All right, welcome everybody.

Uh thanks for joining us on our special meeting of Tuesday, March 18th, uh 2024 2025.

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 liberty 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 Clinketani.

Sarah Walcall, please.

Mayor Eisenbais.

Present.

Ms.

Carlson?

Here.

Mr.

Yesdad?

Here.

Mr.

Christensen?

Here.

Mr.

Mosher?

Here.

Mr.

Celine?

Here.

And Mr.

Pike is absent.

Thank you.

Any correspondence or agenda changes this evening?

Seeing none, that would 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.

Anyone to speak off of the agenda?

All right, that'll bring us to new business.

So tonight we have uh actually a motion, please.

I move to approve ordinance 2025-05 on first reading, setting a special election on May 28th, 2025 and submitting a question to the qualified voters to limit tourism visitation and sitca and add title 25 tourism to second general code.

Second.

So it's moved and seconded to approve this ordinance.

Uh a quick introduction for the assembly.

Uh this is before us because of a uh citizens' initiative in which they did get enough signatures to uh get this election on the books and before uh the voters.

Uh so tonight we're here uh because charter indicates uh that it does have to come through us, um, but charter also indicates that this election um shall happen uh after the signatures are gathered.

So uh just a little background on that and kind of what we're here to do and how we move this process forward tonight.

Um with that, is there any public comment on ordinance 25-05?

My name is Claudia Less.

I'm the president of Small Town Seoul.

Um we have a few things on the initiative that um one first of all needs a little clarification.

We're reading here where it says an annual cap of 300,000 passengers per cruise season, and those are scheduled passengers, so um, I just didn't want that to not be known, as well as um a daily cap of 4500 scheduled passengers ashore.

So both of those should say scheduled and ashore to be cleared with uh what the intent is.

Um we're hoping that you might reconsider the date of the election, and the reason for that is a multitude, but primarily because it's on a day right now with a huge number of cruise passengers scheduled, and we would like to recommend maybe May 15th, which has 1916 passengers, or May 22nd, which has 1978, preferably the May 15th, just because the sooner we have the election, if we do end up um if it goes in our favor, then we would like to allow the cruise industry time to uh adapt the more the better.

And um the um other thing to just mention is that if the assembly wanted to to avoid a special election, you certainly do have the power within your um scope of uh duties to accept the initiative yourself.

So just as a thought that you could potentially do that if you chose to.

So thank you.

Anyone else this evening on 25-05?

Uh seeing none, we'll bring it back to the assembly for deliberation.

Kevin?

Mr.

Mayor, I um just want to say for those listening and those here.

Um, this is in my mind, well, I believe all of us understand this is more of a formality.

We uh according to the the clerk's office, they've uh followed all the rules, and we do not have a choice.

Uh we must approve this if the um all the rules and everything have been followed, which they are.

So um I don't really have anything else to say other than I'm gonna vote yes.