June 23 City Council & ....Pirates!
Summer is here, and a summary of our final of five City Council meetings this month.
Avast! The Pier One Youth Theater production of Treasure Island is an absolute delight. These Homer kids - ranging from age 9 to 14 - put on an excellent, swashbuckling show! You can still see it at the theater on the Spit. Shows are at 7PM, tonight (Saturday, 6/21), and then next week Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (6/26, 27, 28). Our oldest daughter plays Long John Silver alongside Councilmember Parson’s son as Squire Trelawney. On stage and off, there are kids involved in everything - from sets to lights, on accordion and flute, with support from families, volunteers, and staff at Pier One Theater. Get your tickets here!
That’s all I have this week - it’s mid-summer, and the garden is calling. Oh, except for a quick touch in on the Mayor’s A.M.A. (Ask Me Anything)!
Ask Me Anything - this is a simple one-question form for you and others to send me questions that I can address in this newsletter. I still haven’t checked in with the Borough about the tin can recycling (I’m guessing it’s a cost issue) - it’s still on my list so stay tuned! For this round, I’ll include a comment regarding the feral bunnies around town (not the wild snowshoe hares):
…the feral rabbit problem is widespread, downtown, in neighborhoods and more rural areas. After a lot of effort to make downtown look inviting for all especially with gardens, the feral rabbits are doing a lot of damage that means costing a lot.
I have been hearing from a lot of people on this topic. There are similar stories from cities across the country & world on this issue - I’ve copied a few below. The City does have an entire section in Homer City Code on animals (Title 20), but it doesn’t really address feral populations. There’s no quick answer, and I’m assuming some disagreement about the issue (although I’ve only heard from people increasingly upset about them). I’m not sure what, if any, next steps might be for the City. But it’s certainly a topic of conversation lately.
Rabbit horde roaming part of the Hillyard Neighborhood has residents divided and local agencies spinning their wheels (The Spokesman-Review, October 14, 2024)
Rabbits have overrun a suburban Florida community. Volunteers hop to the rescue (NPR, July 23, 2023)
Feral domestic rabbits roam free on the streets of Selkirk (CBC, Sept 16, 2024)
Do you have a question you’d like to ask? Send it to me here, and I’ll include it in a future newsletter!
Homer City Council Meetings: June 23, 2025
Worksession at 4PM
Find the Worksession information, including zoom link and packet, here
Leases are the topic of conversation for the 4PM worksession. The City owns and leases property primarily on the Spit, as well as at the airport terminal. Homer City Code 18.08 provides the top-level policies around City property leases.
The Council will have a presentation from City staff, including an overview of where we are and proposing changes and updates to improve the process. The Port and Harbor Commission recently reviewed this topic, and I’m looking forward to digging in.
Committee of the Whole at 5PM
Find the COW information, including zoom link and packet, here
The Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting provides an opportunity for the Council to engage with City Department Heads to ask questions on items on the upcoming meeting agenda, and then to focus on a discussion topic if there is one. Monday’s COW just includes the worksession topic in case there is further leasing discussion!
Regular Meeting at 6PM
Find the regular meeting information, including zoom link and packet, here
Call to Order, Pledge of Allegiance
This is the formal start of the meeting, and includes a roll call of all Council members to ensure a quorum (four Council members are required for a quorum).
Agenda Approval
The City Council reviews and approves the agenda for the meeting. No items that aren't on the agenda can be discussed, and nothing can be added to the agenda that wasn’t publicly noticed. Items can be removed from the agenda with unanimous consent from the Council, and any supplemental items will be read into the record.
Mayoral Proclamations and Recognitions
Requests for proclamations or recognitions should come directly to me - you can email me at rachellord@ci.homer.ak.us!
Tonight we have two proclamations on the list - July as Parks & Recreation Month, and July 26 as ADA Awareness Day.
Public Comment on Matters Already on the Agenda
Want to talk about something that is on the agenda tonight? Here is your first chance to speak from the public during the regular meeting. You can talk about anything anywhere on the agenda EXCEPT what’s under “Public Hearings”.
