City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Recording in progress This meeting is being recorded.

Allison can you hear me? Yes. Perfect, thank you.

It's 6 o'clock. I'd like to call our regular city council meeting to order. Before we start, please, anybody, please silence your cell phones. Appreciate that. And we have a couple of excused absences tonight. Mr. Alcantara is gone, and Ms. Mosier is sick. So Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Cooper?

Here.

DEPUTY MARILYN CAMPBELL. COUNCILMEMBER ALLEN. HERE. COUNCILMEMBER CARINGTON. HERE. COUNCILMEMBER COLLINS. HERE. COUNCILMEMBER GRAHAM. HERE. AND COUNCILMEMBER MOSCHER. WE HAVE A QUORUM.

THANK YOU. PARDON YOUR LEADERSHIP. DAVID CHIZUM, WOULD YOU LEAD US IN THE PLEDGE, PLEASE? Back to the Council wishes on the agenda, please move to approve. Second, any discussion, questions, concerns. Madam Clerk.

Mayor Cooper.

Yes.

Council member Allen.

Yes.

Council member Carrington. Yes. Council member Collins. Yes, Councilmember Graham, yes, it is unanimous and approved.

Thank you. Moving on. We now have the Mat-Su Valley planning for transportation update. Miss Kim.

Great, can I, my mic's hot. All right.

Well, thank you for having me tonight. I see you're getting packet materials just passed out. My name's Kim Solian. I'm the executive director of Mat-Su Valley Planning for Transportation, and I'm here tonight to give you an update on our Metropolitan Transportation Plan, which is our long range plan that we're required to complete and then also give you an update on our Transportation Improvement Program, which is our TIP, which is a short term funding plan for projects that The city of Palmer, the borough and the city of Wasilla have applied for. I just want to give you a heads up about next steps in our process. Next slide. So as a reminder, and if you have a clicker, I can do it if you want me to. Excellent. I partnership we will do this in partnership. So for those of you who might not be familiar with our organization, we're relatively new. We're a designated as a metropolitan planning organization. The formation of our organization was required after the 2020 census was certified and a portion of the greater core area was determined to have a population of 50,000 people or more. Once a region hits that threshold and defines an urbanized area, the formation of an MPO is required. Basically, the focus of our organization is to collaboratively plan for transportation infrastructure with the regional governments that are within that urbanized area. So we formally stood up our organization in February 2024. We're a nonprofit. We're governed by our seven-member policy board made up of Mayor Cooper from Palmer, the Mayor of Wasilla, the Mayor and Manager of the Mat-Su Borough, two tribal transportation representatives from Chickaloo Native Village and Connect Tribe, as well as the Deputy Commissioner of the DOT. So that's kind of just a little overview of who we are as an organization. We have four professional staff and most of the work we do, we work in partnership with consultants. I guess I didn't also say that we are federally, not only federally required, we are federally funded with a non-federal share match provided by our regional governments to support the planning activities that we're responsible for. So I want to update you tonight. I think the last time I was here, I introduced the Metropolitan Transportation Plan to you all and let you know that we are announcing our call for projects. And our Metropolitan Transportation Plan is a long range transportation plan. It serves a 20 year horizon. It looks at existing conditions of our transportation network and identifies safety issues, congestion issues, connectivity issues. It also looks at population growth and economic development. And then we use that information to assess the network, create some goals for the plan, and then create evaluation criteria that supports project nominations from the municipal governments on our board. Annually, we will receive about $10 million a year to support transportation infrastructure projects and planning activities. And so that 10 million plus the non-federal share is what we will program year to year. And I'll talk more about that in a second. Next slide. So as I mentioned, I think I was here in January. We kicked off our open house and a community survey about what the public wanted to see for transportation infrastructure. We also launched interactive map on our website that allowed the public to comment on areas of concern, safety issues, where they'd like to see connectivity, and we collected those comments. We also launched our formal call for projects, inviting the city of Palmer, Wasilla, and the borough to apply for projects. the public call for projects, so the formal nomination period was open for just over 30 days. We received about 87 project nominations from the borough and the cities, plus another 50 or so projects from the DOT. So their projects, we're responsible for all of the projects that may happen within the urbanized area, but we didn't score and evaluate the DOT projects. We just had conversations with them about the need and moved those projects forward. So of the 87 projects that were nominated by the cities and the borough, I think 74 projects moved forward once they were evaluated for funding eligibility. then they were scored based on evaluation criteria related to the goals and objectives in our MTP and the existing conditions report that we identified. And where we are now is we have broken our projects up into a fiscally constrained list documenting what we can pay for over that 25 year horizon, assuming we will get $10 million a year over the next 25 years. We're about to finalize the plan document, the MTP, and release it for public comment. And I will talk more about that in a second. We are hoping to complete the Metropolitan Transportation Plan document by December 2026. If we do not meet that goal, no federal transportation funding can be spent in our urban area until we do. So that would bring all projects that the DOT is working on and any of the projects that the borough or city is hoping to get funding for to a halt until we finish. So as a staff and our consultant team are running towards the finish line to make sure we don't miss that goal. Next slide. As I mentioned before, each of the projects were evaluated based on seven different criteria, looking at creating connectivity between where people live and where they work, looking at safety issues, system of good repair, looking at pavement preservation or gravel to black issues, expanding the multimodal network, and if there was public support for any of the projects that were nominated, projects got an extra point for that. So one of the requirements, as I mentioned before, when we get this project list of 74 projects, we have to break them up into a timeline, basically of funding buckets, because we can't program more projects in our MTP than we will receive funding for. So the projects I think I gave you in your packet, there's a list of all the projects that were applied for. The city of Palmers are shaded in green. The short-term project range is a four-year window, and that corresponds with our transportation improvement program, which I'll talk about in a second. The medium range is a 10-year window, and the long range is another 10-year window. We will update our MTP every five years because we know we are making projections into the future about what we think is going to happen, where we think the population is going to grow, where the needs are going to be, and that doesn't always work out. So we will update this plan every five years, but those projects likely will stay unless the local jurisdictions ask them to be removed, and so we'll be adding projects over time. There is an illustrative project list associated with the full project list, and that is projects that were applied for, were valid, but didn't meet the initial prioritization and ranking based on what we have for available funding. Next slide. So this list here in your packet kind of identifies by name all of the projects that were applied for. As I mentioned before, the City of Palmers applied for four projects. They are shaded in green, and you can see them referenced in the short-term list. The white projects are projects the Matsubara applied for, and the orange projects are what the City of Wasilla applied for. But the corresponding numbers with each of these projects are associated with the score they received once we evaluated each project based on that seven-point criteria that I mentioned before. Next slide. So now that our MTP, the plan document is almost written, completed, we're gonna give it to our technical committee for a review next week, and we have the finalized MTP project list, we're ready to build our TIP. So another requirement that the Federal Highway Administration put on us is that every project that we think we might want to fund over the next 25 years has to show up in the MTP and then what's actually going to get funding in the short term has to be documented in the tip. So the tip is a four year funding window. We update it annually because we're also tracking fiscal constraint in the tip. So in the project list that I gave you, you'll see planning level cost estimates for each project, plus the projected match that the local governments will need to provide. Once we go to official scope, schedule, and estimate with DOT, they will work with the City of Palmer to make sure the project description is exactly what you want to see happen. Then they'll go through and do another level of project cost. And then that's when the final match amount will be developed. So again, the MTP is vision and priorities. The TIP is funded projects and what we're moving forward over the four-year horizon. And I think that's all I'll say for that slide. You can switch to the next one. Again, our MTP project list has been finalized. We are starting to develop our TIP. We hope to release the draft MTP document as a whole in October for a 30 day public review to release our TIP for a 30 day public review in November and pass both or approve both documents in December and be prepared to start receiving funding for projects right away. I will say that we were required to form as an organization starting in 2024. That's when we started receiving funding. So our first tip, we'll have an additional 20 or so million dollars to play with because we haven't spent any yet. We did allocate some of our funding early on to projects already listed in the state DOT stip and so that's not why you won't see the full amount from inception until our tip starts. Next slide. So my ask tonight is that in order for us to feel comfortable programming our TIP, we need assurances from the Palmer City Council that the projects that the city applied for are your priority projects. So we need a resolution that lists those projects, identifying them as priorities. And then generally, we need a commitment from you to pay the non-federal share for those projects. In the case of Palmer, I believe all the projects that you nominated are moving forward and will be funded. For the City of Wasilla and the Mat-Su Borough, because the project list for the TIP has to be fiscally constrained, they may pass a resolution that has other projects in the list that are outside the short-term time band, but I don't think that will be the case for you all because you applied for four projects and they're all being programmed, assuming you want them to go forward in the TIP. So that's really why I wanted to come tonight and let you know that we need that resolution. We're hoping to have it by September. We've started to build the bones of the TIP right now and have started placing projects in a time band. So the TIP is four years. And thinking about when your projects would go forward, A project will have a start year and a construction year. It's possible that a construction year would happen outside the TIP time band. I don't think that will be the case with Palmer unless you decided that you didn't have the match to cover for a particular project. You can ask us to program a start year in 28, and a construction year in 31, if you need extra time to pull the funding together to cover that non-federal share. Next slide. I think that is all I have for a formal presentation. I do want to encourage you, if you have specific questions about the projects that were applied for from the City of Palmer, to work with Mayor Cooper and Jude Villifer, your Public Works Director, I'm sure, manager circle. I could probably answer general questions about your projects, but really your staff have most information about why those projects are moving forward at this time. One other thing I forgot to mention is that in the project list, there is a reference to an improvement program. An improvement program is like a pavement preservation program. It's not a full reconstruction project. City of Palmer does have four projects in our improvement program that are going forward. We also need those referenced in your resolution and the commitment to pay the match on those if you want them to proceed at this time. If you don't, certainly reach out and have Manager Zirkle reach out to me and talk with me about time constraints if you have questions about that. But I apologize for forgetting. But in this project list that I gave you in your packet, in the back there's a table that lists all the pavement preservation projects that were applied for in 2021. The only other thing I gave you in your packet was a handout about how MVP is funded and where our project funding comes from to help if you had any questions with that. I just wanted you to have that documentation. And I will pause there and happy to answer any questions if you have them.

Any questions? I do have a comment to, and I know that I mentioned this to the council before, that I have the resolution, that I am working on that. And as you and we will be getting that out. As you know, the match is only nine point zero three percent, I believe, is what we pay. The current project listing is seven and a half. Planning estimate is seven and a half million dollars. So our total our sum total is six hundred ninety thousand approximately on that, which is, you know, a pretty good deal. Take it to Las Vegas. And for those who don't remember what they are for the four East Auckland for all the way from from North Alaska Street all the way back all the way down to the railroad right away. North Bailey from Beaver Street all the way up to Eagle Street. Rempel, which is a bigger project, a one and a half million dollar project. And then I think I guess that's it. To get $7.5 million for $690,000 is a pretty good deal. Any other questions? Yes, ma'am.

