Minutes of the Regular Meeting
Denali Borough Assembly
Cantwell School
February 10, 2002
CALL TO ORDER Presiding Officer Jerry Mueller called the regular meeting to order at 3:05 pm.
ROLL CALL Assembly members present were: Sid Michaels, Jim
Caswell, Jerry Mueller, David Talerico, Teresa Usibelli, Jim Payne, Gerald
Pollock, Carol Shields and Mayor Gonzales.
Assembly member Teresa Hall was absent.
MUELLER entertained a MOTION to excuse HALL. MICHAELS so moved and PAYNE seconded. The VOTE was unanimous.
CONSENT A.) Liquor
license renewal requests for Denali Wilderness
AGENDA Lodge, the Perch restaurant, McKinley Creekside
Cabins, Bear Creek Coffeehouse, McKinley Denali Salmon Bake, Summit Restaurant
and Lounge, Cruiser’s Resaurant/Deli, and Mt. View Liquor and Grocery.
B.) Transfer of ownership (needs approval vote)
for the Kantishna Lodge.
C.)
Election
Board approval for the special election.
The Chair entertained a MOTION to approve the consent agenda
as presented. TALERICO so MOVED and
CASWELL seconded. The VOTE was
unanimous.
PLANNING 1.)
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Representative, Kathy Means,
regarding an overview of the 2001 Remote Recreational Cabin Site Program
(RRCS), and discussion concerning the 2002 and 2003 RRCS Programs.
Ms.
Kathy Means, Project manager RRCS, gave a brief overview of the 2001 Program
held last summer. She said in the two
areas offered last summer, 21 people staked land. Means said she is here to let the Assembly know their proposed
lands for the 2002 and 2003 Programs.
Means said the leases for those who staked are almost complete.
Means
said the 2002 offerings are located near Mucho Lake and the Wood River
area. She said these areas have been
offered in the past through a different DNR Program. She said the lands offered in the Wood River area have some
trespass issues. She said there is an
airstrip there that may not be a permitted airstrip, and the person who built
that airstrip does not let anyone else use it. She said DNR wants to clear those issues up before they offer
the land for staking.
MICHAELS
asked if the airstrip is in the trail itself.
Means said yes.
PAYNE
asked for a copy of the proposed lease.
Means complied.
Discussion
followed regarding access to the lands in the Mucho Lake area.
Means
gave a brief overview of the lands proposed for the 2003 Program. She said those lands are also near Mucho
Lake.
Means
said their proposed schedule for the 2002 offering would be to have the
assembly give conceptual approval during their March meeting, and have the
brochure ready for the public by late May.
She said this would give the public a three and a half month staking
period.
Deputy
Denali National Park Superintendent Dianne Chung was in attendance and she
introduced the new Park Superintendent Paul Anderson. Mr. Anderson said he is looking forward to working with the
Assembly.
MINUTES 1.)
January 13, 2002: Work Session, Public Hearing, and regular.
PAYNE
MOVED to approve and SHIELDS seconded. The VOTE was unanimous.
FINANCIAL The Chair entertained a MOTION to receive the
November and
REPORTS December 2001 financial report. MICHAELS so MOVED and PAYNE seconded.
USIBELLI asked why the November was amended. MICHEALS explained that the revenues
receipted in July were June revenues.
The VOTE was unanimous.
MAYORS Mayor Gonzales said he attended the Denali Borough
School
REPORT Board meeting last month. He said there were a lot of people at that
meeting, as the Board was discussing their budget. The Mayor said the Board is looking forward to the joint work
session on February 16th, at 10:00 a.m.
He
attended the Alaska Conference of Mayors quarterly meeting in Juneau. He said he was able to thank some of the
Legislators for their recent help, and lobby for some future needs of the
Borough.
The
Mayor said the DOT Jack River Dredging Project would take place this summer
once the Assembly gives approval for the Project. He said there would be a resolution presented during the next
meeting.
February
6th he met with Joe Fields regarding HB244. He said the administration would be
proceeding with caution. The Mayor also
met with DOT Northern Region Director Ralph Swarthout regarding the Northern
Access Feasibility Study. Mayor
Gonzales said he and DOT are working on a Transfer of Responsibility Agreement
(TORA), and once that’s complete the Borough will being to receive funds for
the project. Mr. Jerry Rafson, DOT
engineer, will be the DOT contact person for this project.
Mayor
Gonzales said that one of the landfill cells is almost filled to capacity. He said the life of each cell is
approximately four years.
Mayor
Gonzales met with Village Safewater Engineer Doug Poage regarding the $160,000
solid waste feasibility study funds.
