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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, April 18-19 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 170
Question Do you agree with the school district’s decision to reinstate funding for the Skyview pool? n Yes; or n No. To place your vote and comment, visit our Web site at www. peninsulaclarion. com. Results and selected comments will be posted each Tuesday in the Clarion, and a new question will be asked. Suggested questions may be submitted online or e-mailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
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Rick Koch eyes Palmer, stays in Kenai By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Kenai City Manager Rick Koch applied for and was offered a job as Palmer’s new city manager. However, after weeks of negotiations and three executive sessions with the Kenai City Council, he has signed an agreement to keep his position in Kenai. News of his candidacy for the job in Palmer came as a surprise to some council members. Koch interviewed for the Palmer job on April 3, two days before his scheduled vacation. Mayor Pat Por-
ter said she met with Koch the next day and he told her he had turned down the offer. During the Wednesday council meeting, council member Mike Boyle requested to go into executive session to discuss the city manager’s actions, but Koch, who participated telephonically during this portion of the council meeting, requested the conversation remain in open session. Boyle said he was surprised to find out through the media that Koch had been offered the position without hearing from him first. Boyle did not specify where he had first seen the news of Koch’s can-
didacy — however the Palmer City Council agenda for its April 15 special meeting contained Koch’s name and the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman reported on April 12 that Koch had been offered the job. “I question whether he was dealing with us in good faith,” he said. “He interviewed with them after he accepted his new contract and didn’t address us as a council. It’s an issue that bothers me.” Current Palmer City Manager Doug Griffin, who is retiring next month, said Koch interviewed for the job with city clerk Janette Bower See KOCH, page A-14
Clarion file photo
In this March 4, 2014, file photo Kenai City Manager Rick Koch gives a presentation to the Kenai City Council. Koch was offered a position in Palmer but has since turned it down and signed a contract to remain in Kenai.
All the dirt that’s fit to grow
In the news Major pieces in play with session nearing end C
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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The 90-day legislative session is scheduled to end Sunday. And while legislative leaders have hoped to finish their work early given that Sunday is Easter, a lot of major pieces remain in play. That includes a bill that sets state participation in a major liquefied natural gas project and the state budgets, along with a bond bill aimed at helping the University of Alaska Fairbanks build a new power plant. The pipeline and bond bank bills are in the House, as is the capital budget. The operating budget is in a conference committee, comprised of House and Senate negotiators. There are also bills on education and addressing the state’s pension obligation. The Senate is tackling those.
Inside ‘It’s long past time for Washington Democrats to work with us to remedy the mess they created.’ ... See page A-6
‘My baby is trapped in cold waters now. How can I sleep comfortably?’ ... See page A-8
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-8 Sports.....................B-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics.................. C-9 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
“People that use our harbor were concerned with 400-600 small vessels in a two-mile stretch of river with no regulation on speed with boats zipping up and down,” he said. “Add in the big commercial vessels and it creates lots of dangerous conditions.”
Kenai growers want good dirt. Developing quality compost is becoming an integral process for organic agriculturalists on the Peninsula, and will be a subject at this year’s Kenai Peninsula Ag Forum on April 26, at the Land’s End Resort in Homer. The topic was introduced after attendees from last year’s event reported a high interest in learning what tools and resources other regional gardeners are using to improve garden beds, said Amy Seitz, vice president for Kenai Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development District. Jodie Anderson, soil scientist at HDR Inc., will speak the Ag Forum. She will present the benefits of using fish waste as fertilizer, a readily available material for Alaskan composters. Anderson researched the effects of fish-based compost compared to the synthetic fertilizer “urea” on potatoes, the state’s biggest cash crop, and barley, the biggest grain crop, as a former instructor for University of Alaska in Fairbanks’ School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. She found them both to yield comparable crops. “It wasn’t my hypothesis, but that’s science,” Anderson said. “It is still a good deal.” Anderson said agriculture is nearing a wave of sustainable production. Supportable soil enrichment methods are part of the foundation for that process, she said. Pete Kinneen, executive director of the non-profit Environmental Recycling Inc., will present a formula on fish-based composting at the Ag Forum. Fish compost does not attract dogs or bears; the odor is virtually undetectable if done correctly Kinneen said. The trick is to facilitate a balance of carbon and nitrogen, he said. Fish should never be any closer than 12 inches to the outside of the compost pile, Kinneen said. A good ratio is, at minimum, 10 five-pound buckets of wood chips, to every single five-pound bucket of fish waste. Cardboard and dry newspapers are also good sources of carbon, he said. It is equally important to
See ZONES, page A-14
See DIRT, page A-14
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Dog days A dog enjoys the breeze Thursday during a ride along Kalifornsky Beach Road in Kenai.
Board of Fisheries members OK’d By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Three incumbent members of Alaska’s Board of Fisheries were unanimously confirmed, after a Chugiak representative withdraw his objection to the two commercial fishers on the board. Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, said he objected to the confirmation of Sue Jeffrey, board member from Kodiak, and John Jensen, of Petersburg, because he had heard that someone was going to object to the third appointee — sportfishing guide Reed Morisky, of Fairbanks. “There was a package deal, Mr. Morisky and Mr. (Fritz) Johnson are very good appointees who had broad support, the other appointees had much more lukewarm support,” Stoltze said. “But, this was packaged as a deal by the administration.” Jensen has been on the Board of Fisheries since 2003, Jeffrey
day in a joint session of the state House and Senate, during which the bodies considered Gov. Sean Parnell’s appointees to several boards and commissions. Sport fishing and personaluse users in the MatanuskaSusitna borough area were not Sue Jeffrey John Jensen Reed Morisky happy with Jeffrey’s appointment, Stoltze said. “Many interest groups, including my Mat-Su Fish and Legislature debates other controversial picks Game Advisory (committee) … JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Legislature spent are kind of boxed in, but that’s time debating two other controversial appointments. the way the system works.” Bernard Washington was confirmed to the State AssessThere is no Mat-Su advisory ment Review Board on a 45-15 vote. Richard Rabinow was committee. There is, however a confirmed to the board of the Alaska Gasline Development Matanuska Advisory CommitCorp., or AGDC, 43-17. tee and a separate Susitna AdWashington spent 35 years in the oil industry and worked visory Committee. There’s also in areas including pipeline valuation. Critics of his appointa Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission, See PICKS, page A-14 which supported reappointing all three incumbents. since 2011 and Morisky since mer member Vince Webster. He In the process of withdraw2013. was confirmed earlier this leg- ing his objections, Stoltze said Johnson, of Dillingham, was islative session. that Jensen and Jeffrey were not appointed last year after the The three incumbents were qualified for their positions. legislature did not confirm for- confirmed unanimously toSee BOF, page A-14
Kenai River open to ‘No-wake’ zones By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
As complaints about the effects of the Kenai River’s crowded summer dipnet fishery continue to pour in, the Kenai City Council gave the city manager the ability to establish “no-wake zones” in the Kenai
Harbor. The ordinanace, passed during the council’s Wednesday meeting, was sponsored by members Bob Molloy and Brian Gabriel. It gives the city manager the discretion to regulate boat speed in the harbor citing the necessity for public safety and the protection of pri-
vate property. Molloy, harbor commission council liaison, said residents have voiced their concerns through public comment at dipnet work sessions on the issue of damaged property and public safety created by boat wakes at high tide during the peak fishery season. C
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