If you have a different issue to bring up that is NOT on this agenda, you’ll have to wait until the end of the meeting! To comment, you just show up (or raise your hand via zoom, or unmute on your phone) and when you’re invited to speak you state your first and last name for the record. You will have three minutes to comment. Under the Council’s operating rules, there is no question and answer or conversation during any public comment time.
Reconsideration
According to the City Council Operating Manual (pg 11): “Reconsideration is an opportunity to bring a motion back before Council after it’s been dispensed with. A member must have voted on the prevailing side to move for reconsideration.” This doesn’t happen super often, but it sure can. There are more details in the operating manual on the process.
There are no items for reconsideration on this agenda.
Consent Agenda
The Consent Agenda allows the council to approve routine and non-controversial items in a single motion. The consent agenda usually includes things like minutes approval, advisory body appointments, liquor and marijuana license renewals, travel authorizations, introduction of ordinances (which then have a public hearing, usually at the next meeting, before they are voted on), and resolutions of a general nature.
Any Council member can pull items from the consent agenda and have them placed in the appropriate area of the meeting agenda in order to have further discussion.
The consent agenda for Monday includes the following items:
Approval of past meeting minutes (June 9 and special meeting June 16)
Memo CC-25-171 - Appointing Dotti Harness and Sam Walker, and re-appointing Franco Venuti to the Homer Planning Commission.
Memo CC-25-172 - Appointing Franco Venuti to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission. On several different bodies around the region, the City of Homer has designated representative seats - this is one of them. I’m still learning the timeline and process for how these are appointed! You can see the Borough Code regarding the Commission seats here, and check out the membership and overview of the Borough Planning Commission here.
Emergency Ordinance 25-45 - An emergency ordinance can be adopted in a single meeting, instead of requiring an introduction and the second reading and public hearing. This ordinance authorizes $11,000 of City General Fund reserve money to be spent on a backup radio system (“consolette”) for the Police Station communication system that communicates directly with the Fire Department. Technicians came to the Police Station to try and fix it, and did the best they could but recommended that it be replaced as soon as possible so the malfunctioning one can be sent in for factory repairs. Hence the emergency ordinance, especially knowing that we will not be meeting for the first meeting in July.
Resolution 25-061 - Approving the annual joint use agreement with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District for working together to use equipment and facilities through the City’s Community Recreation programs.
Resolution 25-062- Updating the bylaws of the Council’s Americans with Disabilities Advisory Board, to add a student representative, amend the meeting time to be monthly except for July and December and starting at 4PM, and clarifying that a quorum is required for worksessions.
Resolution 25-063- Updating the City’s Personnel regulations to add step-siblings to the definition of “family member” under ‘Employment of Relatives and Bereavement’.
Resolution 25-064- Authorizes the Library staff to apply for grants, seeking additional funds to install the security gate that the Council partially funded in the last capital budget. This project, which has significant backup from the Library Director included in the packet starting on page 76, would put a secure gate in the hallway before entering the full library. That would allow authorized after-hours use for meetings in the conference room (noting that the front doors would never just be left unlocked!).
Resolution 25-065 - This authorizes the City Manager to sign a Cooperative Participation Agreement regarding our municipal insurance company, as they have consolidated into an entity with a new name - APRA, the Alaska Public Risk Alliance.
Visitors
This section allows individuals or groups to present information to the City Council that is not specifically on the agenda. Visitors are typically allotted 10 minutes each to present. Visitor requests must be approved by the Mayor or City Manager. The Council can ask questions and engage in conversation with visitors, but no questions from the public are allowed during this time.
There are no visitors for Monday.
Announcements / Presentations / Reports
From the Council’s operating manual: “Reports may include, but are not limited to, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly report, Advisory Body reports, Worksession and Committee of the Whole reports, Mayor’s report, and Travel reports. No action by Council will be made here, although the Council may request a matter brought to their attention in a report be placed on an agenda for a future meeting.”
