Nome Common Council mulls to pre-fund improvements to school entrances, approves legislative priorities

The Nome Common Council spent most of its short meeting on Monday discussing the ask of the Nome School District to pre-fund upgrades to the entrances at Nome-Beltz and the Nome Elementary School for security and ADA upgrades and to proceed to accepting a bid for the project. Pending more information on finances, the council did not act on the city clerk’s request to either accept or reject the bid, but postponed the decision to the next meeting. However, a lengthy discussion ensued.
The upgrades would include to beef up security at both school entrances, install a system where people can enter the building into a vestibule to be then buzzed into the inner building through a security door. The project also would see fixing of cracked concrete outside the doors, making approach by wheelchair problematic. Currently, doors at both the Elementary and Nome-Beltz schools are unlocked and anybody can enter unhindered and undetected. Superintendent Jamie Burgess said that when the schools were built and designed, “intruders were not as a high a concern as they are now.” She said that as the climate wreaks havoc on doors and door frames, the doors are not secure. “We had a student in crisis, he came back and was shaking violently the locked door and popped the lock,” she said.
As safety continues to be a priority to the board of education, this project needs to be addressed. Prices of bids have exceeded the original cost estimate from 2022 of $270,176 and it is not sure if a third bidding process would result in lower prices. One bid received in 2024 was by Bliss Construction at nearly $774,000. A second round of bidding more recently resulted in three bids received, with the lowest being $574,000 with the option of an added $99,000 for improvements to the exterior concrete, also by Bliss Construction.
Burgess said it would be challenging to find the money for this project in the school district’s  capital improvement fund since two-thirds of the fund are already committed to the roof project. Councilmember Scot Henderson asked if the district could front at least 70 percent of the project, but with the uncertainty of education funding by the State, Burgess was not comfortable to answer in the affirmative, citing other costs for smaller projects that come out of the fund.  
The city would pay for the project upfront, but then receive a certain percentage of reimbursement from the school district, if the district is able to get 70 percent reimbursed by the state. Wait a minute, said councilmember Adam Martinson. He remembered that the bathroom remodeling at the ACSA resulted in a reimbursement by the state, which was paid back from the school district to the city and was then supposed to be used for the security and ADA improvements. Mayor Handeland confirmed that the city received a $245,000 reimbursement and that it was meant to be contributed back to the get the ADA and security project underway. .
The deadline to accept the bid is February 16, which leaves another council meeting to decide. Burgess was to go back to her business manager to see if the reimbursement funds have been set aside for the project in question.
Mayor Handeland instructed the city clerk to let the bidder know that the council will consider the award at the next meeting, after Burgess presents updated information to the council. In meantime, city engineer John Blees will be asked for his recommendation.   
In other business, the council voted on a resolution to hire Bristol Engineering Corp as acting city engineers. Since no rate and fee appendix was attached, councilmember Cameron Piscoya insisted for transparency’s sake that the fee table is produced and distributed to the council and audience before voting on the resolution took place. The council unanimously passed the resolution.
The council also voted to designate City Clerk Dan Grimmer to be acting city manager until February 24.
The panel also voted to apply for more U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the Port of Nome expansion.
After a work session discussion taxi cabs and legislative priorities, the council voted on the list of priorities for state and federal funding consideration.

Public comments
Austin Ahmasuk expressed his objection to the wording of a resolution that established the City of Nome’s legislative priorities as intending to silence dissent. The resolution stated that “it is with unanimity” that the prioritized projects are considered worthy of advocacy to the state and the federal governments. Ahmasuk took exception to the word unanimity as there had been very little public discussion on the priorities of Nomeites. He also lodged his complaint against the Port of Nome expansion as the first priority. Ahmasuk said that throughout all of its phases, the Port of Nome has intentionally sought to destroy Alaska Native Peoples’ places and history. In addition, he said, the port has a “tremendous impact on the coastline.” “It starves beach areas to the east and west of sand.” The destruction and continued erosion at Fort Davis, he said, especially during typhoon Merbok, had been exacerbated by the port as the causeway and breakwater inhibit sand movement along the area’s beaches.  The protest of the word “unanimity” fell on receptive ears and Mayor John Handeland proposed to strike the word out of the resolution. “There is no attempt by anybody to be manipulative in the process,” Handeland said. “The wording was in other resolutions and it carried forward.” In another amendment, a cover for the multipurpose ice rink was added to the list. The council then voted on the following legislative priorities: Port of Nome construction funds ($200 million); 2. 18-unit housing complex for teachers and public safety officers in Nome ($14 million): 3. Water and wastewater improvements ($76 million); 4. Heavy Equipment Appropriations request for a landfill compactor ($1 million); 5. Alaska Court System staffing investments to address the backlog of cases in the Second Judicial District; 6. Staffing support for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault victim advocacy services at Nome Police Department.

The council heard an update on the city manager search. Acting city manager and City Clerk Dan Grimmer informed the Council that the executive search firm the city hired posted the search for a new city manager on December 27, with a closing date of January 17, which was extended to January 31. To date, Grimmer said, there were 22 applications from all across the nation, with two or three strong candidates.

Mayor and NJUS General Manager Handeland said in his report that these are “crazy times” to have to function without internet access. NJUS’ online payment site and app is down, NJUS and the city have no email capability and although Starlink is providing internet service, it does not provide access to the city’s email server. “We are looking at options,” Handeland said. He had conversations with Quintillion and TelAlaska to get the city back up to performance. In the meantime, if people need to submit forms for example for tax exemption requests, which are due February 1, they need to mail them or bring them in person to City Hall.
The council was also informed that the city entered into a sponsorship contract with the radio station KNOM. KNOM is to provide live streaming on YouTube and Facebook Live of Nome Common Council special meetings, work sessions and Board of Equalization meetings for an annual fee of $4,500. The Nome Chamber of Commerce sponsors KNOM to live stream regular council meetings. Councilmember Scot Henderson asked if there was any appetite from the council to see a proposal that would include KNOM livestreaming other commission and NJUS board meetings. The council indicated, yes, they want to see a proposal and a fee structure of how much that service would cost the city.
The next meeting is set for February 10, 2025.