The Homer City Council unanimously approved funding the Homer Harbor expansion investigation, designing a highway underpass, requesting the state to increase the base student allocation for public schools and more at their Jan. 22 meeting.
The city council appropriated nearly $288,524 for the feasibility study looking into expanding Homer Harbor. They also passed a resolution requesting the state to match the funds and support continued partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers conducting the study.
Council Member Donna Aderhold spoke on the importance of setting aside the money, even without any current commitments from the state and federal government to match funding.
“I don't think that the state is going to be willing to, the state legislature is going to be willing to pass a capital budget item on this if, if we haven't already allocated funding for this purpose,” she said.
An ordinance was introduced at the last meeting to spend $25,000 designing a highway underpass. This would connect the trail system at the Diamond Creek Recreation Area to city owned land. It received overwhelming public support at the meeting.
Before the council unanimously approved the ordinance, Council Member Caroline Venuti compared the potential connection to the plot of Michael Rosen’s book “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.”
“We want to get to Diamond Creek. Can’t go through that road, can’t go, you know around it. How do we do it? Under it,” she said.
The council also passed an ordinance purchasing three mobile restrooms for Karen Hornaday and Jack Gist Parks, as well as a resolution approving a contract to purchase the restroom units from Comforts of Home Services.
The council also followed in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly’s footsteps in passing a resolution requesting the state to increase the base student allocation for public schools.
Council Member Rachel Lord said the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is doing what it can to maintain services for younger students with inadequate funds, but it is coming at a cost.
“That has been at the expense of extracurricular transportation, it's been at the expense of high school class sizes,” she said, “it's been at the expense of a number of different things that has our schools operating in, in that scarcity mindset.”
Other resolutions included supporting raising the maximum available annual award per municipality by $2 million for the Alaska Municipal Harbor Facility Program, as well as approving a contract with Alaska Harbors Consulting, LLC.
The council also introduced four ordinances to be heard again at the next meeting. One of the ordinances would put $20,000 towards celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Homer’s sister city relationship with Teshio, Japan. Another would adopt revised port and harbor tariffs.
The final two ordinances would allow the city to accept a loan for the Tasmania Court Sewer, as well as allow funds to go from Doyon, Limited to Kinney Engineering as part of delivering a traffic impact analysis on the proposed development at the base of the Homer Spit.
Through memorandums, the city council appointed people to the Parks Art Recreation and Culture Advisory Commission, the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council and the Homer comprehensive plan steering committee.
The city council will meet again on Feb. 12.
