Kenai’s city council considered three resolutions at its regular meeting Wednesday.

The council agreed to spend money on technology updates and on items needed to manage the annual personal-use fishery, but opted to postpone a decision on the city’s land use table.

The council moved $71,000 to the general fund for fishery-related expenses, and shifted $63,000 for the technology work. Both actions were passed unanimously by the council members present, with councilman Brian Gabriel participating via teleconference and councilman Terry Bookey excused from attending.

Kenai City Manager Rick Koch was named the Alaska Municipal League’s Municipal Employee of the Year last weekend in Fairbanks.

But Koch credits his accomplishments as a city manager to the city as a whole.

“This award is a reflection of the high quality of the citizens of Kenai, the City of Kenai employees, the Kenai City Council, and our Legislative delegation,” Koch wrote in a statement.

Koch said the award came as a surprise. He was nominated by Mayor Pat Porter.

More Cook Inlet natural gas could hit the market by 2013 if Escopeta Oil Co.’s estimates prove up, but getting from exploration to production will require the company to clear a few more hurdles.

Escopeta, a Texas-based independent oil company, recently announced that it had found an estimated 3.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Kitchen Lights Unit north of Nikiski during its initial drilling period this summer and fall. The company brought a Spartan 151 jack-up rig to the Cook Inlet earlier this year for an exploratory drilling program. 

Homer Electric Association general manager Brad Janorschke said the utility is making progress on increasing itsability to generate enough electricity to power the Kenai Peninsula.

The primary source of that power will come from work at the Nikiski generation facility, where Homer Electric is working to upgrade the facility and increase its production.

“We are expecting the steam turbine to show up sometime next week,” Janorschke said in a presentation at Wednesday’s Kenai Chamber of Commerce lunch.