Valdez City Council 2026 Budget Public Hearing - November 18, 2025
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Valdez City Council 2026 Budget Public Hearing - November 18, 2025
The Valdez City Council held a public hearing on the proposed 2026 city budget on November 18, 2025, at 6:00 PM in Council Chambers. The hearing was conducted in accordance with Valdez Municipal Code Section 3.08.050, allowing any interested person to be heard for or against budgeted items. Written comments received by the city clerk were distributed to council members. No council deliberation or votes occurred during the hearing; it was adjourned to the regular meeting at 7:00 PM.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jerry Devins spoke in support of KCHU, urging the council to award the CSO grant requested. He highlighted KCHU's resilience after the loss of state/federal funding and the AM tower, its fundraising and cost reductions, local community support (petition, website following, membership revenues), and statewide/worldwide news coverage. He noted USDA contributed $1.3 million and the City contributed close to $4 million toward saving the AM tower, and stressed KCHU's importance for the early emergency warning system, especially with KVAK seeking to sell its tower, which would leave KCHU as the only Valdez radio station.
- Brooke Shippy, acute care clinical program coordinator at Providence Valdez Medical Center, strongly advocated for increased funding for the Valdez Avalanche Center. She read a letter from Janice Jimenez, trauma program manager, noting the center responded to 40 trauma activations year to date, of which 43% were related to winter sports, and that accidents mostly occur in January and May. She stated avalanche forecasts are essential to safety and that Providence supports the Avalanche Center's proposal; risking loss of the five-day forecast would leave residents and visitors more vulnerable to preventable accidents.
- Rafael Faro, an avid backcountry user and volunteer EMT, spoke in support of the Avalanche Center from a public safety perspective, explaining how one avalanche response could overwhelm the volunteer EMS system, leaving no one at the station for other emergencies.
- Ian Clark, a recent full-time resident, supported increased avalanche forecasting and awareness, recounting a personal tragedy from Ketchikan where a friend died in an avalanche possibly due to lack of data. He emphasized the high concentration of backcountry users in Valdez, the roadway through "Avalanche Alley," and the sharing of data with DOT and other forecasters through the Alaska Avalanche organization.
- James Smith, a newly elected KCHU board member, expressed support for KCHU, noting its long history and reliability in emergency public safety.
- Mason Mullen, a new resident and KCHU board member, supported KCHU and the Valdez Avalanche Center, noting he holds professional certification in avalanche and snowpack analysis. He mentioned an audit showing the Avalanche Center doing five times the work of its budget and compared it to the CNFAIC in Girdwood, urging increased funding.
- Jonathan Neville supported both KCHU and the Avalanche Center, stating KCHU has existed on a shoestring budget and that local forecasting is essential; he works in high-risk avalanche terrain.
- Tommy Kimberlin spoke in support of KCHU and the Avalanche Center, praising their value to the community and suggesting the Avalanche Center could do more with more funding, especially youth education.
- Matthew Brunton voiced strong opposition to the CSO grant program, alleging that four years of documented evidence show council and administration indifference toward his concerns, and that he has been bullied, threatened, and told to leave Valdez by CSO associates. He specifically criticized the Valdez Avalanche Center for disregarding industry standards, misrepresenting an independent assessment from the National Avalanche Center, and attempting to sabotage his business by partnering with an Anchorage-based competitor. He also alleged that a council member and CSO president worked together to target him for bullying at a meeting last year. He called the CSO program unaccountable and opaque and said reward should only reinforce positive behavior.
- Joe Procs commented on the budget total spend, suggesting the finance director could present it. He referenced a letter from Laurie regarding KVAK, cautioned against spending $200,000 for a KCHU tower, noting the city has already spent about $5 million on the prior tower effort, and recommended ensuring the plan is realistic before further action.
- Brian Bailey, a new resident from Colorado, supported the Valdez Avalanche Center's request, stating that data is hard to come by in Valdez compared to his previous experience, and that the Center deserves all the funding possible.
- An unidentifiable parent spoke in support of the Avalanche Center, citing teenagers who recreate in the mountains and the importance of the two-day-a-week forecast and youth education. They expressed confidence in current forecasters.
