2020-09-10 Historical Letter - Resignation of City CouncilOffice of the Mayor and City Council
710 Mill Bay Road, Room 110, Kodiak, Alaska 99615
September 10, 2020
Mr. Bill Roberts, Mayor Sent via email: bill.robertsAkibassemblv.ore
Kodiak Island Borough Assembly
710 Mill Bay Road
Kodiak, AK 99615
Re: Consolidation Committee
Dear Mayor Roberts and Assembly members:
In 2016, the Borough Assembly placed a non -binding advisory question of whether to support the
idea of consolidating the Borough and the City of Kodiak into a single unit of government. The
ballot summary distributed by the Borough in 2016 did not provide a proposed deadline for a report
to be produced and it stated that the Borough would proceed with caution as to ensure efficient use
of time and resources on the issue of evaluating the pros, cons, harms and benefits of consolidation.
Four years later, there is still no report and no end game plan. For the past year, Borough staff and
a volunteer committee consisting of City and Borough residents have met every other week on
Mondays and now are required to meet once a week. With all due respect of their service, this is
not an efficient use of time and resources. For these reasons, the City Council will not be re-
appointing a Council member to volunteer on this committee.
We are focusing efforts on how to continue providing essential services to our residents; provide
reasonable and equitable taxes/fees for those who benefit from City government, infrastructure
and services; and address significant city interests, such as an aging water and sewer system in
municipal boundaries and the extraterritorial areas in the community; as well as respond to the
COVID-19 Pandemic and subsequent economic decline. To advance these goals, the City has
engaged the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), a department of UAA, to help
address these critical issues facing Kodiak.
The City of Kodiak and its administration have been in place for 80 years and the Kodiak Island
Borough for 57 years. We are both mature urban and regional governments and we admit there
are inequities that need to be addressed. Working together, we can preserve our traditional
responsibilities and our functional integrity.
Telephone (907) 4MB636 1 Fax (907) 486.8633
rnayor@6ty.kodlak.ak.us
Letter to the KIB Mayor and Assembly
Consolidation Committee
September 10, 2020
Page 2 of 2
Sincerely,
7 t
Pat Branson, Mayor
t'Laura A boled, Councilmember
Charles Davidson, Councilmember
John Whiddon, Councihnember
qQ>.�� Q�
Randall Bishop, Councilmerhbcr
Terry Ha
' s, Councilmember
Richard Walker, Councilmember