Episodes

While the City of Valdez’s 50 plus million dollar a year revenue will not be threatened unless SB57 moves along, cuts to the State budget and their impacts could be felt in Valdez. Most notably, Dan O’Connor of Prince William Sound College is unsure at this point of the ramifications the cuts to the University of Alaska will have on PWSC. O’Connor said, “It’s a very serious threat at this point”. O’Connor said that on Monday all employees will receive a furlough notice. “There is a lot of uncertainty”. PWSC has approximately 40 full and part-time employees.

The Governor’s 5 percent rate reduction to hospitals and physicians does not apply to Providence in Valdez as it is considered a Critical Access Hospital and exempt from the rate cut. However, PVMC will experience an $110,000 annualized reduction and the long-term care facility will face a 3% rate reduction.

Superintendent Shawn Arnold spoke to the impact the lack of forward funding will have on Valdez City Schools, saying, “It’s tough to plan and predict what funding is going to be”. Arnold did cite the fact that he is very appreciative of the support the School District receives from the City of Valdez. The budget cuts will likely impact pre-school funding at Valdez City Schools and changes to the School Bond reimbursement program are of consideration. Robin James of Connecting Ties said the 5 percent cut will trim $10,547 from the organizations $210,933 yearly budget ($200,386) and said it would be difficult to operate at that level.

While the Fisheries Tax was included in Senate Bill 65 and House Bill 65, Mike Wells of Valdez Fisheries Development Association said these bills didn’t see any action in the last session and weren’t included in the Governor’s veto. The City of Valdez will continue to receive the $535,593 in total 2018 Fisheries Tax revenue but Wells told the audience “These are bills we want to continue to track”.

Comments from the audience included: questions about what impacts the cuts to PWSC would have on the Valdez High School Dual College credit program; information about value of public radio and impacts of cuts; information on impacts cuts have to Medicaid and healthcare in general; impassioned pleas for Valdez to “Save our way of life”; ideas to enhance tourism opportunities; information from organizations on how SB57 would impact their budgets/organizations; questions about the political process; questions about formulas and options used to calculate oil tax revenue; concerns over representation and communication with State officials and Ruth Knight urged Rauscher to look at re-districting. Ruth Knight called for additional taxes and Robin Brena said, “Let’s get fair value for our oil before we start imposing taxes”. So where does the community of Valdez go from here with the information gleaned in this meeting? Cutting the budget is definitely unchartered territory and Rauscher said, “There were a lot of surprises in Juneau”. With regard to where the legislature goes from here he responded, “There are a lot of options here”. He did mention “Things can be put into the capital budget that aren’t there now and we could call ourselves back into session”.

City Finance Director Brian Carlson presented slides to an audience of just over 100 people Saturday at the Valdez Civic Center illustrating the impacts Senate Bill 57 would have on the budget for the City of Valdez. City of Valdez Attorney Robin Brena encouraged citizens of Valdez to oppose Senate Bill 57 because it would take 82% of the City’s revenues. The bill would seize oil and gas property tax that is currently received by the City of Valdez and transfer it to the State. While most panelists thought it unlikely SB57 would be up for consideration this budget period, several panelists urged the public to become more vocal and involved by contacting elected officials. Representative George Rauscher took the podium and said that Senate Bill 57 was sitting in committee and he did not expect it to move along. “I don’t see that kind of movement in this session, but your vigilance is definitely expected”, said Rauscher.

CLICK HERE – link to Senate Bill 57

The City of Valdez announced Beautification Matching Grant awards in the amount of $86,672. The Beautification Task Force received 14 applications and awarded 10. The grants included many construction projects and some landscaping for Valdez Outfitters on North Harbor Drive, Valdez Masonic Lodge, ATM Properties, Valdez Brewing, Tapp Building, Subway, Valdez Vet Services, Mineral Creek Court, Valdez Senior Center, and Silverback LLC. Applications for Old Town Diner, Acres Kwik Trip, Haltness Equipment and a Vacant Lot were denied.

CLICK HERE for complete list of improvement plans and grant information

A proposal from Stepping Stones Preschool/ Daycare urging the City Council to consider letting the daycare use the City of Valdez Recreation Center on Hanagita was put on the Council agenda for discussion by Mayor Jeremy O’Neil. The move might assist with daycare, but a memorandum included with the City Council packet outlines the impacts of such a move and says it would displace three full-time employees and could affect Summer Fun programs, Might Mites, Rec Center availability for regular services and party rentals. Many years ago Puffin Learning Center successfully provided preschool and daycare as a private business. The business has changed hands several times and recently became a non-profit and receives funding from the City of Valdez.

