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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08142019 PACAB Minutes City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 14, 2019 CALL TO ORDER Volume 3,Page 382 The August 14, 2019 regular meeting of the Port and Commerce Advisory Board was called to order at 12:02 p.m. by Chair Christy Terry. OPENING CEREMONY Harbormaster Norm Regis led the pledge of allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Christy Terry presiding, and Bruce Jaffa Colby Lawrence Carl-HughesLaura Schneider Lynda Paquette € -Lamas comprising a quorum of the board; and Norm Regis, Harbormaster Brenda Ballou,City Clerk Excused—None Absent—Hughes, Lemas CITIZEN'S COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING—None APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Schneider/Jaffa) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous Consent The city clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: Approval of the July 24, 2019 PACAB Regular Meeting Minutes. SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Alaska Railroad Report by Christy Terry Chamber of Commerce Report by Cindy Clock Harbormaster Report by Norm Regis City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 14,2019 Volume 3,Page 383 Update from the Climate Action Plan Committee UNFINISHED BUSINESS—None NEW BUSINESS Resolutions Resolution 2019-003, Recommending City Council Continue With The Seward Chamber Of Commerce, Conference And Visitor's Bureau As The Designated Lead Marketing Entity For The City Of Seward. Motion (Jaffa/Schneider) Approve Resolution 2019-003 Terry passed the gavel to Vice Chair Jaffa and declared a potential conflict of interest because her husband was a member of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce, but he received no compensation for his involvement. Vice Chair Jaffa ruled that no conflict existed and passed the gavel back. There was no objection from the board. Terry said council scheduled a joint work session for August 26, 2019 with PACAB and the Chamber of Commerce to review chamber funding and priorities, clarify the city's vision for the future, and decide what role the chamber would play in that. Terry believed the chamber was the best entity to perform the marketing for the city, and wondered if council was considering having PACAB take over that role. She thought the chamber was handling the work professionally and successfully. Jaffa said the relationship between the city and the chamber had been in place for a long time, and it had been very successful. Jaffa appreciated the regular reports the chamber provided to both PACAB and council. He thought the chamber operated transparently, and saw nothing untoward about the current relationship; he wished the relationship to continue as it had been. Schneider fully supported the chamber being the marketing arm of the city. She also thought the city had a duty to take on some of the burden and responsibility for economic development, and suggested that an Economic Development Director position be created by the city. Schneider suggested that perhaps some of the bed tax funding could go toward at least partially funding the position; she saw the position as including grant writing, overseeing the city website for marketing purpose, and working closely with the chamber. Motion Passed Unanimous Other New Business Review and discuss the results and findings of the Lowell Canyon Hydroelectric Study. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 14,2019 Volume 3,Page 384 Electric Utility Manager John Foutz said the final report indicated that the project itself was technically feasible, but was not financially feasible, for the city. The city would have to obtain approximately 80% of the funds through grants in order to make it economically beneficial to the city. Foutz would be furnishing the final report and recommendations to council at the August 26, 2019 meeting as part of the City Manager Report. Foutz had reached out to a hydrological engineer to provide the city with a flow study, which was a requirement of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The flow study would potentially be a three year process, and in response to Terry, Foutz said the challenges the city faced with conducting a flow study in the upper canyon related specifically to geography and technology. Although, Foutz added, the information gained from a flow study would be extremely valuable to have. Foutz said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was currently conducting a flow study in the lower canyon. If the city had the flow study from the upper canyon, it would enable the city to pursue grant funding. Jaffa thought the expense for a flow study would be money well spent and would yield very valuable information. In response to Foutz, Jaffa said finding the right partners to work with on this study would be critical to its success because the technology was new. In response to Terry, Foutz said he was waiting for the cost estimate for the flow study to come from a hydrologic expert. The board decided to take no action at this time, but was prepared to provide a recommendation to council, if requested. Discuss the status of the city's Interconnect Policy. In response to Paquette's request for a status update, Foutz said he had received updated information about the cost of transfer switches since the last PACAB meeting, and he would send that information to the board. The state's engineer provided some information pro bono to the city about the transfer switches. In response to Terry, Foutz said the city code currently provided for a resident to install their own dedicated transformer; in other communities, Foutz said multiple residents were allowed to connect to a single transformer. Schneider said Homer's policy required a transfer switch; the difference was in the type of transfer switch. In Homer, they allowed automatic reset, but with a time delay; when the power came back on, it would automatically reconnect when the power had been stable for two minutes. Schneider said, from her research, that kind of policy was fairly standard. Foutz agreed, but said Seward's electric/generator system was unique to Alaska. Jaffa didn't think having automatic reset was critical to have in Seward. Schneider said regardless of the switch discussion, she was upset that people had been trying to work with the city for years and had not been successful. Foutz said that the city allowed for people to connect, and the city asked people to bring them certain information relating to switches and engineering, but the people didn't bring that to the city, so that's why this program was not successful. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 14,2019 Volume 3, Page 385 Terry said she thought people had to get their own transformers. Foutz confirmed that a customer was required to have their own transformer, among other requirements on a checklist. In response to Terry's inquiry that having a transfer switch would eliminate the need to have your own transformer, Foutz said in his mind those were two totally different things. In response to Jaffa, Foutz said he would be okay with adopting the policy for allowing multiple users on one transformer,because the engineer advised it would be acceptable. Terry reminded the board that they had previously approved an Interconnect resolution with PACAB's recommendation to council; that resolution would go to council in September. Foutz said his recommendation for the city's policy would be to include the transfer switch language and remove the language requiring each homeowner to have a dedicated transformer. Foutz passed around a print out of a transfer switch that would be acceptable for the city. PACAB suspended the rules to speak with Suzi Towsley. Suzi Towsley asked if Foutz's laydown would be made available to everyone. City Clerk Brenda Ballou affirmed the documents would be made available to the public. PACAB went back on the rules. In response to Ballou, Terry clarified that she wished to have PACAB's Interconnect resolution brought back at the September PACAB meeting, prior to bringing it forward to council. Schneider wanted to review the approved resolution and possibly make some changes to the recommendations. Schneider said she would furnish a fresh resolution to the clerk that included revised language. Review and edit the draft advertisement for the September 24, 2019 Climate Action Plan Community Meeting,and direct the clerk to place advertisement(s). PACAB edited the public notice to read: Notice is hereby given that there will be a Community Open House sponsored by the Port & Commerce Advisory Board to introduce the concept and involve community members in the process. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS PACAB 2019 Goals Calendar PACAB Resolution 2019-01, PACAB Priorities from February, 2019 to February, 2020 PACAB Meeting& Work Session Schedule for September, 2019 Terry noted that the September meeting and work session dates had been flipped. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 14,2019 Volume 3,Page 386 BOARD COMMENTS Jaffa reminded everyone of,the interagency airport meeting tomorrow night; the more people that showed up and spoke up,the better. Lawrence was excited that the city was updating the Interconnect Policy. Schneider would be gone tomorrow and August 26, 2019. She thanked Foutz for updating the Interconnect Policy. Paquette thanked Foutz for the update on Interconnect Policy. Terry said go fish the derby. She thanked Towsley for attending the PACAB meetings. CITIZEN COMMENTS Suzi Towsley thanked PACAB for the work they did. She would be attending the airport meeting tomorrow night. She looked forward to getting the Interconnect Policy updated. BOARD AND ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSE TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS Regis said there would be a Kenai-based flight service at the airport meeting tomorrow night. a ADJOURNMENT This meeting was adjourned at 1:28 p.m. Brenda J. Ballo MMC C steffal% y - City Clerk Chair QSg 6'1&SO°dpo^ (City 1 a.a:eoe-.Pre v j��? e,e� y, off{ �`.e en Y F ® = AT C •• 4 f� 1 -44e4Y" k .P f 41 MEMORANDUM Date: September 19, 2019 To: Port& Commerce Advisory Board From: Brenda Ballou, City Clerk RE: Clarification on the Renumbering of PACAB Resolutions 2019-003 and 2019-004 HISTORY At the August 14, 2019 PACAB meeting, the City Clerk included in the packet Resolution 2019- 003: Recommending City Council Continue With The Seward Chamber Of Commerce, Conference And Visitors Bureau As The Designated Lead Marketing Entity For The City Of Seward.. The resolution was approved. Following that meeting, the City Clerk discovered that on May 15, 2019, PACAB had already approved a resolution numbered 2019-003 for the Interconnect Policy: Providing A Recommendation To Council To Update Portions Of Section 14.15.4 Interconnection With Customer-Owned Alternative Power Source Generation Equipment. The Interconnect Policy resolution had never been printed, signed, and entered into Legislative History, so it was not on record. REMEDY & CLARIFICATION The City Clerk printed the original PACAB resolution numbered 2019-003 for the Interconnect Policy, and it has been signed, sealed, and is on record in Legislative History. The City Clerk renumbered the PACAB resolution dated August 14, 2019 to 2019-004. This resolution has been signed, sealed, and is on record in Legislative History.