Municipal issues were discussed as KSRM’s coverage of Decision 2022 focused on the Kenai City Council race. The Tuesday evening radio forum focused on the race to fill two three-year term seats for the Kenai City Council. Incumbent Glenese Pettey and challengers Alex Douthit and Victoria Askin spoke on issues impacting the city of Kenai in advance of the Municipal Election Race on Tuesday, October 4.
The subjects discussed included the Waterfront Redevelopment Study, bluff erosion, public involvement, retail and bringing businesses to town, and economic development.
The candidates discussed what they thought was the most pressing issue facing residents of the City of Kenai.
Glenese Pettey said:
“I don’t see any water leaks. I don’t see major road breaks. I think our city is sitting in a very, very wonderful space for economic development, for families to come into our communities. I know that we’re working to grow and do better, but as far as burning issues, I think that the city is in a very wonderful place.”
Alex Douthit said:
“The roads are crumbling. We’ve got water leaks in our pipes. I just talked to the City Manager, and they have a loss daily that they don’t know where it’s coming from. We’ve got old infrastructure water lines that are leaking and water loss daily in those. We’ve got Wildwood Drive, which is literally falling apart. Last I heard, roughly $600,000 plus short of being able to fix, from what we initially thought it was going to cost. New pavement in Kenai hasn’t done since back when Mayor Williams was here. Our main infrastructure, I hate to say it, it seems like we’ve been kicking the can down the road for a while, saving money, but it’s time to start spending some of this money, even if it’s just getting some of our roads crack sealed.”
Victoria Askin said:
“The items that Alex has mentioned, I think there is some truth to those issues happening, but I also think that the city is doing their best to address these issues. We’re fiscally sound and it’s a matter of prioritizing and making those improvements as we can. I know that this year they were faced with a severe personnel shortage. They had a hard time getting people to work. I know two or three projects that got put off because of that. I believe that under the management that we have, these issues will be addressed probably sooner than later.”
Click the player below to listen to the candidate election forum in case you didn’t have an opportunity to: