City Approves DEC Grants

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT
It was a packed agenda for the City Council’s regular meeting last night, but the governing body managed to get down to business and pass a number of resolutions.
First up on the agenda was the city’s FY 2015 budget. City Manager Aimee Kniaziowski gave a run down of the financial figures for the upcoming fiscal year, which totaled more than $46 million.
The budget includes the funding of law enforcement, fire and emergency services – which Kniaziowski said expands into the whole Kodiak road system, animal control, public works, engineering, the port and harbor, parks and recreation, administration and the new public library.
“And we really did a through assessment of the city’s needs and we believe that we’ve met your goals and we think that we can continue to deliver those services in a high quality manner as we have in the past to the community. And I really, once again, want to thank the management team. They take this seriously every year, every day. And they more than took seriously the budget direction that they were given so what you see is that final product.”

The council unanimously approved the FY 2015 budget and the next fiscal year will begin on July 1.
Also passed during last night’s meeting was a resolution that accepts a $2.4 million grant from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for the Monashka Pumphouse replacement project. Kniaziowski said the funds would go toward construction and inspection of the facility.
“As we all know that’s been a number one priority for the city for quite some time. We started trying to analyze whether we could save the building and the pumps back in 2010. And here we are, we’re fortunate we got this funding and the project is actually beginning, construction has already started.”
Those funds will be combined with local funds, a $500,000 legislative grant and a city-authorized loan.
Councilman John Whiddon expressed his gratitude to city staff for pursuing grants to help ease the financial burden for the city and its tax payers.
“The Monashka pumphouse is out of sight out of mind until it doesn’t work. It’s such a critical piece of infrastructure. So this I think will go a long way to restoring and sustaining our critical infrastructure that not only provides water to our homes and residences but also to our processing industry, which has been the life blood of this community. It’s actually a fantastic piece of work, well done.”
The council passed a similar resolution that accepted another grant from the DEC that will go toward the Aleutian Homes water and sewer replacement project.