The City of Soldotna voted unanimously to execute several plans during their council meeting on Wednesday evening.
The council decided to execute a contract utilizing a grant for $5.4 million for the Soldotna Municipal Airport 2020 Runway Rehabilitation Project. Resolution 2020-031 also passed, authorizing the issuance of a marijuana license renewal for a dispensary in Soldotna. Also, $386,724 was allotted for a new Caterpillar in Resolution 20-032.
Resolution 2020-033 noted that the Federal Aviation Administration is providing the City of Soldotna with a grant for the reconstruction of the Soldotna Airport runway. Rehabilitation in this project includes new asphalt, edge lighting, striping, excavation and embankment, as well as navigational aids.
The project will rehabilitate the city’s 5,000 foot paved runway. The grade on the east end will be lowered to improve the line of sight along the runway center line. The project includes installation of new runway edge lights, replacing existing VASI navigation aids with precision approach path indicators, and rehabilitation of the three taxiway tie-ins.
Resolution 2020-031 was a letter of non-objection to renew the marijuana license for Pine Street Cannabis Company, after having received recommendation to do so from the state and the borough.
City Manager Stephanie Queen on why the issue was presented to the council for public hearing, before it was unanimously passed: “When we get license renew requests, they come directly from the state of Alaska and we distribute that to department heads to solicit information, whether there’s any reason why the city would have to protest. This is a renew and there was no cause for protest from any of the city departments, whether through permit needs or compliance with sales tax. Therefore, we recommend that the letter be issued with non-objection and per the city code, it requires a public hearing, which is why this resolution is presented to you in this way as a public hearing item. There is no objection from the city moving forward with the non-objection to the renewal.”
The new grader that was approved is a 2020 Caterpillar 160M AWD Series grader. The purchase was initially approved in the Fiscal Year 2021 operating budget in the Equipment Replacement Fund. It is a motor grader that will be utilized by the Streets department.