City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey. We're gonna go ahead and give me a minute. We'll go ahead and kick off our work session for state and federal policy priority. You wanna take a stab at leading us out through this, Nick?

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. We're gonna start off with the federal priorities.

So we've

got Jack and Eric with CHCG, capital consulting group here with us. Later on in the in the conversation, we've also got Kim Hutchinson from for the state lobbying efforts. In the packet, we put an update. We took your old legislative priorities, and we added, you know, just kind of what's happened since you created those priorities for a couple of reasons. One, so you had a good clear picture of of what's been done.

But for two, just kind of a starting point for what you want to have as future priorities. We can certainly talk about any and everything that's going on in DC, with Jack and Eric, and and I'll defer to them on on most of this. I think, what I might advocate for when it's all said and done is we had a fairly lengthy list of federal priorities. I I I think it's good for us to have a priority focus of, you know, a couple of items. There might be other items that are more secondary that can be on the list, to speak, but I I think it's always good to focus on the things that we're really concerned with.

And, Jack and Eric can kinda tell you how many how many balls they can keep in the air, reasonably. And

I don't know.

Just some thoughts that I've

been having that say, took my first couple of trips here to DC. Doing so, I've kinda starting to get a lay of the land of of what makes sense and what's what's worthwhile and how much time you have to advocate for various things. And, I think it's good for us to to really just hone in on what on what's the most important, but also being aware of the things that do matter. Jack, I don't know if you have any thoughts or comments on that opening salvo.

No. I think that's great. I think, I'm gonna turn it over to Eric, and he can give you an update on where sort of everything stands back here in Washington DC. We can go through some of our, past priorities and then make sure that, an advice with mayor and city council that, priorities for the upcoming fly in are accurately defined. And then I think we need to set a date, for that fly in, get that secured and nailed down. I know, Mary, you had some, some of your training trips that'll be coming up during part of that, but we'll have a discussion on that. And then, and then we can kind of wrap up and, go from there,

if that's alright.

Yeah. That is. Mayor, can we pause for a moment? Council member Lawley isn't able to connect. Can I patch him in by phone?

Yeah. Sure. Just give us a second here.

Hello?

Hi, Joe. This is Elise. We're trying to patch you into the work session. Can you hear us okay?

Yes.

You all good? Alright. Go ahead. Here.

Perfect. Thank

you. So just sort of a quick Washington DC, update. Jack and I are pleased to, let you know, and Nate may have already informed you that the radio tower funding, that bill that the earmark was included in did pass both the house and senate. So it now goes to president Trump for his signature. That was located in the commerce justice science bill.

And that 5,500,000, is half of the funding we need for the radio tower. So once the f y twenty six process, concludes, we'll be requesting the additional dollars in the f y twenty seven process, and Jack and I are monitoring, appropriations deadlines for that, once we finish up, with this current appropriation cycle. As of right now, both chambers have have passed, six appropriations bills, which represents half of the appropriations bills that need to be passed. January 30 is the deadline for passage for all the appropriations bills. The house has passed eight bills out of the chamber.

The senate still needs to pass, the remaining. So those two bills that the house has passed, the senate hasn't, the senate will consider next week. And then today, the house and senate appropriators released conference, defense, homeland security, labor HHS, and transportation and HUD bills. The house rules committee is gonna meet tomorrow on those bills, and then they are gonna look for passage on Thursday. So once that occurs come Thursday, if those bills do pass, the only bill we expect any hiccups would be the homeland security due to just some immigration disagreements.

Once those are passed, then all of the bills have been passed out of the house. The senate will then come back next week, and they'll have to pass the six remaining bills ahead of the January 30 deadline. As of right now, we do expect that congress will be able to pass it. It may take the senate a little bit longer, so there could be a technical shutdown, but there doesn't seem to be an appetite for it. So it looks like we are gonna get the f y '26 process taken care of.

The good news is your earmark is passed. It's it's gonna become law, so we are safe on that. But, obviously, we know government shutdowns affect, you know, the entire city and residents, so we are tracking this process, very closely. But the good news is it looks like f y 26 will be finished. And the sooner f y 26 gets completed, f y 27 starts up, and we can get, going on that additional appropriations request.

We did flag for Nate, we can discuss this later about, identifying a second earmark request, just to have the second one as you guys know. Sometimes it takes, you know, a year or two, to get an earmark, through the process just because government funding as a whole gets disrupted. So we'd like to have, you know, that secondary option as well. But we know the radio tower, the additional funds for that is, very important. When we look to schedule our next fly in

Wait. Eric, before you before you get there, I I would just point out that Eric's already had conversations with Senator Murkowski's staff on the second part of this be just because of the unique nature, that this really doesn't fit into any specific pots of money. We've had to be, well, through the senator's office, had to be very smart in how we approach this. And so, Eric's already had conversations on the second part of that with Murkowski's staff. Anyway, go ahead.

