Council hears plea for teacher, school support

School issues are front and center at the Nome Common Council these days, as the council has toured the school facilities last week and makes an effort to better understand the Nome Public Schools’ fiscal situation. During public comment, the council heard a plea for support for educators from Anvil City Science Academy teacher Keane Richards. He said he feels that the value of education is increasingly lessened. “It feels like teachers, and more importantly, the students who depend on those teachers, are not valued.” He made the argument for funding Nome schools at a level that is sustainable for teachers to stay in Nome as it would give teachers a sense of job security and assure that they will stay in their profession and in Nome. “ At this time, that does not feel like the priority of the city, and I'll be honest in saying to Mr. Smith, I feel like you have a lot of trust you have to rebuild after coming into this town and slashing the allocation by the amount that you did.” He then invited City Manager Lee Smith to his classroom at ACSA. The school district is asking for a city contribution of $3.5 million to the FY27 budget.
As the city hits the mid-point in its fiscal year, the council heard from Finance Director Nickie Crowe as budget amendments were voted on in first reading. Crowe reported a revenue increase of $559,249  driven by increased sales tax and remote seller sales tax revenue over the summer. This brings the total budget to $17,636,917.
However, on the spending side, there were $99,000 in decreases in salary and benefits and an increase of $528,000 spread over several departments, including late snow removal billing, budget software purchases and vehicle replacements.
The HR position is now vacant with Cynthia Gray’s resignation. Also the assistant City manager position is unfilled, as Megan Onders has left. City Manager Lee Smith said he’s not looking to cut those positions as he brings a budget proposal for FY 27 to the Council. He said he would have more information on the HR position for the second reading of the budget amendments.
The conversation then turned to the Nome Police Department. In the back of the room sat former and new NPD Chief Mike Heintzelman, who was rehired to fill the position on a temporary basis. Next to him sat his predecessor and successor, outgoing Chief Will Crockett, who is moving to New Zealand, and also present was Sgt. Brandon Barry, who was introduced as a possible deputy chief to serve as acting chief when Heintzelman is on vacation or not in town.
Heintzelman began working at NPD on February 6 and stepped up to the podium to explain why he would like a deputy chief. Heintzelman said he cannot always guarantee that he will be in town. “I will always answer the phone, I will always be the man responsible. But at times when I am absent, at times when I'm on vacation, whatever it might be, there has to be someone that steps up to the plate and wears that title as chief of police,” he said. When Florence Okpealuk disappeared, he was out of town and he said he needs somebody on the ground to address emergencies in his absence.
Another challenge is to find dispatchers. City Manager Smith said they are hard to find and hard to keep.
Council member Mark Johnson asked if NPD is making an effort to hire police officers who are permanently residing in Nome and to do away with rotational concept. Outgoing Chief Crockett answered, saying, “The issue is, we don't have any officers ever wanting to apply full time here. And part of the problem is that we're not very competitive with the rest of the state as far as full time positions.” He said NPD cannot compete with salaries and hiring bonuses that bigger departments offer. “But the one draw that we do have is that rotational shift this is where we get the interest, and that's, unfortunately, where we have to draw our officers,” Crockett said.
Aside from passing the budget amendments through first reading, the council passed a resolution declaring February as Cancer Awareness Month in the City of Nome.
During council member comments, Maggie Miller said it was difficult to hear teachers not feeling supported by the city.  She also requested that the city in conjunction with the port leadership hold informational meetings on the port expansion project “for community members to be prepared before this large change in our community happens, and getting us to kind of start to think about the infrastructure needed to maintain something like this when we’re struggling, kind of, right now.”
The next council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23.