The Nome Common Council had a light workload on March 28, with only one resolution on the docket. That was an agreement between the Nome Police Department and Bering Land Bridge National Preserve.
The two organizations have already been working together informally to provide law enforcement in their respective jurisdictions, according to the resolution. The resolution formalized that relationship “for the efficient management of responses to events of mutual concern.” Either agency can offer “emergency law enforcement assistance” to the other according to the agreement, which is based on a similar agreement between the Kotzebue Police Department and Western Arctic National Parklands. The council quickly passed the resolution.
Outside of the council’s official business, council members took time to congratulate the Nome Nanooks basketball team on their victory in the state championship.
“It’s been almost 40 years — and 40 years before that — when our last big tournament was won. So it’s really a big accomplishment and a really neat thing for the community,” Council Member Mark Johnson said.
While there was a last-minute parade for the team when they returned from Anchorage, “there’s big plans in the mix, obviously, for some big community celebration,” Council Member Adam Martinson said. Martinson didn’t say exactly what form the celebration would take, but Rena Greene, Secretary-Treasurer for Nome Eskimo Community, started a GoFundMe to raise money for it, and City Manager Glenn Steckman said the city is donating the use of the Nome Recreation Center.
The council also acknowledged the issues they’ve had with the audio when streaming the meetings online. City staff are working on the problem.
“We have invited back the installers of our entire system that we have here. At this point … I guess we’re gonna have to go back and ask them again to come up here and find out what this continuing problem is,” Steckman said.
Finally, the council bumped its next meeting date up due to scheduling conflicts. The next council meeting will now be on April 4, rather than April 11.
Image at top: The Nome Common Council meets on March 28, 2022. Photo by Sean Milligan,
