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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06032009 PACAB Minutes City of Seward, Alaska Part and Commerce Advisory Board Minules June 3, 2009 Volume 3, Page 71 CALL TO ORDER The regular June 3, 2009 meeting of the Seward Port and Commerce Advisor Board was call y called to order at 12:01 p.m. by Chair Ron Long. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG led by Deborah Altermatt. ROLL CALL There were present: Board Member Ron Long presiding, and Theresa Butts Dan diver Deborah Altermatt comprising a quorum of the Board; Kari Anderson, Harbormaster Christy Terry, Community Development Director Vow Angela Buck, PACAB secretary Absent: Paul Tougas Darryl Schaefermeyer SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS, AND REPORTS Chamber Report by Laura Cloward Executive Director— • Spoke about the visitor numbers for the 2009 season. The chamber would be able to report what City Council would be able to expect in terms of tax revenue by the time they entered into Budget discussions. • Announced there was still $35,000 in the Budget available for economic development. Cloward would be taking the economic proposal to the chamber board first and then present it to PACAB for further review before taking it to the City Council. Administrative Report - Harbormaster Kari Anderson reported on the following items: • On June 24 there was a teleconference to discuss the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment Report, which was part of a comprehensive assessment of marine geography, climate change, and arctic marine infrastructure. City of'Sewurd, Alaska Part and Comi-nerce Advisory Board Minutes June 3, 2009 Volume 3, Page 72 • Harbor Summer Staff had begun training this week. The harbor would have staff coverage in the evenings this summer. Summer staff would carry radios and log the floats from 6-10 pm; this would allow the harbor to better respond to emergencies and accurately manage who was utilizing the harbor. • The Seward Harbor had begun working with the Army Corps of Engineers on two projects that received $5.4 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The survey work for the dredging project had been completed,and the city would seek a 10% cost share authorization from City Council on June 8, 2009 to move forward with the breakwater extension project. • The Harbor Department was working with Public works to get a few specific areas paved in the harbor, specifically atop B and D float, and if there were enough funds available the Harbor would work to get the J float fire lane paved. • The City began advertising for an invitation to bid to purchase the 870 foot section of floats to construct Z-float. Bids from qualified float manufacturers would include the furnishing of all materials, labor and equipment necessary to fabricate, deliver and properly store new, high quality, heavy-duty timber mooring floats. These floats would be installed at the northeast area of the Seward Small Boat Harbor under a separate contract at a later date. Approximately 12,240 sq ft of new floats were vm desired. The bid opening would take place on July 1,2009.These floats were paid for by a Denali Commission grant. • The City Manager was negotiating with Seward Ship's Dry-dock to meet the requirements outlined in the Maintenance & Operating Agreement. Altermatt encouraged J Dock paving as well as getting moneys for wash down area at 50 ton TraveLift area and stated the importance of this. Harbormaster Anderson stated she was seeking grant funding for 250 ton which had been. delayed to this fall but she planned to add to this list of projects. In response to Chair Long, Harbormaster Anderson told the board that a 10% cost share for the break water deficiency repair would be $274,000, and the City was looking at funding through the Cruise Ship Head Tax and not the passenger fees collected by the harbor. Anderson encouraged the members of the board to speak in favor of the project at the June 8,2009 City Council meeting to stress the importance of the project. Community Development Director Christy Terry reported on the following items: • Submitted Homeland Security Grant for the Dairy Hill drainage issues with the City vow Manager on Friday May 29, 2009. City ofSeward, Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Minutes June 3, 2009 Volume 3, Pa e 73 • Members of the Seward Chamber of Commerce partnered with the Alaska Cruise line association to develop a list of locals including City employees, and Council members to participate in an environmental tour of a Cruise Ship. • Stated the new Pavilion was progressing well. There would be a Pig Roast on June 24, 2009 for volunteers. Call 224-4049 for questions. Citizens' comments on any subject except those items scheduled for public hearing- Betsy Keller thanked Butts for her attendance at the conference and thanked her in advance for her presentation. Kellar stated it was more to our advantage to look at alternative forms of energy instead of renewable forms of energy. DJ Whitman requested that in the future the Microsoft Word Track Changes feature be used or code revision. Board Member Butts reported on"The Renewable Energy Alaska Project(REAP); The Business of Clean Energy in Alaska: Bringing the Last Frontier to the Cutting Edge". Butts reported the City of Seward sent her to this conference from the PACAB budget. Butts gave a detailed report on items such as: energy facts,business and political change,technologies and resources,basic energy economics,decoupling,policy development,goals, Seward's opportunities and advantages,and what Seward should be doing to participate in the concept of renewable energy. p p DISCUSSION.