HomeMy WebLinkAbout02112019 City Council Minutes City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 611
CALL TO ORDER
The February 11, 2019 regular meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at
7:01 p.m. by Mayor David Squires.
OPENING CEREMONY
Police Chief Tom Clemons led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
ROLL CALL
There were present:
David Squires presiding and
Sue McClure Suzanne Towsley
Sharyl Seese Kelley Lane
comprising a quorum of the Council; and
Jeff Bridges, Interim City Manager
Brenda Ballou, City Clerk
Absent—Osenga, Horn
CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR
PUBLIC HEARING
Juliana Kim introduced the Seward Pride Alliance as a new non-profit group in town
dedicated to provide Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual,Transgender,and Queer(LGBTQ+)support,education,
and outreach. On March 16, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. the group would hold a panel discussion at the Rez
Art coffee house to help familiarize people with the various terms and issues. LGBTQ+sensitivity
training would be held at the Alaska SeaLife Center on March 23,2019 to encourage the community
to be all inclusive.
Tim McDonald wanted to address the salmon situation in Seward; although Seward had
natural runs of all five salmon species,he thought the city needed to create more natural habitats.He
thought the city could drill a hole out by the dump, run a channel, and the salmon would find it.
Secondly, he thought the city should annex to Mile 8; Seward was doing itself a disservice by not
unifying everyone. He thought there would continue to be more and more businesses opening outside
of city limits.
Jen Leahy was the communications director for the Chamber of Commerce.She announced
that the 2019 Visitors Guide was now available; the guide had been fully redesigned in order to
reflect the Seward that locals knew and loved.The strategy behind the guide was that it targeted 50-
65 year old women who were frequent travelers, married, educated, and predominantly located on
City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 612
the west coast. Every piece of marketing material that the chamber developed was carefully
considered to target the appropriate audience. Also,the guide included year round activities.
Tara Reimer was the President and CEO of Alaska SeaLife Center.She thanked council for
considering Resolution 2019-014 to support the volunteers who participated in SeaLife Center
activities over the summer. The SeaLife Center relied heavily on volunteers to run summer
programs. In addition,Reimer expanded that the SeaLife Center would be instituting timed visitor
experiences throughout the summer to enable visitors to reliably schedule key activities.
Christy Terry was here as a SeaLife Center board member.She thanked council for finding
creative ways to address the housing shortage in Seward,particularly in relation to Resolution 2019-
014. She also supported Resolution 2019-015 and thought the Chamber of Commerce provided
valuable marketing expertise,which resulted in higher sales tax and bed tax revenues. She thought
this was a clear indicator of how effective the chamber was being.
Iris Darling thanked Jeff Bridges for his service as interim city manager. She thanked
council for their time and effort to better Seward.She encouraged council to conduct a forensic audit
covering the past ten years; she thought the timing was good for a new incoming permanent city
manager. Darling thought have an audit would result in mitigating the divisiveness within the city
because, if there were no problems found,it would put things to rest.
Lynda Paquette said the next Seward Civic Engagement would be February 21,2019 and
the topic would be to understand the borough as it related to the city;guest speakers would include
Brenda Ahlberg from the borough and Lynn Hohl from the school district. Regarding the potential
for the city to network with the borough for health insurance,as well as for grant writing,Paquette
thought it would be a good idea for the city to pursue that.
Carol Griswold echoed Iris Darling's comments. In 2014, the Alaska Daily Dispatch
published the salaries for the Municipality of Anchorage as compiled by the Alaska Policy Forum;
the data contained the employee name,department,bargaining unit,and all earnings.Griswold said
she emailed the Alaska Policy Forum about the information and was told by the executive director
that salaries and benefits for anyone paid with public funds were public information.Griswold added
that she researched Alaska Statute 40.25.120 and did not find any exemption that would disallow the
publication of this information.She was concerned that Seward City Code Section 2.05.030 was not
aligned with the Alaska State Public Records Act.In addition,Griswold encouraged council to direct
the interim city manager to conduct a forensic audit.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA
Motion (McClure/Towsley) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda
McClure added Resolution 2019-016 to the consent agenda.
Seese removed Resolution 2019-014 from the consent agenda.
Lane removed Resolution 2019-013 and Resolution 2019-015 from the consent agenda.
City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 613
Motion Passed Unanimous
The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items:
Resolution 2019-012, Retroactively Amending The 2018 Budget To Record Expenditures Of
$234,375.66 Paid By The State Of Alaska On Behalf Of The City Toward The City's Public
Employees Retirement System Liability For The Period January Through December, 2018
And Appropriating Funds.
