KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
Garbage collection and a fisheries building lease extension are both on the agenda for tonight’s Kodiak Island Borough work session. Borough Manager Bud Cassidy explains the Solid Waste Advisory Board will recommend the assembly consider some changes to its garbage collection system in Kodiak, including what service gathers the trash.
“Probably the biggest thing is they’re recommending that the contract go back out to be rebid for the next term, so they are interested in maybe seeing if there’s someone out there who can do it better than Alaska Waste, the current contract holder.”
The Solid Waste Advisory Board will share its reasons for that change at tonight’s meeting. Cassidy says the board will also discuss removing roll carts from some of the areas around town where there has been a high concentration of bears.
The assembly will then discuss the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center, which the borough leases to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which handles federal property.
“The original lease really put a heavy burden of the cost of the building on GSA, and like every sort of agency either at the federal level, state level, or the borough level, they’re looking to see if there’s a way of doing this that allows them to pay a cheaper cost, but also maintain sort of their mission, which is research and experimentation on critters of the ocean.”
The current lease expires in 2018 and the borough will discuss writing a new contract that will extend the lease another twenty years, but with a lower overall cost for NOAA. According to the agenda packet, this will be one of many discussions regarding the lease. And if you want listen in or comment on that issue or any other item on the agenda, you can attend the assembly work session starting at 7:30 p.m. in the borough conference room.
