Nome Common Council hears of storm damage, mulls legislative priorities
Monday marked the last regular meeting for long-time Nome Common Council member Jerald Brown. “Sixteen years and 11 months, to be precise,” Brown said in his final comments to the body as a council member since he won’t run for reelection in next week’s municipal elections. He encouraged people to participate in the elections. Only one council seat is contested and a ballot question will be before voters, whether or not to repeal the two percent sales tax increase from May through September. “People need to understand that the city has two main sources of funds: the sales tax and the property tax. If you decrease one, you need to raise the other,” his parting words were. Council members expressed their gratitude for Brown’s long years of service and appreciated his thought-out stances on issues, even if they didn’t agree. Mayor John Handeland thanked Brown for being a die-hard advocate for Nome and said: “We like to continue to see your face, Moses, with your beard and staff, and show us where the calm waters are.”
With only one action item in front of the Council to be acted on, a resolution appointing election judges and their compensation, most discussion during the regular meeting centered on storm response and updates. City Manager Glenn Steckman reported that the Harbormasters’ Conference that Nome was to host this week has been relocated to Anchorage due to the storm. Storm damage to certain city facilities was extensive: the Mini Convention Center – newly renovated just this summer – suffered flood damage. While the floor seems to have survived the flooding, the boiler, the icemaking machine and beverage cooler have not. The NACTEC building has damage to its siding. City Hall is still tinged with smokey odor from the Bering Sea Restaurant fire. Some city staff are working out of the Richard Foster building. Steckman reported that efforts are afoot to get the Nugget Inn hotel back online. Currently there is still smoke damage, and an industrial hygienist is tasked to help get the hotel functional again.
The City’s Emergency Operations Center is still stood up to continue to assess damages and to coordinate responses. The city’s building inspector Cliff McHenry is working with businesses who sustained damage to their buildings. Residents of the Polar Cub Café apartments evacuated the building during the storm and sought shelter at the emergency shelter at the Rec Center. Steckman said that one lesson learned was that city employees need training on how to properly operate an emergency shelter situation. The Wells Fargo bank building on Front Street has been closed due to flooding of their basement, where the bank kept their computer servers. No banking had been possible since the storm. Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation infused $100,000 per member community to help offset storm related expenses. Steckman proposed the City of Nome utilize this money to loan cash to businesses for swift rebuilding. In order to help residents and businesses to navigate the bureaucracy of governmental assistance, Steckman said, the city set up a dedicated email clerk@nomealaska.org to receive claims. “We don’t know how the process works,”
said Mayor Handeland, “but at least we will have those claims on the record.”
Handeland said that he impressed on the DOT to get east Front Street fixed as the storm has peeled the asphalt off and it is in bad shape. Jerald Brown said to look into the damage at the jetty at Cape Nome, for which the City owns the lease, and that the city needs to be involved with any filings for damages to FEMA.
Prior to the regular meeting, the council met in a work session to discuss
legislative priorities. Discussion revolved around the needs for water and sewer service expansions or repairs. On the long list, Mayor Handeland said, are projects worth $70 million, on the short list projects totalling $20 million. Steckman proposed to include on the list the following: $ 6 million for teacher/police officer housing, $ 3 million for two miles of paved roads within city limits; funds for ice rink construction and water and sewer infrastructure.
Mayor Handeland noted it is yet
early to mull legislative priorities. “Normally we do this in January, what’s the rush?” he asked. Steckman answered that he wanted to start early and have a better process.
The Council, upon request by City Manager Steckman, went into an executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters which could have an adverse impact on city finances.
In observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Oct. 10 there will be no Nome Common Council meeting.