The Assembly will meet tonight in Harrigan Centennial Hall. Raven Radio will broadcast the meeting at 6 p.m. after Alaska News Nightly. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
When the Sitka Assembly meets tonight (10-25-16), they’ll focus mostly on funding decisions: what to save, what to spend, and how.
See agenda here: sitka-assembly-agenda-for-10_25_16
In unfinished business, they’ll consider – on second and final reading – appropriating $250,000 to legal, geotechnical, and other expenses related to the August 2015 landslide. Since then, two lawsuits have been filed against the city. The money that will be used is surplus within the general fund.
City Administrator Mark Gorman is recommending the remaining general fund balance – which is over $440,000 – be transferred to the Public Infrastructure Sinking Fund. Sitka General Code states the Administrator must, within 90 days of the fiscal year, recommend an amount to be transferred to this fund, which pays for the repair and maintenance of city buildings, streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and parks.
The last time this transfer came up at a meeting, no one made a motion on the item. The Assembly will revisit the decision tonight.
The Assembly will also consider a request by the Electric Department to appropropriate $98,000 from the Blue Lake Bond Proceeds to buy a new transformer for the Medvejie Hatchery substation. The department recently attempted to install a replacement transformer, made a decade ago. But a fatal design flaw was discovered and the transformer cannot be used.
On the consent agenda is an item to support the renaming of the Forest and Muskeg Trail to the “Ben Grussendorf Trail,” in memory of Sitka’s 10-term Democratic House Representative. Also on the agenda is to support the construction of a Sitka Veterans Memorial on the seaward side of Harrigan Centennial Hall. The memorial, to be funded by the Sitka Veterans Association, would be built to honor the over 1,000 Sitka veterans and educate visitors on the city’s WWII history.
The Assembly will also receive an update on the Comprehensive Plan from Community Development Director Maegan Bosak and reappoint Josh Arnold and Deb Miller to three-year terms on the Port and Harbors Commission and Three and Landscape Commission, respectively.
The Assembly meeting begins at 6 p.m. in Harrigan Centennial Hall. Raven Radio will join live in progress, following Alaska News Nightly.
