Session 10-04, a Regular Meeting of the Port and Harbor Advisory Commission was called to order at 5:12 p.m. by Chair Ulmer on May 26, 2010 at the City Hall Cowles Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.

PRESENT: COMMISSIONER HARTLEY, ULMER, VELSKO, ZIMMERMAN

ABSENT: COMMISSIONER CARROLL, HOTTMAN, WEDIN

STAFF: HARBORMASTER HAWKINS

DEPUTY CITY CLERK JACOBSEN

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

VELSKO/HARTLEY MOVED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA.

The agenda was approved by consensus of the Commission.

PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS ON THE AGENDA (3 Minute Time Limit)

There were no public comments.

RECONSIDERATION

There were no items for reconsideration.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

A. Regular Meeting Minutes for April 28, 2010

HARTLEY/VELSKO MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.

The minutes were approved as presented by consensus of the Commission.

VISITORS

There were no visitors scheduled.

STAFF & COUNCIL REPORT/COMMITTEE REPORTS/BOROUGH REPORTS

(Chair set time limit not to exceed 5 minutes)

There was no written staff report. There was brief discussion regarding the Wooden Boat Society lease. Harbormaster Hawkins commented that one of the members has a lease proposal packet and once a proposal is submitted there will be more of an understanding what the group has in mind.

The group discussed the memo from the City Manager and Harbormaster regarding the lease policy recommendations, specifically 7.2 Procedures and appraisal values versus borough assessor values. Points included:

· Borough assessor values are all over the board and appraisal values differ depending on the appraiser. Current policy allows Council to set the rate with no appraisal required.

· If Council sets a rate, Borough assessments would go up or down depending on the set rate.

· Requiring the lessee to do appraisals is just another cost in doing business on the spit.

Commissioner Velsko voiced his concerns that neither the Lease Committee nor the Port and Harbor Commission received updated information prior to the worksession and that no bodies figures matched. It is unfair that they were not able to review the information prior to the meeting to get questions answered and be prepared rather than being blindsided with the information. He was discouraged hearing the Borough Appraiser’s double talk. It doesn’t mean we can’t streamline the process, which is what we are talking about. Everyone needs the same information to be on the same page. It flies in the face of what the City Manager says about people accusing the administration of setting policy.

The discussion continued reiterating the challenges of working with appraisals and assessments. They agreed to discuss this further as an agenda item at their next meeting.

On a lighter note, Harbormaster Hawkins commented about the progress of Peninsula Scrap and Salvage’s clean up on the spit. Currently they are working on getting rid of the barge on the English Bay property. The barge is being broken down and stored on the chip pad, then the scrap is shipped away. Peninsula Scrap and Salvage is working hard, paying their fees, getting necessary permits. They are working with the Coast Guard to get the Husky II over from Seldovia to break down as well. There are other derelict boats in line in an effort to get the spit cleaned up.

PUBLIC HEARING (3 minute time limit)

There were no public hearings scheduled.

PENDING BUSINESS

There were no pending business items scheduled.

NEW BUSINESS

A. Memo from Port and Harbor Director Re: Ice Plant and Refrigeration Evaluation

Harbormaster Hawkins explained that the refrigeration on the ice plant needs to be evaluated and the funding will have to come through an amendment from Port and Harbor reserves budget. He explained that they want to hire Seattle Refrigeration to do the evaluation as they designed it originally and would like to use their expertise to help prioritize critical repairs and plan for future replacement of components. Once the evaluation is complete there may be grant money available for repairs and upgrading.

There was discussion regarding sole sourcing the work with Seattle Refrigeration and Harbormaster Hawkins reiterated that because they designed the plant and have all the drawings it makes the most sense for them to do the work. It Is

VELSKO MOVED THAT THE PORT AND HARBOR COMMISSION RECOMMEND TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT WE WITHDRAW $4500 FROM THE PORT AND HARBOR RESERVES FOR THE PURPOSE OF HIRING SEATTLE REFRIGERATION FOR ICE PLANT RENOVATION EVALUATION.

There was no discussion.

VOTE: NON OBJECTION: UNANIMOUS CONSENT

Motion carried.

Harbormaster Hawkins noted that the ice plant contributes $150,000 out of their revenue to the reserves each year.

B. Memo from Port and Harbor Director Re: Alaska Clean Harbor Pledge

Harbormaster Hawkins explained that this is a program that has gone nationwide. Homer participated in this by helping develop the best management plan workbook and helped worked on the self test that harbor management can use to see where they are at with the federal rules and keeping in line with the best management plan. A lot of this will be working with vessel owners in dealing with their waste. This was presented and supported at the Alaska Association of Harbormasters conference in October. Other harbors in the state are coming on board. Some of the things are over the top for Alaska but it gives management insight as to what might be coming our way. It will help with planning improvements to the harbors. It is a self policing program that shows the harbor is proactive in its efforts and federal regulators appreciate that. He explained there is no fiscal impact to the city.

VELSKO/HARTLEY MOVED TO ENDORSE THE PROGRAM FOR THE HOMER HARBOR AND AUTHORIZE THE HARBORMASTER AND CITY MANAGER TO SIGN THE ALASKA CLEAN HARBORS PLEDGE.

There was discussion that the pledge states that the harbor will implement appropriate changes in pollution prevention practices. Harbormaster Hawkins explained that he doesn’t anticipate any changes within the next year. He explained that soon there will be changes at the tidal grids as they have DEC’s attention. There was discussion at the conference in October that we aren’t going to give up our grids, but some activities will have to addressed. Pressure washing will go away at some point, as well as the use of detergents and chemicals in the harbor. None of this is mandatory, but we need to address these things and start moving in that direction.

It was noted that this could be a good topic for discussion on the Coffee Table, as educating people is the right approach.

VOTE: NON OBJECTION: UNANIMOUS CONSENT

Motion carried.

INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS

A. Harbormaster’s Monthly Statistical Report for April 2010                                   

B.    Weekly Crane & Ice Report                                                                                     

C.    Deep Water Dock                                                                                          

D.    Pioneer Dock

E. Pioneer Dock Ferry Landings

F.    Letter to AKDOT from Port and Harbor Re: Erosion at Harbor Entrance

There was brief discussion about a boat that recently caught fire out in the bay and the Cruise Ship visit.

COMMENTS OF THE AUDIENCE

There were no audience comments.

COMMENTS OF THE CITY STAFF

There were no staff comments.

COMMENTS OF THE CHAIR

Chair Ulmer expressed her appreciation to the Commission for a good meeting.

COMMENTS OF THE COMMISSION

Commissioner Velsko said he wants to be off the Lease Committee and requested that a new appointment be on the next agenda.

Commissioner Hartley had no comment.

Commissioner Zimmerman apologized for being late.

ADJOURN

There being no more business to come before the Commission the meeting was adjourned at 6:13 p.m. The next regular meeting is scheduled for June 23, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Hall Cowles Council Chambers.

MELISSA JACOBSEN, CMC, DEPUTY CITY CLERK

Approved: