Local Government

Unalaska’s non-profits may see bigger grants this year.

According to the city’s finance department, over a million dollars will be dedicated to community support program, a boost of about 35 percent over last year. That program provides grants to nine of the city’s non-profit groups. Organizations like Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence, the Museum of the Aleutians, Illiuliuk Family and Health Services, and Unalaska Community Broadcasting have all been top beneficiaries traditionally.

Last year, the city only had $790,000 budgeted for the program, a drop that resulted in passionate discussion over which non-profits most deserved aid.

Last night, City Council discussed the ways that Unalaska can attract conferences and the degree of support the city can give to these events.

Council started the meeting with lively discussion of a request for financial support for the Regional Tribal Wellness & Governance Conference. The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association asked the city to contribute $75,000 toward their conference, but council needed more information before it could consider committing any funds to the event.

The council was split on whether it was even the city’s place to dedicate money to a conference. Council did not contribute any money to the event when it was last held in 2003, and Councilor Dick Peck said that he could not recall any precedent for giving money to an event like this.

Tonight, the Unalaska City Council will convene for a brief meeting to adopt an updated travel policy and confirm their objectives for next year’s budget.

The meeting will open with discussion of a donation request from the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. APIA is in the process of raising money for their upcoming Regional Tribal Wellness & Governance Conference, and they have asked the City of Unalaska to contribute $75,000 in order to help them meet their $225,000 goal. The conference is scheduled to take place in Unalaska this September. The last time it was held was 2003. Council will determine if it would like to make a donation to the conference, and in what amount, at the end of the meeting.

Shell Oil was in the spotlight during a special Saturday City Council work session to discuss 2013 budget priorities.

 Although it remains an open question whether Shell will actually be staging in Unalaska this summer, discussion focused on preparing for potential development.

City Manager Chris Hladick said many of the issues are salient with or without oil, like improvements to the airport and a plan for housing development.

Councilor Dick Peck said that while he supports planning, he isn’t confident that it will have much impact if the oil companies do move in, calling his experience with oil and gas development “organized chaos.”

The City of Unalaska is finally moving ahead with construction of its new wastewater treatment plant. 

At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, councilors voted unanimously to award an engineering and design contract for Phase I of the project to Bristol Engineering Services Corporation.

Councilor Dennis Robinson noted the contract was somewhat unusual.

“I just wanted to state that I don’t particularly like the idea of giving contracts out to indiv[uals] or to anybody without going out to bid, but I think in this specific instance it’s warranted.”

City Council got a preview of what’s to come in 2012 from City Manager Chris Hladick at last night’s meeting.  The five-word summary: water, wastewater, wastewater, paving and Shell. 

The three big, ongoing projects are getting secondary filtration for the city’s drinking water, upgrading the wastewater treatment plant to comply with federal standards and managing the landfill’s heavy metal runoff.

All three projects are multi-year endeavors with a total estimated cost of $34.5 million.  For comparison, total projected revenue for fiscal year 2013, which starts in July, is $31 million.  The city has applied for and received state and federal grants to help cover some of the costs.

The City of Unalaska has another year of big projects ahead.

In addition to continuing work on the water treatment, wastewater treatment and landfill projects, the city will be tackling several large paving initiatives and some serious harbor maintenance. 

How to prioritize and pay for those undertakings will be the main topic of discussion at tonight’s City Council meeting. 

The three ongoing projects are all mandated by state and federal regulations.  Their total cost is estimated at $34.5 million. 

The major proposed harbor project is replacing one of the docks at the Unalaska Marine Center.  That could cost upwards of $40 million.

Water was the big issue at last night’s Council meeting. Public Works Director Dan Winters and City Engineer Tyler Zimmerman testified that the city has chronic water shortages during peak fish processing season and that existing infrastructure can’t handle the demand.

A 2010 water supply study recommended the city double its available water capacity and increase its backup storage eight-fold.  The resolution on last night’s agenda started that development process by contracting a firm to figure out where new water wells could be drilled.

Although councilors ultimately passed the resolution unanimously, there was considerable discussion about whether there is indeed a water shortage and whether drilling wells is the best way to handle it.

Water shortages are a problem for the fish processing plants in Unalaska, which have their peak season in winter, when surface water on the island is mostly frozen.  A resolution on tonight’s City Council agenda would start the process of developing additional groundwater sources to increase the city’s available water supply during the winter months.

If approved, the Seattle-based consulting firm Shannon and Wilson will receive a $35,000 contract to decide where to put in new wells. The city estimates that there needs to be an additional 4 million gallons of water a day to meet demands during peak season.

Governor Sean Parnell released his proposed budget for the next fiscal year, and Unalaska stands to gain $15 million in state and federal funding for local capital projects.

City officials were especially pleased to see $3.1 million directed from the state general fund toward the new wastewater treatment plant.

“It’s an early Christmas present,” says City Manager Chris Hladick.

Hladick adds that getting money for the $18-million project is the city’s top priority for the coming legislative session. In the past, that project hasn’t made the governor’s initial proposal, which has led to some uncertainty over funding.

“The issue is that if you can get into the governor’s capital budget, it makes it a lot easier to get through the legislature,” says Hladick.

City council breezed through a full agenda last night.

The city’s annual liquor license review generated the most discussion.  Councilor Dave Gregory noted that Public Safety responds to calls at the Harbor View Bar almost eight times more often than any other establishment in town with a liquor license.  Public Safety Director Jamie Sunderland said he didn’t think it was a reflection on how the business is managed and recommended that council take no action.

The other items on the agenda passed with little or no discussion.

Council adopted the consent agenda, which contained a resolution that entitles Unalaska to $363,706 in state fish-tax revenue.