Homer City Council

Shelly Erickson has lived in Homer most her life and owns businesses here. She and her husband started Home Run Oil, which includes the Home Run ShortStop Tesoro. She also owns Homer Tours, including Baycrest RV Park. Erickson has served on the Homer Economic Development and the Planning commissions. In addition, she served on the city’s Lease Committee. She’s one of three candidates running for two seats on the Homer City Council. Incumbent Gus VanDyke and Bryan Zak are not running again, though Zak is running for mayor. 

Erickson is proud of her local roots. She was born and raised in Homer. Erickson went to college at Northwest College in Kirkland, Washington, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music. She then married, moved to Wrangell, Dutch Harbor and then back to Homer, where she settled and had children.

Kimberly Ketter is new to Homer. She moved here in 2015 from her hometown of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes north of Pittsburgh. She’s one of three candidates running for two seats on the Homer City Council. Incumbent Gus VanDyke and Bryan Zak are not running again, though Zak is running for mayor. 

The Homer City Council passed a resolution on August 8, formally requesting changes to U.S. Navy joint training exercises in the Gulf of Alaska.

The proposed training area is 24 nautical miles from the Kenai Peninsula shoreline, just south of Prince William Sound and east of Kodiak Island. It covers over fifty nine thousand square miles, an area slightly larger than the state of Georgia.

Dozens turned out to hear the message of Gov, Bill Walker, who visited Homer on Tuesday to talk with residents about the state’s looming budget crisis. As he described the enormity of the $4 billion state deficit, Gov. Walker didn’t mince words. He began by quoting David Teal, Alaska’s legislative fiscal analyst. 

Soccer, baseball and other typically spring- and summertime sports are usually put away during long Alaska winters. But come this fall, people in the Homer area will have a new place to play.

The Soccer Association of Homer is realizing its dream to build an indoor athletic field. The goal of the South Peninsula Athletic and Recreation Center, or SPARC, is providing healthy activity for the community, year-round.

Petro Marine Services had a big scare last week when the Homer City Council considered putting the lease for a property the business has used for years up for public bid. The company could have been forced to move millions of dollars of equipment. A city employee says opening the lease up for bid was a hard conversation to have but it was important to keep the city’s options open.

It was standing room only at the start of Monday evening’s Homer City Council meeting where dozens of people showed up to testify about an ordinance that would ban all commercial cannabis activity in Homer. Most who testified were against the ordinance introduced by Homer City Council Members Heath Smith and Gus Van Dyke.

Some, like longtime resident, Misty Van Hooser, argued against it for economic reasons.

“Opting out would prevent future tourism in Homer. Tourism is down and always kind of up and down in Homer as I’ve witnessed and I think that by adding a safe place for people to go, that’s reasonable, well regulated – [it] would offer potential increase in tourism that we could desperately use,” said Van Hooser. 

The City of Homer had a budget deficit of close to $1 million for the 2016 budget. Proposition 1 allowed the city to divert money from the HART fund to make up for most of the shortfall. But what’s next? On the Coffee Table Homer Mayor, Beth Wythe and City Manager, Katie Koester discuss Long-term revenue solutions for the city and what is on the horizon for 2016. 

The City of Homer’s contracted lobbyist attended last week’s city council meeting to defend her job. Several city council members opposed renewing the city’s year-long contract with the Anderson Group.  It was argued the lobbyist’s $40,000 fee should be spent in other places.