I don't think it's on.

Hello.

All right. I'm gonna answer a question or yes, answer a question you didn't ask. Um last council meeting all of those options got presented that were pushed up from P&Z all the discussions about the Arctic Avenue uh concerns. Um I brought all of them except for the three that um that uh Commander Zipsky and uh Daniel Perion uh we had gone through. We took three in one because one wasn't feasible, the other one doesn't make sense and the other one's too expensive and people just use it to go, "Hey, look, I'm going that fast." Right. Um might be guilty of that as well. But I brought everything up that was presented at the last council. The um and I forget it's the triangular flashing rapid flashing triangular light is what it is. And it's a push button on demand uh pedestrian there. And I have to like speak gently, right? because these is our people we're working with. It's not that they said no, it's not that they said yes. It is perfect bureauc bureaucracy, right? So it's we are in conversations. Some make sense, some don't make sense. The biggest one is there is a very large as the mayor had uh said there's a very large study going on with that corridor. Um, previously the Arctic, excuse me, the Arctic Avenue to Palmer Fish Hook, uh, Glenn Highway upgrade, um, because of everything that was brought forth from PNZ and the council in the fall, actually last spring actually, they actually adopted back to Alaska, as the mayor uh, um, mentioned, that um, that study they're looking at, and it's a study. This is not in stone, right? This is ideas is a double left right now

because they did a study that said that the double left is better than the double right. Um that's traffic engineers doing their thing. So the idea is coming if you're going westbound on Arctic and you're technically three bears red. You enter through Alaska Street and there'll be three lanes. one through lane which will actually kind of divert into Three Bears right away and then it'll come back across and meet up with Bogard as it travels west and then the double left and yes there will be a median to um you know basically hinder people from going across and endanger it. On that note, my son and I just got hit at that very intersection this on Saturday. somebody diving through the parking lot of Fred Meyer wanting to go westbound, breaking like four laws of traffic and decided to kiss our side door. So, it's I have firsthand how dangerous that is. I myself am for the median. Absolutely. Especially after that weekend. Um but yes, the median is proposed from the Glenn Highway intersection to Alaska and that is to keep people from diving in and out. We are in discussion and trying to figure out Jude Bellor brought up in another meeting that that first entrance to Palmer or sorry Freudian slip there that first entrance to Fred Meyer may have been a temporary entrance that has just stayed. Um so they're looking at that entrance as well because that's actually what happened to us on Saturday is somebody used it as an exit when it's an entrance only. Hence the danger of it. So um yes that meeting will go through there is conversate there's lots of I'm not even answering your question I'm sorry go ahead

so that temporary versus the permanent the reason why they don't want a permanent is because they have a giant study and they that is a completely different engineer team that is working on that I believe 2032 was their their outlook on that doesn't mean they're not looking at it till 23 that's my correction 203 34 is the project. So they're essentially doing a study from today moving forward for Cotton Ground and 34. Um they are, which I was excited to hear this, uh the mayor didn't mention, they are having a 2027 project to redo the road, resurface it. That was when I stepped in and said, "Huh, interesting. You're going to be cutting the ground and redoing it." What are the thoughts of high viz painting? What about like the rumble strips or whatever, the little bumpy bumps? Unfortunately, that's not a very good idea because of uh plows, right? They're just going to take them off. Um, so they are open to high viz painting um and to I asked can we maybe have some and I'm speaking out of turn as the director but hypothetically if we had money to pair and bucket into that state project and they said we don't know let's go back and talk about it. So these things are on they're on in conversation. It's not a yes, it's not a no. It's multiple entities working together. Um so

so I guess my concern is like I know how long these traffic studies take. I know how long these projects take. They've been talking about putting in a roundabout at peek and fish for like a thousand years. Not even counting what's going on at Board and Instrom. Like that's a nightmare and it has been forever, right? Um, and that's not necessarily a pedestrian only danger at that intersection. It's also vehicles, whereas, you know, the concerns that were brought up by P&Z are very specifically pedestrian related. I mean, we we've all seen that happen. Um, my concern is, I guess, not concern. Yes, concern. I don't know. I want to make sure that we as a city are not endangering our public because the state uh has a bureaucratic problem when we have the opportunity to put in a temporary solution that works in lock step with what they have going on. And I and I don't necessarily mean putting it in in 2028 when everything gets approved in 2027 and then we can, you know, start the actual planning in 2027 and then get it installed in 2028. I'm talking about something that we can get temporarily installed for pedestrian safety in Palmer like soon, right?

