M E M O R A N D U M
07-83
TO: HOMER
FROM: COUNCILMEMBER WYTHE
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Thanks to the Mayor and the citizens of Homer for the
opportunity to visit
Our schedule was very full with visits to:
Senator Tom Wagoner; Pete Ecklund or Representative Kevin Meyer’s office; Representative Mike Chenault; Admiral Brooks and associates of the US Coast Guard; Fred Fisher, and aide to Senator Bert Steadman; Darcy Dugan in Senator Gara’s office; Representative Paul Seaton; Eleanor Wolf an aide to Representative Kurt Olson; Senator Gary Stevens; Senate President Lyda Green; Dan Easton, Deputy Commissioner of DEC (with staff members Lynn Kent, Christian Ryan and Phil Bresus participating by teleconference); John MacKinnon, the DOT deputy commissioner and Michael Lukshin, who oversees marine DOT projects; Senator Kim Elton joined in our meeting with his staff aide Jesse Kiehl; and Lynn Smith, at the Office of the Governor. While we ran late for some meetings due to the challenges of ground transportation, we were able to make all of our meetings. Each office was provided with a copy of our top 15 CIP list, established by resolution 06-151(A) and we continually requested support for our top priority (the water treatment plant) and encouraged support for considering PERS/TRS funding independent of community revenue sharing.
Additional information discussed at our various meetings included:
1. Senator Wagoner told us about the bill being promoted for a cap on the municipal contribution to PERS of 22%.
2. Pete Ecklund, Representative Kevin Meyer’s aide, who is responsible for drafting House budget also reported the 22% PERS figure, but was not hopeful that the House budget would include any municipal revenue sharing. Many on the House side viewed PERS assistance as a form of revenue sharing
3. Representative Mike Chenault was not encouraging with regards to funding for the University to purchase the City Hall. He was more concerned with K-12 educational funding needs.
4. Admiral Brooks told us that the dolphin proposal has been rejected by the State because of concerns for the ferry access to the area. He also had concerns about the amount of money they are spending annually for dredging in order to stay here. He was optimistic about remaining in Homer though. He said many of their staff here are supporters of staying, they like it here, and they are still considering building their support building, remodeling current housing facilities, etc.
5. Fred Fisher, an aide to Senator Bert Steadman (Senate Finance committee Chair), met with us and discussed municipal revenue sharing, a concept he said Senator Steadman supports. Mr. Fisher was not optimistic about an increased university budget either. (We did have an opportunity to meet Senator Steadman when we attended the Senate Finance Committee meets no Saturday.)
6 Darcy Dugan, an aide for Representative Les Gara, met with us and we discussed our priorities and our interest in the university getting funding for purchasing the City Hall. We were told Representative Gara is a strong university supporter, though there was no assurance of assistance for more funding.
7. Representative Paul Seaton provided us with a current list of funds allocated from the discretionary fund for capital projects in our district.
a. $50,000 for the Senior Trail,
b. $65,000 towards the Spit Trail,
c. $25,000 for the Pratt Museum Fuel tank,
d. $50,000 for the ski tow
e.
$15,000 for the
Representative Seaton said that he believes the funds for non-City projects will be sent directly to the benefactors and only the trail funds will come directly to the City.
While discussing revenue sharing Representative Seaton talked about an idea he has for long term funding of revenue sharing. He did not know if he would be able to get the support needed to get the idea on the floor though.
8. Representative Kurt Olson, a member of the House Finance Committee, was in an unexpected Committee meeting, so we were greeted by aide Eleanor Wolf. Ms. Wolf has worked in the Capitol for a long time and was very informative.
9. Senator Gary Stevens and his aide Katrina met with us to discuss our pending capital projects. He confirmed the intention of funding the 5 projects mentioned by Representative Seaton. Senator Stevens was somewhat more optimistic about the potential of some revenue sharing in addition to PERS. It seems the Senate side is more supportive of this, because it is what the Governor wants.
We asked if we could not get the trails money in such a way as to use it for matching funds on several projects, or to use it on other associated trails projects (restrooms), Katrina was able to find the language that precluded the allocation of discretionary funds to a broader based concept like “trails” as opposed to a specific and delineated project like “Senior Trail” or “Spit Trail”, so that is not an option.
10. Our meeting with Senate President Lyda Green was very interesting. She told us that the Senate Bipartisan Working Group, while not without its bumps, was working well (I’m sure her calm demeanor has something to do with that). She felt our Water Treatment Plant project has a good chance of making it through the budget process, as Governor Palin had included it in her budget. She was also optimistic that a long-term solution for the PERS funding was on line.
11. Our meeting with the Deputy Commissioner of DEC, Dan Easton, and several other DEC officials (Lynn Kent, Christian Ryan and Phil Bresus) got off to a rocky start when a Council Member began a discussion about the situation at the Bayview Gardens Estates, which was not on our approved discussion topics list. But we were able to return to topic and discuss the water treatment plant project and water shed land acquisition. We learned that the acquisition of lands did not qualify for grant funds, but does qualify for low interest loan funds. They did believe that a main trunk line may qualify for grant funds however.
12.
Deputy Commissioner John MacKinnon and Michael Lukshin,
DOT marine projects, met with us because Commissioner was not available. We learned that the DOT has a separate division
in charge of each type of project/function.
Therefore, neither of these individuals was able to provide information
about the rejection of the dolphin for the
Deputy Commissioner MacKinnon
volunteered that he is not optimistic about future road maintenance/upgrade
funding and stated that there would be no additional funds for the
13. Upon arriving for our meeting with Jesse Kiehl, an aide to Senator Kim Elton, we were fortunate to find the Senator in his office, so he joined our conversation. Senator Elton was optimistic about a fix for PERS and recommended we attend the Finance Committee meetings on Saturday, when the 22% PERS/TRS bill would be introduced. Senator Elton, also felt some revenue sharing would be provided.
14. Our final meeting was with Lynn Smith, in the Governor’s office. She was familiar with our CIP list from the Mayor’s visit earlier this year and was optimistic that the Water Treatment project, which was included on the Governor’s budget, would be in the final budget.
Saturday was spent in the Senate Finance Committee. Our presence at these presentations was noticeably unexpected, several people inquired about our interest and if we were waiting for the PERS bill. In a few hours, we learned more about AGIA than we ever thought possible. We heard presentations from BP, Trans-Canada Pipeline and the Alaska Gas Line Authority. Each group has their unique view of the language and while the current producers feel the specifications are too restrictive and un-biddable, the non-producing construction contractors were very optimistic with their ability to build the line and make it financially viable.
At 4:30 p.m., the Finance Committee was finally ready to introduce the Senate bill regarding the employer 22% plan for funding on PERS/TRS, which we had heard about several times on Friday. The plan would set the employer contribution at 22% of compensation, with a salary basis equal to the 2007 salaries to discourage employers form contracting out services to reduce their salary levels. It is not cast in stone yet, but would be a reasonable resolution to a nasty problem.
For the most part, the trip was a great success. We were well received at our meetings and had many opportunities to promote support for our primary projects. There was some optimistic news, but we will not know for certain what the out come is for some time yet.
It is important for us to establish better representation
guidelines for visits to
I strongly suggest that no members of the Council be allowed to travel on City funded trips in parties of less than three; that no one be authorized to make travel arrangements prior to the approval of specific delegation members; and further that all City funded travel arrangements be made exclusively by the City Clerks office.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Wythe