Council OKs pay hike for manager

The Soldotna City Council has approved a 5.14 percent salary hike for City Manager Tom Boedeker.

At the urging of Mayor Dave Carey, the council gave a unanimous OK to raising the chief administrator's yearly pay from $87,499.36 to $92,000 at the council meeting Wednesday evening.

The last time the city manager's salary was raised was 2 1/2 years ago, Carey said Thursday.

In other council business Wednesday, an ordinance to allow a land swap with the Kenai Peninsula Borough for a city cemetery passed through its first required reading, and July 13 was set as the date for a public hearing on the proposed final resting place.

The borough is slated to consider the land swap at its borough assembly meeting July 12.

The proposal calls for Soldotna trading its 17-acre Arc Lake parcel on the Sterling Highway near the borough landfill for a 10-acre piece of land the borough owns on West Redoubt Avenue close to the Kenai River.

A task force appointed by the mayor has been studying the cemetery proposal for more than two years.

A borough appraisal has found the fair market value of the two properties to be $55,000 for the city's 17.2-acre parcel and $139,000 for the borough's 10 acres.

The city's proposed ordinance allowing the land exchange points out that the value of the borough's parcel could be affected if it is restricted to cemetery use only.

The council also unanimously approved awarding a $1.495 million contract for a city maintenance shop administration building and equipment warm storage.

Boedeker was authorized to award the contract to Blazy Construction Inc.

Additionally, the council approved a resolution establishing a priority list for capital funding requests for state and federal projects. The list prioritizes projects for which the city would apply for state matching grants.

First on the list is a water-system improvement project needed to meet anticipated regulatory requirements and to meet growth needs of the city.

Other projects seek grants for extending sewer and water lines near the Soldotna Municipal Airport and along Kalifornsky Beach Road. Grant requests on the list also call for sewer enhancements elsewhere in the city.

The council also confirmed Carey's appointments of Bonnie Heimbuch as a Planning and Zoning commissioner, John Czarnezki as an alternate and Heimbuch as the city's representative on the borough planning commission.

Several people at the council meeting commented positively on the work of Wilder Construction, the company working on the Kenai River bridge replacement project.

Carey said he told the construction company the traffic light at the Funny River Road-Sterling Highway intersection was not timed to allow pedestrians enough time to safely cross, and Wilder said it would immediately inform the state highway department to seek an adjustment.

Soldotna Police Chief John Lucking Jr. also reported Wilder was a good company to work with, and, during a public comment portion of the meeting, Soldotna resident Jim Fassler said Wilder is "a good community partner."

"Their traffic team is very professional," Fassler said.

Representing the 4-H Club Funky Farmers, Maya Johnson gave the council a computer-generated slide presentation on the 4-H Junior Livestock Market, telling council members of several ways people can support 4-H.

"People can buy a half or a whole animal, donate to the buyers' club or contribute (a purchased animal) to charity," Johnson said.