I just had a quick question, and we can talk about it later, but did any of the Arctic app changes? It doesn't look like it's on the other list either. Is that not in part of this at all?

That's a different question. Hope Hall Wax. That's a DOT project. They're doing that and we're still working on getting them to come out here and talk with us so we can show them that.

Okay, thank you.

Anything else? Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Palomar Community Foundation. Yeah. Unless you sit down really low, I guess.

Yeah.

Is it still on? Yes. Is that okay? Yeah.

You can hear me? Yes.

Okay, great. Thank you very much. It's great to see everybody again. I'm Saunders McNeil. I am the Advisory Board Chair of the Palmer Community Foundation. And the last time I was here, I promised that I would come back and give you a report about our grant awards from this year's Palmer Community Foundation applications. our applicants. So here's some interesting statistics that I think you might find helpful. And to please remember that Palmer Community Foundation supports self-reliance and resilience in Greater Palmer and the Matanuska Watershed communities now and into the future. We awarded five grants out of 22 requested. Those five grants support community development, health and wellness, youth services, arts and culture, outdoors and recreation, and food security. The organizations were Alaska Pacific University Kellogg Farm or Kellogg Campus, the Alaska Tilt Farm Co-op Supplies Project. That project will underwrite the purchase of shared equipment to be used by local farmers to prepare and get their food products to the local market. They were awarded $9,825. What is very exciting, what was very exciting for us this year was the Alaska Community Foundation has a fund called Nourishing Communities. And they offered us an additional $10,000 in a two to one match in order to leverage and provide additional funds to applicants. So any applicants who were addressing food security, and food access were eligible for the matching funds. So while Palmer Community Foundation was only able to award $3,275, it was matched with an additional $6,550 for their total award. The same is the case with the Matanuska Community Farmers Market for their project caring for community mutual aid discounts and those discounts are provided to people who are eligible for additional support through a discount program and Palmer Community Foundation was able to award $1,725 matched with an additional $3,450 for a total of $5,175. Also to remind you on average, our grants, I mean, they sort of spread from $500 or $1,000 to about $5,000. The Mat-Su Sentinel received $1,007. It was very specific. for the Palmer headquarters. And that was for technical equipment, monitors, those kinds of things in order to establish the office here in town. The Palmer Museum of History and Art was awarded $5,000 for a permanent digital kiosk exhibit. And please, you can go and check that out once that's in place. And that will be there permanently. And they are building their digital materials in order to be able to provide educational information to both local folks and all of the visitors coming to our region. Then Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers was awarded $4,108 for renovation of the Palmer Bike Park. Mayor Cooper confirmed for me that the bike park is actually not quite within the city limits, just outside the city limits. Otherwise, I would be able to say to you that all five of Palmer Community Foundation grants that we awarded this year are in the Palmer. IN THE CITY OF PALMER DISTRICT JURISDICTION. SOME OTHER STATISTICS, TOO, AND I REALLY KIND OF WANT TO POINT OUT THE POWER OF LOCAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OR REGIONAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, AND THAT IS WHAT WE OFFER IN CAPACITY TO LEVERAGE FUNDS. The Palmer Community Foundation, our total award amount available this year was $15,115. It's very specific kind of based on formula for what we draw off of our interest on the corpus of our grant making endowment. With the additional $10,000 from the Alaska Community Foundation, which also to remind you of whom we are an affiliate, we went from being able to respond or provide 16.3% of the total ask to 27% of the total ask, which is significant. So that's really kind of in a nutshell what I wanted to come and share back to all of you about. We are really excited to also report that we're only $8,000 away from hitting a million-dollar threshold in combined assets between our grant-making endowment and our operating endowment. So we are tiny but mighty and really excited to Fill you guys in on that. Also, we want to extend an invitation for the Palmer Community Foundation community celebration Thursday, September 24th at the Palmer Depot. It starts at 530. music, food, community gathering. It's an opportunity for us to highlight our grant awardees from this year, also give everybody updates about where we're heading, what our goals are, and just a chance to be able to host a family-friendly, lovely gathering. And I hope that you spread the word to everyone about that. It's free, it's open to the public. And I think that's the extent of the report for now.

Any questions? Senator, could you since since our existence at PCF, do you have an idea of how many dollars that we have given in and around the community?

I love that you ask the question because I think I just pulled it. I think it's about one hundred and sixty thousand. It might be more than that. but it's roughly that. And since our inception of when we started giving grants in 2018. So in an eight year span. And the goal with our grant making endowment in particular is the more that it grows, the more we can build the corpus of that endowment, then it generates interest and the more that we can churn back into our service region.

Yeah, because you only pay grant the monies that you've earned from on the interest.

Absolutely. So the corpus of both of our endowments is protected. And really, at this point, we're incredibly careful and conservative about how much of a percentage of interest that we pull. And we determine that in partnership with the Alaska Community Foundation. I think this year it was a 3.5%, something like that, of the total from the grant making.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Anybody else?

So September 24th, 530 Depot. Thank you.