Um is that when is the next set of meetings going to be on this? Um, has planning and zoning or um, yeah, planning and zoning considered looking into, okay, so what's the like nearest city right of way to that intersection where if the state's like, nope, you cannot put anything in our right of way. All right, cool. So, we're going to do it anyway and it's going to like overhang or something. Um I I don't want a road that is distinctly Palmer but on paper belongs to the state continuing to be a hazard to our people.

Correct. And that is why we're in these these these meetings. So the MO reaching out these these meetings that uh the mayor and I were in those were like one-on-one type stuff and we had multiple engineers on teams but we had two in group one being the regional traffic uh manager and then um the other being the local guy. So like that it wasn't, you know, we're not just on the on the computer screen. We're hashing out things that and so yes, I understand the bureaucracy of things, but I want to highlight the Glenn Highway to Alaska. That was not a thing on that Glenn Highway stuff. They were like, "No, we're just doing artic." But because the city was involved and didn't really necessarily poke anybody in the eye, but we did the ribb poke. Hey, we're here. We're curious. we have concern and they said okay and those conversations and building a good relationship with the state and other entities and other jurisdictions is how things happen conversations that's the biggest one that I've learned in my role that um maybe have dried up maybe nobody knew but those things that's like my number one like that's what I'm geeking out with like let's let's have these conversations who who can make those choices who can simply asking right you can tell me no all day I'm going to ask so I mean I I don't want to turn this into me show this is I was here to to help out Mayor Cooper I will I will be meeting with DOT MO within two weeks and we're going to bring this issue before the policy board and you know and Nate brought up that DOT's plan is 2034 the advantage of the MO is they push they can push it to 2027 um um it depend on what what program that they're they're using. Um one could be next year and that can be the year

after that, but definitely way before 2034. Um and being the chair of the NO, you know, there's I have a little bit of pull with it. And so, like I said, we're going to be meeting with the DOT again within the next couple weeks and discuss this that issue and going to bring it up again. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Um a couple of things. Uh when we were in Juno in February, the DOT, the TR Department of Transportation Commissioner spoke to us. Um have you been in conversation with him addressing some of these concerns um with the representatives and the pushing back? Um, and the second thing is, uh, when I look at Anchorage and the pedestrian, uh, walkway by overpass that fell down, um, that could have, uh, potentially, uh, hurt someone. It didn't, thank God, but with our high winds in Palmer, I would highly recommend against it um, just simply for that reason. and it's it's not it's a safety concern for me especially in that corridor. Um the uh but I'm really interested if the NO has engaged in conversation with the state commissioner.

One of the members of the NO policy board is a deputy commissioner from DOT. Um and so you know obviously I talked to her quite a bit. Kathern Keith is her name. um recent board member um and uh she's on board. She's the one of the ones that actually wants to push these projects to allow the cities to do their projects and not have the state do them into the future. Um and I am going to be in contact with Elena Johnson about this issue in particular. Um um I am concerned about all of our our people. Um, you know, we have a skateboard park there. Um, we have stores there. We have people walking on the bike path that are there. Um, and that's another issue that the policy board is going to discuss is extending that bike path um north along Valley Way in the green space all the way to Eagle Street. Um, so, you know, it won't be the same project, but you know, those are the kind of things that they're looking at at this point. Um, like I say, Deputy Commissioner Keith is on on our board. Um, and you know, we're in pretty close contact, so I will, you know, be bringing that up with with them in within the next two weeks.

Yes, ma'am. It's my understanding that with the MO, the state after the census, they made us do the MO because we were big enough to do our own stuff. So that should give us some some ability through the MO to circumvent their long process. Yeah. The NPO is is a federally designated organization. So it's federal.

