Quad Board Meeting

State of the NW Arctic Borough

September 29, 2004

Good afternoon Honored Elders, youth, Boards of Directors, Assembly Members, leaders and guests. Welcome to Kotzebue and to the first Regional Strategy Quad Board meeting.

In October 6^th of the year 2000 I began my first term as the Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor. Many of my friends reaction was….Ross is not a politician, why is he doing this?

You know, I’ve asked myself time and again, why? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my work as borough mayor because I have a staff that makes it a pleasure to come to work every day.

I assure you though that I am looking forward to my retirement in October of 2006!

NWAB Focus: Mayor’s Accomplishments and Agenda

As I began my term as mayor, I relied heavily on my past experiences in dealing with Native and small town politics. I wanted to change the mind set of our small staff. I immediately informed my staff that we were going to only focus on a positive attitude.

We were going to find solutions to problems and issues that our communities face now and in the future. Sometimes even this simple but direct focus can get a leader to the point of ‘pulling out all his/her hair’. The challenge is great but once staff buy into the concept of a positive attitude, many things can and will be accomplished.

Unification of Leadership: It wasn’t after my first year as Borough Mayor that Marie Greene and I finally got things together through the efforts of the Higher Education Consortium where we got all regional leaders to meet bi-monthly to not only work together but to communicate what is happening in our organizations. Now we have the Northwest Arctic Leadership Team (NWALT) on a regularly scheduled meeting calendar. The result of this Regional Quad Board Meeting is one part of our strategy to not only work together, to meet with all of our villages to report on the results of this meeting but also to gather support from a grass roots level a commitment from each village on what we must do to promote healthy communities and community wellness and accomplish our goals to serve each and every one of you.

Education: As you all know, you voted in a $100 million dollar bond package to construct and renovate our village schools based upon the ability of the borough’s financial capability to pay the debt. Before I came on board, Selawik and Buckland were already done. Noorvik, Kiana, Ambler and Kotzebue schools are either done or in current construction. These schools were identified by the NWABSD Board as high on their priority list to either construct or renovate. With the help of our legislators, borough leaders and a strong unified lobbying effort we were able to get this far. The Kotzebue school was the most difficult one to bond so far because now the borough owns 29% of the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank’s overall portfolio of $72 million dollars of borough debt.

The process was extremely difficult because of the changes in State government administration due to Frank Murkowski becoming our governor. The politics immediately changed for the worst for all rural communities. We had a battle trying to get AIDEA to work with TeckCominco and the borough to secure the payment of the bonds. In order for the borough to secure the payments of the Kotzebue school at $24 million dollars we had to agree with the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank that the borough would not entertain any bonding without their permission. This was a reasonable request because we at the borough, our attorney Dave Case, our treasurer Judy Hassinger, our Underwriters John and Jeff Urbina, myself and the assembly realized that we were financially at our maximum capability to bond any further unless we obtained a new and large revenue source and our bond debt portfolio with the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank decreased to less than 21%.

The planning of the Noatak School is in progress according to the NWABSD.

Northwest Arctic Borough/North Slope Borough Joint Economic Summits

Joint Summit Meetings: The North Slope Borough will host the fourth joint Arctic Economic Summit meeting in February 2005 in Barrow, Alaska. The sharing of information and joint meetings to discuss and plan out the potential of future economic development has been a rewarding experience for both boroughs.

Through this process our borough staff under the leadership of Martha Whiting have been busy integrating the State Assets for youth programs in with our Inupiat Ilitqsait values and traditions under the Ikayuutiyaruat program.

Revenue and Grants

Economic Development: The Northwest Arctic Borough has been continually seeking revenue sources to continue to have new schools in every community within this borough. After four years of negotiation, frustrating meetings and finally the adoption of a Resolution to ban all AIDEA economic development within our borough, we finally were able to finance the Kotzebue School at $24 million dollars. Economic development within our region is key to provide future services for our borough residents, however, we must approach this with caution.
Grant Writer: I have hired a grant writer to assist all villages with grant writing for essential services and projects. The Borough did secure a $500,000 dollar grant for the Land Fill Project at Noorvik and a grant for Kobuk and Shungnak.

Statewide Politics

Alaska Municipal League: plays a very critical role in lobbying for all villages and communities in this State. Clement Richards, Eugene Monroe, Reggie Cleveland and myself are actively involved with AML. Clement and I sit on the AML Board of Directors.
Revenue Sharing funds: With Governor Murkowski’s decision to not provide any of our communities with Revenue sharing funds after 2004, this will be a major political issue for everyone. There is growing support for a Community Dividend, however, should this come to reality the legislature would have to tap into some of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend.