Thank you. So number three is listed Parks and Rec Committee. They are not here to give any kind of report. So we'll move on to proclamation honoring the U.S. Coast Guard birthday. I don't know if there's anybody else in the audience that is a member of the Coast Guard. I can say that between my father, my son, and I, we have 87 years of service in the Coast Guard. So I'm pretty proud to read this. Proclamation honoring the 236th birthday of the United States Coast Guard. On August 4th, 1790, the United States Coast Guard establishes the Revenue Marine Service by an act of Congress signed by President George Washington, making it the nation's oldest continuous seagoing military service. And of the 236 years of men and women of the United States Coast Guard have faithfully served our nation by safeguarding America's maritime interests, protecting lives at sea, securing our ports and waterways, enforcing maritime law, preserving marine resources, and responding to emergencies with courage and professionalism. Alaska's vast coastline, navigable rivers, and maritime economy make the United States Coast Guard an essential partner in ensuring safe navigation, conducting search and rescue operations, protecting the marine environment, supporting commercial and recreational maritime activities, and strengthening the security of our state and nation. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, including active duty personnel, reservists, civilian employees, veterans, and other families exemplify the Coast Guard's core values, honor, respect, and devotion to duty through their selfless service and unwavering commitment to the public. The City of Palmer proudly recognizes the invaluable contributions and sacrifices of Coast Guard personnel, both past and present, and expresses its sincere gratitude for their dedication to protecting our communities and preserving the freedoms enjoyed by all Americans. I hereby proclaim August 4th, 2026 as United States Coast Guard birthday, and the City of Palmer encourage all residents to join in recognizing the celebration of the 236th birthday of the U.S. Coast Guard, honoring its proud legacy of service and expressing appreciation to all who have worn and continue to wear the Coast Guard uniform. One other kind of note of interest, people think that the Coast Guard just does our coast, My son's last duty station, he sent his crew over to Iraq and Iran. They were in the Gulf War. I'm sure you all know that during World War II, the boats, the landing craft were piloted by U.S. Coast Guard personnel. They also had the river boats in Vietnam. And through all of this, currently the Coast Guard only has 40,000 people in it. smaller than the New York Police Department. So I think they're doing a pretty bang up job. So thank you. Moving on city managers report, please.

Thank you, sir, for your service in the Coast Guard. We appreciate you. All right. Celebrate Palmer was a tremendous success. And while the beautiful sunshine sunshine certainly helped with the event, it certainly wasn't possible without the dedicated volunteers who gave their time and energy to the event. And a special thank you to Emily Sakis for organizing the children's games. That was a fantastic addition, and hopefully we can have them for years to come because our youngest attendees were certainly the most entertained. And Palmer Fire and Rescue recruitment continues for the Fire Chief position. That recruitment will close on Monday, August 3rd. So I encourage any qualified and interested candidates to apply before the deadline. And more broadly, if anyone is interested in working for the City of Palmer, our current job openings are available at palmeraka.org under current employment opportunities. And we're always looking for talented people to join our team. Also happy to report the Evergreen Avenue Road project is now open ahead of schedule by almost a month while we're still doing some smaller punch list items to complete, like some hydro seating. This is a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to the hard work of the contractors, our staff and everyone who was involved in that project. And thank you for delivering that project ahead of schedule. Cedar Avenue improvements are continuing as well. We are experiencing a slight delay in the schedule of about eight to 10 days, but work is moving forward and we appreciate everyone's patience as we continue that work. As everyone can see, the library reconstruction project is moving along nicely and is also on schedule for completion next summer, 2027. And finally, if anyone can believe it, I'm thinking budget. We start budget season in City Hall and finance in August. So that's where our heads at for the next few weeks. Please give the finance department, the directors some grace as we are looking at numbers and crunching them and getting ready to present capital projects list to the council here in October. Thank you.

Any questions, the manager? Moving on, my report, just a number of outings. A ribbon cutting ceremony at North Rim Bank went really well. I think it was probably one of the most well-attended ribbon cuttings. And I think it's because Big Dipper had free ice cream for everybody, which was really nice. Coffee connection with the chamber, I believe it's the third Wednesday or Thursday of every month. I attended that this month. Combs Insurance had their annual celebration where they handed out the same thing, ice cream and cookies and hot dogs. Met with the mayor's manager at a meeting. It was at the borough this month. And You know, just discussed, you know, a lot of the things that Kim had mentioned about the projects that are going on in and around the borough. The DOT were there and we're, you know, still discussing the Arctic, you know, to Fish Hook and then Arctic to the bridge projects and trying to get them to come out so they can see the error of their ways and some of their design flaws. Went planning zoning last Thursday at their annual, at their monthly meeting. I also had a meeting with a municipal planning organization. And as a manager mentioned, Celebrate Palmer was a huge success. We ran out of hot dogs twice. We kind of based it off last year and bought 150 hot dogs, and they were gone in an hour. And so I went to the store and unfortunately only bought 56 more. And they were gone before I sat down. But it was an excellent event. And you can thank, you know, Janet Kincaid helped get and, you know, got the vegetables from Vanderwill Farms. And I want to thank particularly Sherry Carrington for coming with her two friends. She got Carly and Laura to come out and help cut vegetables, which was a big task. Ailish Van helped, you know, set up the depot. Steve Carrington, he cooked hot dogs along with Bruce and Penny Mosier that were there. The kids' zone, it was Tide and Tundra, Valley Party Factory, Blissful Mascot, Roaming Playroom, and Calliope Face Painting. And they brought just an amazing number of people there. Of course, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so that was nice. This Saturday, for those people who remember, our former police chief, Russ Boatwright, his memorial will be held at the American Legion in Wasilla. And then tomorrow, the library end of the season, is their reading program. The party is going to happen to have that. And August 28, there's a group from Soroma that are coming over for a week, 10 of them. And I guess I'm happy to say seven of them are over 65. And it's the previous mayor as well. He's 88 this year. And he wants to come to Palmer and see it kind of like one last time. So that's what I have. Any questions? Madam Clerk?

