Municipality
of
Anchorage
/
P.O Box 390
Girdwood, Alaska99587
/ GIRDWOODVALLEY SERVICE AREA BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Jerry Fox & Robert Snitzer, Co-Chairs
Eryn Boone, Mike Edgington, Sam Daniel
Ethan Berkowitz, Mayor

October 23, 2017

MOA/GBOS QuarterlyMeeting
Minutes Final

4:15PM Girdwood Community Room

Call to Order 4:15p.m. Jerry Fox, GBOS Co-Chair

GBOS Attending are: Jerry Fox, Mike Edgington, Eryn Boone
Robert Snitzer is excused.

MOA attending are: Mike Abbott, City Manager; Kyle Kelley, Girdwood Liaison;

Assembly attending: Suzanne LaFrance, John Weddleton

Agenda Revisions and Approval
October 23, 2017 MOA/GBOS Quarterly Meeting Agenda Approved. Pushed back timing and held the GBOS Special meeting at 4PM as MOA staff were delayed in getting to Girdwood.

Introductions & Presentations
Thank you Mike Abbott. Over this tenure as City Manager, Mike has helped GBOS work through serious and challenging issues, in particular, the policing issue that came up just prior to the administration change. It has been a great working relationship, and GBOS appreciates his dedication and help.
Mike Abbott states that GBOS system is unique, and the structure suits Girdwood and serves the community well.
New City Manager is Bill Falsey, who also understands Girdwood’s unique qualities and structure within the MOA and will understand how to operate and adapt systems to make this continue to work well for both entities.

Agenda:

1)Ballot measure to allow Ticketing/towing illegally parked cars in Girdwood.

GBOS looking for a way to enforce parking in Girdwood. Drafts provided from Legal Department regarding this are written broadly to allow any law enforcement entity in the MOA to ticket, which could undermine the success of the vote. GBOS is seeking more specific language to specify that the purpose of this is Girdwood enforcement, if measure doesn’t pass this year, GBOS will continue to work on this for next election cycle.

Mike Abbott states that the concern of MOA Legal is that a Municipal Charter Amendment, which this is, requires more broad language.

Sam Daniel asks about the preface to the ballot measure stating more clearly that this is a Girdwood item.

Mike Edgington states that there is already a geographic carve-out for downtown, which was recently approved by voters.

GBOS Meeting Agendas and minutes are available on line:

Suzanne La France states that there is another draft under way that is more specific to Girdwood. John Weddleton provides more information on this also at the end of the meeting.

Dean Gates is working on this in MOA Legal and an updated draft will be coming soon for GBOS to review. The new language would include Girdwood and Turnagain Arm in the title.

2)Alyeska Highway Pedestrian Safety Corridor.

GBOS to update on status of seven sweep crossings and request to DOT to correct them to create safer crossings along Alyeska Highway.

Jerry Fox states that this is a State item. GBOS wants to keep MOA informed that the community is not happy with the design of the path. Based on recommendations from Girdwood Land Use Committee and the Girdwood Public Safety Advisory Committee, Sam Daniel is writing a letter to Scott Thomas with SOA DOT with the recommendations from the community to make the path design acceptable to the community.

3)Seward Highway enforcement: GBOS Resolution 2017-15 supported the 200K from SOA for highway enforcement.
State Grant funding will be spent by March. No current proposals to extend past funding received from SOA.

No alternate solution is available for public review at this time.

Mike Edgington asks about feedback from APD. Mike Abbott states that general schedule is for APD to patrol about 4 shifts of 10 hours each per week, sometimes split between shifts. System is flexible and shifts are scheduled as staffing allows, based on what else might be going on in Anchorage. Officers work independently in vehicles, paired with another officer, typically fairly near each other on the highway.

Sam Daniel asks if this may result in a change in rural policing model. Two officers is different than the original plan for 3 officers to work together. Mike Abbott states that the current system is likely the model that would be used in the future. With 2 officers paired, if one needs to leave the highway, they both go. Three officer system would allow for two to remain if one had to leave, so the level of coverage is different. Previous discussion of 3 officers involved also the communities along the highway (TAPSA communities).

Mike Abbott continues that APD will learn a lot in this 6 month experiment on the highway and may consider other models as they learn more about highway needs. He expects that 2 officers is about the minimum that they would consider dedicating to the area. Issue of using Areawide funds for service outside the tax area remains primary reason that APD cannot serve in Girdwood. Grant for purpose of working outside the service area has made current Seward Highway enforcement possible, but enforcement will end when grant funds have been spent.

Jerry Fox states that the WPD contract ends in 2 years. Is there a possibility that APD will be interested in a rural model of enforcement for Girdwood and highway, for less than the $2M that was originally estimated? Mike Abbott states that if there was a funding source outside of the existing service area then the MOA would be able to look at long term enforcement. No funding source has been identified at this time.

Group discusses recent Gas tax proposals:
Municipal Gas Tax – introduced by Dick Traini is a .10/gallon tax. This would not increase city revenues as it’s within the tax cap. These funds would be used to offset municipal property taxes.

Legislature is considering raising per gallon motor fuels tax (currently .08/gallon, and SOA has the lowest gas tax in the US). This would add new funding to the state. This could open possibility for Turnagain Arm policing through some policing entity.

Mike Edgington asks about revenues from ticketing on the highway. Recent news article stated that approximately 78 tickets were issued on the highway in the first 2 weeks, with $16,000 in funds generated. Mike Abbott states that fees cover court fees with the remainder given to the citing agency. As this has only been going on for about 3 weeks, the total revenues are unknown but this will be tracked. There is a separate issue having to do with collecting ticket revenue. Only about half of the revenues are easily collected, the other half involves courts and collections agencies, garnishing permanent fund dividends, etc.

Sam Daniel suggests that this is a topic at the MOA/GBOS January Quarterly meeting, including APD chief and others to review statistics from this new program and start dialog. Likely also include state legislative representatives to see about long term sustainable solutions. Mike Abbott states that after 3 months on site, there should be some useful statistical data. There is no indication that the State Dept. of Public Safety is changing their stance on Seward Highway enforcement.

4)Update on Municipal Budget
Gerrish Branch of the Anchorage Public Library is not in jeopardy in the Mayors Budget and it is unlikely that this will change in the Assembly’s budget work.

Glacier Valley Transit retains the $20,000 allocation from 2017 budget. It’s not listed in the budget detail, but the amended 2017 budget, which included this funding for GVT, was rolled forward, so the funding is there. Mike Abbott states that he will double check on this item, since it isn’t visible in the budget detail, but unless he calls with different information, this funding remains in the budget, subject to Assembly approval

Gas tax proposal: Proposed by Chairman Traini is within the tax cap, as discussed earlier in the meeting. No popular vote needed to pass it. Funds would offset Areawide property taxes, current proposal is anticipated to collect approximately $14M/year. This item is set for public hearing on Nov 7 and could go in to effect in Feb/March.

Sales tax, hotel room tax, etc have been discussed in the past, but no action has been taken.

Assembly budget meetings are:

Public hearings on the budget are scheduled for October 24 and November 7 Assembly meetings. Public is encouraged to attend starting at 6PM to participate. Assembly likely to receive comment on budget items by 6:30. Overall little public comment is received during the budget hearings.

Budget expected to be acted on at the November 21 Assembly meeting.

Other items:

Sam Daniel asks for Mike Abbott’s input what to expect in coming years

Mike Abbott answers that the main issue in coming years is that of taxing ourselves to offset SOA reduction of services (roads, parks, social services, etc).

Girdwood residents dealt with this early on and opted to tax themselves for police services. Future cuts will be across the board, and city funds will be needed to take care of state resources.

Sam Daniel asked about MOA interest in Girdwood Cemetery funding. Next phase will cost $50,000 for Schematic Design. Concern that the construction and maintenance will be beyond the limit that Girdwood is willing to pay on its own. Is this something that the city will see as a citywide service and help with maintenance if it is built? Mike Abbott answers that he doesn’t know. Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery costs $380,000/yr to run. Cemetery is running out of space, general use space may run out in less than 10 years and demand for cemetery services is declining while people opt for other methods.

Diana Livingston adds her thanks to Mike Abbott and wishes him well in his new position.

Adjourn 5PM

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