CLICK HERE to read Stepping Stones Daycare Proposal

CLICK HERE to read Impacts to Community Rec Center

VALDEZ, Alaska – It was a good week in Valdez for Minnesota anglers Christopher Barnes and Matt Janezic who both reeled in fish over the 200 pound mark. Christopher Barnes of Moorhead, Minnesota reeled in a 225.6 pound halibut June 14^th aboard the SeaQuester. His fish won him the 1^st place weekly prize and he is currently in 2^nd place overall. Matt Janezic of Duluth Minnesota reeled in a 203.4 pound halibut June 28^th aboard the Bold Eagle to take home the 2^nd place weekly prize and drop into 3^rd place in the overall standings. Christine Ives of Fairbanks, Alaska is still leading the Valdez Halibut Derby with the 285.6 pound halibut she caught June 6^th aboard the Nunatak.

Valdez Fishing Report interviewer Laurie Prax said she talked to a huge number of Minnesotans this week and many of them were travelling with friends and family who live in Fairbanks. “With the sunny weather and clear skies we have been having in Valdez, anglers were just as happy to get out of the smoke in Fairbanks and the Anchorage area as they were to catch fish”, said Prax.

Prax caught up with Matt Janezic at the Valdez Dock and found out that he has been fishing in Valdez for the last 12 years and won a weekly prize in the Valdez Halibut Derby a few years ago. When asked why he kept coming back to Valdez, Janezic responded, “We love a lot of things. The scenery is second to none. The fish variety is great. We have fished out of a lot of other ports in Alaska and Valdez in particular it seems we get a larger size and quality of fish”. While Janezic has always picked up halibut and rockfish when fishing out of Valdez, on Saturday he got an extra bonus as they caught a King salmon as well.

Halibut anglers have been quite successful catching their limit of halibut and are bringing in good catches of rockfish. Lingcod season opened officially July 1^st and halibut charter captains are seeing lots of pink salmon. According to the Valdez Fisheries Development Association website, the anticipated return of pink salmon to Port Valdez is 20 million this summer.

Valdez Fish Derbies is hosting a free Kids Pink Salmon Derby on Saturday, July 20^th. The Valdez Silver Salmon Derby starts July 20^th so there will be a few weeks where anglers can catch both pink and silver salmon in Valdez.

The Women’s Silver Salmon Derby is slated for August 10^th with an opening ceremony Friday night. The theme of this year’s Women’s Derby is “Pajama Party” and there will be a group costume contest Friday night as well as live music and awards for the top 50 on Saturday night. CLICK HERE for details on the Women’s Derby.

Halibut Derby – Overall Leaders

1^st       Christine Ives              Fairbanks, AK            285.6 lbs.         June 6             Nunatak

2^nd       Christopher Barnes     Moorhead, MN           225.6 lbs.         June 24            Sea Quester

3^rd        Matt Janezic               Duluth, MN                 203.4 lbs.         June 28            Bold Eagle

Halibut Derby – Weekly Winners – June 24^th through 30^th

1^st        Christopher Barnes     Moorhead, MN           225.6 lbs.         June 24            Sea Quester

2^nd       Matt Janezic               Duluth, MN                 203.4 lbs.         June 28            Bold Eagle

Question of the Week Results:

We need a City Manager who is invested in our town and knows our community values and culture. We need someone willing to take the time to listen to Valdezians, not just come in all gung ho to make changes that don’t make sense here.

– Wendy Goldstein

Job Experience and appreciation for the environment. Also must like living in Valdez. Very important is government waste control. City of Valdez spends too much money on wasteful stuff.

– Larry McIntosh

Local hire, someone who has a vested interest in serving this fine community.

– Anonymous

They are from Alaska and understand the uniqueness of Valdez. Yes they need to be honest and dependable.

– Sue Reiss

Hire an Alaskan!

– Greg Reiss

Them not be an idiot like the last 3 we’ve had. We haven’t had a real city manager since they fired John Hozey. Bob was a dreamer not grounded in reality, Dennis was incompetent and lazy, Elke was never engaged, didn’t do anything and just collected checks.

– Valdez Resident

Someone that can not only keep up with the usual routine work as well as quickly shift to work well with new personalities of changing city council members and mayor.

– Janice Reynolds

Must be a take-charge person.

– Rev. Eric Wiseman