I just wanna remind everybody that candidate filing period is currently open. We have two seats, three seats total available. We have two three-year seats and one one-year seat. It will be open until Friday at four o'clock. The four o'clock part is very important. And then don't come after 4. I'll have to reject it. So yeah, so it's open till Friday at 4 o'clock. And then I just want to remind council members that AML is in Fairbanks this year. It's in August. It's the 27th and 28th. I sent out an email. Some of you have already responded. I'll send out another email because I need to know who's going. That's all I have. Any questions?

Madam Attorney.

OK, now I'll try to read my own handwriting here. Leslie needs city attorney. I'm going to give you a non exhaustive report on what Anna query and I've been up to since the last meeting. If you have questions, just interrupt me, please. We've continued to assist the city with record reviews and record requests specifically for the fire department in the last couple of weeks. We've been working with the airport and folks over in the manager's office on grant review and certifications for FAA grants. We worked with the clerk to prepare for City Council meetings, including when requested to review some of the meeting minutes and agendas. We've worked with the clerk on records retention schedules and reviewing documents that are ready for destruction. We have looked at some draft ordinance language related to a rezone that was considered through the planning department. We've been working with the finance director on delinquent sales tax collections and accounts. And we've also been working generally upon request to interpret code, analyze provisions of the code. In particular, the last couple of weeks, I wanted to note that we've been working with the Community Development Department on some permitting questions. And then to no one's surprise, we've also been looking at residency provisions in the code to make sure that we're all on the same page on how those ought to be interpreted. I wanted to give you an update on the one pending city council and city litigation matter that we are handling the Borgford complaint that was filed earlier this spring. Our deadline to file an answer was the 23rd of July. We did file an answer on the 23rd. It's been received by the court, has not yet been docketed due to what I understand are some delays in the clerk's office, which means we also don't have a pretrial schedule yet. I was hoping to be able to report with that today, but we don't have it. So hopefully by the next city council meeting, we'll have a schedule for that litigation matter. Any questions?

That would be the court clerk's office.

Oh, not yours. I mean, I get all their phone calls, but still. No, that's right. The Palmer Court.

Thank you. Moving on. Item G. Item for participation. Sign 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 do not 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.

We have Alice.

Good evening, everybody. I'm here to thank you all for partially funding the Bright Lights Book Project Summer in the Parks program. Our other funders were the Matsu Health Foundation, the Palmer Lions Club, and the Rasmussen Foundation. was to make books accessible to appreciative readers with the goal of raising local literacy rates, which was partially through outreach. And this program definitely complemented this goal. The program began on June 1st, alternating sites, buggy and amusement parks, Monday through Thursdays, and the side yard of the Palmer Visitor Center on Fridays. And we were there rain or shine because we believed that consistency was key. Our daily curriculum included story time, hands-on activities, team building, and book selection. And our carefully thought out curriculum included plants, worms, spiders, ants, dinosaurs, bones, fossils, motion, balance, and We're going to conclude with reading. Our partner, Kids Cupboard, provided us with lunches. They were a real job, particularly on the rainy days. The number of children was 2 to 17 every day. The low number was when it was raining. The high number was today. when we had a special train event that was 17. Buggy was the most successful of parks because it's a neighborhood park. We had several kids that were returnees every day. This park is a real gem. If you go there, when we're there, there are readers everywhere. They're on the benches. They're in the little library. There are parents reading to one another. It's a real joy. While there, a need made itself apparent. And I will mention this, Amy Bouchotte said at the Mat-Su Sentinel, Alice, don't take on another project, but I feel like I might have to. You need hedges or trees to reduce the highway noise, and it would be nice to have a picnic shelter like the one in amusement for the rainy days. People will come even out in the rain and sit at those picnic tables. But again, I reiterate, thank you all very much for what turned out to be a very successful venture and perhaps we'll do it again in the future.

Good evening, I'm John Sherrock.

The airport advisory meeting was canceled last week.

It was good seeing a couple of you guys there. Many of the questions I'm asking here were for them, but I think you should all be asking these questions as well. At the last council meeting when the airport appraisal was presented, I immediately noticed and pointed out to you that the appraisal states that it assumes there are no restrictions and no easements on the golf course tracks and that the appraisal is hypothetical. Now I would like to know if the FAA is aware you're using a hypothetical appraisal that does not account for things like obstruction free zones building height restrictions flight path restrictions. or environmental factors like is the bluff stable how close to the bluff can be developed and what about the wetlands on the track documented heavy mitigation costs. Do T for protection or even setback from surrounding neighborhoods farms and roads. There are more questions like how much leasable land space will be needed for access roads, taxiways, or parking areas. All of those areas have no lease value and only maintenance cost. These restrictions are well documented and accounted for in prior master plans by HDL Engineering and the Army Corps of Engineers, but are not accounted for in this hypothetical appraisal. Why not? This information is readily available on the City of Palmer website. And how can the same FAA or environmentally restricted areas that cannot be built on be appraised as commercially available for lease or sale? Similar restricted or undevelopable areas on city airport property have very low lease rates and are currently being used for sod or hay at $65 an acre or one tenth of a penny per square foot. So why then would these same undeveloped the developable areas required twenty two cents or possibly thirty four cents per square foot for the golf course lease? I would also question how the large airport tracks are comparable to the small commercial lots used in the appraisal that have none of the same restrictions and already have infrastructure in place. I think it's also important to note that the golf course tracks are not commercial property. They are zoned public property and cannot be sold for development and have to remain under strict FAA regulations. During an airport advisory meeting this spring, it was stated the correct lease calculation is six to eight percent of the appraised land value annually, unless the rate is minimized for the public good or recreation. The Mat-Su Borough values the golf course lots at a little over a million dollars, or roughly a $60,000 lease, which seems far more accurate with historical FAA approval. I believe the numbers in this appraisal are very far off without the aspects and requirements being accounted for. And I believe that the FAA would agree. But for argument's sake, hypothetically, these tracks might be worth what is being suggested, but only hypothetically if the airport was not there. I'll read the rest of this next go around. Thank you.