Thanks, Jack. I appreciate the reminder too. I totally forgot, and I was just earlier today. So when we finalize the fly in date, you know, we will look to have, the delegation meetings to discuss all the city's priorities and specifically the next part of funding. But also in the larger context, Jack and I will be reaching out to the delegation staff to secure that high level coast guard meeting that we discussed on the last fly in and get to the highest possible person at coast guard to discuss, you know, the city's plans moving forward to increase coast guard presence. Jack, did you have something?

No. I I think that the other thing obviously too is Senator Sullivan, who's the, you know, the chairman of that committee there, working with him and continuing to develop the plans that you guys brought with you last time, and maybe working on some report language. We we've originally brought this idea up with Nate, and I don't think that we've come to a conclusion. We hate to ask questions that we don't have answers for, but maybe looking at a feasibility study for, Porto Valdis to harbor CFRs or small icebreakers. But I think that's something that we all need to discuss, but could be in play with Senator Sullivan's office if we decide to go forward.

Yep. And then in addition to that, and we know that will be, you know, a big driver of our time and focus, you know, continuing our relationship with, house transportation infrastructure, subcommittee on coast guard staff director, John Rayfield, meeting with him, also getting inroads with HUD, Forest Service, Senate Commerce, their sub subcommittee on Coast Guard and DOD as well, among many others too would, encompass that fly in as well. Just so we're making sure we're hitting, you know, all the different agencies and, you know, spreading Valdez's contacts on the hill, further than the delegation, because we do need those relationships to get, you know, some of these bigger effort efforts and projects done. Jack, did you have anything?

No. Essential air service would be another one, that we would obviously meet with DOT on, but I think, yeah, you covered it all there. Thank you.

And then, just moving on to different legislative priorities. This year, as we mentioned, Coast Guard will be a major focus, but we also have other issues that we're gonna be focusing on with the with the city. Secure rule schools, we were pleased that last month, congress did pass SRS funding through f y twenty six with back payments for f y twenty five and f y twenty four. That's a great step forward. That bill was languishing away in the house, and there was finally some action on it.

Now, with f y twenty six, you know, coming to an end in September, we're gonna need to get moving on reauthorization for additional years, and that is something we'll be working on and talking to the committees of jurisdiction and also congressman Baggage's office too because it seems to be that the house, is a little bit delayed in SRS. The senate seems to be a bit stronger. So that is something that we will, be working closely on and monitoring. On housing, you know, in addition to the city's efforts, on housing and, you know, talking to the coast guard about, coming through with their commitment to additional housing, Jack and I are also tracking a lot of different housing legislation going on, in congress. So senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren did include the Road to Housing Act that we flagged for, NATE, a while back.

They did get it into the senate NDAA. Unfortunately, that was stripped, in the conference NDAA, so it was not passed. The financial services committee, has made housing a priority. And last month, they did pass the bipartisan housing for the twenty first century act. I seem to think that the road to housing act is a bit stronger, but both the committees, both the senate and the house committees of jurisdiction on housing issues are gonna be working on a larger, larger package.

The Trump administration has shown a lot of interest in getting housing, done. Jack and I have a former colleague who works for, senator Tim Scott, and I was actually talking to him on Thursday, and he was just talking that they're getting a lot of input right now on housing priorities from the administration. So that is an area we will see movement on this year, I hope. And with that, Jack and I will keep, the city informed on how that housing legislation is moving forward. On health care, president Trump did announce earlier that, you know, he released sort of a plan that he would like to see, to deal with, health care premiums, going up.

In addition, congressional leaders, did reach a bipartisan deal on some health care pieces in the government funding bill that is included in there. It did not include an extension of the ACA subsidies that, were the subject of the shutdown, last year. We are thinking that, you know, the ACA subsidies will not be addressed the way things are moving right now. But in Washington, never say never. So that is something we are tracking.

And we'll send a summary of, some of the health care provisions that are being addressed in the appropriations bills. I will note that $4,600,000,000 will be, allocated for community health centers in FY '26, and also allow Medicare coverage for multiyear cancer, early detection, and screen tests. But we will flag that whole summary for, Nate, as a follow-up. In addition, Jack and I do stand ready to help with any childcare needs as we move forward. We're very excited with the earmark that we were able to obtain a few years back through senator Murkowski's office, and we, in our discussions, know that you guys are making really, really good progress on the child care center.