It's federal. And so um the state now has to their DOT projects have to be approved and put on the um the the the training the transportation improvement plan for NO. And if it's not this, those projects cannot get done. So, uh, any of the projects that the state is proposing in our area that we have to approve those projects. Um, and so when we put those projects forth, um, it's going to it's almost a requirement that the state has to do those. Okay.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for your uh work on this to date. Um, you know, there's the old adage that says it's uh better to uh beg forgiveness than to gain approval. And u and sometimes I think uh doing something along the lines of what uh council member Graham's talking about and then seeing what the reaction is from the government that moves slowly. I think um as council member Moer uh commented on, we were at AML in February. They talked about um different lighting systems they're using in Kodiak. Um different ways you can like you have a something just press a button make it light up like you know Christmas time. I hate to think we're going to have to deal with more deaths on Arctic before anything gets done because it's in a six-year stip plan or 8-year plan or whatever it may be. And I don't know because I wasn't involved and probably didn't care enough to think about it. But I believe the 35 zone doesn't start until after um after the school and it so you're almost making a right-hand turn on GC Canada to go to Sherid before you have to slow down to 35 and then it's 35 blast all the way into town basically which I always questioned and you know I appreciate you in your very beginning comments saying hey can we push this back to you know after the bridge it's 45 and then it turns 35 at uh park and then and then hopefully 25 when it gets to GCA. Um that would do something, but I think some temporary lighting situation. I also uh the chief's back here think uh some dedicated enforcement that we might have to pay a little extra for to just have somebody write up a bunch of tickets. I mean I and maybe it's one step away from photo radar. I'm not exactly opposed to photo radar for a

place like that. um to try to get people to slow down because when that high school opens, you're going to end up with a bunch of young rookie drivers that um are going to speed cuz that's what we do when we're 16, 17, and 18 year old drivers and you're going to end up with just a lot more traffic there. So I think the thought of doing something and no matter even if it um bruises some egos and uh you know makes people angry with us down the road might be better than just saying hey state government turn slowly federal government turns slowly there's nothing we can do I think we can advocate do something at the city level and and see if we can have any success at all so give the uh police police a lot more things to All right, tickets. Thank you.

Yeah, I I I agree with you. Um, and it was it was Admiral Grace Hopper from the Navy that actually came up with, she was their computer expert, actually came up with, you know, better to beg for forgiveness, right, than to get permission. the the problem, one of the problems that DOT has is the classification of their intersections is determined, and I think I brought this up before, is determined by the number of deaths at an intersection versus uh near misses, fender benders. Um I kind of got in an argument with the DOT guys and one of the head guys from Anchorage is on board with us that he is not in favor of the that designation. Um so that that's kind of what determines unfortunately sometimes what lights are. But that does not mean that we cannot um pursue and push and you know and like you say you know if we need to put up our own light our own you know our own flashing kind of thing or one of those speed limits you know to get people's attention. Yeah. I I will be be bringing that up and actually just saying this is what we're going to do unless I hear otherwise we're doing it. So that's kind of where

Yeah, exactly. Yes, ma'am. So I don't drive that road very often and usually when I do drive that road, I'm actually not the one operating the vehicle. Um so that area right there um by the school that where the high school is going in, that's currently a 45 or a 35. I think it's 45. So during school zone times when the lights are flashing there are lights there. I don't think are do we have lights? I don't do we have light there?

So So I know that those the the school district handles the administration of the school zone lights from from what I understand based on stuff that happened in Wasilla. Um, however, I I think that it would be prudent to maybe bring as part of that situation is talking to the school district about it. Um, the school zone lights that are in that section. Um, because I know that there are caveats in this in state law um determining signage for that, how far away from the school it can be. Um, and also double fine zones. So I don't this is something that that I didn't know until recently is that those flashing lights in school zones unless they are marked double fine they are not double fine. So if you are doing 60 through there and it's a 20 you're going to get that 20 plus over speed or or reckless uh speed ticket, but it's not going to be a double fine zone the way that it would be for let's say the safety corridor like it would normally be. Um the from what I understand and I I don't know who to direct to ask that question to I believe that the school district are the ones that handle the administration of those signs. Um and I think that it might be worth asking them about that as well just as yet another stop gap measure while we wait on the state of Alaska to to do state of Alaska things. Um, I just kind of wanted to bring that up because we had talked about where you slow down at the school.