Hi there. My name is Rose Stefanski. Before I speak about the Palmer Golf Course, I do want to thank the council for listening to my dad, Joel Stefanski. He's very passionate about this issue. He cares deeply about the course and wants to see it remain a valuable asset for the community for many years to come, as I do. And for me, although I do not live currently in Alaska, I have followed every council meeting since November because I care about this place. I grew up on the Palmer Golf Course. Just last night, I watched kids at the driving range learning the game with their parents despite the strong wind. People are out there, which is great. That was me when I was a kid. And that's exactly how this green space should be used. Palmer needs places that bring people together, not airport-related industrial development such as hangers, tie-downs, and float ponds. In fact, one reason I left the Valley was the limited recreational opportunities, and losing another community asset certainly doesn't encourage me to move back as much as my parents don't want to hear that. I will acknowledge that the condition of the golf course has improved significantly over the past months, and I'm very happy to see it. When I played at the end of June, the course was in rough shape and not worth the cost. Since then favorable weather and the hard work of the grounds crew, particularly your current co-superintendents, Mark Delessi and Mark Troutman, who replaced your initial hire after you quit after two weeks on a job, have helped the Greens recover from the damage caused by the irrigation issues and the premature tarp removal. However, The course shouldn't have been in this place in the first place, and that's a result of the council and the city mismanagement of this entire situation from the start. I'm not sure if it's corruption, collusion, or incompetency that is going on here, but I'd like to think it's mostly incompetency mixed in with a little bit of corruption or backdoor dealings. Throughout these council meetings, many members of the community have repeatedly warned that removing George and changing course management would have negative consequences on the golf course in the city. We've now seen many of these concerns play out. Community members have also consistently had to correct the record for this council on issues such as the liquor license, FAA release of obligation requirements, and the recent land appraisal. While I appreciate recent efforts to create the golf course committee, the actions feel more symbolic than substantive. The proposed golf course committee may invite a forum for input, but it has no real authority to implement changes. The community has been offering ideas and recommendations for over a year, yet those recommendations have often been ignored. We also saw that with rate increases that went against Georgia's initial recommendations and ultimately have contributed to lower participation rounds on the golf course. At the end of the day, I am disappointed with how the situation has been handled and with the lack of meaningful progress towards restoring trust with the Community, many people who care deeply about Palmer golf course have been asked to be patient. But actions speak louder than words and so far your actions have been little little reason for optimism about what comes next, thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, administrators and council members. My name is Bruce Brown. I just came to pick up an application to run for election for the council, but I noticed there was also the Rimpel Street where I have lived for 20 years is up for FOR IMPROVEMENTS. THE NEIGHBORS HAVE PETITIONED AND TALKED ABOUT THIS SINCE I MOVED THERE 20 YEARS AGO. AND THEY ALWAYS SEEMED LIKE THE MONEY WAS NOT AVAILABLE. SO I'M VERY HAPPY THAT THE COUNCIL HAS FOUND MONEY TO IMPROVE THE STREET. AND I DID NOTICE THAT THERE WAS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC REVIEW OF THE PROGRAM. I THINK SOME OF MY NEIGHBORS WOULD BE INTERESTED IN reviewing them, especially things like where the streetlights go. Not across the street from my house, please. But there's little things like that. We are also at the end of the street going toward the Palmer Airport and that public use land that's not developed is important for the neighborhood. We all use it for walking and we'd hate to see any fencing or anything to block the neighborhood from using that track. So thank you for your consideration and have a good evening.

Good evening, everyone. My question tonight is about residency. I think you just did. Mike Borgford. I live at 315 East Dolphin Avenue here in Palmer. I needed to ask, is Councilwoman Collins still with us?

She's still there. Because my question is directed specifically to Allison.

Allison, could you confirm to everyone that I live right across the street from you? There seems to be a question as to whether I'm actually a resident of Palmer and have been for many, many years. At 315 for the last seven years and before that for 41 years. So hopefully Allison can clear that up for the information that folks received. Thank you. And it's a lot better than dragging Brad down here, who's my next door neighbor.

I am a volunteer with Bright Lights Book Project, have been pretty much since its inception. Yes, Pam Hike. And I am just here to give you maybe a feeling of what Bright Lights is all about. Some of you, I imagine, are very familiar. Some of you probably could care less. and some of you just haven't had a chance to learn about what we're doing. What we're doing is amazing. We collect books from all kinds of sources, school districts when they're done with them, libraries when they don't need them anymore, individuals, folks that have passed away and their kids don't know what to do with their 40,000 books they give to us, and we get them back out there. Many of you I'm sure know that we've got over 40 bookcases in and around the valley that are with free books, And the small things that we've been able to do with literacy and literacy projects, now we're working together with a marvelous literacy program. They're sharing our warehouse space and that's wonderful because it's all to promote a better world and a better Palmer. And this little activity, many of you probably have seen these around town. This summertime thing just came about because we had done a particular thing in one of the parks and it worked well. And we thought it's a great way to get kids reading and entertain them. And so it's just been marvelous. But we, I understand, distributed about 70,000 books just in the last year, which begins to give you an idea of what it's all about because it is making a difference. I'm sure some of you know that. Just wanted to encourage you as best you can to support this kind of thing, these activities. It's obviously not just for kids. There are plenty of adults out there who maybe read a book when they were in school And there's just such a potential to be able to develop it. If you have an idea of something else we could do that we're not doing, please let us know. We're always open to volunteers. In fact, it's pretty much done by volunteers. We had an employee for a few months, and now that employee has gotten a better job somewhere. So we're still there, still working at it, and developing as many volunteers as we can. There's so many different things you can do. If you're not the kind of person that wants to sit and go through the pages and make sure that there's no bookmarks and things stuck in them, if you're the kind of person that wants to drive around the valley, you could be delivering those to the bookcases because we need those kinds of angels too. And I just thought it would be a marvelous opportunity to give you a little heads up on what a program which has only been around for a very few years. But it started because none of us who were volunteers at the recycling center could stand the idea of ripping up a book to make it into new pages. Thank you.

All right, that's all the people that have signed up. So move on to public hearings. Ordinance 26-004, amending sections of the Palmer Municipal Code 3.16 sales tax. create certain uniform provisions for the collection or remittance of sales tax for marketplace facilitators through the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Code pursuant to our initial code 3.16.300, Alaska Uniform Remote Seller Sales Tax Code adopted by reference. I'll open the public hearing. Anybody who wishes to come forward to speak on Ordinance 26004, please do so. Seeing no one, we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the council. What's the wishes of the council? Go ahead, I'm sorry. I'd like to bring Gina up forward, if that's all right, to explain what this is, please.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members.

What you have here before you is amendments to Palmer Municipal Code 3.16 sales tax. Palmer has been a member of the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission since November of 2019. It has captured a lot of the remote sales from online sales for deliveries inside Palmer City Limits. It evens the playing field for our local brick and mortar businesses. With this code changes, it has to do with the marketplace facilitators. It's the companies like Airbnb, VRBO, the car rental places. So many of these organizations have like a parent company, and the parent company would rather work with one sales tax provider than all the different small communities, so they would rather work with Alaska Remote Sellers. This is just giving Alaska Remote Sellers the permission to move forward with this collection.

Who are the Alaska Remote Sellers? If they collect the money, how do we get it?

The Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission is made up of board members that are attorneys and financial finance directors for different communities within the state of Alaska. And AML, Alaska Municipal League, actually runs the sales tax collection. And we get monthly reports of the sales tax that they have collected. There's a little delay from when they get collected to when we get the money, and then less the fees that are involved with the collection.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Just a quick question. Does this also include DoorDash and those type of sellers as well? Correct. It will. Awesome.

Thank you.

Yes, sir. Do you have a projection on what increase in revenue we can expect from the streamlining of the tax collection?

Ballpark, no, I don't. Right now, the Alaska remote sellers, we're getting over a million dollars annually from the Alaska remote sellers. I'd say we might be getting it, but this might increase an additional quarter million, perhaps.

Great, thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, ma'am. Back to the council.

Move to approve.

Second. Thank you. Any other discussion, questions on this? Madam Clerk.

OK, that was moved by Councilmember Graham and seconded by Councilmember Allen. Mayor Cooper.

Yes.

Councilmember Allen.

Yes.

Councilmember Carrington. Yes. Councilmember Collins.

Yes.

Councilmember Graham. Yes. It is unanimous and approved.

Thank you. Moving on to Resolution 26-020, a resolution of the Palmer City Council approving and adopting the amended Alaska Intergovernmental Remote Seller Sales Tax Agreement. So what this is doing is, you know, the first one is changing our code and the second one, now we're approving this. Which is the council?

Move to approve. Second.

Any questions? Yes, sir. Ma'am.

Mayor Cooper.

Yes.

Council Member Allen.

Yes.

Council Member Carrington. Yes. Council Member Collins.

Yes.

And Council Member Graham. Yes. It is unanimous and approved.

Thank you. Moving on, no action memoranda, no unfinished business, no new business. A record of items placed on the table, the items that were provided by the Municipal Planning Organization. Moving back to now audience participation. Again, sign in, 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 and 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.

I have the sign in, so if you just want to come forward and state your name.