So anything we can do, during the next fly in, we stand ready to help on that as well. And then just lastly, the highway, reauthorization bill is expiring on 09/30/2026. Negotiations are most likely gonna start in March on that. And so we flagged that for Nate, and we agreed to discuss it here too, and until March. You know, if there's any opportunity for the city, to get any sort of programs or funding in the highway bill as we, near that, we could really relay those discussions over to the delegation staff as well.

I will add this year, in particular, will be marked by the midterm elections. The house is very, very slim margins right now, and the senate is a bit in play. I will say, you know, we do think republicans will retain the senate, but, minority leader Schumer has put up a competitive field in some states that could potentially swing. You guys know this with Alaska being a competitive race potentially, but that is something we're monitoring. As we get closer to the midterms, we will see less legislative action.

But there are some must pass items this year. And once we get through the elections, we will have a lame duck session that, you know, they will need to get government funding addressed. We expect a CR, for a little bit of time and then potentially then getting a deal at the end of the year. NDA must pass. We've heard discussions that Chairman Thompson on the agriculture committee wants to get a farm bill done this year.

So there are a lot of different pieces of legislation folks want to move. So we will be monitoring that and seeing what opportunities, the city can have to have a say in that or to advance priorities. But, it will be a busy year, but, you know, as we get closer to November, all the attention will turn to the midterm elections. Jack, do you have anything to add or any questions from council?

The only thing that I would add is the Water Resources Development Act, which is, a list of project. It's a list of projects, to be authorized for the Corps of Engineers to eventually spend money on. If you all remember, that's how we got the original expansion of the small boat harbor was getting $20,000,000 authorized in WIRDA. And so we'll be exploring options with Nate to see if there are any projects that will qualify for for WIRDA, and submit those requests as well. I think that's it. Good job, Eric. Any questions?

Go ahead.

I don't I guess one question, Eric. Thanks for that update on the trans transportation highway bill. Is that something where, like, city manager Duvall likes with our pavement management plans, like, parts of that might be able to get fit to that? Is that kind of what the current thinking is now?

Perhaps. A lot of that a lot of that money flows through the state for various DOT projects. And so I I don't know how many local projects might be eligible. I'll have to look into a little bit more. That would be a project where perhaps the culvert for the Rogue Lake project might fall into that type of funding. There may be some pavement management opportunities, but I'm not entirely sure. Typically, my experience has been the local it's hard to get local money if there's not a state attachment for the pass through. Mhmm. But that's not to say it can't, but I could be mistaken.

Got it. So if it's just like city roads, it's it's a little harder. But if it's the the highway, that culvert, that's that's where there's a little bit more traction.

Yeah. And potentially some some of the state roads and towns, but the challenge with that is where they lie on the stiff and the state's willingness to, prioritize a local project.

And then also, Jack, you mentioned the water resource development act, coming up next year. I know that's a big one. And remind me, I I know it's, like, core projects, but is it doesn't that act also do a lot of rec like, outdoor recreation project funding too kind of outside of core projects just like monies for development of outdoor recreation too? Is that is that correct?

It it does. It's not its core mission, but it's been expanded over the years to include different types of projects like that. And I can get you a breakdown and kinda do maybe I will do a memo for council on that that basically just outlines WERDA, what can be put into it and those sorts of things so that we can get a better understanding. I can get it to Nate, and, we can get it over to you.

That that'd be great. I guess guess that kind of leads into, I guess, my next comment or question, which is, you know, I mean, I guess, number one, I think that, you know, we should be thinking about having outdoor recreation be somewhat of a priority at the federal level. I know we have the Meals Hill master plan already there. I know the city manager, you know, talked about, you know, getting at least the first stage of those projects done, but then, potentially, there's some other projects in that list. So I think trying to get some of those monies now even though we know it's, a multiyear process.

We could potentially get some federal funding for that, you know, those already, you know, planned out projects. We should start asking now. And if you could be in that water resource, development act or elsewhere, we could, you know, leverage Eric and Jack to figure out where that might fit. But I think that might be a priority to add to this list, outdoor recreation, because that fits in with one of our, you know, top three priorities that we we talked about in July. So there's that.

And then I guess the second thing to go into is kind of what, you the city manager mentioned before. You know, I think we should maybe have a effort here to reduce this list a little bit, the federal list, to be more specific on this topic so that we have, you know, actionable things to talk about in DC. Because, you know, a lot of this stuff I support, but, you know, like, at the end, the Arctic policy and sustainable resource management and tribal sovereignty, we didn't talk about any of that in DC. So, you while I support that, I suppose it's not making action on those. I suggest walking through the list and figuring out what stays, what doesn't.

We see a change. But I'm certainly in support of making it more succinct.

Yeah. Any other questions? I

got one.

Councilman, I'd just say that there's opportunity as well in the highway bill for the outdoor recreation as well. So we can pursue both avenues.

Lester Councilman Lester.

Yeah. Just wanted to tack on what, Councilman Love said there about, you know, making this a kind of a cleaner, more

clear

priority list and also getting, you know, a better understanding about what, you know, chances or the level of confidence that we have in each of these items too. We want to make sure that our energy is focused on making sure we can accomplish these priorities. Thank you.

Joe, do you have anything?

No, not at this time. I think that is good to, you know, I don't know how many things are on the list at this point, but, know, maybe a more manageable, you know, five. And then if there's time, you know, start hitting, you know, the the outliers kind of thing. But, yeah, I agree that, if we can have a, maybe a streamlined list, that would be good.

Funny things always seem to happen as items come up like the language and stuffs that, we were able to work with coalition of folks on to make sure that, Alaska was exempt from from that. Things like that are added all the time as well. Yeah. Good work on that, by the way, Councilman. Big win.

Oh, thank you. Same to the mayor. And thanks to you guys for getting us in the right places to push on that.

Yeah. Think Jack hit it on the head too. Are likely areas within the policy document to be somewhat vague, you know, supporting the local needs of LDs, etcetera, to to give you some flexibility to pivot on stuff that just comes up. If I were to make a recommendation, you know, as as we're gonna draft you some form of a document, But I think I would probably start with, again, from a what's gonna expend the most energy and effort would probably be the coast guard item, the sea otter development piece would probably be number one. From there, well, it's not necessarily in the urgent, you know, in the urgent important matrix, but the secure role schools as as Eric and Jack have brought up, I'd put that on there just because it's it's something that we can certainly address pretty pretty easily.

Well, not easily, but it's it's at the forefront.

But I think then if you were to take your

current council priorities as it relates to housing, childcare, and then our final one of essentially taking advantage of what's in Valdez for recreation, tourism, just utilization of our town. I think if we're to use that fourth priority as a similar bullet point for the legislative parties. I think that's going give you opportunity to seek out some of this funding. The Mule Sale was paid with an EDA grant. We didn't do the launch ramps at the Old Harbor.

Those still need to be replaced. Stuff like that might fall into a there might be an opportunity for some funding. But that those would be probably my top ones that I would focus on that I can think of at the moment from a federal perspective. It's not to say that there aren't other things that we don't get involved with as they come up. And it's not to say some of these other bills and funding sources dovetail into those priorities. And they're kind of subheadings or sub bullets to each of those, essentially here, etcetera. But I think those would be the ones that I would probably draft and allow you all to edit from that. I

think that's a brilliant way to go. Because, yeah, I mean, I agree. The coast guard Sea Otter, we spent so much time, That could be a big one for Valdez. That's gonna take a long lead time. Secure rural schools. Yeah. We obviously need wanna keep going with that. You know, essential air service, it seems like that's closed. You know? We need to keep monitoring that and say thank you, stuff like that.

Yeah. But I think that that that makes the most sense, the city manager suggested. And then, you know, underneath those, you know, the the three council priorities, just having specific, you know, both general but also specific things, you know, that we're asking for. Like, if it is Meals Hill, you know, call out Meals Hill priority. If it's housing, you know, for me, it'd be things like, you know, trying to get that HUD grant going again so that maybe we'd have another crack at that and it could be gathered in a way that's maybe, you know, helps us with our unique situation to be able to access those grant monies.

Yeah. And and like I said, Eric mentioned the Road to Housing Act, something similar, I think, would would absolutely dovetail into your council priority for housing. And, yeah, I I think those are all can be sub points to and it gives us, again, the flexibility for whatever may arise.

Go ahead, Jim.

I definitely agree that our specific actions and asks should be made as efficient as possible, but I I also think that we need to keep in mind that having, some robustness to the list is not necessarily a weakness. This is a public document that reflects our priorities and and our aspirations for what the state and federal government could deliver to us. And I think that having succinctness and specificity with each meeting that we actually have is absolutely the correct choice. But I think in maintaining our priorities, I think actually broadness could have some value in in illustrating our community's desire, to to have success in in all of these topics that that we've outlined.