The um, and I think I brought this history up before that uh, Alaska, I mean um, Airport Way and the uh, entrance into the charter school were misaligned. Um, if you're trying to turn left on the airport way, you're fighting traffic trying to turn left into the charter school. Um we had a serious accident there that was one of the teachers got rearended pretty badly. Um so I brought this this has happened obviously years ago when I was mayor. I brought the state in and talked to them about that and they their comment was uh that's on the stip 10 years down the road. Uh I wanted them to realign the driveway with airport way. Said it was on a stip 10 years down the road and we don't have any money. So, um I know the city manager wanted to kick me under the table when I said this, but I mentioned to him that the city would pay for that realignment, but the state had to do something for us. So, if for those who lived here for a long time, if you remember, Airport Way was not um paved and Evergreen, East Evergreen was not paved as well. And I think that we worked on Go Canada as well, but the state paved those for us um and realigned the driveways and then that's how the the three lanes came into play at that same time. That's you know, the city kind of paid for all of that. So, you know, I'm kind of holding that in my back pocket that we go to the state, you know, and of course that would be council approval that, you know, you would the city, depending on what the figure is, would the city be willing to pay for X as long as the state gave us something in return? Um,

so I guess the question is who from the city would talk to the school district about the flashing lights in that area for the school zone and potentially changing it from a non-double fine when the lights are flashing to a double fine, especially with the new high school going in. Yeah, that would be public works.

I don't know. You know, I I don't the chief and I will have to maybe chat about that as well. Um I don't know who's in control of those. Like I said, you know, State Road obviously, but that doesn't preclude us from getting a hold of the school district and say, "Hey, how do we do this? Can we make this happen?" Um you know, maybe that's in combination with us and the state DOT guys saying, you know, we want this to happen. Um that's how the speed limit got changed way back when. You know, granted, it's not, you know, very good at this point. Um, but I don't know if you remember, if you've been here long enough, 55 was well around the corner, almost to where the charter school was. And then they went from 55 to 35. There was no step down. Um, so

not necessarily talking about changing the speed, right?

Yeah, absolutely. I will do that. Yes, it doesn't have the double double. Correct. Yeah. And that's something that the school district um and then obviously and and I from what I understand with with the research that I've done that is something the school district handle because we had looked at it on was Fishoke right there and then also in Bogard Cruzy because of the high school middle school like crazy corridor that's right there and that is something the school district deals with. Um, it came up when we were having issues in Wasilla with speeders during the Arctic Winter Games because they were hosting stuff and kids were literally just like right across Board which was super sketchy. Um, and they turned the lights on and it came up that hey this isn't even a double fine. People don't care. Um, but I feel like at this point something is better than nothing when it comes to increasing uh compliance and safe driving. I'll reach out to

Thank you. All right. Just for information purposes, uh 45 before the bridge, there is no sign until after Madusa Valley um park, the Matt Valley Park. And the sign that's right after it simply says uh speed zone ahead. And then 800 ft before the school is the 20 mph um school zone, right? Between those two is the little triangle indication of the school zone. Then there's the actual 20 and then the 35 does not uh show it or it's not presented until right before go camp. So that entire corridor there the only 45 is near the bridge. Right.

So that was a discussion that we had talked about was moving the 35 right after the bridge. 35 35 um but yeah um you had asked like who can present that I mean both Cooper and I can right that's something um the good thing is we're having a lot of conversation in my department the building department with academy charter this is a uh a hot topic right they're doubling the size of their school it's a huge concern not only with my department but public works um they are not compliant with their parking uh from their 2012 expansion So there's lots of conversation to be had. The unfortunate part is the state cannot direct the school. The school has to operate as a district, right? So there's multiple entities and and the state cannot force a school. The school has to do their own traffic impact analysis. They did um both Jude and I um questioned its report. um if put it lightly, uh we thought it was inaccurate, but that was our opinion on it. So, the state is looking into doing their own traffic analysis for that corridor um to help support what we I guess turn opinion fact, right? So, there's um it's it's there's a lot of churning going on, lots of conversations, multiple projects. So, this is not going to go away. It's not going to fall on the back burner. Um, I typically pref like personally operate with ask forgiveness rather than permission. However, as a professional, uh, I need to ask for permission before I do anything because I'm not going anywhere hopefully. Um, I'm young enough that I'd like to keep inputting and growing Palmer for 20 years. So, I myself and my department will be asking for permission and having good relationships rather than burning any

bridges. So, yes, ma'am. So, um, and maybe Nate can help. Isn't there a second public hearing coming up for the Glenn Highway? We've had the first one, but they they should be putting on a second one. I I'm sorry. I'm unaware of when what their requirement is. Typically, it's like 30 days.

Okay. So, I was wondering if we could get the date for that and then um invite the local businesses or managers to come out and have a say. Um because when I I think about the median um I think about what they did um on the Palmer Wasela Highway. I hated the median going in there, but today I really appreciate it. So, I just wanted to um see if you could get that. And now that they have the the the study includes that corner to to Alaska Street, they definitely we can definitely have them show up. I will try to find out what that date is. Any other discussion about this? Okay.

Yes. Sorry. Yes. I do appreciate um Council Member Graham trying to think outside the box on some solutions because I agree it would be nice if we could do something sooner rather than later. Um and I do not have good ideas though about what that um might look like. So um I appreciate you your efforts there. Thank you. Anything else? Motion to leave. I move to exit committee of the whole. I second. Madam clerk,

council member Carrington the exit committee the whole Oh, sorry. Yes. Council member Moer. Yes. Deputy mayor counter. Yes. Stumbled over that. Council member Graham, yes. Council member Collins, yes. And Mayor Cooper, yes. We are out of committee of the whole. Thank you. Council member comments. Councilwoman Graham, you go first. Sure. Yeah.

Okay. Uh I am thrilled that it's warm in here and not freezing. I'm happy with that. Uh since apparently my theme is weather related things occasionally, uh I did notice that there are birch trees with small leaves on them. This is a good thing. Um and it's a little bit drier, which I love. Um I was out with some of the fire department personnel on Saturday helping out with the cleanup. It was amazing to see how many people came out for that. That was really, really cool. Um, I do not know who made the bubble juice that was used. It was amazing. Uh, if somebody is listening and knows what the recipe is for that, it was spectacular. We had a lot of fun. My son had a blast out there. Um, and I just I really appreciate all of the work and effort that went into organizing all that because I know that the logistics for that size of event across an entire week is a lot. So, um, glad to see significantly less stuff flying around. Um, I also want to touch on uh and thank Mr. Shurock for bringing up the release of obligation that I had uh initially brought up in the January 27th meeting. I want to apologize that I have not uh passed along the information that I received in a very timely manner from city staff and from the city manager regarding that. Um, in late February, the FAA put out a new manual um that talks about release of obligation for airport obligated land. Um, one of the outlines that came out in this new one is specifically from the FAA website. Um, in no case shall a release be granted unless the FAA determines that the sale of the land, which this would be a sale of the land,

