The City of Kenai agreed to appropriate $32,500 from Meals On Wheels America, in support of the services provided to Meals On Wheels recipients. This marked the second round of grant funding to help fund Meals On Wheels services in Kenai due to increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution was passed during the Wednesday evening Kenai City Council meeting.
Also during the meeting, the council agreed unanimously to move forward with Ordinance 2020-62, the request to plan, design, construct, and perform construction administration of the Bridge Access Road pedestrian pathway project.
The sponsor of the ordinance, Council Member Henry Knackstedt: “Our city is very capable of designing a bike path that’s basically a third of a width of a road for about a mile. It’s a relatively simple design overall. We’re very capable within our city, and also our engineers, that might propose on it. Also, I think that it’s important for the city to be doing the design work closer to the public than, perhaps, the state would be. Their offices would be in Anchorage if people had particular questions about how the design was coming, or suggestions for modifying it.”
City Manager Paul Ostrander said that the state has expressed concerns about a municipality being responsible for such a project, but that he’s hopeful that it will all come together smoothly: “I do think that the resolution, potentially, does help. It gives me additional talking points when I reach out to the Commissioner. That’s what I told [the state] on the phone. I said that as soon as this resolution is passed, I am going to reach out to the Commissioner and have a conversation about the bike path and why it makes sense not only for the city, but for the state as well, for us to manage both the design and construction process. I’m hopeful that the resolution will help.”
Mayor Brian Gabriel abstained from the matter due to conflict of interest.
What’s next in Kenai? A hot topic confirmed to be on the August 19 City Council agenda is discussion of Ordinance No. 3127-2020, which is an ordinance introduced by Council Member Robert Peterkin regarding a vote-by-mail system. It is based upon information learned from a work group in May.