I agree with the city manager. I actually had highlighted the exact ones that he had talked about because those were, for me, kind of the high ticket items. And if we can get any kind of financial assistance, it's not a burden on Valdi's. That's always beneficial. I like the idea of condensing down simply because, then we can really show that those are the ones that we are taking priority on. So I'm in full support of noticing down the list and moving forward in that direction.

And it's not to say that we don't have a subsection that says, and Valdes is also concerned with a, c, d, etcetera. But it when when we're producing materials for handouts, etcetera, it's it's easy to be one page is about what you get. So, finding ways to put your topics and and interests and what have you in that format is is gonna be helpful.

That's really we don't know. Okay.

Each question sorry. It's oh, go ahead. Just on the, maybe from Jack and Eric on the, with, like, local head start funding, where are we at with that going ahead? Is that something we need to be specifically looking at in the near term or with the childcare for Head Start?

Yeah. I think that there's ongoing negotiations with, some of the native corporations there, and we might not have the latest information. Does somebody staff have the latest there?

Yeah. My my recent conversation, because our head start is through Chugach Mute, and their funding is kinda directed through the to the native outlets. It's less at risk than some other head start or childcare venues. Again, that's not to say that can't change or that hasn't changed, but every conversation I've had to date, the the response was, oh, no. We're we're good. No issues. At least that's been the response lately.

Joe, do you got anything to weigh into on the list we wanna give to our federal lobbyists?

No, mayor. Not anything more than what I did. I thought those priorities sounded good to me. The the, you know, three to four that that Nate laid out and others discussed.

Okay. Okay. I think it it it also in my opinion, it it also helps us to be able to get Jack and Eric focused on the right group that we need to see and and everything when we can narrow that list down quite a bit too. And, makes our trip going into DC, you know, kind of a wham bam. Thank you, ma'am. As far as getting in there, getting to see the right people, we're only there for three days tops, and we're back out again. So we, I I really appreciate the work that you guys have been doing on that. So, yeah, I I'm kind of in agreement with the city manager's approach there, so we can get the meetings organized and everything well.

And again, you all you all will see the draft document and and get the opportunity to vote on it. So it's it'll be a draft. And so there's there's opportunity to think of things that you haven't thought of tonight, etcetera, but we'll get that to you.

K.

Any comments from the public? K. Seeing none. Thanks, Jack and Eric, for staying up and being part of this for this late night for you guys, but afternoon for us. So do you have anything else, Nate, for them?

No. I I think

I think that hits on the federal priority side, and we can move to the state unless there are any final comments from Jack and Eric.

Just wanna say thank you for the opportunity to represent Valdez in in Washington DC, and, it's proven to be a super effective team, and and we're just very excited to be part of it. And thank you all for your leadership and direction.

No problem. And thank you. If you guys get a chance, please take a picture of that coin if you ever get back into that area.

Totally. That's right. Yes. We will get that done.

Thank you. Alright.

Let's Thanks, Jack and Eric.

Thanks, Jack.

Alright. Have a good night. Thank you all.

Thank you all. Bye.

Good night.

Okay. Let's go to, state parties.

Yes. We've got Kim here to

introduce, what's well, they started today, he's here. So we don't know what they've done without him. But, Kim Kim's he's keeping an eye on from afar. But, similarly, we've got, your our council priorities, on the state level. The the states probably, I would make a similar recommendation.

I I think it's good for us to be succinct in what in what we really wanna focus time, energy, effort on. The challenge with the state is, well, they're they're broke. And so anything that is is gonna be a little bit more challenging of an ask. Having said that, there's certainly some policy things that are front and center that are gonna be important. Say, I'll I'll defer to to keep the update on what's going on and what have you. Senator Rauscher and representative, Nelson had had intended to join us,

and

they may still jump on a little bit later if they're able to. But, if not, they they send their regards, and they'll certainly be making time for us when we go to Juneau. But I'll turn it over to Kim to

Well, I don't have a lot. Don't have

Or Dawn?

No. No.

Okay. I don't have a lot to add to what Nate said. I looked over the legislative priorities that have been drafted. And there are things that we've supported in the past. But as Nate said, I think it helps to narrow down.

I think we're going to have a big fight this year on the gas line. Budget is gonna be overwhelming in the state this year. The fight is gonna be over the budget and how they fund the budget. But right on the heels of the budget fight is the gas line. And I'm sure you guys are all aware that the company that is wants to build the gas line has asked for a tax holiday, a permanent tax holiday for property taxes.

And my fear is that it opens up. And Nate and I discussed this this afternoon. It opens up a potential for Valdez to come under the gun and in focus with the rest of the legislature. Why do they get 20 mills and the rest of the state doesn't get 20 mills other than the North Slope Borough and a little bit to Fairbanks. So I think that's going to be a big fight.

