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Home My WebLink About04022019 PACAB MInutes City of Seward, Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Minutes April 2, 2019 Volume 3, 370 CALL TO ORDER The April 3,2019 regular meeting of the Port and Commerce Advisory Board was called to order at 12:00 p.m. by Chair Christy Terry. OPENING CEREMONY Acting City Manager, Regis led the pledge of allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Christy Terry presiding, and Laura Schneider Carl Hughes Lynda Paquette Erin Lemas Bruce Jaffa Comprising a quorum of the board; and Absent—Colby Lawrence excused Also, Present: Brennan Hickok, Assistant City Manager Norm Regis, Acting City Manager& Harbor Master GeNeil Flaherty, Executive Liaison Suzi Towsley, Council Liaison CITIZENS' COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING -None APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Jaffa/Paquette) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous Consent Terry suggested to add to the Special Orders, Presentations and Reports, A. Phil Kaluza and his presentation on Air to Air Heat Pumps and to remove the minutes off the consent agenda. Motion Passed Unanimous Consent SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Phil Kaluza-Air Source Heat Pumps(Mini-Splits)-Kaluza provided a power point presentation and a handout that is included in the packet. (This will be added to the minutes for legislative history.) Think of a mini-split as a super-efficient electric space heater. The heat pump technology today is much better than 20 years ago. A new Alaska heat pump calculator is available at heatpump.cf Alaska Railroad Report— Report given electronically and she added that users from the Port of Anchorage are inquiring about what Seward can provide. And that things are progressing for the freight dock extension as well as for the Railroad as a whole. City of Seward, Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Minutes April 2, 2019 Volume 3, 371 Chamber of Commerce Report—Report given electronically and Chamber director Clock added that May 19th there will be a FAM (familiarize) event at the SeaLife center. 4.01J Harbormaster Report—Report given electronically and Harbormaster Regis updated that JAG has remained busy with clean up and jobs coming in. They have maintained their contract and have even surpassed expectations. Administration Report—Assistant City Manager Hickok said that when he was in Juneau with the Harbormaster, they gave a presentation to the Transportation Committee and it was well received. The showcased Seward, it's history, where we are now and where we are planning on going in the future. Also,he stated that the FAA has agreed to have a public hearing regarding the Seward airport. Updates as to when will be posted as soon as they come in. He announced that on April 19th there will be a community wide emergency preparedness drill. Everyone is encouraged to participate either by enacting what you would do in the event of an emergency but mostly in the survey following the drill. This opened up discussion regarding what we can do better in an emergency as a community. He then asked Jackie Wilde to speak about the last Planning and Zoning meeting. She announced that 3 new CUPs(Conditional Use Permit)were approved. They will begin working on lodging and their portion of title 15 at their next work session April 16 at 6pm in the Annex building. CITIZENS' COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING -None UNFINISHED BUSINESS 7A-Approval or the December 19, 2018 Minutes Not available for review. 7B- Approval of the January 2,2019 Minutes Motion (Lemas/Jaffa) Motion Passed Unanimous Consent NEW BUSINESS 8A - Approval of the February 6 and March 6,2019 Minutes Not available for review. 8B - Recommendation to Council regarding Lowell Creek Hydro Project Concept Design. Motion (Terry/Jaffa) Postpone to the May 1st regular meeting. Motion Passed Unanimous Consent 8C - Discuss Continue exploration of energy alternative, sponsor energy fair and/or other continuing community education,develop a Seward Renewable Energy Plan, review Title 14 Chapter 15 including process and procedures for alternative energy connection to city infrastructure. 8D - Discuss and set April 17th Work Session. Potential topics including but not limited to- .. Housing(Utilities), Climate Action Plan or Alternative Energy item. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Minutes April 2, 2019 Volume 3, 372 Motion (Terry/Paquette) April 17th Work Session topic - Energy items: Energy Fair, Seward Heat Pumps and Interconnection Policies for the City. Motion Passed Unanimous Consent 8E-Update from Climate Action Ad Hoc Committee Meeting. Next meeting will be April 10th at noon and May 8`11 at noon. Both at Rez Art coffeehouse. This Thursday at Apollo's at 6pm to discuss the Climate Action Plan guide and what it is. CORRESPONDENCE,INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS (No Action Required) BOARD COMMENTS Hughes—I think this was a pretty good meeting. I may not be able to attend the May meetings;I am bringing a new boat up. Schneider—I also will not be able to attend the first meeting in May. I will be teaching a class in Cordova. On April 29th I will be teaching a free class for commercial fishermen at AVTEC from 8am-6pm. It's the 10-hour required drill conductor class from Alaska Marine Safety Education Association. Paquette—Thank you to everyone that came and thank you to Phil for the presentation. I'm real anxious for the city to get their code squared away so that people can be using alternative energy. I am very excited about our opportunity to visit the airport. Lemas—Thank you to everyone who came Jaffa-It's good news that we have an opportunity for the airport and I thank the administration for your Participation and the way we got the information and I appreciate that as well. It came to us at a full board meeting and that was nice. I think this is going to be a long arduous process that we're going to enter into,to accomplish what we want,but I believe that if we do our thing and we get our ducks in a row we can get what we need and what we want. I'm enthusiastic for our new city manager and thank you Norm. I am concerned,the Kenai Peninsula Borough is in serious financial trouble. I think we need to maintain as much independence both financial as well as political. I am slightly concerned with the utilities with too much merging. We need to be careful with that but continue to explore them. As a citizen we need to participate as a local government we need to be active. Terry—The city presentation in Juneau was very well done and if you go back and watch Gavel to Gavel,they really explained and showed the state that they utilized those funds wisely at SMIC and the development that happened over there. These guys were truly the A-Team in Juneau and Seward should be proud of the representation. That goes a long way because goes to ask for funds for a different project those folks remember you followed through and that was done responsibly with state funds. Thank you,guys. Thank you,Phil,for your presentation. Thank you to the planner for coming. I will also be gone for the first meeting in May as well so I think we should turn the second meeting in May into our Regular meeting. City of Seward, Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Minutes April 2, 2019 Volume 3, 373 CITIZENS' COMMENTS -None BOARD AND ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSE TO CITIZENS' COMMENT - Regis asked John Foutz,the Electric Department Director to show up to answer the question: Is the flow study moving forward or do we need to make recommendations for that, with regards specifically to the Lowell Creek Hydro project? He replied, we did submit for the water rights to DNR and the expectation of one of those requirements is to do a flow study. At this moment we are not required to do a flow study,however,in talking with the Public Works Director,Schoelesser,it sounds like the Army Corps of Engineers,in conjunction with some other agencies,are already going to be doing a flow study. So, we are trying to coordinate with them to see about getting a hold of their data and using that as the flow study for DNR. Jaffa confirmed that there is no action required from the board at this time. Foutz added that as soon as they have more information,he intends to bring it to the PACAB. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:13 p.m. , 30,(&& GeNeil aherty Christe``':� Terry 1111110...11111 Executive Liaison Chair /f otts! Mg (City Seale4 OF S•'� � `= .` �. ,' °' ♦ %p„�rcae �ik7 • SEAL t ltigj► Y