At the October 26th Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting, an assembly reorganization was held for the election of President and Vice President. Going into the meeting, Brent Hibbert, representing District 1 (Kalifornsky), was the Assembly President and Brent Johnson, representing District 7 (Central), was the Assembly Vice President.
A nomination was made for Hibbert to retain his seat, while another was made for Johnson to assume the role of Assembly President. Both were give an opportunity to address their nomination.
Johnson spoke of his experience:
“So I’ve served on a whole lot of bodies. I was the chairman of Kenai Soldotna Fish & Game Advisory Committee. The chairman presides over a public meeting, there are very contentious fish and game issues. Other than that I’ve served on the planning commission for 15 years. I’ve served on the Kenai Peninsula Fisherman’s Association. I was president of that for several years. I also was president, in fact I’m president again, now, for Kasilof Regional Historical Association. I was also president of Kenai Peninsula Historical Association. I also served on the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association for many, many years and was president for 15 years and again, as president, I presided over meetings that were quite contentious and sometimes we had members of the aquaculture association in deep disagreement with each other. I have experience in those sorts of things. As far as that goes, I’ve got quite a bit of experience.
Hibbert said:
“It’s been a pleasure working with you this year as the Vice President. It’s been an experience of your knowledge that has helped this assembly move to where it’s at. I appreciate working with each and every one of you this year. I don’t have the experience that you have, Mr. Johnson, but I try hard and I’m here, but thank you. Thanks for the compliments.”
The final vote showed five votes for Johnson and four votes for Hibbert. Nominations also were held to fill the position of Assembly Vice President. Bill Elam, representing District 5 (Sterling/Funny River) and Hibbert were both nominated. A vote was held and Hibbert was elected on a vote of 6 to 3. After a brief break, both Johnson and Hibbert assumed their new positions after a vote on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly.