The City of Nome Common Council met on Feb. 13, approving a resolution that would extend a raise of 3.5% to certain exempt employees. The positions that will receive the raise are police chief, deputy police chief, finance director, city clerk, museum director (currently vacant after Amy Phillips-Chan left towards the end of last year), executive assistant to the city manager, port director, harbormaster, parks and recreation director, building inspector, and the human resources director.
“The Common Council at their last meeting gave an increase to non-exempt (employees), which is essentially our hourly employees, a 3.8% raise,” Nome’s City Manager Glenn Steckman explained. “They wanted to look at doing something also for the exempt employees. So, they gave them a 3.5% raise at this meeting.”
During Steckman’s regular report to the council, he updated the group on renovations at the Nome Visitor Center — just in time for Iditarod.
The goal of the renovation is to provide a single location to highlight city facilities such as the recreation center, museum and the library.
“The visitor center has been given a significant facelift inside,” Steckman said. “Last summer, we had restained the building and cleaned up the exterior of the building, and this past fall, starting around Thanksgiving, staff has been up there repainting the inside, replacing the electrical systems, replacing the heating system, putting in a new bathroom, building a new closet, and new carpet as to freshen up the building and make it look more like a visitor center.”
Steckman added that the renovations are a work in progress.
“Things are moving well … it still will be a work in progress, so we’ll have the appropriate signage of ‘please pardon the dust.’ Staff has done a great job in correcting and addressing some issues in the building,” Steckman said.
The history of Nome, from the times of the first people of the area up to modern day, will also be a key component of the upgrades to the visitor center.
“Nome is a very diverse community with a very diverse history,” Steckman said. “We have the Indigenous population that have been here since time immemorial. We also must recognize the gold era of Nome and present-day Nome. So, we want to highlight that and want to talk about the outdoor experiences here now. It is really a way to sell Nome and to get visitors here to Nome to take advantage of all (the city) has to offer and its history.”
The next meeting of the Nome Common Council is set for Feb. 27 at 7 p.m
Image at top: Nome Common Council meets on February 13, 2023. Photo by KNOM (2023).
