Issues facing the Kenai Peninsula Borough were discussed during KSRM’s coverage of Decision 2023, focused on the Borough Assembly District 3 race.
The Monday evening radio forum featured candidates competing in the race to fill a three-year term seat. Sitting Assembly Member, Peter Ribbens, and challenger Adam Bertoldo spoke on issues impacting the Borough as well as the Kenai Peninsula at large in advance of the General Election on Tuesday, October 3rd.
The subjects discussed included new marijuana regulations recently signed by Lt. Governor Nancy Dahlstrom, transgender athletes competing in Alaska high school sports, and the debate over a salt brine mixture used on peninsula roads in winter.
The candidates also discussed the issue of flooding in residential areas along portions of Kalifornsky Beach Road.
Peter Ribbens;
“This is a very complicated regional problem, and it has to be addressed that way. We can’t just look at one solution and assume that’s gonna solve things to everything. It’s a problem that involves the federal government, the state government, and the local government. And we have people who are hurting, and they’re hurting now. They’re having problems that need to be fixed now. On the other hand, the borough needs to be careful about setting a precedent, and taking responsibility for things that are either not within their powers, or within their funded responsibilities. I’m gonna just throw one brief possibility out there, and that is Seward has a service area. I talk about service areas a lot because they give local control. Maybe there should be a regional service area for that. An area to address, specifically, groundwater flooding issues.”
Adam Bertoldo;
“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to intelligently say what all they have and haven’t done, and whether or not it’s it’s been enough. I know it’s been an issue that’s been around for a while. There’s been a lot of blame on both sides. I think it’s to the point now where homeowners need to get together, and everybody on government and ownership sides should get serious about finding the solution to this. And I can’t say what that solution would be. And honestly, I don’t know what the borough steps have been, or if they have been sufficient or not.”
Click the player below to listen to the candidate election forum in case you didn’t have an opportunity to:
