CES may not get million back

An ordinance proposing to reimburse Central Emergency Services for its $1 million contribution to the new Emergency Response Center project made it through introduction Tuesday night, but whether the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will ultimately approve it is in question.

The ordinance, proposed by Mayor John Williams, would take $1 million out of the borough’s general fund and give it back to CES. The CES board of directors voted in January to seek reimbursement and opt out of the new building nearing completion on Wilson Lane.

The fact that CES officials no longer want to be in the new building took assembly members by surprise when the ordinance first hit the agenda April 4. It was postponed until the April 18 meeting, and was postponed again Tuesday until May 16.

CES’s approval of the $1 million expenditure in November 2004 was critical to moving the project forward. Members of the CES board have since said there was a lack of consensus about the move, but they voted to do so anyway. That changed in January of this year when the board, including some new members, voted to seek reimbursement from the borough. CES wants to remodel its offices in Station 1 in Soldotna instead.

Minutes from the January meeting, which are a synopsis of discussion, not a verbatim transcription, appear to suggest that administration Chief of Staff Tim Navarre assured the board the funds would be returned to CES prior to the opening of the new building.

In a conversation following Tuesday’s assembly meeting, Navarre said he may have left that impression because it was what he believed could happen.

The minutes include a successful motion to amend the resolution adding words indicating CES’ desire to opt out of the new building. Whether they will be able to is still a matter of debate.

Assembly member Grace Merkes, of Sterling, said she was surprised to hear CES was not interested in moving into the building, because CES had apparently been an avid supporter of the project.

“I probably would not have approved (the project) originally if it wasn’t for CES going into it,” she said.

Assembly member Pete Sprague, of Soldotna, said he had serious reservations about even voting to introduce the $1 million ordinance, considering all the borough legislation backing a start to construction, all of which was based on CES’ participation and occupation.

“This has been going on for over three years. I think it’s a little late now,” he said. “This money could go toward education, it could go toward keeping our mill rate at 6.5, not 6.7. I live in this district (CES service area) and I did not hear, from day one, anyone (from CES) expressing any reservations about this project.”

Spending general fund dollars and allowing “one of the key players” to opt out was not something he was inclined to support, he said.

“The timing is pretty poor right now,” he said.

Merkes asked if the borough had the legal right to refuse reimbursement. Craig Chapman, borough finance director, said the money had already been spent, and the assembly had moved forward on the construction project based on the decision by CES’ board to approve funding and participation.

Merkes than asked whether CES could rent the space in the new building. Chapman said it would appear they could do that, though later Borough Attorney Colette Thompson indicated she was not certain that was true.

Mayor Williams has already expressed his intention to fill the former CES spaces with the offices of the Spruce Bark Beetle Mitigation Program, which currently pays $3,600 a month to rent space on the Kenai Spur Highway.

Assembly member Gary Superman asked if CES was legally bound to the building by contract. Thompson said the service area is not a separate entity, but part of the borough. She said she did not think the assembly was under any duty to reimburse CES.

Assembly member Paul Fischer, of Kasilof, said he would stick with the original intention.

“If the CES board wasn’t active enough to let us know they didn’t want it, then shame on them,” he said.

Navarre urged the assembly to at least introduce the ordinance, permitting time to bring forward other funding possibilities and answer other questions. He noted that the mayor’s transition report included comments that CES didn’t really want to move to the new building, and that the administration was interested in finding a solution.

“I don’t think we should not look at this just because they did it (so) we’ll make them live with it, when in fact it could cost the borough and the service area.”

Assembly President Ron Long, of Seward, said he didn’t think the assembly discussion had characterized the issue as “making them live with it,” but rather whether the assembly “should have believed” the CES board two years ago.

Assembly member Margaret Gilman said she would vote for introduction, but she had many questions, including how long the Spruce Bark Beetle program would continue. It depends largely on federal dollars that could disappear at any time, leaving the borough without a renter.

The assembly eventually set the ordinance for public hearing May 16.

The measure is Ordinance 2005-19-47.