Most of this week's city council meeting was spent in work session discussing proposals for city improvements. Instead of the regularly scheduled meeting, the council spent two-and-a-half hours in a work session of 23 plans for capital and major maintenance.
City manager David Martinson stressed that if state funding decreases, Unalaska may have to foot more of its bills.
"We have begun a slippery slope on this issue where they will continue to grab more and more from the municipalities."
Mayor Shirley Marquardt says she’s concerned about money, too.
"I’m in serious penny pinching mode, because of what's going on in the state, and what we're looking at in terms of lost revenue and increased payments to the state," Marquardt said.
Project after project, council members expressed concerns for high-proposed project costs.
The estimate to repair the roof of the [city-owned housing] four-plex? Too much, says council member Frank Kelty.
"I can’t believe it will cost half-a-million-dollars to do that roof. I think the whole darn building was built for half a million," Kelty said.
Although there’s a big sticker price, Public Works Director Tom Cohenour says a new roof is necessary.
"The danger is the wind can come along and just rip all the metal roof off," Cohenour said.
But the mayor says it's still a lot of money.
"I don't think anyone's going to argue that roofs need to be replaced but I guarantee you that if any one of us replaced our roofs here, it wouldn't cost that much," Marquardt said.
Not all proposed projects are maintenance based -- take the proposal for fiber optic development. Public Utilities Director Dan Winters wants to lay the groundwork for a faster Internet connection and a secure communication system for sensitive information about waster water, electric and landfill.
"A ditch is open. We want the conduit, we want the fiber optics in it. We want to put fiber optics in that ditch now. If you pave it, later on we'll have otherwise you have to tear up the pavement.]
Eventually, fiber optics could provide faster Internet. But, not right away which is why the mayor says funding this project is difficult.
"It's really difficult for me looking at the city putting in something on their own for $2 million, before we even know if we're going to have that system. If we're going to have the ability to tie in to it," Marquardt said.
As a part of the regularly scheduled meeting, the council unanimously approved a resolution giving $470,000 to the Gilman Road Storm Drain project.
The city council will have its next meeting on April 12.