John Sherrock again. I'm going to try and finish up what I had before. What I was going to ask is that you please contact the FAA yourselves and ask them if that appraisal is the defensible appraisal that is required by the FAA and the RFP guidelines, defensible being a key word. Based on all these uncertainties, the only path forward is to request an extension on the lease until the DOT for up determination has been completed by HDL as outlined in the master plan consultation you approved two weeks ago. So please wait until HDL has concluded their determination before agreeing to any lease changes. Also, the FAA has already approved the current lease arrangement through the end of the year. So while we wait for that for a determination, I still think an RFP should go out for running the golf course in the interdepartmental structure that had been working for the last two decades. That structure was FAA approved and successful for the golf course, the city and the airport. I also think the city should hire more staff for the golf course. That would help keep the snack shack open, keep the grass mowed, and keep the doors open during advertised business hours or closing the gates at night. Due to the lack of a starter or consistent marshaling, it appears that if you pay to play nine, you can golf the rest of the holes for free on your walk out. I'm fairly certain I could just go there and play without checking in and no one would even notice. Every other course has a starter, a marshal or some sort of GPS tracking system in place to make sure you are where you should be for everyone's safety and everyone's overall golf experience. And at Palmer really needs to get something back in place. The grounds crews have been working tirelessly to repair the greens and they are looking really good. I'm really kind of pleased with their work. but it's time to protect their work. And I'm asking like, please put the rope partitions back around the greens, get some signage around the greens, driven on and ruined. And even just put the simple signs back up that, you know, keep your cart away or repair your ball mark, you know, because I'm going, I've already worn out a whole, you know, divot tool this summer, like fixing ball marks on every single hole, you know, trying to do my part. And, you know, there's nothing, there's no sign. I think that would really help, and I'm sure the grounds guys would appreciate it as well, so thank you.

Anyone else?

My name's Joel Stefanski, and thank you, Ro, for the kind words to your dad. This gentleman sitting in the back here, we go way back, Mark D'Alessi. We planted a lot of trees in the early beginning of this golf course back in 1991. And I'm really sorry that Mark, just like me, is very passionate in keeping this recreation golf course going. And thank you, Mark, for everything you do. And Mark Troutman too, and Ray DePriest, and Dirk. and all the other people that are covering for bad decisions that have been made by this council but there's always some good news and i'm really excited about hdl engineering and some of the things that are required that's totally out of the whatever the city council wants to do and the phase one Social economic evaluation, community engagement, aviation activity forecast, airport inspection, aeronautical survey. All of these things are gonna happen on phase one. And phase two, there's gonna be other things that are gonna be going on. The F4 section, which is a major important part of that golf course staying where it is. And so it was really exciting. The one thing about HDL in my past employment, they worked with us and those people can't fudge any numbers. They can't cook any books. They're not political. They're going to tell you the way it is because their license and their reputation. It's not like what happened last month when we had all these executive sessions, we had to go out. You know, part of we've at any one time we've had two or three lawyers involved in this chambers, and yet we still have open meeting act violations. Lawyers take oath of ethics. And they're held to a higher standard when it comes to court cases. And it's not going to look too good when this court case goes further on. So I just want to do the comparison. And the HDL is held to a high standard. And they can't fudge things. For political purposes. I'm very excited about this phase one phase two really disappointed that airport advisory commission. They missed two out of the last three meetings. That's real critical and moving this forward. We need to do something about the advisory board showing up. Really appreciate that. But there again, we played, my family played Sunday. The course is looking good, Mark. Some of the greens are looking really nice and appreciate what's going on out there. Thank you.

Rostovansky, again, just wanted to read something quickly. DOT 4F is a federal statute that prohibits using land for public-owned parks, recreation areas, wildlife, and waterfowl refugees, sorry, waterfowl refuges or historic sites for transferring projects unless specific criteria are satisfied. Just wanted to make sure that was all in the record. So that's all. Thank you.

Anyone else? Seeing no one, we'll close the audience presentation and bring it back to the council, council member comments. Mr. Allen.

I would say that I've also played golf at the Palmer Golf Course recently, and I'm very impressed with the improvements. I know weather has a huge factor. And unfortunately, this has been the rainiest July in history. And that has had a major impact on the golf course, of course. But I just want to acknowledge that there's a lot of people that have worked really hard to get the golf course up to speed. And that's very clear. I also would acknowledge that there's a lot of people in the community that have just been very positive and trying to do the best they can to improve the golf course and make sure to an enjoyable place for the community to use. So some of those people are paid by the city and some of those people are not. And I just want to say that it's apparent that their efforts have not gone unnoticed and that I appreciate their work. Thanks.

Ms. Collins.

No comments today. Thank you.

I just appreciate everyone who came and spoke today. I appreciate everyone who helped with Celebrate Palmer on Friday. It was a great turnout, and the kids were having an absolute blast. We were trying to wrap up at 6, and the kids are still in line to get their faces painted. And so it was just a really good day. The Vanderwill Farm came in and dropped off four boxes of vegetables, and I was really glad I had help. I'd still be there. But it was a great day, and we appreciate everyone who helped and everyone who came out and helped celebrate Palmer. Thank you.

Ms. Graham.

I don't have much to say tonight other than to thank everybody for coming out on one of the few really, really nice evenings we've had in the last, I don't know, 60 days. And I'm glad to hear that Celebrate Palmer was such a great success. And I was thrilled to be able to drive down the fresh new Evergreen extension there and not get my teeth rattled out of my skull. That was really nice. And I just hope everybody has a good night. And just as a note, I will not be here on the 11th. Thank you.

Not by Zoom either. Sorry. And not by Zoom either.

Not by Zoom. The middle school is having their open house. So I got to do the mom thing.

Thank you. To add on to the celebrate Palmer, the fire truck showed up and it was it was the active fire truck. So they had to park on the street just in case they got called. Unfortunately, it did not get called. but also to add on to about all the kids. The one lady has three outfits that she wears. One was, I think, Elmo, and I don't remember who the first one was, but when she wore Bluey and came out, all the kids were mesmerized. The next thing you know, she must have had 30 kids around her that wanted to get a hug from Bluey and just give a high five and all that. And there was probably a child that was maybe a year old that was actually crawling. And so Bluey got down on the ground and gave her a big hug. And so that was really amazing. So anyway, that's all I have. And at 7-12, we're adjourned.