uh, determines that the sale of the land will not adversely affect the development, improvement, operation, or maintenance of the airport. In a release must not be in excess of the present and foreseeable needs of the airport, the non-avviation interests of the sponsor or local community, such as making land available for economic development, which the golf course is for economic development, does not constitute an airport benefit that can be considered in justifying a release and a disposal. There's more to it than that, but a lot of what was responded to is that we have to wait for the airport master plan, which the golf course land has to remain as part of that master plan because it is still part of the airport until we get that release of obligation. Um, with this new FAA guidance, um, we're at a bit of a standstill until we can get the airport master plan and the city comprehensive plans completed because some of the things that the city needs to provide in order to even start the justification process are those two pieces of information. Um, I'm hoping that we can uh get significantly more public input when those processes uh have their public meetings. Um I know from previous experience watching those two processes take place as far as your master plan and the uh comprehensive plan for the city there are a lot of opportunities for public comment. So it is really important as passionate as Palmer is that that continues on for those meetings that are coming up. Um because obviously part of that comprehensive plan is also going to be uh annexation and downtown planning for growth, all that kind of stuff is going to be part of it. So it's really important to stay involved in that. Um and again I just I really appreciate you bringing it up. I don't know I have no excuse for not coming forward with the information that

I've had. like I said, in a really timely manner. I think I got this information in March, one of the March meetings, um, which is pretty good when everything came out in late February with the new guidance from the FAA that they they've got on the uh their new manual. Um, other than that, I am excited to hear that the golf course is maybe not right now, but really soon will have carts on it. Um, I have seen the golf course. I'm not said this before, I am not a super outdoorsy person. And the idea of walking all 18 holes of the golf course without a cart sounds like a time right now. So, I'm glad to hear that the golf carts are coming back um and that the grounds are are ready for that or will be soon. Um, beyond that, I want to also say I appreciate the mayor's work on the Arctic Avenue questions. I know that it's a lot. Same with um, director Oops. It's uh, it's a lot of work to do all that stuff outside of everything else that's going on this time of year as we prepare for uh, the long word that I won't say that's got two M's in it because every time I do it snows again. So, I appreciate you guys coming out and uh, thank you. Moer.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On Monday, I had the pleasure, the distinctive pleasure of attending the 10th anniversary of the Take Your Tractor to Work Day. Uh, I had a blast out there taking pictures as well as sitting in my husband's tractor. We've had it for about six years and it was the first time he let me sit it. So, enough said. Um, but I I also want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for bringing the resolution to us regarding this the sales tax for the burough. Um, I think this is an important conversation that needs to take place. And I'd like to see uh more open meetings and listen to our public and see get their input as well. Um, it's worked in the past. I think it can work again uh this time. And um I'd like to to really know what the impact is for our elder and our youth. Um because these are the very people that are on the fixed incomes that we need to pay attention to. Um, I also uh would like to bring to your attention that it is nurses week this week. And so, thank you to our nurses and our military uh nurses that are putting in the hard work taking care of our patients. U working in the health industry is very important to me and I' I've enjoyed it uh tremendously. The um we had lots of conversation about the golf course tonight. Um, I'm glad to see in here that some are very optimistic about the direction that we're going. Um, a lot of what was said. I have not been privy to the conversations, so I I can't really comment on a whole lot of that. Um, but it is nice to see the high school banners up as well. And um, thank you

for the time. And that's all I have.

Carrington. Um, we just appreciate everybody coming out. Uh, and uh, we um, appreciate our our our peace officers and glad that they were recognized and our our Memorial Day coming up uh, remembering and uh, it's good to see the the banners up downtown. We drove through town uh yesterday and I was really glad to see them up and um and I hope it warms up soon. I've always liked May. It's been my favorite month, but I'm kind of mad at it right now. So, that's all I have.

Councilwoman Collins,

thank you. Um I'll start with a couple of golf course things. One of the questions directed to me specifically was um how's the golf looking? Um I haven't been out there golfing, but everything I hear has been positive. Um so I'd say go check it out. Let me know. Um then I did also want to address there was a question earlier about the disclosure of executive session recordings. Um and this is part of Palmer code 2.04.090. And madame clerk actually did an excellent and accurate um summary of what that how that code reads. Um, so if anyone's interested in the details, uh, like say have that citation, but um, like I said, that that was an accurate summary. Perhaps the only portion that wasn't mentioned specifically is that a court order could be used to look at just to determine compliance, but otherwise, it's um, city attorney um, etc. I won't go through the whole thing again, but it was a very accurate summary. Um so if there are questions about that that would be the uh code section to look to. Um the only other I feel like when I go further on a lot of things have been mentioned I don't want to repeat but um we'll mention the cleanup week because it's something I've always loved. Um my mom took us as kids. I remember probably some of my earliest memories literally. It was called clean sweep at the time. And um I remember some of the uh it was where I think I first recognized that I was um I felt an important part of the community. And so I think it's just such a great thing for um families maybe in particular to do, but everybody I think it just feels like we have ownership over our community and responsibility for it. I remember one big discussions with my mom being even like should I pick up the cigarette butts or not? I thought I really should. She's like no you can leave those. Um,