Resolution 2019-016,Authorizing The City Manager To Enter Into An Agreement With PND
Engineers, Inc. For Professional Engineering Services For The December 4, 2017 Seward
Storm Surge Damage Repairs.
Approval of the January 28, 2019 Special Meeting Minutes.
Approval of the January 28, 2019 Regular Meeting Minutes.
SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS
Proclamations & Awards—None
Borough Assembly Report.Kenn Carpenter said Borough Mayor Pierce was working on a
proactive flood mitigation plan. Carpenter requested that council consider adopting the use of
committee meetings,similar to the borough's method,for vetting resolutions and topics in advance
of the meeting; he thought it would be beneficial for the public and council and would save time.
Squires stated that council was currently conducting standing work sessions on the Fridays
before council meetings for the purpose of reviewing upcoming agenda packets.The work sessions
were open to the public, and were intended to flush out questions or concerns prior to the council
meetings.
City Manager Report. Jeff Bridges reported the following purchase orders over $5,000
have been approved by the city manager since the last council meeting: $6,278 to North Pacific
Crane Company,LLC for an anti-two block system for north dock crane;$8,789.44 to Deep Trekker
Inc. for Deep Trekker 2SDVR ROV to inspect sheet pile walls; $9,040 to Alaska Efficient Energy
Solutions for 4 LED lights west end of north dock;$20,899.99 to NRC AK for pump out oil storage
tanks; and $5,317 to Robert Dennis for a garage door for the new storage building at Lowell Point
lagoon.
Bridges requested council consider scheduling work sessions for the following topics:work
session with Providence in April,joint work session with the Port and Commerce Advisory Board to
discuss the heat loop project with Andy Baker,and work session to review the process for selling the
utility.
City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 614
Bridges announced a Request for Proposals to seek a health care consultant to review options
for the city's employee health care insurance. He anticipated this would result in a three-year
contract. Bridges reported the scoring criteria:
Completeness and Responsiveness 10%
Quality of Proposal 20%
Experience and Competency 30%
Qualifications 20%
Cost 20%
Total 100%
Bridges said that GovHR USA had directly sent out the brochure for the permanent city
manager position to 2,000 potential applicants. He anticipated he would receive the first cut of
candidates on Friday, February 15, 2019 from the firm, and expected that council would soon be
scheduling one or more work sessions to vet the candidates.
Lane wondered why the Human Resources Department was missing from the organizational
chart in the GovHR recruiting brochure. In response, Bridges said the Human Resources manager
was being moved to report directly to the city manager; in addition, the position would also be
expanded to include being the risk manager, but would no longer include a split reporting to the
Finance Director. Bridges said the funding for the HR position had already been transferred, and
operationally the position was already reporting to the city manager.
In response to McClure, Bridges reported on the meeting with the Federal Aviation
Administration(FAA)and the Alaska Department of Transportation(DOT)regarding the Seward
airport improvement project. Bridges made a case for the city to have a 4,000 foot runway, but
received the same response as previous:FAA regulations did not allow a 4,000 foot runway because
the aircraft projected to use the airport did not require a 4,000 foot runway. Bridges was concerned
because having a 3,300 foot runway did not allow the Seward airport to reach its full potential.
Bridges said the city would continue to lobby for a 4,000 foot runway.
In response to Lane,Bridges said the RFP for the engineering services for the animal shelter
would be completed soon. In response to Towsley, Bridges said the draft RFP for the wage and
salary study was currently under legal review; following that review, he would present it to the
unions,and then it would be ready for distribution.Bridges anticipated reporting the scoring criteria
at the February 25,2019 council meeting.
In response to Seese, Bridges said the museum would be open on Sundays thanks to the
Resurrection Bay Historical Society(RBHS)volunteers; they would be open from 1:00-5:00 p.m.
and would show both movies all summer.
In response to Lane,Bridges said the city had reiterated their commitment to the supporting
the future of Alaska Railroad in Seward and the vision of building a new cruise ship dock.
Towsley appreciated the personnel report, and encouraged the public to apply for open
positions throughout the city.
City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 615
In response to Lane,Bridges said he would be as involved as council wished him to be in the
recruitment and hiring of another interim city manager. Lane expressed concerns about the gap in
time from when Bridges departed in mid-March to when the permanent city manager would be hired.
City Attorney Report. The city attorney was not present tonight; he would be present at the
February 25, 2019.
