Kenai Peninsula News

City council members killed a proposed cap on the number of guests in a unit and passed a separate resolution removing the $50 fee for the permit Soldotna requires short-term rental operators to obtain.

Voters approved moving the city’s election day to November, like the Kenai Peninsula Borough and the City of Soldotna have done. The change aligns local elections with state and federal elections.

The school district wants an inflationary bump to what it got from the borough last year. That still comes with millions in cuts to programs and staff. That’s why others are asking the borough for the maximum funding allowable under state law, also called the ‘cap.’

The proposal comes about two weeks after city officials told council members about a need for more city revenue to pay for projects.

Crews have already resumed work on the Cooper Landing Bypass Project. Other ongoing projects include the second phase of improvements to the Kenai Spur Highway between Swires and Sports Lake roads.

A new disaster relief assistance program helps Alaska peony farmers purchase new rootstock to replant.

A project to remove an invasive weed from Crescent Lake is running long on expenses, short on money.

The first proposition voters considered amends the city charter to bump Kenai’s regular election day back a month, from the first Tuesday in October to the first Tuesday in November.

On today’s episode of the Kenai Conversation, we’re joined by Tess Caswell and her dad, Steve Caswell. Tess is a Soldotna-grown capsule communicator with NASA, currently part of the team supporting the agency’s 10-day Artemis II lunar mission.

An architect with K + A designstudios says the newer building already meets some of the departments’ needs.