KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
Kodiak’s subsistence rights and its garbage fees will be on the table for the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly’s regular meeting tonight. Borough Manager Bud Cassidy says the Assembly will discuss a subsistence access resolution that supports a bill Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced. He says Kodiak gears up every decade to defend its rural nature.
“There’s always a tendency to try to put Kodiak in an urban category which means we wouldn’t be able to perform subsistence use of fish and game, so her bill really discusses how an act of congress is required before there is a change from rural to urban.”
Cassidy says the bill will have lasting consequences for Kodiak, and adds the decision on the resolution will probably be postponed until the next regular meeting because a regional advisory committee wants to discuss it at more length.
He says the Assembly will also vote to reestablish borough fees, which will include a minor increase to garbage charges.
“And it depends on what size roll cart you have, but it’s pretty modest and it really is a reflection of all the work that we’ve done out there at the landfill,” says Cassidy. “We’ve put in a 32 million dollar wastewater treatment plant that has to do with treating all liquids that come from garbage. We have to treat it to State of Alaska drinking water standards, and that was obviously a pretty expensive project.”
Cassidy also wants the public to know that they can deliver their garbage directly to the landfill even in large quantities.
“If you have 500 pounds of garbage or construction debris, you’re allowed to take it to the landfill for free on a daily basis,” says Cassidy. “We have people who drive past the landfill and dump it in places where they shouldn’t be dumping it, and in fact it’s free if you take it to the landfill.”
According to the resolution on the agenda, 501 pounds or greater will now be $215 per ton. You can tune into the assembly’s regular meeting at 7:30 tonight on KMXT, 100.1 FM or streaming live at kmxt.org.