Key Outcomes
- The council opened the public hearing at 6:00 PM; no council deliberation or decisions were made during the hearing.
- The hearing was adjourned, with the council meeting reconvening at 7:00 PM for the regular session.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, we'll go ahead and get this public hearing under order. It is 6 p.m. and our first item this evening is the official public hearing on the proposed 2026 budget. This hearing is held each year in accordance with section 3.08.050 of the Valdez municipal code, which states that any interested person shall have the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing for or against the estimates of any budgeted item. Written public uh comments received by the city clerk's office since our final budget work session have been distributed to council members by email and printed copies of recent written comments have also been distributed tonight. With that, I now open the public hearing on the budget. Are there any members of the public which would like to provide comment? And for each uh person, please state your name when you come up to the podium and you have five minutes to discuss. Okay, this is when you come up to the podium and discuss. Come on up. State your name. Hello, my name's that button, Jerry. The button to the red. There you go. My name's Jerry Devins. And I came tonight to show support for KCHU and to encourage you to award them the CSO grant they have requested. With the loss of state and federal funding and then the loss of the AM Tower. KCHU has demonstrated incredible ingenuity and significant increased levels of fundraising and cost reduction. While radio stations all over the country are going out of business due to loss of funding, KCHU has not only managed to keep the doors open, money in the bank, and in a very short period of time managed to make significant progress towards restoring the AM broadcast and improving the FM broadcasts by replacing the tower. KCHU has demonstrated great local community support as evidenced by the petition that was submitted to council, as well as their website following and significant membership revenues earned this year. As well as statewide, nationwide, and even worldwide support for our local public radio station as evidenced by news coverage of KCHU specifically that has reached worldwide and the significant increase in membership and donor revenues earned this year. KCHU and KCHU's importance to the state of Alaska was evidenced when the USDA through the emergency watershed program contributed 1.3 million dollars towards a project to attempt to save the AM Tower. And the City of Valdez contributed the remainder of the funding, close to $4 million that was awarded to a local contractor. KCHU has a solid, realistic and achievable plan to replace the AM tower that was lost, making possible an AM transmission and an FM transmission, and both would be would be significantly improved if they're installed on the new tower. KCHU has been broadcasting in Valdez for over 40 years, bringing educational programming, news and information, public service announcements, and most importantly, the early emergency warning system. We were recently made aware of the fact that KVAK, the commercial radio station in Valdez, is seeking to sell their tower, which would leave KCHU as the only radio station in Valdez for the early emergency warnings, local news and information, educational programs, and public service announcements. This makes it more crucial for Valdez to maintain maintain KCHU for and for the City of Valdez to contribute so that we have a local radio station that can guarantee to continue to broadcast early emergency warnings and information of local interest. I encourage you to support awarding them this grant so that we ensure we have a radio station in Valdez. Thank you. Hello. My name. Oh, am I ready? Yeah. Okay. Sorry, I'm a little nervous. My name is Brooke Shippy. I am the acute care clinical program coordinator at Providence Valley's Medical Center. And I am here tonight representing Providence to show our strong, well, to strongly advocate for increased funding for our Valdi's Avalanche Center. Before I begin, I do have another letter that was written by Janice Jimenez, who is our trauma program manager. She right now is actually working, so she could not be here today, so I'm just gonna read it for her. As a level four trauma center, we have responded to 40 trauma activations year to date, of which 43% were related to winter sports, like skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing, and snow machining. Most of these accidents happen in January and May. These are months that are associated with unstable snowpack and increase avalanche risk. Avalanche forecasts are essential to staying safe in the mountains. They give up-to-date information on snow and terrain conditions so people can make smarter choices before heading out. Being aware of these conditions greatly lowers the chance of serious injuries, which helps protect individuals and ease the strain on trauma services and the wider community. Providence Valde's trauma services supports the Avalanche Center's proposal for funding. Winter is always our busiest season, and stronger forecasting will help prevent injuries and keep our community safe. So that was from Janice. And then I have a statement from the rest as well.
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