but no, it's always a great event and um I think really fun for everyone and Palmer is looking better already. I think we could be, not that anyone's going to do, but you know, there's still a lot of trash out there that could be cleaned up. So, um, you know, I've seen suggestions online like take a trash bag when you go out walking and stuff, which I think is a great idea because it really got messy this last year. But, um, but things are looking better and, um, so I really enjoy that. And that's all my comments for today. Thank you,

Deputy Mayor. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate it. Uh along the lines of Council Member Carrington, I wanted to say thanks for all the all the proclamations tonight, but especially the uh one for peace officers and uh the ones recognized in Memorial Day. Um, I do want to just kind of throw out there, maybe for a police chief or for others, there was a gentleman here that advocated for a James Roland memorial rock or something to be moved or, you know, planted there at the uh, at the Palmer Police Department. And, you know, I don't know what's happened. I can think of the Shane Woods one out uh, on the bike trail, but I don't know if anything's happening with the James Roland U situation. So, if it someone could look into it, whether it's a city manager or the police chief, that'd be awesome. Um, definitely want to talk a little bit about the golf course. Always got to talk some of that. Um, some of the questions that were asked by the public are important ones and one I don't expect answers tonight, but soon like in two week next time we meet two weeks from now because I expect the number will change. I hope it will. Um, how many employees are at the golf course currently? because we were there 13 days ago and the number I heard from u Mr. Shyrack and others where they had about 7 to nine employees and that's uh that's a number that needs to be increased dramatically if it hasn't already. That's a you know you can't you can't run a golf course u that way. I was kind of floored today. Um, and maybe I was just imagining things or uh believing in reincarnation, but I thought the young man that testified said his name was Bruce Kelly. And if it was, uh, almost teared me up a little bit. My favorite uncle was Bruce Kelly. And when I was a teenager, he uh, gave me a set of Jack Burke leather handled golf clubs, and I threw them in the trunk of

my car and said, "Golf. Golf is goofy, man. I'm not playing golf. I was a baseball, basketball, football guy, and they couldn't care less about golf then. Now I love this. I love the game. Love what it teaches folks. Love what it teaches young folks. And I think um you know, it's something we all need to wrap our arms around and make sure that our golf course, our jewel of Palmer Golf Course stays open. But I will say, and for those who don't know, I have always advocated for a one minimum one-year extension with Eagle Golf Course Management. That's where we should be right now. And there's a lot of things working against us, a lot of headwinds, but um we did what was pointed out by other members of the public tonight. We passed in December. This is what we're going to do. And somehow in January, it was it was derailed. But people that a lot of people that are in this audience know, everybody cheered. We're at the train depot. Everything was wonderful. We're going to have one more year with Eagle Golf Course Management and George Colum and then we're going to put it out to bid and figure out a path forward for the future. So, it's sad that that didn't happen. The AMCO violations were never a real thing except for the one year that it was a real thing because a previous city manager, not our current city manager, a previous city manager interim decided after, you know, 17 years he was going to change it to a six-month uh uh license. And we hard to believe sitting here today, but we had an incredible year last year where we were golfing March 30th and we didn't close the golf course till about November 6. So outside of that, April 15th to October 15th, there were um few thousand worth of liquor sales, beer and wine sales because golf went on for another three weeks after the October 15th deadline. So, I'll apologize once again to George Colum because I agree with some that uh we stay in the

