By Nikki Lewis
Turnagain Times Correspondent
The GBOS held its annual monthly meeting at the community center room on Monday, Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Day.
First addressed was a public thanks to the Girdwood Library Boosters who graciously covered the loan interest in connection with the construction of the community room. The issue of how the interest accrued from the loan would be paid was discussed during the November GBOS meeting.
Chairman Jake Thompson also mentioned that two GBOS seats were going to be open.
“Seat B and Seat C will be posted in the April election,” he said. “So we'd like to have community members thinking about running. They are both two year seats and will end in 2012.”
Next on the agenda was the issue of transferring the electric substation in old Girdwood. Phil Steyer, from Chugach Electric, came to the meeting to talk about plans and give solid numbers of costs for construction. He also provided cost comparisons of repairing the existing substation versus the transfer of the substation to the proposed Toadstool Road location.
“In the summer of '07, we had outage problems due to switchgear,” he said. “We evaluated the problem and decided an improvement was in order. We evaluated each location to see if they were feasible then did an investigation to see how to recreate substation and create cost. Then we calculated a per meter cost for that activity to give citizens some idea of cost to move the substation. So we are here tonight, as we were last week, to say here is the result, here is the new per meter calculation. We are done with this project to evaluate alternative sites.”
Steyer then explained the two phases that would be initiated in the transfer or repair of the substation.
For the first phase, the Toadstool site, which would entail the relocation of the substation, would be $3.6 million more than the existing substation. This is partially due to construction costs, for example, he said, and the lot sits on swampy marsh that would need to be completely filled and paved. The per meter cost is $2,220.
However for the second phase, Steyer said the Toadstool site will be significantly cheaper than the existing substation with a difference of $2.8 million. The per meter cost combined with the two phases would be $1,700, making the Toadstool site the most inexpensive alternative.
Clearly, anyone who pays an electric bill in Girdwood will feel the effects of the new substation. The issue of creating a legally binding agreement from the citizens was brought up.
Diana Stone-Livingston, who was sitting in the audience, said that another issue was pointed out in the Land Use Committee meeting that in order to approve moving the substation, there has to be some kind of legal vote to say that “Yes, we wanted this additional expense.”
Steyer responded that before billing everyone in town for $2,200 that “We need someone to tell us in legal clarity that it's okay.” Otherwise, he said, people would say time out, we never agreed to that.
“We would need some legally binding agreement from the community,” he said. “Somehow the prospective payers would need the opportunity to vote in some sort of election to send that signal. There was some discussion on what kind of election. We said it's a community decision not Chugach's decision.”
Steyer also said that Chugach Electric will be back in Girdwood this coming summer to do some line clearing as well.
For the public comment portion of the GBOS meeting, Thompson stepped down as chairman to discuss his personal and irritating experience with loose dogs in Girdwood. He had a personal message for someone in town.
“Last Friday, we had a dog get into our chicken coop. John has spoken on loose dogs in Girdwood. I got a call from my son around three O'clock, he had come home to chicken parts spread across the yard, half eaten and stuck in the fence. The people who own the dog, this message is for them. You are cowards and irresponsible. They didn't leave a name or offer to pay and clean up the mess. Just so you know, my kids work those chickens; those chickens represent $2,500 in eggs. Now I realize I'm not going to get that money out of them. If you have any decency my number is 783-9462 and call to apologize to my son and daughter. You have put me in position that a gun is going to be by the door, and I don't want to have to take out dogs. I don't want to be in that position, but this is a problem in Girdwood, and people like you don't deserve to have dogs, that's all I have to say about that.”
The atmosphere quickly felt heavy in the room after Thompson's comments, and then it was onto other business as the board next discussed fees for Park and Recreation.
Board member and Parks and Recreation Supervisor, John Gallup, lead the discussion of booth fees associated with Girdwood's annual Forest Fair.
“First and foremost, I want to see Forest Fair continue,” he said. “It's an institution. I think tweaking what we did last year can get us to a place where we can keep everybody happy and Forest Fair done safely.”
“The booth fee for the Forest Fair charged $100 for each day and $50 for subsequent days,” he continued. “I propose to cut those in half. $50 for the first day, and $25 for the next two. Non-profit vendor fees would cost $40 for the three-day event, and under-18 booths are free. The rest of these fees are lower than most in the municipality. The deal with fees, say if we want to use the baseball park, it's free. However if someone wants the park to themselves, they pay for a permit. Really it's a matter of sharing. So, say other people show up for baseball, then they get together and form teams.”
Gallup used his baseball analogy to support his idea of cutting back the booth fees for Forest Fair.
However, it became very evident that those representing Forest Fair had yet to express their opinion prior to the meeting. A bit of debate began and it was decided that it would later be discussed when the entire Forest Fair committee could further discuss the issue of fees.
“Forest fair needs to weigh in on this, and it's something we can review again,” Thompson said.
Fees for the use of the Girdwood community room was then discussed. A fee of $10 per hour was suggested to cover the monthly utility costs of the room, which is $1,465.
Maintenance and upkeep of Glacier City Hall was also discussed.
Forest Fair uses the building, and they are currently renting the building, but their lease ends on the first of February.
No final decisions were made on either the hourly fee for the community room or the or the rent for Glacier City Hall.