Other Reports, Announcements and Presentations
KKPB Mayor Charlie Pierce
Seward Community Health Center Quarterly Report by Craig Ambrosiani
Obihiro Delegate Visit Report and Gift Presentation from Angela Schwertfeger
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Ordinances for Public Hearing & Enactment
Ordinance 2019-004,Appropriating$500.00 From The General Fund Balance To Provide The
Public With Accurate And Impartial Information For And Against The Passage Of
Referendum No. 1 Which Is To Be Decided During The Special Election To Be Held March 19,
2019.
This ordinance was amended and introduced on January 28, 2019 at a special meeting and is
coming tonight for public hearing and enactment.
Motion (McClure/Seese) Enact Ordinance 2019-004
Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public
hearing was opened.
Rissie Casagranda was excited to hear the city was moving on providing information in a
neutral fashion.
No one else appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed.
Towsley committed to providing a report on any expenses incurred.
In response to Towsley, Bridges read a statement from the city attorney: "The council
currently has the power to end union relations, but as a practical matter, cannot. Voiding labor
contracts would cause the unions to sue with a number of good arguments, and the local unions
would be backed statewide and nationally in those suits. Further,it would be a political firestorm. If
the unions were going to go away, there would have to be decertification, which is also regulated
under PERA."
City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 616
Motion Passed Unanimous
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Items for Reconsideration
Resolution 2019-008, Authorizing $72,009 For A Contract For Janitor Services For The
Seward Community Library And Museum To The Dependable Janitor And Gardener And
Appropriating Funds.
Motion to Reconsider(Lane/Seese) Reconsider Resolution 2019-008
Lane wished to reconsider this resolution in an effort to be fiscally responsible.
Motion to Reconsider Failed Yes: Lane, Seese
No: McClure,Towsley, Squires
NEW BUSINESS
Resolution 2019-013,Authorizing Payment To The Seward Senior Center In The Amount Of
$75,000.
Motion (McClure/Towsley) Approve Resolution 2019-013j
Bridges said these funds had been approved in the 2018/2019 budget.
Lane removed this from the consent agenda because she did not think there had been enough
public awareness and discussion. She wholly supported the work being done by the senior center,
and she felt that spending public funds needed public awareness.
Motion Passed Unanimous
Resolution 2019-014, Authorizing The City Manager To Waive Camping Fees And Other
Provisions In The Seward City Code In Order To Accommodate The Alaska SeaLife Center
RV Volunteer Program.
Motion (McClure/Towsley) Approve Resolution 2019-014
Assistant City Manager Brennan Hickok said this resolution would waive camping fees
and eliminate the requirement for the camper to move every 14 days. The normal fee was $40 day,
but this would reduce the fee to$5 per day to offset utility costs.Bridges added that this had been in
practice for a number of years, but had not previously been endorsed by council.
In response to Seese,Hickok said there could be other options for other camping sites in the
future,but requested approval of this resolution for the 2019 season.The location for these sites was
at the Resurrection Campground,site numbers 425-430; these were selected because they were the
City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 617
least desirable sites for visitors.
Motion Passed Unanimous
Resolution 2019-015, Authorizing Payment To The Seward Chamber Of Commerce For A
Total Distribution Of$260,454, Representing Half Of The Bed Tax Collected In 2017, And
Appropriating Funds.
Motion (McClure/Seese) Approve Resolution 2019-015
Bridges said these funds were approved in the 2018/2019 budget.
Lane wondered what the Seward Economic Growth Plan was.
Council suspended the rules to speak with Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cindy
Clock.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cindy Clock said this budget was presented to
council at the November 26, 2018 meeting. The Seward Economic Growth Plan came through the
University of Alaska's Economic Development Center.The chamber's budget was approved by the
chamber board.
In response to Lane, Clock clarified that these funds were a pass-through from the city,and
were not city funds; visitors paid for this allocation through bed tax that was collected.
Council went back on the rules.
Motion Passed Yes: Seese, McClure, Towsley, Squires
No: Lane
Other New Business
Discuss Standing Work Sessions to review City Council Agenda Packets. (Lane)
This item was postponed to February 25, 2019 by consent of council.
Re-schedule the work session for"Informational Meeting on Public Employee Relations Act
(PERA)".
Council scheduled the work session on February 26, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. in council chambers and
requested that it be televised on GCI Channel 9 cable TV and broadcast on KIBH-FM 91.7 radio.
Discuss bringing contracts to council, Standard Operating Procedures, and reviewing
upcoming contracts. (Lane)
City Clerk Brenda Balton said the city clerk's office was preparing a list of current
contracts and leases to provide to council. Lane wished to have a three-month advance notice when
City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 618
contracts or leases were expiring, and also wished that contracts were approved by council rather
than the city manager.
Bridges explained that there were two ways to procure goods and services for the city: bids
and proposals. Bids were price-based, and proposals were scored by ad hoc committees.
Discuss Alaska Municipal League (AML) 2019 Priorities. (Squires)
Squires said he was preparing for his trip to Juneau,and wished to have council consensus on
what topics he would focus the conversations on with legislators.
Council recessed at 9:10 p.m.
Council resumed at 9:18 p.m.
Motion (Towsley/Lane) Send Mayor Squires and Vice Mayor
McClure to Juneau for the 2019 AML
Winter Legislative Conference.
Motion Approved Yes: Towsley, Lane, Seese, McClure
No: Squires
McClure said the top 3 priorities for Seward that she would like to promote to legislators
were: Lowell Canyon Diversion Tunnel Study,Department of Corrections funding for Spring Creek
Correctional Center, and funding for AVTEC. Squires concurred, and also would add the Alaska
Railroad Marine Terminal Expansion Project. Council unanimously concurred.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS
On-going City Project and Goal List.
Clerk's Report on Public Records Requests through February 5, 2019.
COUNCIL COMMENTS
McClure drew everyone's attention to the packet cover which showed the new CT Scanner
at the hospital.The National Ocean Sciences Bowl was coming upon the weekend of February 23&
24, 2019, and volunteers were needed. McClure thanked the big crowd for attending tonight's
meeting.
Towsley recalled the last council meeting when Phil Kaluza presented about mini heat
exchange pumps, and she wondered how best council could support his efforts. She was excited
about the progress being made for the new animal shelter.Towsley thanked the speakers for coming
tonight, and she supported the request to have a forensic audit conducted. She stated that, if a
forensic audit would satisfy the council committee for investigating personnel matters,that would be
fine; if it did not, then she strongly believed the committee needed to act.
City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 619
Seese thanked everyone for coming.The book presented to the city by Angela Schwertfeger
was beautiful; she offered congratulations to Angel Schwertfeger for being accepted in the student
exchange with Obihiro this summer.Seese supported having a forensic audit,and was supportive of
Carol Griswold's request for publishing pay and benefit information. Seese wanted to alert citizens
that if anyone received a phone call from"social security"saying that their social security number
has been compromised, do not speak with them because it was a scam.
Lane congratulated her brother on the birth of his first child.She thanked all the speakers and
presenters tonight,and for the community members who were involved in bettering the community
for everyone.Lane told the story of The Three Little Pigs and drew an analogy that the city needed to
maintain a solid structure to be successful. She supported having a forensic audit,and appreciated
Bridges adjusting the organizational chart to put Human Resources under the city manager.
Squires expressed concern for Police Officer Morgan Woodard's son who had broken his
neck in an auto accident;he encouraged the community to support the Woodard family.
CITIZEN COMMENTS
Rissie Casagranda was very upset; she thought the new lodging application forms were
cumbersome and unwieldy. She was self-employed, and paid the highest utility rates. Casagranda
had seven properties to manage, seven application packets to complete, and seven life safety
inspection fees to pay. She drew attention to Seward City Code Section 12.05.011 (d)(9)Table 1A,
number 2 and thought that charging a life safety inspection fee was a stretch. She requested that
council consider reimbursing the inspection fee to businesses that paid bed tax.Casagranda thanked
Jeff Bridges for his professionalism.
Christy Terry announced that the second annual Seward Public Safety Ball was February 23,
2019 at 6:00 p.m. at the cruise ship terminal; all proceeds went directly to student scholarships.
Lynda Paquette reminded everyone that the deadline for registering to vote for the March
19,2019 special city election was Friday, February 15,2019 with the city clerk.
COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS
Bridges said the lodging permit application may be onerous to complete the first time,and
apologized for that,but said it was necessary for the city to have complete and accurate information.
He said the borough website had valuable property information on it that would assist business
owners to complete the paperwork.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion (Seese/Lane) Go into Executive Session, per SCC
2.10.030(b)(4),to discuss the contract with
the Interim City Manager.
Motion Failed Unanimous
City of Seward,Alaska City Council Minutes
February 11, 2019 Volume 40, Page 620
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:01 p.m.
AAA.Brenda J. Ballou MMC Da ' Squires
City Clerk Mayor
(City Seal) ####
'' owe# •F
• , G ASO v.`'
•
• SEAL
• •
•
19��-