The Ports and Harbor Commission held a regular meeting on June 2, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. Commissioners present: Stevens, Kelly, Steve, Pearson, and Wes. Commissioner Day was absent. The meeting covered approval of minutes, a presentation on commission roles and responsibilities, and a discussion on the harbor budget trajectory.
City Clerk Overview of Commission Roles and Responsibilities: City Clerk Sherry and Deputy City Clerk Elise presented an overview of the commission's roles as defined in city code. They encouraged the commission to prepare for a work session with the City Council, similar to the Parks and Recreation Commission's recent presentation. The commission was asked to develop five goals based on their Harbor Master Plan and to identify any roadblocks. The timeline for this work is urgent, as the council is conducting strategic planning on June 21–22. The clerk also stressed the importance of attendance and quorum, noting the commission has been reduced to five members. Commissioners asked about the timeline and whether budget discussions would be separate. The clerk advised starting immediately.
Harbor Budget Trajectory: Staff member Sarah led a discussion on ways to address the harbor's revenue shortfall (operating expenses exceeding revenues). Ideas from a March task force included:
Commissioners expressed concern that tideland lease transfer would simply shift funds, not create new revenue. They requested research on whether other Alaska harbors operate as self-sufficient enterprise funds. Staff agreed to investigate. The commission also discussed the feasibility of daytime meetings, noting variable schedules for fishing commissioners. No decisions were made on the budget items.
So I'm gonna call the meeting to order of the Ports and Harbors Commission on June 2nd. And for the record, Commissioner Stevens, Kelly, Steve, Pearson, Wes are pregnant, pregnant, we're pregnant, are present. Woo! Whole new whole new stuff. It's gonna be a good night. Um, and day is absent. Put that in the minutes. I'm just having another meeting. First item on the agenda is approval of the ports and harbors commission regular minutes from February 11th. Anyone like to make a motion? Move to approve. Thank you, Vince. I'll second it. So um moved by Commissioner Kelly, second by Commissioner Steed. Um anyone have any comments or corrections to that. Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye, I aye. Anyone opposed? Aye. All right, so they have passed unanimously. And um, next up, we're gonna turn it over to the clerk's office to walk us through um overview of commission's roles and responsibilities. Sherry. Okay. So uh Elise and I are here tonight. Um, I think everybody knows me, the city clerk or city of Valdez and Elise Um Sornberg is a deputy city clerk. Um so we're here tonight because during strategic planning the last couple of years, actually, the city council has given direction to us to work with the boards and commissions, basically to talk to you about roles and responsibilities, make sure that everybody's clear on those roles and responsibilities as they're outlined in the code, and also to um work with you to um um think about your goals and objectives um over the next few basically even just like the next year. Um usually uh a lot of times when you work on those, you you you do like a five-year plan. Um ports and harbor, you guys have your harbor master plan. I know that you work out off of. But what council is interested in doing is meeting with the boards and commissions. Um, and we're gonna um try to schedule that before the end of the year so that they can meet with the majority of their boards and commissions. You guys are actually up next um to talk to them about so that you can talk to them about you know what are your priorities, where you are at with your master plan, um uh, what what you um to see if those align with what they have outlined in their strategic uh strategic planning um that they've been doing. They're actually going to do their 2025 strategic planning um this month, 21st and 22nd, I think of June. So that's um coming pretty fast. So they're gonna be reviewing what they did last year, looking at um whether they want to make um any revisions to those. So um what we want you to start thinking about and working on is um basically discussing with them what your your goals are um for the upcoming year um and where you kind of are on your with your um your ports and harbor plan. Um so there's that part of this. Um and what we're gonna do tonight is sort of run through what the Parks and Rec Commission just recently met with them and has uh uh done the work on this, and so we're just gonna show you what what their presentation was recently to give you an example of kind of what we're looking for. Their presentation was really successful, and and there was a lot of interaction between the city council uh and the commission. So that's what we want to do. We don't want you you know coming into a meeting with the city council and everybody just sitting there looking at each other, like why are we here? Um so actually you know, doing some work before that happens is important so that you guys have a good back and forth dialogue. Um, and that it you know it's a successful um productive meeting. So there's that. So we'll run through that in a minute. Um as far as roles and responsibilities go, um, I've handed those out to you, and that's how that appears in the Valve's city code as the roles of this particular commission. Um, those everybody familiar with those. Okay. So just a reminder as you work through doing the work to come up with your um in preparation of your work with the city council. Um keep in mind what what those roles and responsibilities are and whether you feel as a commission that you're meeting those.