There is a 5-minute time limit for each report, and an opportunity for the Council to ask questions and provide general thoughts after each report. Occasionally reports are provided as written reports and are included in the packet.
Public Hearings
Public hearings are formal opportunities for the community to share their opinions on ordinances that have already been introduced at a previous meeting. All ordinances are required to have a noticed public hearing. You’ll have three minutes for your testimony, and again the Council will not engage in a back-and-forth.
Ordinance 25-39(S) - This is the City’s proposed capital budget for Fiscal Years (FY) 26 and 27. The (S) indicates that the original ordinance was updated with a similar but different “substitute” ordinance - in this case it swapped language with the operating budget for clarity.
Ordinance 25-44 - Following lengthy discussions by the Council at our last regular meeting, this ordinance would provide funding, contingent upon a number of stated factors, from the HART Trails fund for a parking area and part of the trails in the northern part of the Diamond Creek Recreation Area. There are a lot of players in this larger proposed project, including the State Department of Transportation and dedicated community volunteers with the Homer Trails Alliance. City Staff, myself, and DOT met last Friday (6/13) and I’ll have a report from that meeting (which includes notes about this project) in the supplemental packet - apologies for not getting it out sooner!
Ordinances
Ordinances are pieces of legislation that require at least two meetings to pass. The first meeting is for introduction, and the next is usually for a public hearing. Occasionally there is more than one public hearing. We will often have ordinances for introduction on the consent agenda, unless there is obviously some discussion to be had around an issue.
Introduction of Ordinance 25-46, brought forward by Councilmembers Aderhold and Davis. This ordinance proposes that the City ask Homer voters (during the October regular election) to continue the 0.3% sales tax from the police station bond in order to fund the construction of a multi-purpose recreation center. As a refresher, Homer voters approved a 0.35% sales tax increase in 2018 to support building a new police station. The voter-approved tax increase has a permanent 0.05% increase that is dedicated to the long-term maintenance of this new building. The remaining 0.30% will end December 31 in the year when the City has collected enough funds to pay off the police station bond (we borrowed $5 million, and used $2.5 million saved to build the police station).
City Manager's Report & Financial Reports
The City Manager provides an update on current projects and issues affecting the city, and the Council has an opportunity to ask questions and discuss. No action is taken under this item.
Monthly FY25 (July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025) Year to Date Report (starts on page 178 of the packet) - this shows our budget versus actuals for our three funds (General Fund, Port and Harbor Fund, and Water/Sewer Fund), with 92% of the fiscal year under our belts.
When doing a quick review of the Council packet as a citizen, I would strongly encourage reading the agenda to see if anything strikes your interest, and then always checking out the City Manager’s report! It will give you a great snapshot of important things happening.
Pending Business
Items postponed from previous meetings that require further discussion or action are addressed in this section. There’s no pending business on the agenda.
New Business
New Business items are typically brought forward for discussion or action by individual councilmembers.
Memorandum CC-25-182, from Councilmembers Aderhold and Parsons, providing the Council with an overview of their work with staff on the Homer Accelerated Roads and Trails (HART) policy overview, including recommendations.
Resolutions
Resolutions are formal statements expressing the City Council's opinions or intentions on a specific matter. Resolutions are also used for a variety of procurement and procedural matters. There are no additional resolutions on the agenda.
Comments
The agenda concludes with opportunities for comments from the audience, City Attorney, City Clerk, City Manager, Mayor, and Council members.
During the Comments of the Audience, you’ll state your first and last name and if you’re a City resident, and you can speak to any topic at all for up to three minutes.
Adjournment
This marks the formal end of the meeting. We will meet next after a much appreciated break for the first half of July! The next regular meeting of the City Council will be July 28.
******
Ask Me Anything - send along your questions about the City and I’ll work to answer them in future newsletters!
Want to set up a time to chat? You can text or call my cell at 907-435-7209, or email me at rachellord@ci.homer.ak.us!
******