The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly meets Monday, and will consider a Forest Park annexation ballot proposition, a prioritized list of projects for state capital funding, and reorganizing its regular meeting agenda to place public comment later than it is currently.
If the annexation ballot proposition passes in two readings, it will go in front of residents of the Forest Park Service Area. The proposed language calls for annexation of seven parcels that are served by roads maintained by the service area. Some of the property owners that would be annexed have objected strenuously to the plan.
Prioritizing the list of capital projects is an annual event. The list is used when lobbying the governor and Legislature for help with local projects. Borough staff compiled a list that includes airport improvements; extending water and sewer service on South Tongass Highway; improvements at the Mountain Point water treatment plant; improvements to various athletic fields and development of additional ones; road repairs; and a pedestrian bridge and walkway at Herring Cove.
Reorganizing the Assembly meeting agenda was suggested by Assembly Members Agnes Moran and Mike Painter. In their written request, they state that officials and others invited to give presentations “often wait hours to do so, particularly if there are lengthy public hearings and/or extended citizen comments.”
The proposed new agenda would place scheduled informational reports and/or presentations in front of public comment. The rest of the agenda would remain as it is.
In other business, Borough Manager Dan Bockhorst has asked for four-hands direction on several items. They include whether to start phasing in changes to the borough’s animal protection code, as recommended by a task force; whether to move forward with an ordinance to provide up to $200,000 for the city’s Hole-In-The-Wall Harbor reconstruction project; and whether to support a new drop-off area at Wood Road for tourists visiting the Herring Cove area.
Monday’s Assembly meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. in Borough Assembly chambers. Public comment will be heard at the start of the meeting.
