Girdwood Public Safety Task Force Meeting Minutes Draft Thursday, April 7, 2016 7PM Girdwood Community Room

1. Call to Order, Sam Daniel, Co-Chair Agenda Approval

2.Introductions/Guests

Old Business: 3. Update on Municipal Election re: Proposition 9 Public Information Committee disbanded prior to election in order to be certain to avoid APOC violation allegations at the advice of municipal attorneys because of the relationship between the Task Force and the GBOS, an elected body.

Currently, Proposition 9 is failing by 6 votes. Absentee ballots have been counted; question ballots are left to count. Determination of allowance of question ballots is Thursday, April 14 at a public meeting. Ballots determined to be allowable will be counted on Friday, April 15. Election certification is expected on TUE the 19th of April.

4. Next Steps if the Proposition has failed and the community has voted not to have GBOS involved in public safety. Does the community want the task force to continue to move forward with public safety and outreach to elected officials?

Does the vote indicate that the community wants the task force and GBOS to step back.

Lou Theiss states that this is a very close race, and people who voted no have several reasons, some of which could be resolved:  Concerns of raising taxes  Lack of trust in Whittier and Whittier police  Belief that troopers/APD will respond anyhow  Girdwood can take care of policing ourselves  Confusion and lack of credible correct info prior to the election.  State budget crisis  Concern of bearing the cost solely by Girdwood taxpayers  Concern of boundary (not including Crow Creek, Bird, Indian, Portage communities that would be served)

Girdwood Public Safety Task Force Agendas and minutes are available on line: http://www.muni.org/gbos

1 Lou says that as a long range plan, Girdwood could apply for grant from Dept of Justice for startup funding for local police force.

Several people agreed about lack of correct information, and the stream of incorrect information that was passed along on facebook and socially in Girdwood.

Jerry Fox states that grassroots community effort should start up and advocate for public safety. Businesses, condo associations, as well as individuals.

Mandy Hawes states that a number of questions will come up once the election is certified. Regarding catering liquor permits, the resort and the community have several signature events that require that a legal authority sign off on the event before permitting can take place. Once election is certified, Girdwood will need to write an official response to the State regarding enforcement. A major topic of this letter is clarification of what makes Girdwood different and now outside of scope of enforcement. Nikiski also recently voted not to pay for its own law enforcement. It will be interesting to see what the State’s response is to this.

Mike Edgington adds that the initial letter from AST cited two elements: 1) AST Girdwood Trooper Post closure 2) Withdrawal of AST from enforcing state laws in Turnagain Arm communities. #1 is undisputed. Item #2 has not yet been resolved. GBOS and task force need to push on this as the vote makes Girdwood a rare exception in being unenforced. Eventually this will be tested through legal system, but suit must come from private entity, it can’t come from GBOS.

Question is asked about how long it takes to create our own police force, since public was not pleased with Whittier option. Answer is 4+ years. However, if prop 9 fails, GBOS cannot pursue this option until voters approve expense of tax funds for public safety. The main concern and expense is liability. Anchorage Police Department Employee Association (APDEA) supported Girdwood’s efforts in hiring an existing law enforcement agency. They did not support Girdwood starting their own enforcement agency, and getting this approval will be necessary. We may need to lobby APDEA to support a rural policing model for Girdwood.

Hugh Short states GBOS and Task Force backing off is not the right thing to do. GBOS and Task Force need to lobby legislature and governor. State has an obligation to provide service to the playground of Alaska, but they need to be contacted and made aware of vote outcome. His primary concern is that cost of service is shouldered entirely by Girdwood, for enforcement that will likely grow over time. As Mayor of Bethel, he saw cost of policing skyrocket from 25% of budget to 40% of budget. Sam counters that there is a tax cap in place and GBOS is resolute in keeping taxes flat. They would not allow this contract to spiral out of cost boundaries established in vote.

2 Kalie Harrison states that the vote being close is indication that task force and GBOS need to continue to work on this issue.

Julie Jonas supports more work by task force as there is institutional knowledge that is lost if they disband and another organization must re-discover all the information that task force has uncovered.

Diana Livingston states that leadership is needed from GBOS and task force, and that someone needs to be able and willing to go to Juneau to lobby for public safety support before the budget is approved in 2 weeks.

Various attendees voiced support for continued efforts by task force. Kalie Harrison stated that the no vote was a no for the contracted service. It was not a statement that the community wanted GBOS and task force to stop advocacy for Girdwood.

Mike Opalka states that if the task force is to continue, he needs to know from the community what direction to take.

Shirley Durtchi states that she feels that the task force has not listened to the public and none of the options presented match what the community wants. She feels that GBOS had an agenda to hook up with the municipality and would raise taxes without maintaining control. Sam Daniel asks her to make suggestions of what those options might be. He states that the search for legal, possible solutions was exhaustive, and the 4 that were presented at the Town Hall meeting and have been discussed at length in other meetings are the extent of what is currently known to be possible. Whittier option was the only one that allowed for Girdwood to maintain local control.

Norm Starkey asked for outline of catering permit requirements: 3 permits required for Forest Fair: Catering permit signed by legal authority, Park Permit, Alcohol Beverage Control board permit. Process is that law enforcement entity signs catering permit, which includes map of area and outlines control of alcohol within permitted area. Permit then goes to ABC Board, which reviews all documentation.

Since the scenario in which there is no enforcement in place has not been tested, it is unknown what entity would sign the catering permit and how it will be handled by ABC Board. Alyeska Resort will likely have their legal team investigate the law and will see if there are other alternatives to pursue. If there are not, then they will reinvent their signature events such as Fiddlehead Fest, Oktoberfest, Blueberry Festival to work within what can be permitted.

Some members of the group inquire about seceding from Municipality of Anchorage. Group discusses the bonded indebtedness for the water/wastewater plant, school, etc is well beyond what Girdwood can afford to purchase.

3 Group discusses possibility of Special Election. Special election could be called at any time, but outreach and education has to be achieved before a different outcome can be expected. Elections are expensive to run.

Mike Edgington states that the task force has done a great job in getting community input. However, on average about 20-25 people come to meetings; 120 came to town hall; 800 voted. Misinformation and confusion played a role in election outcome.

Sam Daniel asks Kyle Kelley if MOA staff can continue to assist the Task Force. Kyle answers that at the will of the GBOS they can.

Sharon Samuels encourages a more collaborative approach, petitioning finance committee for policing and petitioning Mayor of Anchorage to adopt a rural policing model for Girdwood. Lou Thiess adds that perhaps working through the police union would be more effective than going thru Municipality Of Anchorage system. Maybe it could be incorporated in the police contract in the future.

Carol Fox state that the community needs to create a grassroots organization in order to file with APOC and be able to effectively reach out to the community with information campaign.

Motion: Girdwood Public Safety Task Force moves to recommend that the Girdwood Board of Supervisors write a Resolution of Support to lobby the Governor and the Alaska State Legislature to provide Alaska State Trooper law enforcement services within Girdwood after the Trooper post closure on June 30, 2016. Alaska State Troopers are needed to ensure the safety of the residents (population approx 2000) and visitor population (estimated at 300,000 + per year) in this gateway community at a level equivalent to that of service provided to similar rural communities in Alaska. Furthermore, the GBOS Resolution of Support should request that an enforcement agency of record is identified for Girdwood.

Motion by Mandy Hawes, 2nd by Lou Theiss 26 in favor 0 opposed 2 abstain Motion passes

5. Next steps if the Proposition ends up passing and there is even less time to get contract negotiated with Whittier. If the election turns out to be in favor of Proposition 9, the task force will move forward with establishing a contract between the MOA and Whittier. An advisory committee will be formed to establish the policing model that is desired in the community.

4 John Casselman, who works part time with Whittier Police Dept, and has been with AST, Sitka PD and Dillingham in the past. He explained that WPD has made no comments during the election cycle as this is a Girdwood issue and they felt it inappropriate to be involved in the question of whether or not GBOS should be given the power to tax for law enforcement.

He provided additional information on the philosophy of law enforcement as it pertains to Girdwood Service: Rural Policing model Enforcing state laws No harassment, overreach or fishing for infractions

It’s true that some of the WPD officers are rookies, right out of academy. They are paired with experienced officers and would not be assigned to Girdwood alone until they are experienced. Whittier police look forward to engaging with the community, participating with the school.

Kalie Harrison adds that she is among the members of the community who are concerned about over-enforcement. She suggests that the Task Force look toward adding more service on the Seward Highway, toward Seward, as well as in the area between Portage and Bird Creek. This would be an element for the contract committee and the advisory committee to address.

New Business None

Date of next task force meeting to be established at GBOS meeting on April 18. Meeting adjourned 8:50PM

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