For the first time in a grant the administration has asked for an
administrative fee of 10% of the grant, payable to the Denali Borough. He said we built a $2 million landfill and
never took a penny for administrative costs.
Mayor
Gonzales attended the going away party for NPS Superintendent Steve Martin on
February 8th. A good time
was had by one and all!
February
9th the Mayor attended the celebration in Nenana inaugurating the
new President of Doyon.
MICHAELS
asked if the Borough landfill is accepting coal ash from the Clear Air
Base. Mayor Gonzales said he is working
on the contract with the Base.
DBSD SUPT. Denali Borough School District Superintendent Chris Hagar
REPORT submitted his written report via the Clerk.
ASSEMBLY USIBELLI asked about the December 21st
meeting minutes.
COMMENTS The Clerk said she is working on them. USIBELLI asked if there was anything she
could review on those minutes. The
Clerk said yes.
COMMUNICATION Mr. John Winklmann, Healy resident and
Chairman of the At-Large Committee, thanked the Assembly for the opportunity to
speak. He handed the Assembly his
complaint regarding the recent mailout sent to all the boxholders in the
Borough. Winklmann said the mailout is
partisan, inaccurate, and misleading.
He said the At-Large group initiative only received four paragraphs on
the first page of the mailout. He said
the first paragraph under proposition number two says the ordinance was
produced at the request of the school board.
Winklmann said at best this statement is inaccurate and misleading. He said, “We all know the Assembly planned
and then solicited the school board for this input.” Winklmann’s third point of contention was the maps included in
the mailout. He said he knows these
maps, as stated in the mailout are not to scale, but he thinks they are
misleading and disproportional.
Winklmann said the ballot is
confusing as well. His letter said he is
requesting that the Assembly issue an apology, and mail that to the boxholders.
RECESS MUELLER
called for a recess at 4:12 p.m.
RECONVENE MUELLER
called the meeting back to order at 4:25 p.m.
ORDINANCES 1.) Ordinance
01-07, Version A, an ordinance amending the Denali Borough Code of Ordinances,
adding Chapter 22, pertaining to business licenses.
PAYNE moved to postpone to the next meeting TALERICO
seconded. The VOTE was unanimous.
2.) Ordinance 02-01,
Version A, an ordinance amending the Denali Borough Enabling Code, Title 1,
Chapter 4, Public Records.
PAYNE MOVED to adopt, MICHAELS seconded.
CASWELL stated that he would like to take this to all of the
communities.
The motioner and second withdrew their motion.
MUELLER, as sponsor of this ordinance, said he put forth
this ordinance to provide the administration with additional guidelines for
public record requests.
CASWELL MOVED to postpone this ordinance until the next
meeting, and MICHAELS seconded.
TALERICO spoke against postponement.
CASWELL said the Assembly tries to take the ordinances to
all four communities.
USIBELLI asked if it should be listed in this ordinance that
the Denali Borough has a handbook that could be handed out. She said in the Code it does not say
specifically when things should be available to the public, like the meeting
tapes.
MUELLER reminded the Assembly that they did not want to be
dictating to the Administration how to run the office.
Ferry resident Jenasy Jensen said she is a member of the
Personnel Committee and they are working on the Personnel Policy right now. and
they will be finalizing it for Assembly review in the near future.
The VOTE was 7 to 1, with TALERICO opposed.
RESOLUTIONS 1.) A resolution in
support of the Borough applying for a Denali Training Fund Grant. (Next resolution 02-02)
Gail Pieknik, Denali Borough Land Technician said the Mayor had found out a grant being
offered by the Denali Commission Training fund. She said the funds would be used to train our Landfill employees
regarding heavy equipment use and maintenance.
Pieknik said the amount requested is $6725.75
PAYNE MOVED to adopt the resolution, and SHIELDS
seconded.
MICHAELS MOVED to amend the amount in the resolution to
$6725.75, and CASWELL seconded. The
VOTE was unanimous.
The roll call VOTE on adoption was unanimous. This will be Resolution 02-02.
OTHER 1.) Ethics Committee formation discussion.
BUSINESS
USIBELLI MOVED to send the information she put in the
packets regarding an ethics committee to the Personnel Committee for their
review and recommendation. SHIELDS
seconded. The vote was 7 to1, with CASWELL opposed.
USIBELLI volunteered to bring a complaint form for assembly
review to the next meeting.
