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Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly holds meeting in Seward

Left to Right: Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly President Brent Johnson, Assembly Members Tyson Cox, Peter Ribbens and Brent Hibbert at a meeting in the Seward Community Library on April 16, 2024.
Jamie Diep
/
KBBI
Left to Right: Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly President Brent Johnson, Assembly Members Tyson Cox, Peter Ribbens and Brent Hibbert at a meeting in the Seward Community Library on April 16, 2024.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly held its April 16 meeting in Seward instead of Soldotna, which it does once a year. During the meeting, they presented certificates to the Seward High School boys wrestling team. They previously passed a resolution in February commending the wrestling team, but waited until the meeting in Seward to present the certificates.

The assembly passed multiple resolutions and ordinances around the borough’s emergency service areas. One allows the borough to appropriate more than $30,000 in grant funds from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and put them towards a fire capacity program for the Bear Creek Fire Service Area, Central Emergency Service Area, Kachemak Emergency Service Area, Nikiski Fire Service Area and Western Emergency Service Area. A resolution also approved an agreement between the borough on behalf of the same service areas and the Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Fire Protection. Another ordinance deobligates leftover funds for the Kachemak Emergency Service Area.

The borough approved two more ordinances introduced at the last meeting through its consent agenda. One ordinance will put over $456,337.50 from commercial passenger vessel tax proceeds towards the City of Seward. Another puts nearly $89,000 towards woody fuel disposal in Cooper Landing and Hope

Two more ordinances were introduced. One would put more than $627,435,60 towards the Princess Lake Estates Utility Special Assessment District for a natural gas line project. The other would put $5,000 towards bond counsel services for South Peninsula Hospital.

During his Mayor’s report, Borough Mayor Peter Micciche talked about four approved contracts. One was awarded to Seward-based company Metco Alaska to replace the Seward High School track. Another contract goes to Andrews and Sons for a creek revetment project in the Seward Bear Creek Flood Service Area. A third contract goes to a Portland company to replace gym and pool lockers in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, The last contract will go towards Alaska Premier Auctions and Appraisals to provide marketing and auction services for the borough’s upcoming land sale.

The borough also approved two ordinances that were up for public hearing related to accessing borough buildings and public records.

The Assembly will meet again on May 7.

Jamie Diep is a reporter/host for KBBI from Portland, Oregon. They joined KBBI right after getting a degree in music and Anthropology from the University of Oregon. They’ve built a strong passion for public radio through their work with OPB in Portland and the Here I Stand Project in Taipei, Taiwan.Jamie covers everything related to Homer and the Kenai Peninsula, and they’re particularly interested in education and environmental reporting. You can reach them at jamie@kbbi.org to send story ideas.