I think that it's going to be our biggest fight if they really push the tax holiday. The other piece of legislation that I think which ties into that is the residential property tax exemption. And I think we have a good shot at getting it passed. And I think we focus on that when we come to Juneau this time because it's bogged down in the senate and will probably be one of the items that's in play at the end of session but is equally valuable to the residents here. So those are my two main focuses.

The rest of the stuff is not outside the realm of possibility, but it's gonna be decided as a group. It's not the city isn't gonna have much influence over childcare monies that the state eventually appropriates, because we don't have the earmark capability that the US Senate has. Right? And we can't earmark money for about these. We can make sure that it's funded to its fullest extent, but I think that all of those things are gonna be marginal this year just because of the budget difficulties.

We heard that very similar conversation with when we're Yeah. K. Any questions for Kim?

Go

ahead. Another one, Kim, that, is an update on that might be possible. It seems like we had some, traction on was with the state park technician. Is that something that we can still, you know because it's such a small task.

You think No. No. It's interesting you said that. I told Nate I was gonna focus on, gas pipeline holiday, property tax holiday or permanent property tax relief and, the, residential property tax exemption raising the the level. But on a personal basis, we're gonna meet with commissioner of natural resources and push this park ranger this year.

George isn't on line. I had hoped he was, but we thought we had it kind of elevated to the commissioner's level before, but we have a new commissioner in DNR. And I am gonna personally push George to make that a priority a personal priority of his. He's got a relationship with the governor. His neighbor is our new representative.

I mean, literally, George's next door neighbor is our new representative. And, between the two of them, make this a personal item, in the budget. Doesn't have to be a budget item. They can fill a vacant position and, which is already funded and get a park ranger in. So it's on my radar screen.

And then also just in terms of personnel, are we aware of anything in constant pass wise in terms of, like, not enough numbers, like, positions vacant, you know, specific kind of things like that where we can advocate to make sure that the tran on the transportation of these personnel are applied.

I think

similar to on the federal side, I think any general advocacy for maintaining employment for essentials, you know, maintaining field positions for essential services and make sure they're being competitive with wages, think, is is gonna be critical. I I don't know that they're going to add, for us presently, but I think the bigger deal is making sure that they've got positions filled that need to be filled. Kim and I had a conversation today. I I think there was some of their budgeting mechanism, which is not filling positions, when the reality is there are certain there are certain spots that just have to be filled. Whereas others, you could debate the merits of whether or not you need a a body and a seat.

But they said Thompson Pass Road Crew is a position that probably should have somebody that's

We're going to meet with the commissioner, and that's going to be it has been in the past and will continue to be pushing on him to fill those positions. The problem, of course, is finding people to fill them. Their state is not competitive. And every time they fill a position, they go to a better paying job.

And then, Jim, I guess what you're kind of seeing on on a lot of the things such as, you know, the the public education, the retirement system, those kinda big statewide issues, you know, we're we don't need to be specifically advocating for that there because the

No. But I I don't disagree. It doesn't hurt to have that in over overall things of interest about these. And it certainly is gonna make a diff I mean, it helps with our individual legislators, George and Garrett Nelson, who's the new representative because they have not been particularly supportive of some of those things in the past. And it doesn't hurt in an election year to remind them that those are vitally important about these.

Any other questions? Olivia, you got anything to add?

Hey. Thank you. I'm my apologies for arriving late. I am in agreement with Austin, council member Love, regarding DOT. And my curiosity around that specific item is it seems like it is a federal issue as well.

I understand that the state runs the snowplow, and they maintain the DOT. But we all know that the jet fuel for our military bases comes from Valdez over that highway. And so one might argue that it is kind of a federal and a state issue, and I I don't know if the federal government would be able to subsidize or the military or if we could connect with the military and see, you know, just making it understood that it's not just a pass where Valdesians travel. It's it's a major through fare for getting jet fuel to our armies. I'm am I off here?

I mean, do you think that it would be a good plan to kind of see if the federal government or military bases could somehow subsidize our Department of Transportation on the pass?

I I don't think you're off base at all. I think it's something that we can add to, you know, our you know, when we talked to the DOD and stuff when we're in Washington DC about and see what goes on there.

Well, I'll talk to the commissioner too.

And talk to the commissioner statewide.

You know and say, hey, look. It's a bigger problem than just Valdez getting to Anchorage. It's a problem to get the military bases fueled. And is there some program that we're missing Mhmm. That Yeah. Assist?

Yeah. I would appreciate just kind of seeing what options are out there with that. And then as far as finding, I'm sorry, Austin. What did you call the person who would be overseeing the pass? We used to have someone, a park ranger. Is that

Yeah. Park ranger technician.

Yeah. And I'm year. I'm curious if this year, we could get up to Thompson Pass in the springtime and, like, really create a story around what's going on on Thompson Pass. I think it would be really good to get pictures of hill climb. I think it would be really good to get pictures of the one love lot and the lot that's across the way from that.

And just really let them understand how utilized those areas are and the potential for revenue that they could generate by creating pay for park spaces in those areas, and then also creating, like, means for people to use facilities. Because it is extremely crowded up there, and I don't know that the state understands how much use is occurring up there and the potential revenue that they are missing out on. I mean, I can take pictures if you would like with my cell phone. They won't be great pictures, but I do think I don't know that they really understand how utilized that area is. So just an idea.

And I think that's pretty much it. And, you know, childcare is always top on the list, but I heard what Kim said earlier. So I appreciate it.

Thanks, Olivia. Joe, do you have anything to add?

Nothing other than what's already been discussed, Mayor. Thanks.

No problem.

I had a question for you, Kim, just on one of our priorities from the in 2025 with University of Alaska at the Pensacola College. You know, this this year, they're asking the city for additional support, and that's you know, I'm sure that's partially because they're not getting additional support from the state.

You know, is that

is that worth some time like, some prior priority time in Juneau? Or is that is that again one of those kind of, like, such a broad category where No. That is we should specifically be saying, you know, Prince Williamstown College. You know?

I think the university is gonna come under a great deal of focus this year because this is a little outside the box. But they're tightening up all the budgets for the satellite campuses. And Dillingham has come under attack. And I think the speaker is going to take a great deal of interest in protecting Dillingham. And I think it's worth bringing up with George and Garrett, but George in particular, and focusing on university.

It's a little amount of money in the university budget. It it's big in our budget, but it's little in the university budget. And I think they're gonna get a lot of focus on that. So it's worth making it a specific topic. I hadn't thought of it, but Billingham is in turmoil over the amount of money that the university is talking about taking away from them. And the speaker has expressed a great deal of frustration with the board of regents and the president current administration. So it's worth pursuing.

Go ahead, Lester. Thank you.

I would just like to further support that. I mean, the programs that we have here at our local college are amazing. You know? Millwright program, marine industries, carpentry, then nursing. I mean, these are skills and, you know, knowledge that people are using to further this community and the state of Alaska. It's very important that we expand that support to, you know, build to make sure we have those skills in our community and in the state of Alaska. Thank you. Jim?

Yeah. I would just like to expand on what Lester said about the importance of those programs. I think it could be really impactful to the state legislature to understand how high of a percentage of our local and regional nurses come directly through our local program as well as people that are involved in the pipeline operations that are trained here locally because of programs that are available through Prince William Sound College. Those are the two largest employers in the state is health care and and extraction and and transportation of crude oil. So I think that that that it would be very important for us to illustrate how much Prince William Sound College contributes to those, industries locally and regionally.

K. Anybody else have any comments from the board? Question number one. Go ahead.

On the, public retirement system, Ken, didn't didn't, like, a bill passed the house, but didn't pass the senate? That passed

the house.

That one's close. So it seems like advocacy this year would be helpful or not because of the Oh,

the person's hers is I have another client that's interested in seeing that bill passed. So I'm working on that bill. But the frustration, of course, is the governor is not in favor of the bill. And it didn't pass it passed the house twenty one nineteen. So there's not enough

For an override.

For an override. And the governor has expressed a great deal of reluctance to do a first terse retirement system upgrade. But I think it will pass the Senate. Senate is ten ten right now on it. And it's merely a matter of getting the majority caucus to coalesce around it and coalesce around it. And it will probably pass the senate, but what the governor does with it is a whole another matter.

I'm highly unlikely to ask the governor's desk. Okay. Thank you.

Any others? All right. I'm going to go to the public. You wish to speak on anything, please step up to the mic there. State your name.

Oh, hi. Don't know if I need to go to the mic to testify. I just I'm Ralph Fry. I'm the new legislative information officer here for Valdez. It's a six month role to increase communication or be available for serving the legislature, committee watching, and things like that. Glad to be here.

Excellent. Thank you. K. Anybody got anything else?

