City Council - Special Meeting

Um, I call to order the the October 27th, 2025 special meeting of the Weeder City Council at 6 p.m. [clears throat] Uh, please rise for the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh please note before we begin tonight's meeting, please note that the digital copies of the packet are available on our website. A QR code is provided just outside the door or in the top left corner of the YouTube video. Open your phone's camera to scan the code and access the packet that way. Roll call, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Miss Borg, here. Mr. Wagner absent. Mr. Mccalto here. Mr. Pinkush absent. Mr. Denmark absent. Miss Loan here. Mr. Mayor here. You have a quorum.

Do we need to excuse the other members? They have sent anything in. Because it's a special meeting, there's no requirement that everyone attend all special meetings. So, it's strictly just for regular meetings. The excused absences. Okay. Thank you. Um citizen comments. Citizen comments on any agenda item except those scheduled for public hearing are welcome at this time. Those who have signed in will be given first opportunity to speak. Please note this is a time for dialogue. It is time for you to speak and for the council to listen. Madame Clark, is there Madame Clark, is there anything anyone signed in for citizens comment?

No one is signed in. Oh, thank you. Anyone in the audience who um wishes to speak, please come forth. Okay. And then let's move we'll move forward to our approval of the special agenda. Is there a motion and second to approve this evening's special agenda? I'll make the motion. I will second.

Is there any discussion? Any additions or deletions? No further discussion. Um, well, Madam Clerk, will you please call the role? Voting on the motion to approve tonight's special meeting agenda. Mr. Malto, yes. Miss Bort, yes. Miss Lone, yes. Mr. Mayor, yes.

The motion passes and tonight's special agenda is approved. At this time, does anyone wish to declare any substantial financial interest in a matter of appearing on the agenda? Okay. None. Okay. We'll move forward to our special meeting business. Here we have our resolutions next. Resolution 25- or zero 20 25-037. a resolution authorizing the city manager to apply for and to accept a 100% subsidized loan in the amount of three three,500,000 from the state of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for the purpose of funding the Whittier Water Well Replacement Project and appropriating funds. Is there a motion and a second for this resolution?

I'll make that motion. I'll second. All right. Um, I guess as a a staff report before we proceed with a discussion or

Oh, Chris, Missinger. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm I'm here. Oh, I just went with Thank you.

Uh, first of all, I'd like to thank council um members for appearing this evening and apologize that we were unable to get this um action item before you at your last meeting. Um, but this is timesensitive. We are applying for um an a grant application through the state of Alaska and this DEEC um grant has scored highest um on the Alaska drinking water fund state fiscal year 26 project priority list. Um this is a project that qualifies for 100% loan subsidy. So, uh, so in essence, it it ends up being a grant to the city of Whittier. Uh, council knows we've been talking about the water well replacement project for, you know, at least the last uh, eight years or so. Scott can give you all the details about the need for the project. um if if you're interested, but for those for just for the sake of the listening audience, our water well um system has reached the end of its useful life. The city along with our consultants and engineering consultants over the years analyze various options for updating and replacing elements of the of the system. At the end of the day, it was determined that um replacing the system would be the most cost effective um option primarily because the existing well casings that are located inside the wellhouses are undersized to accommodate newer uh new high higher capacity pumps and then the poor condition of our existing infrastructure just made it unfeasible to try to refurbish what we had there. So, in uh 2020, the city um

had two exploratory wells installed um to do a pumping test on our aquifer and determine the size um needed to replace the existing system. So, we've been working on these on this project and DEEC has been well aware of the project for for a number of years and and as well as been, you know, actively trying to assist the city in finding funding. Um you'll notice under section two of the resolution, so not only are we accepting this grant, but because we now have a project, we're um accept appropriating all the various sources of revenue for this project. So this grant in particular is 3 million. Um council will remember we also received uh $1.23 23 million in congressionally designated spending under a US EPA grant um a few years ago. And then we also have access to $580,000 from the USDA in the form of a grant/loan. So we have a combined uh $5.31 million for for this project as well as monies that the city has set aside if we need to spend money on matching funds. But but this should be sufficient uh we believe to cover the cost of the project. Once council appropriates this money, we'll enter into an agreement with the state of Alaska for 100% loan subsidy and then we will have locked in the funding for the project and we'll go out to bid um on the project. Scott's been working with CRW to get the bid documents ready to go. So, we appreciate your support for this resolution and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have or anything particular to the wellhouse um well replacement projects

themselves. Scott is better prepared to answer. Thank you.

I was wondering if I need to say anything. Um Mr. Denmark's present as well. Thank you. Yes. For the record, Mr. Denmark arrived at 6:05 p.m.

And Dave Pinos called me. He's stuck in traffic and said he would attend by phone if a quorum was not here. And I do have a question for Chris. Um [clears throat] looking at the um uh oh the chart presented by the state says the loan repayment terms are 20 to 30 years. How long will we be carrying the carrying this?

Thank you Mr. Vice Mayor through the mayor. Um we actually so it's it's an interesting um situation. The state has a um state revolving loan fund uh from which they normally loan money to um to various entities for this program. However, they also um have receive grant money that they have available as well as funds that are left over from previous uh projects that were not completely expended. And so at this time the state has sufficient money, the full $ three and a half million dollars to offer us in the form of a subsidy. So in other words, we're applying for their SRF loan funds with 100% loan subsidy, which means that the city will not need to repay any of this loan.

So the terms that are stated aren't relevant to this circumstance. Right. Those terms Yeah, that's correct. Those terms are specific to the program, but because the program is backstopped by funds that essentially turn this into a grant, they don't pertain to our particular um our particular use of these funds. Thank you.

Any other questions? Okay, see no questions. Um, Madame Clerk, will you call the role, please? Voting on the motion to approve resolution 2025-037, a resolution authorizing the city manager to apply for and to accept a 100% subsidized loan in the amount of 3,500,000 from the state of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for the purpose of funding the Whittier Water Well Replacement Project and appropriating funds. Miss Borg, yes. Mr. McCalto,

yes. Miss alone. Yes. Mr. Denmark, yes. Mr. Mayor, yes.

The motion passes and resolution 2025-037 is approved. Okay, next item on our agenda is resolution 2025-038 authorizing signatures for all city bank investment and credit card accounts and rescending all previous resolutions in conflict here with all here with. Is there a motion and a second?

I'll make that motion. Any questions or discussions? Okay. Madame clerk, will you please call the the role? Voting on the motion to approve resolution 2025-038, a resolution authorizing signitories for all city bank, investment, and credit card accounts and rescending all previous resolutions in conflict herewith. Mr. Malto, yes. Mr. Denmark, yes. Miss Lone, yes. Miss Borg,

yes. Mr. Mayor,

yes. The motion passes and resolution 2025-038 is approved. Next item, council comments. Is any council comments from anybody? Okay. Citizen discussion. One signed in. Okay. Um, is there any further business? No further business. And this meeting is adjourned at 6:15 p.m. [clears throat]

Oh, yeah.