The City and Borough Assembly has begun the search process for a new city manager.
At the Assembly’s previous meeting on September 27, current manager Jeff Jabusch announced his intention to retire, effective March 31, 2017. Working for the city since 1977, he has served in his present position since 2013.
Assembly members formally accepted his resignation during their Tuesday evening meeting. A hiring committee is to be formed and will undertake the task of advertising for the position and vetting candidates.
“We’ve done this two different ways, and we’ve done it with mixed success,” commented Jabusch, advising the in-house approach. Another alternative would be to contract a “headhunting” firm to help locate candidates, a process which can be expensive and yield mixed results. It was decided Mayor David Jack will sit on the committee, along with Assembly members Julie Decker and Mark Mitchell. Once the field of candidates has been whittled down, the interview and selection process can involve the rest of the Assembly before a possible appointment is made.
“You’re all invited to the retirement party,” Jabusch told them, adding “The city’s not paying for it.”
“That’s good, it’s not in our budget,” joked Assembly member Patty Gilbert. Sworn in earlier in the day after winning a write-in campaign, the meeting marked the first of her new term.
“I’m honored to serve on a progressive, proactive assembly,” she commented before the meeting began. Gilbert also thanked the election workers and canvass board for their volunteer work during the election, going to the extra effort of tallying up write-in votes such as her own.
Gilbert hit the ground running, recommending a technical change to a draft ordinance amending the city’s minor offense fine schedule related to alcohol and tobacco. Her recommendation helped clarify where the referenced offenses applied to minors under the ages of 21 and 19, respectively.
Assembly members also approved on second reading its draft ordinance updating sections of the zoning code to take licensed marijuana facilities into account. The recommended changes were the product of months of deliberation by the Planning and Zoning Commission and city staff, looking at existing code and state regulations regarding the now legalized substance and deciding whether it fit.
Appearing as a measure on the statewide ballot during the 2014 elections, the legalized regulation of marijuana was approved by Alaska voters. During that vote, of 1,652 Wrangell residents eligible to participate some 740 turned out; of these, 424 had voted in favor of it, with 316 against, just over 57 percent.
In the updated code, the
obtainable licenses for commercial retail, cultivation, testing and processing of marijuana would be restricted from single or multiple family residential zones, with certain further limitations placed on cultivation and processing. All such applications for city permits would be subject to conditional use, bringing proposals before P&Z in a public hearing format.
A public hearing devoted to the zoning proposal preceded Tuesday’s meeting, but three members of the public in attendance were in favor of its passing. One, Kelsey Martinsen, will be applying to the state for three licenses in order to grow, sell and process cannabis in a new shop located behind his restaurant. Since March his applications have been on hold, pending final decision by the Assembly.
“I’m excited. Now I’ve got a bunch of paperwork to turn in,” he commented afterward.
In other business, Assembly members approved a change order in the amount of $33,587.30 for asphalt paving projects undertaken by Colaska Inc. The work was in addition to the company’s existing project contract, extra projects which were convenient to do while equipment was mobilized. Most of the funds will be reimbursed by Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, with just over $5,000 to come from the city’s water, sewer and street funds.
A sole source procurement of $33,737 from Alaska Pump & Supply was also approved, part of the wider sewer pump replacement project being undertaken. The money would go to purchase specialty spares for two sewer pump units.
Due to the absence of several members, the Assembly will cancel its meeting scheduled for October 25, and has approved the rescheduling of its November 22 meeting a week later, to the 29th.
At the meeting’s end, Assembly members broke into executive session to discuss ongoing negotiations with its public employees union over a new collective bargaining agreement.
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