The Kenai City Council approved an ordinance for a continued management services contract with the Kenai Chamber of Commerce for the Kenai Visitors & Cultural Center at their meeting on Wednesday, March 20th, 2024.
The item on the table was a proposal for the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center Facility Management Services for the facility and to add another member to their team.
The proposal was made back on February 1st, 2024. The current contract is set to end on June 30th, 2024.
Along with the facility’s management, the new individual would be donned the title of Cultural Center Coordinator.
This individual would be set to work 20 hours per week.
In a memo from Christine Cunningham, the Assistant to the City Manager, a committee of City employees evaluated the proposal based on evaluation criteria, including the proposer’s experience and qualifications, key staff assigned and sub-consultants, available resources and location, project methodology and approach, and cost.
The City was presented with three options, and after a unanimous vote, it decided to go with the second option, which reflects an annual management fee of $152,480.
According to Kenai Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Samantha Springer, the council members had many questions regarding the position. Still, she expressed glee that they could successfully come to a compromise.
“History is intact,” says Springer. “There’s this thing is just digging into that because a lot of those. [Many] artifacts have just been in boxes and in storage and haven’t even seen the public eye the entire time. So we’re pretty excited to be able to get those artifacts in front of people and really show. The history of Kenai in a new light and start getting, you know, field trips back out here and make it exciting for locals to come back out as well so they’re not just going to see the same exhibit.”
Springer says she will have a whole staff on July 1st, with a Cultural Center Coordinator completing the team.