I just you know, what on the federal level, you know, we're we're one town of one out of 50 states, so you don't really have as much

of a voice. We've got a

very strong delegation. But when it comes to the state level, your your list of parties might be a little bit longer, just because there's there's more opportunity for influence. You know, what impacts Valdez also impacts other residents around the state. We're not as we're not as much of a unicorn perhaps. And so when you see the draft, I think you'll probably see a pretty copy and paste from from what you've got, but we would likely highlight the, you know, kind of the important or the areas of focus, if you will.

But it'll likely be a longer list just because there are so many vast topics. And, again, the opportunity for influences is a little bit greater on the state level. I do want to point out a couple other things is the the recent money for rural health care that's come through. I think it's, $500,000,000 a year for the next ten years or it's some absurd amount of money. Been working with Providence a little bit on some of their proposals and plans.

There are other opportunities. I mean, obviously, we wanna support Providence's submissions for those grant funds, but there are other opportunities for other grant programs, whether it's something the city wants to put in for or, you know, child care type initiatives or mental health initiatives. I think there are opportunities with with that funding as well that you can certainly advocate for on the state level. And then, the schools have a couple of specific things that they're monitoring. The Internet tax is something that they were concerned about and and interested in.

Again, just kinda wanna point those out. Those are newer to the to the game than perhaps some of the other items that were on the list. And then I I think another one we wanna include is we've had preliminary conversations with the ferry, director and just looking at opportunities for coutilization of that space or or some type of an arrangement that will be beneficial in the in the future. I think that's something we certainly wanna continue to advocate for on the state level. I think those were the the main highlights.

But, I guess, just to kinda set the table and expectations when it comes time for for the state parties list, it'll it'll likely be a little bit longer, but it'll be more specific items rather than generic.

One thing came to mind. The the Department of Education last summer trying to pass that bill with messing up our funding here. Is that something we gotta keep Yes. Turning the screws on to make sure that doesn't happen?

Yes. K.

Because that was another thing that we gotta make sure it doesn't happen. Yeah. That that and the tax holiday.

Think I think that the two highlight bullet points are gonna be about local control for taxation and funding of education. I think those are two high level bullet points if those budgets.

I don't know if you saw, but Fairbanks and Kuspuk School District filed a lawsuit today or yesterday, today, and is suing the state over funding for schools. I'm not a lawyer, I think they probably have a good shot that the state has inadequately funded schools. And they're gonna have a state's gonna have a tough time defending that lawsuit.

Go ahead, Jim.

I was gonna hold off until we had some better information. But because Nate brought it up, I'll take this opportunity to also bring it up. The, the health care funding that is gonna come into Alaska, I I think that it is absolutely worthwhile for us to explore as a community the utilization of those funds for, mental health and addiction counseling because those are always a necessity in Alaska, unfortunately, and an under met necessity also, unfortunately. So if there's a way that we can direct more funding toward those issues, I think that'd be very important for our community.

K. Nate, anything else?

No. Not not necessarily. Not to derail this conversation, but, I realized that one thing we forgot to get with Jack and Eric about was the date for the fly in. So I sent a quick text message to them. The available dates are the week of the ninth, excuse me, the week of the second, week of the ninth, and week of the sixteenth.

The caveat that the week of the ninth, only the senate is in session. The house is not in session that week. So the week of the second and sixteenth are both council weeks, and so we would certainly wanna leave a quorum behind to do the business of the city. Anyhow, just for, again, not not to derail the the state conversation, but it was something I'd hoped to get out of this meeting was nailing down that date so we can start making arrangements. Is it yes. March. Excuse me. March the week of March 2, March 9, or March 16. I'll be a little bit selfish in that March 16 is spring break,

and

I feel bad leaving my wife with a house of six kids. But I can be anywhere we need to be at any time.

March 2 works for me also. So, Joe, what did the March 2 look for you?

Mayor, that would work for me. I'm just getting see, I as part of my job with the RCAC, I I do legislative fly ins with them too as I'm sort of the legislative lead for the council. So I'm gonna be going to Juno twice and DC twice. So if it's the week of the second, then I would be there for the second, and then I think we're pulling for the sixteenth as well as the week of the twenty third. So either I mean, if if I I can I can probably make those work?

I'll just have to talk to some people and, you know, figure out the scheduling in that, but I think it should should be fine. Alright.

So, know, there there may be some if if our CAC or councilman Lau is already there, the sixteenth, there may be some economies of scale, if you will, for that week as well.

So anyhow. Thank you.

Actually,

I'll save this for a later time.

K. How does the week of the second look for everybody? Week of the second, is.

K.

K. Any other comments for Steve?

Are we

going down to do now?

Okay. Well, with that being done, I guess this quick session is adjourned. Thank you.