Valdez City Council Meeting – December 16, 2025
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Valdez City Council Meeting – December 16, 2025
The Valdez City Council met on December 16, 2025, at 4:00 PM. Key agenda items included an annual report from the Alaska Blue Economy Center (ABEC) and the T3 Alliance, approval of resolutions, and reports from city officials. The council also congratulated City Clerk Sherry Pierce on receiving the Vic Fisher Award for public service leadership. All council members were present except one who was absent and excused, but later corrected to all present.
Consent Calendar
- Approved a motion to enter executive session (item one was scratched; remaining items approved unanimously).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments on non-agenda items were made.
Discussion Items
- ABEC & T3 Alliance Annual Report: Tommy Sheridan, director of the Alaska Blue Economy Center, presented the annual report via video conference from Cordova. He highlighted ABEC's work in mariculture, workforce development, and outreach. Key points: The Alaska Mariculture Cluster grant ($49 million, ending May 2027) has directed approximately $1.6 million to Prince William Sound College's Marine Natural Resource Technician and Marine Service Technology programs, $2.3 million to regional proposals, and $2 million for statewide collaborations – totaling about $6 million for Prince William Sound. Spending has lagged behind other regions, but efforts are ongoing to advocate for more investment. A new NSF EPSCoR grant (Interface of Change, $20 million) is pivoting toward Valdez, funding students and T3. Sheridan also announced his personal intention to relocate to Valdez in 2026. Adam Lau, T3 Alliance coordinator, reported that Valdez has 13 active T3 students and the best makerspace in the Alaska network. The first Valdez T3 Steam Fest occurred in the past year, and an Engineering 100 class will be offered in Valdez – the first non-Fairbanks site to do so. Lau emphasized partnerships with DOT&PF and other entities for career pathways. Council members asked questions about grant spending, mariculture applications, and ways to support the programs at the state level. Sheridan discussed large-volume kelp applications (e.g., livestock feed, construction materials) and ongoing research.
- Resolution 2564: Authorized a lease amendment and extension with the Valdez Museum and Historical Archive Association for the museum and museum annex. Approved unanimously.
- Resolution 2565: Amended the 2025 city budget by reallocating $171,100 in previously approved funds, primarily due to changes in the assistant city manager contract structure. City Manager Nate explained the reallocation puts the ACM salary in the appropriate administration budget. Approved unanimously.
- City Manager Report: Nate reported on the Alaska Municipal League (AML) conference, including receipt of the Secure Rural Schools funding (check expected in six weeks), contributions to the Coast Guard Christmas party (movie tickets and popcorn), and the city's Christmas party on Friday. He also noted community concerns about tax dollar spending and business communication.
- City Clerk Report: Sherry Pierce expressed gratitude for the Vic Fisher Award, noted the Coast Guard donation, and reminded of the Christmas party.
- City Attorney Report: Jake Stacer provided an update on the VMTC secondary containment system issue – a conference with DEC SPAR scheduled for December 17. He also reported a final judgment issued for the 2019–2023 tax years in the Escape property case, triggering attorney's fees and costs filings.
- Mayor's Report: Mayor Fleming reflected on the AML conference, noting a “doom and gloom” economic outlook for Alaska but emphasizing Valdez’s relative strength. He announced a delegation to Juneau in the last week of February to advocate for the Coast Guard base and other priorities. Council members Lester Green, Olivia, Austin Love, and others shared their AML experiences and praised staff.
Key Outcomes
- Resolutions 2564 and 2565 were adopted unanimously (7-0).
- Executive Session: The council entered executive session to discuss a tax matter (Bollorum). The city attorney was directed to proceed as discussed.
- Upcoming Actions: City manager to provide legislative updates; delegation to Juneau planned for February 23–27, 2025; continued advocacy for mariculture funding and T3 program expansion.
Meeting Transcript
Stand in uh with me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Found nation undergone indivisible with Justice Rome. Okay, sure, you get a roll call for us. Um yes, Mayor. Uh, all members of the council are present this evening except for um council member um who is absent and excused. Are you here? You're here, yes, sir. Okay, I thought you weren't going to be here. I finally did, I was able to finally connect. Sorry for the delay. Okay. I correction, Mr. Mayor. All members of the council are present this evening. Okay, we have one public appearance uh tonight, and that's the uh annual report on T3 Alliance and uh culture. Good evening, everyone. I'm Tommy Sheridan. Um can you all hear me? Yes. Great. I'm gonna go ahead and try to share my screen here. And we'll do that. All righty. I can no longer see you all. Can someone please confirm that you see uh a blue slide before you? Yes, we do. Great. Thank you very much. I am calling in from Cordova, and so hopefully the uh the internet works for us tonight. My kids are all at wrestling practice, and so I won't be fighting them for bandwidth. So fingers crossed, it should go well. Um, wish I was there with you all. So my name's Tommy Sheridan. I'm the director for the Alaska Blue Economy Center, and to give an annual report on what we've been up to, and then opportunistically during the summers we've been visiting as well. So this is our end of your report. I'll be giving a summary of what Alaska Blue Economy Center has been up to, and then Adam Lau is joining me, and he'll be giving a summary on teaching through technology or T3. So there may be some new faces among us here. I'll just give a quick introduction to what ABEC is. Alaska Blue Economy Center was established at University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2019, and really it was established to be a small nimble entity at UAF to connect capacities at the university with coastal industry opportunity and problems. And a big part of our funding has been in Mareculture, which is the marine aquaculture of shellfish and kelp. My background is fisheries. We're getting more involved in fisheries. We've been very involved in workforce development, which I'll talk about tonight, and we have an interest in getting more involved with visitor industry innovations. ABEC is now housed at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, so that's a change that took place this past year. So this will be similar to uh previous reports. Really, we'll be focusing on uh a couple key areas, one being advocacy, fund development, and project development. Um I'll talk a little bit about the Valdez MariCulture Park, which is essentially a sampling program with Prince Williams Sound College, students, faculty, and staff, and then Adam will present on T3 Alliance program activities. So this this slide breaks all the rules so far as PowerPoints are concerned, but really what I want to drive home here is that um Abeck and I are very active in public outreach, and so um our interests in in Valdez and Prince William Sound with Miraculture are always part of these presentations, and um these take place from Alaska to Seattle. I was invited to a um large fisheries conference in San Antonio, Texas in the middle of the year. But what we're doing here is always trying to present on the work that we're doing in Alaska with um colleagues and peers and potential partners on funding opportunities, and so really outreach for us is a means to try to develop funds to help leverage the investment that the city has made so that we can do more with the work that we're trying to do.
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