You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: August 19, 2024 06:00 PM Alaska
Topic: August 19, 2024 Borough Assembly Meeting
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://petersburgak-gov.zoom.us/j/86078159948?pwd=RaZcq6Ft1B21GIdHBSLwy3hShuhPe6.1
Passcode: 768405
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Webinar ID: 860 7815 9948
Passcode: 768405
Persons wishing to share their views on any item on today's agenda may do so at this time.
Persons with views on subjects not on today's agenda may share those views at this time.
The Moose Lodge has applied with the Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office (AMCO) to renew their Club Alcohol license. AMCO has determined the application to be complete. A local governing body may protest the renewal within 60 days of the notice of filing the application.
Approval of Ordinance #2024-14 in three readings will move operation responsibility of the water and sewer utilities to the Public Works Director and will create an Assistant Public Works Director position as an administrative officer of the Borough. The Assembly unanimously approved Ordinance #2024-14 in its first and second readings.
Ordinance #2024-15 will clarify in Municipal Code that the owner of any vessel disposed of shall be liable for all costs incurred by the Borough during the process of disposal. Ordinance #2024-15 was unanimously approved in its first and second readings.
If adopted in three readings, Ordinance #2024-16 will: 1) authorize $240,000 to be transferred from the Harbor Department reserves to a Derelict Boat Disposal budget item, increasing the total amount budgeted to $250,000; 2) transfer $4,000 from the General Fund Contingency to a Ballot Proposition Information budget item to disseminate information on the ballot propositions regarding the maximum sales tax exemption and transient room tax rate; and 3) adding the revenue ($232,965) and expenses (153,418) for two electrical line extension jobs into the budget. The Assembly unanimously approved Ordinance #2024-16 in its first and second readings.
At the August 5, 2024 meeting, the Assembly voted to facilitate a direct sale of tidelands parcel #01-008-242 to Island Refrigeration, LLC, and directed Manager Giesbrecht to negotiate a price for the parcel, with the terms of the sale to be brought back before the Assembly for approval. Island Refrigeration has offered a purchase price equal to the appraised value of the parcel, $58,845, plus $632.28 in expenses incurred during the sale process as required by Borough Code, for a total price of $59,477.28.
The Wild Fish Conservancy, a Washington state-based environmental group, filed a petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list Alaska Chinook salmon as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS issued a positive 90-day finding on the petition, noting a downturn in Chinook productivity and evidence of decreasing size and age at maturity. The positive 90-day finding starts a formal status review under the ESA. The result of the status review will be a decision on whether to list any or all Gulf of Alaska Chinook stocks as threatened or endangered. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) has managed Alaska's fisheries since 1960, one year after Alaska achieved statehood, using a sustainable management concept which prioritizes spawning escapement based on maximum sustained yield, and timely reductions in Chinook exploitation rates (by fishery closures, reduced fishing time, etc.). When management of the fisheries was turned over by the federal government to ADF&G in 1960, Alaska's salmon runs were depressed and our salmon fisheries were struggling. Using the sustainable management concept, ADF&G rebuilt salmon runs from abundances that were far lower than they are today. ADF&G's management is designed to protect the long-term productivity of salmon stocks when productivity is low and this management concept has worked in the past. ESA listing of Chinook salmon will significantly harm subsistence, commercial, and recreational fisheries, causing cultural and economic harm to Alaska's coastal communities and its people. NOAA/NMFS is accepting comments on their evaluation to determine whether to list Alaska Chinook salmon under the ESA through September 6, 2024, and Mayor Jensen requested a letter of opposition to a possible ESA listing be drafted for Assembly consideration.