The City of Ketchikan is asking the borough for a half million dollars for tourism projects. The City Council unanimously approved the request at its Thursday night meeting for numerous potential projects aimed at enhancing visitor experience. Those projects include the construction of weather shelters at the cruise ship terminal near Spruce Mill Way, purchasing of bear resistant garbage cans for downtown, a downtown sidewalk replacement and others.
The money the city is requesting from the borough was carved out by the Borough Assembly in June to fund city projects like these. According to City Tourism Manager Laurie Booyse, the city originally requested $1 million, but that was shot down by the borough assembly.
City councilmember Jai Mahtani proposed an amendment to increase the requested amount back to $1 million, but it failed. That came after a concerned citizen addressed the council at the beginning of the meeting about a lack of public restrooms near Creek Street. Councilmembers Dick Coose and Riley Gass supported the failed amendment, citing concerns over the proposed cruise ship shelter near Spruce Mill Way.
“You put those piddly little shelters down there and they don’t do nothing except get in your way,” Coose said. “We need to put a shelter down there that’s big enough to do something.”
Councilmember Abby Bradberry proposed an amendment to move $90,000, allocated for ramp guardrail replacements at the Totem Heritage Center, to the proposed weather shelters. That amendment was unanimously approved, and included in the funding request.
The city council also unanimously approved about $660,000 in budget transfers and amendments to the city’s 2025 budget. That money will go to covering exhaust system upgrades for the city’s fire department, overtime payment for KPU employees, insurance costs for city employees and other measures.
Also on Thursday night’s agenda were three proposed ordinances, approved by voters in the Oct. 7 city election, to amend the city’s municipal code. Those ordinances will take effect when the city council passes them at a later meeting.
The council also postponed submitting city comments to the borough on two proposed timber harvests on borough-owned land. The public comment period has since been extended to Nov. 30.
At the end of Thursday’s meeting, Vice Mayor Judy Zenge, alongside councilmember Mahtani, requested the council schedule a special meeting to discuss growing concerns with PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center. That comes after community members voiced their concerns with the medical facility at a town hall meeting late last month.
Zenge says the meeting would also review the city’s lease agreement with the hospital.
“When your people aren’t happy, it directly affects the core services that you’re providing our community,” Zenge said. “So, it is our responsibility, and it is up to us to deal with that.”
That special meeting will be held Nov. 25 at the city council chambers.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
