The Soldotna City Council approved this year’s iteration of the five-year capital plan, starting with Fiscal Year 2021. It does not formally approve any particular expenditure, rather, it establishes a plan that lays groundwork that will go before the council, one project at a time.
The capital plan will also be discussed and adjusted each year, as necessary, as it was during Wednesday night’s City Council meeting.
Public Works Director Kyle Kornelis gave a report about the five-year capital plan. He noted that many projects listed in the first year of the plan have to do with forecasting the needs of the city due to COVID-19, spending $1.25 million. The annual Storefront Improvement Project is also projected to continue, with money in the plan set to head in that direction.
He also discussed another major project slotted for the first year of spending: “The Sports Center major maintenance projects. New exterior doors, correcting the front entry to be more user friendly and public friendly to have a public office there, getting rid of the popcorn ceiling above the bleachers that has really been problematic, some retrofit and remodel in the showers and locker rooms that have aged. This was a result of a comprehensive look at that building that is aging and does need some work.”
Councilmember Jordan Chilsom questioned replacing siding for the Sports Complex in Fiscal Year 2021, and City Manager Queen brought up why the capital plan is phrased that way: “At this point, we don’t have a concept of what the siding would look like, if it’s a refurbish or a replace. It may be that it’s something that doesn’t make sense to do now, not yet having a design for a potential expansion, but really, this is kind of the initial step of giving us an indication of if any of these things are of interest to the council, to move forward towards that next decision making.”
The Soldotna City Council unanimously approved the resolution, 2020-035.