The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday will meet in person for the first time in more than two months to hold a second work session to discuss ways to close an operating deficit in the boroughâs Local Education Fund.
Mondayâs regular meeting also will include an ordinance that would indefinitely extend a 5% marijuana tax in the borough and two public hearings.
Local education fund
As its first of two items of new business, the Assembly will enter a work session to discuss the ongoing Local Education Fund deficit.
Borough staff are currently projecting that the fund deficit in the 2022 fiscal year will be just over $1 million, which if implemented would draw the fund balance down to about $1.89 million.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Tuesday narrowly voted to commit resources to an ongoing lawsuit to keep the Tongass National Forest exempt from the 2001 federal Roadless Rule, a move that will put the borough at odds with local Alaska Native entities that are opposing the exemption.
The December case, filed by the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Organized Village of Saxman, Ketchikan Indian Community and 19 other entities, alleges that federal agencies failed to follow procedures required by the Alaska National Interests Land Conservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Borough Attorney Glenn Brown during the meeting described the December case as another instance of litigation over the Roadless Rule and the Tongass National Forest, using the term âprocedural swashbucklingâ to characterize the ongoing legal disputes over the land.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday directed the borough manager to begin talks to discuss the borough s acquisition of operating and maintaining the Rainbird Trail.
The Rainbird Trail currently runs through parcels of land owned by the University of Alaska Southeast and by the City of Ketchikan. The borough assumes management responsibilities for the southernmost portion of the trail that begins along the Third Avenue Bypass.
In November members from UAS contacted borough officials to see whether the borough would be able to assume management of the portions of the trail on UAS land, citing the lack of funding available for maintenance of the trail, according to the meeting agenda.
Borough Assembly approves amended COVID-19 vaccination resolution
Posted by Maria Dudzak | Dec 23, 2020
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday approved an amended resolution regarding COVID-19 vaccinations.
There were two separate COVID-19 resolutions up for consideration. The first, proposed by Borough Mayor Rodney Dial, asked businesses not to deny services based on a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status or refusal to provide that information. That resolution failed Monday night due to lack of motion.
The second, proposed by assembly members Judith McQuerry and Austin Otos, encourages citizens to get the COVID-19 vaccine. They argued vaccinating the Ketchikan community would help the economy reopen, while also recognizing an individual’s right to choose.