Per resolution, Nome’s City Council will contribute $2.5 million to Nome Public Schools for fiscal year 2018. The Council voted unanimously in support of giving NPS about $1.35 million in addition to the State-mandated $1.1 million.
During last night’s regular meeting, the Council took care of two pieces of old business; one failed and one passed. An ordinance that would have amended City code to include ice removal along with snow removal on City sidewalks was in the second reading phase when Councilman Jerald Brown suggested limiting the ordinance to specific areas.
“There was a lot of discussion at the last meeting about an undue burden on residential and that kind of stuff,” Brown said. “I want to take out the requirement for everybody on Seppala and the few places around town that have little bits of sidewalk, just in front of somebody’s house (like on Steadman).”
Brown’s proposed amendment failed; then, a vote was taken on the original ordinance regarding snow and ice removal, which came down to a tie-breaking vote from Nome’s Mayor.
City Clerk Bryant Hammond: “On the original motion: Councilman Johnson – ‘No’; Councilman Sparks – ‘Yes’; Councilman Tobin – ‘No’; Councilman Anderson – ‘Sure’; Councilman Brown – ‘Yes’; Councilman Green – ‘No’; Mayor Beneville – ‘No.’ Motion fails,” stated Hammond once he marked the votes.
After rejecting that motion, the Council then deliberated on the matter of “junk motor vehicles.” All six Councilmen voted in favor of transferring the same definition of a junk motor vehicle from Title 5 of the Nome Code Ordinances to Title 18 of the Code. A junk motor vehicle is defined as any discarded, dismantled, wrecked, scrapped, or mined motor vehicle or parts thereof with additional stipulations.
In other business, all ordinances having to do with City budgets for FY ’18 were passed on to the second reading phase. With little discussion, the Council also lowered the City’s mill rate from 11 mills to 10.
One of the last pieces of business before the Council was an application to renew Seaside’s correctional facility permit. John Handeland spoke up as a public citizen in favor of Seaside.
“It’s twenty years ago that this facility was first authorized,” Handeland recalled. “At that time, it was quite a contentious issue in the community. I think we have twenty years of history showing that it has been a benefit, not a deterrent, to the City, to the region and our residents, and I hope that it will continue to do so.”
Besides approving Seaside’s permit renewal, members of the Council also hinted at possible collaboration between the City and inmates at Seaside.
Councilman Mark Johnson asked, “was there a way to ask them if we can, as a City, work with them to utilize their inmates for some more of our things, such as sidewalk cleaning? Because I think, having worked with inmates before personally, myself, they really appreciate the chance to go do those things for one thing, and they like to help the community. It’s a good service thing for them, and it really would benefit our purposes.”
At this time, it is unclear if any cooperative agreement will be struck between Seaside and the City in the near future. Nome’s City Council will convene again for their next regular meeting on June 12th at City Hall.