- Citizen Russ Maddox mentioned that all the information from the "REAP"conference was on the"REAP"website. He felt that the Marine Renewable Research Center would be a good fit for the Alaska SeaLife Center. Maddox included that Seward would be excluded from relying on local generation of power due to the population size. Long spoke of decoupling and exploring the ways to implement that process. Electric Utility Manager John Foutz expressed his hope that the city could have more of a presence at these conferences in the future. Foutz also discussed with the PACAB board the city's position on looking into our"renewables". He informed the board there was a contract being written for small renewables, such as the Butts' wind mill,from Chugach Electric. The City's stance on Net Metering was to wait for the State to rule on it, noting that Alaska was the only state that did not allow it. Approval of the Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion (Altermatt/Oliver) Approve the Agenda and Consent Agenda City of'Seward, Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Minutes June 3, 2009 Volume 3, Page 74 Requested b Chair Long and approved by unanimous consent, the board amended the VONOW q y agenda by adding the following Item D under New Business: D Scheduling a joint Chamber Board and PACAB work session for June 17, 2009. Motion Passed as Amended Unanimous Consent The following items were approved under the consent agenda: May 6, 2009 Regular Meeting Minutes. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS A) Discuss fundamentals elements of an action plan to implement"options 4 and 5"as outlined in the Northern Economics Feasibility Study as presented in the May 18, 2009 work session DISCUSSION In response to Chair Long, Harbormaster Anderson gave a brief description of the Northern Economics SMIC Feasibility Study, then spoke of the obstacle of funding for the improvements as needed. Harbormaster Anderson listed the potential rate increases and grant opportunities as possibilities. She asked PACAB for assistance in creating a priority list and steps in determining the costs to back it up. Harbormaster Anderson suggested the possibility of phasing the different improvements at SMIC would be a good work session topic for the future. B) Schedule a PACAB Work Session with the Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss the code updates to Title 15 for June 17, 2009 at noon in the City Hall Conference Hall Community Development Director Terry would be unable to gain a quorum until the June 1 G, 2009 Planning and Zoning Commission Work Session. She recommended waiting for a later date to meet with the commission. She requested in the mean time if members of PACAB had any concerns they had they could email them to her. Terry also responded to DJ Whitman's comment in regard to Microsoft Word Track Changes. She stated because there were so many changes that the document was too difficult to read, however there would be copies circulated without the foot notes at a later date. DISC USSI DN PACAB decided the topic of their work session on June 17, 2009 would be implementing MONO options 4 and 5 of the Northern Economics Feasibility Study instead. City,of Seward, .Alaska Port and Commerce Advrsori,Board Minut es June 3' 2009 Volume 3 Page 75 D) Scheduling a joint Chamber Board and PACAB work session for June 17 2009. Chamber Director Cloward spoke about creating a survey of harbor users to determine if Seward was offering the right services, if Seward was competitive and if Seward was doing what p g at was needed as a port and community. After discussion of the appropriate time to send a survey out to the harbor users and a recommendation from Butts that Seward get professional advice on the survey itself, it was determined there was no perfect time to send out a survey. Chair Long commented that the input of the survey would be beneficial for code and policy Y changes. He requested Cloward poll the Chamber Board Members to make sure they would be available. After discussion, it was decided the work session to discuss possible questions for harbor users with the Chamber Board would take place July 15,2009. CORRESPONDENCE, INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS -None BOARD COMMENTS - None CITIZEN COMMENTS - None BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS Chair Long and Altermatt thanked Butts for her presentation. Chair Long commented on attending the 33rd Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy: Changes in the Arctic Environment and the Law of the Sea. Long commented on the end of the Kenai Peninsula Borough two month budget process. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:53 p.m. t Angea Buck Ron Long Harbor Master Departn f6 ��' .. Chair (City Seal) 0 MP+ � ' 0FF