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Record of Proceedings

Special Meeting of Sitka Assembly: FY2025 Budget and Municipal Attorney Recruitment - May 2, 2024

City and Borough Assembly — Thursday, May 2, 2024
BodySitka, Alaska
SessionCity and Borough Assembly
DateThursday, May 2, 2024
StatusFILED
Video Record
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0:00

Well, good evening, everybody.

0:02

Um it is six o'clock, so I will call to order the special meeting of Thursday, May 2nd, 2024.

0:09

Please join me for a flag salute.

0:14

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

0:18

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with literature and justice for all.

0:30

The Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional first people of Sheetka.

0:36

With gratitude, we proceed on Klinket Ani.

0:40

Sarah Roll Call, please.

0:41

Mayor Eisenbais.

0:42

Present.

0:43

Mr.

0:43

Mosher?

0:44

Here.

0:44

Mr.

0:45

Pike.

0:46

Here.

0:46

Mr.

0:46

Yestad.

0:47

Here.

0:48

Mr.

0:48

Christensen.

0:49

Here.

0:49

Ms.

0:50

Carlson.

0:51

Here.

0:52

And Mr.

0:52

Celine.

0:53

Here.

0:56

Thank you.

0:57

Any correspondence or agenda changes this evening?

1:02

Seeing none, that'll bring us to persons to be heard.

1:05

This is public participation for any item off of tonight's agenda, not to exceed three minutes for any individual.

1:13

Seeing none, we will move on to item A, unfinished business.

1:18

So tonight is a discussion direction decision of the budget as a whole.

1:25

Hopefully, this will be our last budget meeting unless uh some massive changes come up from the assembly.

1:31

Um I got a feeling maybe Tim's got something up his sleeve or something like that.

1:37

No.

1:38

Um this is just a quick wrap up here.

1:40

Um and uh we should be able to knock out the budget tonight for um submission by the administrator sometime in May, correct?

1:50

When does he start when do we start that ordinance process?

1:54

Um May 14th, so it'll be out with our the packet for our next meeting.

1:58

Awesome, great.

1:59

Um, and with that, uh Melissa, um, you have the helm.

2:03

Great.

2:03

So I just wanted to um go through a quick review of where we are.

2:09

Um since our last meeting, um we so last meeting the assembly made a number of adjustments to the budget, some additions, some cuts.

2:20

Um, unfortunately, one of the items that you cut was not in the budget.

2:25

So that's kind of the the primary reason we're here today.

2:29

So we've gone through and we've carefully reviewed all of the resource proposals to make sure they're all in.

2:36

Um we have also gone through and just just you know, it's been a number of months since we put together our revenue projections, make sure our revenue projections are on.

2:46

We just um closed out the property tax appeal period, make sure that our property tax numbers are are still good.

2:55

Um they're probably a tad bit low, but not low enough that um I felt like I needed to go in and make an adjustment.

3:04

Um, you know, I reviewed sales tax projections again.

3:08

Um we've also had some information on some of the big picture items.

3:13

Um, insurance.

3:16

Uh I was at meetings last week uh that gave me a lot more information on where our property liability insurance is going.

3:26

Uh, fortunately in this area, there is good news, and the really steep increases that we've been seeing are leveling out.

3:34

So I I had too much in the budget, so I have adjusted our insurance numbers down.

3:41

Um for the general fund, I didn't actually make those adjustments in the enterprise funds.

3:47

The the general fund takes the bulk of it, so the bigger impact was to the general fund.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget Equity Analysis█████████████████████████████████████████████52%
Personnel Matters███████████████████████26%
Procedural███████████13%
Legal Department████████9%
Summary of Proceedings

Special Meeting of Sitka Assembly: FY2025 Budget and Municipal Attorney Recruitment - May 2, 2024

The Sitka City and Borough Assembly held a special meeting on May 2, 2024, to finalize the FY2025 draft budget and decide on next steps for the municipal attorney recruitment. The meeting lasted approximately 26 minutes, from 6:00 PM to 6:26 PM, with all seven members present (one remote).

Discussion Items

  • FY2025 Draft Budget (Item 24-054): Finance Director Melissa Haley presented a summary of General Fund budget changes, correcting a previous omission where a cut item was not actually in the budget. She reviewed updated revenue projections, including lower property and liability insurance costs (approximately $76,000 savings) and a 22% increase in health insurance. The final General Fund surplus is approximately $44,000. Assembly members praised the staff's work and the clarity of the budget process, noting that minor surpluses or deficits are acceptable given the budget's size (approximately $44 million General Fund, $200 million total with transfers). No formal vote was taken on the budget; the discussion concluded with consensus to proceed.
  • Municipal Attorney Recruitment (Item 24-066): The assembly discussed advancing candidate Annmarie Billingsley to a second round of interviews. Members debated the format (Zoom vs. in-person) and the focus of the next interview, aiming to assess the candidate's practical legal approach and community interaction style. The mayor suggested continuing the recruitment process until a hire is finalized.

Key Outcomes

  • The assembly voted unanimously (7-0) to advance municipal attorney applicant Annmarie Billingsley to a second round of interviews, tentatively scheduled for May 9, 2024, via Zoom, with a possible in-person follow-up.
  • The assembly agreed to keep the recruitment open while the second round proceeds.
  • No formal action was taken on the FY2025 budget, but the assembly acknowledged the corrected surplus and expressed satisfaction with the budget process.

Meeting Transcript

Well, good evening, everybody. Um it is six o'clock, so I will call to order the special meeting of Thursday, May 2nd, 2024. Please join me for a flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with literature and justice for all. The Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional first people of Sheetka. With gratitude, we proceed on Klinket Ani. Sarah Roll Call, please. Mayor Eisenbais. Present. Mr. Mosher? Here. Mr. Pike. Here. Mr. Yestad. Here. Mr. Christensen. Here. Ms. Carlson. Here. And Mr. Celine. Here. Thank you. Any correspondence or agenda changes this evening? Seeing none, that'll bring us to persons to be heard. This is public participation for any item off of tonight's agenda, not to exceed three minutes for any individual. Seeing none, we will move on to item A, unfinished business. So tonight is a discussion direction decision of the budget as a whole. Hopefully, this will be our last budget meeting unless uh some massive changes come up from the assembly. Um I got a feeling maybe Tim's got something up his sleeve or something like that. No. Um this is just a quick wrap up here. Um and uh we should be able to knock out the budget tonight for um submission by the administrator sometime in May, correct? When does he start when do we start that ordinance process? Um May 14th, so it'll be out with our the packet for our next meeting. Awesome, great. Um, and with that, uh Melissa, um, you have the helm. Great. So I just wanted to um go through a quick review of where we are. Um since our last meeting, um we so last meeting the assembly made a number of adjustments to the budget, some additions, some cuts. Um, unfortunately, one of the items that you cut was not in the budget. So that's kind of the the primary reason we're here today. So we've gone through and we've carefully reviewed all of the resource proposals to make sure they're all in. Um we have also gone through and just just you know, it's been a number of months since we put together our revenue projections, make sure our revenue projections are on.

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