The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly passed an ordinance during their Wednesday meeting to establish the Resilience and Security Advisory Commission for the Kenai Peninsula Borough. That commission will advise the administration and assembly on developing sustainability solutions for the borough.
Ordinance 2020-25 passed by a vote of 7 to 2, with Jesse Bjorkman and Norm Blakeley being the two consenting votes.
Before the passage of the ordinance, a large contingent of citizen-participants testified their desire to create the commission, to help with environmental oversight in the borough. Assemblymember Bjorkman of Nikiski noted that environmental oversight and progress could be more effectively impacted by non-governmental methods: “You all can do that by just getting together as a community organization of friends and neighbors and getting together in homes and barbeques, picnics, and you can still have your scientific experts. You can gather your research. But, you need to do it in a way that gets the community on-board first, not necessarily a government board on-board first. You need your friends and neighbors and your community first. I think you’ll have more traction. I just haven’t seen traction come from these very longstanding advisory boards and work-groups before.”
The goal of the new commission will be to progress the environmental goals of the borough. Their aim will be to promote the economic security, safety, self-reliance, and well-being of the borough’s inhabitants, while maintaining the ability of future generations to do the same.
The commission will be comprised solely of volunteers who will collaborate with borough staff, communities, utilities, agencies, universities, and the private sector to lead the development and modification of strategic planning to mitigate and adapt to significant changes in the area’s environment. The Resilience and Security Commission will consist of nine voting members appointed by the mayor and approved by the Assembly. Appointed members must have experience in at least one of the ten areas defining the scope of the commission and will serve overlapping three-year terms for no more than two consecutive terms.
Commissioners will be appointed to represent each of the following geographic areas:
- East Peninsula including areas of Seward, Moose Pass, Cooper Landing;
- Southwest Borough including areas of Seldovia, Port Graham, Homer, Kachemak City, Nanwalek;
- South Central including areas of Anchor Point, Ninilchik, Kasilof, Clam Gulch;
- Central including areas of Sterling, Kenai, Soldotna, Kalifornsky;
- Northwest Borough including areas of Hope, Tyonek, Nikiski;
- Also, four at-large seats.
In addition, the commission may appoint two non-voting youth members. Youth members will serve one-year terms.