reputation of a very good man. We should have taken a year, done it right, take caught our breath and came back and figured out who's the best golf course manager going forward. That said, I wish John Shyrack and Tom Ramal and the team over there at Palmer Golf Course the best of luck. they haven't been getting any weather luck yet. So, I I hope that uh things change and we can get to a point um that it'll work out better. Uh the idea of a golf course advisory board, Mr. Mayor, I hope that's something you could consider. I think uh you know, I know it's hard to get people to serve on any boards, but this one has had a lot of public participation for basically a year now. I think finding a five member board to serve made up of golfers and people that care about the golf course would actually probably help Mr. Shyrack and help others to uh move the golf course forward. So, I hope that's something we could, you know, it was our one enterprise fund that actually provided money back to the city that mentioned many times. it uh it netted us $330,000 and uh and you know we don't get that from our water and sewer fund or from MTA or the Palmer Event Center or anything else. Uh the last thing on the property tax, I'm glad we did what we did tonight. I'll look forward to uh seeing what Assembly Member now can come up with. But I will say and I I say this now because I hope uh the mayor will know and I'm not trying to pick on his age or anything. I just hope he'll know the answer. But several years ago, we we did a $300,000 property tax exemption for seniors and disabled vets here in the city of Palmer because the burrow was at 264. And I remember the city manager saying, "Hey, we're going to try to do this 275." It's like, "Hey, let's make it three." What we didn't do here in the city is add an inflation kicker. So now the burrow, which did do that, is I don't know if it's 285, 290, 295, but they're basically catching up to our

300,000. But I will say and I'll say it till I'm dead that sales tax is the most regressive tax you can possibly put for the exact reasons the council member turn right talked about. It picks on the lowest income amongst us to um to try to you know have property tax relief or to try to run government or to try to do anything. And I don't think trying to uh take advantage of Joe and Mabel from Witchah when they happen to be up here having a vacation is going to eliminate um the problems we have at the front end. There there's no no young person, and I have four of them, four young adults. No young person is even looking at property taxes as a reason they can or cannot buy a house or property. They look at the entry level of what a home cost. They look at can they possibly swing it with two incomes. Never once when you talk to a 25-year-old do you ever hear ah if it wasn't for three mills in the city of Palmer I could swing it or if it wasn't for 10.44 mills at the burrow I might be able to afford a afford a starter home. That doesn't come into play. I mean that's a um specious argument at best. I think so. I think the reality is um I'm saddened that Palmer has a 4% tax. I'd be really saddened if Palmer all of a sudden had a 10 and a half percent or seven and a half percent or eight and a half percent sales tax because it picks on the people that can least afford it. And that's why I'll always advocate for income or property taxes all day long before I ever turn the page and say let's start because we want to get something from somebody else. Let's create a sales tax. So, I do want to make sure that, you know, keep a open mind, look at a new proposal, but just saying we're going to give you property tax relief in order to get a sales tax. Um, that initially that

doesn't fly well with me. So, other than that, I hope you have a good couple of weeks. Uh, keep up the advocacy. I'm hoping I'll I'll keep uh knocking on wood for better weather. So, uh hopefully not just for the golf course, but for all of our sanity as well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. to answer a couple of the counciloman's comments. Um this resolution that we passed tonight has been sent to us already as well. Um so that and they are on board with that. Um the public hearing that um from Arctic to Fish Hook and including Arward is June 3rd at from 5 to 7 at the depot.

I sent you all an email including the link to the website. during Palmer Cleanup. Um um and she's gone now. Um Liz Jackson, who's the PNZ chaired uh cooked was cooking hot dogs uh her first time ever. Um and she did a great job. People were coming by. She said, "You want a hot dog?" Right? You know, get a hot dog. So, um you know, hats off to her. and um Kaylee and Alish from um Community Development put kind of put that whole thing on and they did a a really they did a really great job. Um and you know kudos to Alaska Demolition and to Patriot Towing for donating their time, their services, uh their equipment uh for us to um to continue to have a good uh cleanup day. And um this last Sunday was Mother's Day. I hope everybody had a good Mother's Day. Um and uh I'm I'm also hoping for better weather. And without with that we're journed.