PUBLIC MUELLER said Dave Braun had signed up to speak
during this
COMMENTS time and MUELLER said in the past Braun’s comments have
been inflammatory, accusatory, and personal attacks pertaining to the character
of a person. He said Braun should be
aware of Roberts Rules of Order, as he is a member of the Borough Personnel
committee, and asked that Braun abide by Roberts Rules of Order.
Healy resident David Braun said he would like the Assembly
to abide by the same rules as he is being asked to adhere to. He said he had been accused of harassing the
office staff and grabbing things out of their hands, etc. He said that Assembly member PAYNE had
threatened to assault him even if it meant that PAYNE had to go to jail. MUELLER said this is not a public pulpit and
asked Braun to get to the point, as his three minutes was almost over. Braun said the Presiding Officer is supposed
to facilitate the meeting, not dominate it.
He said the Assembly has double standards as pointed out at a previous
meeting by John Winklmann. Braun said
it’s curious to him that the December 21st Special meeting minutes
are not on this agenda. Braun said they
are very crucial to the reapportionment issue.
He said he has made numerous complaints about unethical behavior by
Assembly members. He said this
Assembly has violated the Open Meeting Act several times starting in May with
two illegal meetings. In October the
minutes and the tapes have been altered and destroyed, intentionally or
otherwise. He said in the tape where
MUELLER talks about the supposed Open Meetings Act violation, the tape was
intentionally destroyed. He said the
Assembly voted seven to two in favor of adopting those minutes without that
discussion in them. Braun said they
voted in favor of falsifying those minutes.
He said the Assembly is the fox in the hen house when it comes to public
records access violations and unethical behavior.
Armeda
Bulard, Cantwell resident spoke in favor of the revenue development task force
ideas being worked on by the assembly.
ASSEMBLY MICHAELS said there is an election on the 19th. He said the
COMMENTS pamphlet put out by the at large group says there method
will insure equal vote. He said that is
a true statement, but what the pamphlet doesn’t state is that at large insures
unequal representation. He said if
Congress was elected at large, then Alaska would not have ANY
representation!!
CASWELL
said he is sorry Dave Braun left because his statement pertains to him. CASWELL said during the public comments
section of the meeting Dave Braun repeatedly makes statements that appear to be
facts, but those are his opinions.
CASWELL said some of those statements are inaccurate.
Nan
Eagleson, Denali resident, said she would like clarification regarding when the
public is suppose to speak during the meeting.
She said she does not like the idea of the Assembly taking a stand on
ballot issues. MUELLER reminded her
that the Assembly did not take a stand on ballot issues. It was one Assembly member voicing his
opinion. MUELLER said there was a sign
in sheet for public participation during the public hearing. Eagleson said she had come in late and must
have signed the wrong sheet.
USIBELLI
MOVED to suspend the rules and return to the public comments section of the
agenda. CASWELL seconded, and the VOTE
was unanimous.
Nan Eagleson spoke in favor of the at large method of
apportionment and expressed her gratitude to Pat and John Winklmann for all
their hard work on the petition. She
said she likes the idea of the small communities not being pitted against one
another. Eagelson said she feels all
the communities are a vital part of the whole Borough.
Ferry resident Jenasy Jensen said she is a member of the
School Board and feels that she represents the entire school board not just her
district. Jensen said some people who
live north of Panguingue Creek were not in favor of the Assembly
reapportionment ordinance. She said
they would prefer to have the lines based on school district attendance lines. Jensen said the Assembly’s mailout said the
reapportionment ordinance was “at the request of the school board”. She said an Assembly member came to the
School board meeting and said if you don’t put something on the ballot, then by
ordinance the school board seats will be the same as the Assembly’s. She said that was by coercion instead of at
the request of the school board. She
said that was misrepresented. Jensen
said the school board wants, if there are districts, to have those district the
same as the attendance lines. She said
she feels the information that was mailed to the public was somewhat
misleading. Jensen said most of their
School board presidents have come from Cantwell.
Discussion followed.
USIBELLI thanked the Mayor and Gail for allowing her to
participate in the selection of the Village Safe Water Grant Feasibility Study
Project Manager. She said she is
looking forward to participating in the Elected Officials Training in March.
MEETINGS After minimal discussion the Canvass Meeting was set
for February 22, 2002, 6:30 at the Tri-Valley Community Center.
MICHAELS
MOVED to appoint the Assembly as the Canvass Committee for that meeting. CASWELL seconded. The VOTE was unanimous.
The next Assembly meeting will be held on March 10, 2002 in
the Anderson City Council Chambers.
ADJOURNMENT MUELLER
declared the regular meeting adjourned at 5:05 pm.
Date Approved:
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