Public Services Department

Projects

Project Planning and Coordination: The Public Services Department has historically served as a village advocate and has provided project coordination in a number of village projects including the Buckland Water and Sewer, West Selawik Consolidated Tank Farm.

The Kivalina relocation project is still being worked on under a partnership with the City of Kivalina, Kivalina IRA and the Army Corps of Engineers. We have invested well over $400,000.00 to date on the project.

Project Implementation: NWAB Public Services department has been directly involved in the execution on other projects including the Noatak Cemetary Road Project and more recently the Singauruk River Bridge construction.

Borough Building Office Space: This project was the lease-purchase agreement and renovation of the Val-U-House property that provided us with comfortable and efficient office space that will pay dividends in years ahead when our debt will be paid in 2009. The Borough had paid the State of Alaska $125,000.00 per year for ten years for a total of $1.25 million dollars with nothing to show at the end of this period. In the year 2009 we will own the old Val-U-House and the property.

Programs

LEPC: The Borough provides in-kind services, facilities and department staff provides coordination and support for the Northwest Arctic Local Emergency Planning Committee.
Public Safety Commission: The borough provides coordination and staff support to this commission.
EMPG: The borough has taken on the Emergency Management/Disaster response role and is the recipient of FEMA’s Emergency Management Performance Grant. A Borough Hazard Mitigation Plan is being drafted by the borough.
Homeland Security: The borough was successful in acquiring #230,000 in Homeland Security grant funds which is shared between the City of Kotzebue, Maniilaq Association and the Borough.

Borough-Wide Fire Department: The Borough has adopted an area-wide authority for prevention and suppression of fire, thereby creating a new Northwest

Arctic Borough Fire Department with ten village battalions.

Winter Trails: The Public Services department has taken over responsibility for winter trail system and the Assembly has given oversight to the Public Safety Commission.
Water and Sewer: In December of 2003, the public services department conducted the first ever Borough-wide Water & Sewer Symposium which focused on utility and municipal viability in light of current program methods and declining state and local revenues.

Economic Development

Small Business Development

· Provided $190,000 in small business grants to over 250 individuals and organizations within the borough. Grants ranged from $40 to $5,000 to purchase equipment, materials, supplies, licenses and other start-up or expansion costs. Recipients have included residents of nearly every village within the borough. All grants are made to vendor payments only.

· Provided over $260,000 in interest-free small business loans to over 150 residents of the borough. Loans are based upon assignment of a portion of the borrower’s Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. Loans are used for inventory for resale, tools and materials used for making marketable products. All loans are made as vendor payments only.

· Small business education classes have been provided for approximately 125 borough residents. These classes have been provided directly by the borough staff and in conjunction with the University of Alaska Small Business Development Center.

Arts and Crafts Production

· Established a Revolving Art Purchase Program that has now directly benefited 140 residents of the borough and neighboring communities. Well over $500,000 in purchases and sales have resulted from this program and many residents rely on this for a steady stream of year-round income.

· Established village art centers as places where local residents can work safely and efficiently with state of the art tools and where training can be provided by borough staff. The Buckland Art Center opened in December of 2003 with huge success. Noorvik, Selawik, and Kiana will open within the next thirty days. The Kotzebue Art Center project is out for bid at this time. Noatak, Kivalina and Ambler have all identified facilities in their villages for art centers as well.

· Provide Art Instruction by Borough staff in adult scrimshaw and carving classes in Kotzebue, Kivalina, Selawik and Ambler and for youth instruction.

in schools in Noatak, Buckland, Noorvik, Deering and Selawik. Art instruction will be expanded with the opening of the art centers.

· Borough Art Website will be maintained for the artists and their work.

· Other Assistance and Services have been provided including inventory of ivory, baleen and whalebone that artists can obtain through trade of finished products, loans or from direct purchase. Artists business cards are available upon request as well as placards for their work.

Commerical Fisheries Development

· Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association applied for a grant to start up the Kotzebue Commerical fisheries season with support from the Borough’s matching grant. This grant provided an upgrade to the NANA fish plant and to purchase a variety of equipment, do repairs and purchase supplies to allow the purchase, processing and shipment of local chum salmon products. 24 permit holders were engaged in the fishery as well as over 48 licensed crew members.

Developing Partnerships

· NANA Regional Corporation was a major partner in many of our efforts to develop economic opportunities for our borough/NANA residents including a donation of $50,000 for revolving small business loan program, donated $25,000 to the Revolving Art Purchase Program, donated $80,000 for salary and benefits of an economic development staff person for one year, donated the use of the fish plant, and donated the facility for an art center in Kotzebue.

· Maniilaq Association has also been a major partner in donating $25,000 to the Revolving Art Purchase Program and will provide $25,000 from the Vocation Rehabilitation Program for the Art Center operations.

· Chukchi Campus with a partnership with this borough successfully applied for and got a $340,000 grant from HUD Rural Development funds for the Kotzebue Art Center.

Planning Department Projects

· Enforcement of Borough Ordinances: The NWAB planning office has been assigned to hire an enforcement officer to patrol Unit 23 to enforce borough ordinances, especially transporter activity and to make sure that user groups follow waste and disposal ordinance regulations. This is the first year that this activity to enforce ordinances will be implemented. A pilot with a super cub has been contracted to patrol lands borough wide and another individual was hired as a temporary NWAB employee to accompany him.

Community Comprehensive Plans: The NWAB Planning Office has been assisting communities in the region for about two years now to put their Comprehensive Plans together. The community of Selawik has completed a draft with the help of this planning office this year and two other communities are close to completing theirs.

Changes to the Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP): Because of DNR regulation changes made recently, NWAB has, along with other districts, had to amend their Coastal Zone Management (CZM) regulations also. The State of Alaska has awarded NWAB $46,000 to do this work, which will have to be finished by July 1^st, 2005. The Planning Office has negotiated a contract to hire Glenn Gray to do the work. The Assembly will discuss the contract on September 28^th for approval.
NWAB Land Selection: The NWAB Planning Office has been working with the State of Alaska DNR office to complete the borough’s land selections. The Assembly has appointed a Land Selection Committee consisting of three Assembly members. Willie Goodwin has been hired as a consultant to work with the committee and the planning office to do this work.

Programs

Permitting: The NWAB Planning Office handles all permitting applications for the borough for mining, transporters, gravel extraction, etc.
Creating Ordinances: The NWAB planning office drafts and creates ordinances for the Mayor and the Assembly when appropriate.

The NWAB Planning Commission: This commission has a full board (7 members) as of last month in July. The commission will preside over all staff planning activity and will meet quarterly.

Future projects and issues

Education: For the Borough to build and renovate every school we must seek out more revenues by encouraging economic development, partnering with industry to enter into the possibility of Industrial Bond Financing, and play the politics in our favor.
Infrastructure Mega Project: The NWAB has taken the lead on the “NWAB Energy & Communications Infrastructure Project”. This project addresses the reliability and sustainability of our borough’s energy and communications systems to find partnerships that will hopefully reduce the cost of living for all borough residents while providing quality & sustainable broadband communications.
Bulk Fuel: the Borough continually researches the difficult issue of Bulk Fuel costs by looking at the issues of transportation, storage and purchasing.
Finance and Budget training: the borough must develop a simplified, unified,

and comprehesive training program for village IRA’s and city governments and

training is essential now and in the future.

Community Wellness and Healthy Communities: is essential to have our people take many of the vacant or already filled jobs by those we have to import including the medical field, all school teaching and administration jobs, business and finance jobs and especially the Red Dog professional positions. We must begin to make changes that will motivate our young people to seek the challenges of tomorrow.
Protect our Resources: so that we will have the land and marine mammals in plentiful numbers to sustain our subsistence way of life now and forever. We must become proactive to insure that this happens.
Fee schedules: The NWAB has some fee schedules in place but by in large it’s a schedule that we have to set up. We have contacted a number of districts around the state to get their fee schedules and we are presently evaluating there schedules and will be making recommendations to the Mayor and Assembly later this year.

Alaska Coastal District Association (ACDA): The NWAB is a member of ACDA and will be active and contribute to that organization. The most important issue to the all districts now is the ACMP changes. NWAB will coordinate its efforts to work with ACDA while these changes are on going. NWAB has submitted comments to DNR along with other districts, voicing their concerns about the changes taken place since Governor Murkowski took office.
Northwest Arctic Borough/North Slope Borough: The two planning offices from each of these boroughs are engaged in planning to meet goals set by our two Assemblies. Joint issues are economic development, transporter issues, subsistance preservation and comprehensive plans for each rural community, to mention a few. Port Site expansion is important to both boroughs because of the need to transport resources from the two regions with out creating another port. site, which might create environmental concerns. The mayor says “I will not let the Port Site Expansion project move forward till I hear that the subsistance and EIS studies are completed and that the expansion project does not endanger any of our people, their community life styles and subsistance resources.”
The Kivalina relocation continues to be an on going endeavor. The NWAB planning office will work with the Mayor, Public Services Department, Army Corps of Engineers and Kivalina City and IRA to keep these relocation efforts moving.

Cape Blossum Deep water Port and Airport: The NWAB planning office will work with the City of Kotzebue for a new deep-water port, a new airport and bulk fuel improvements.
NEPA/TEPA: The NWAB planning office will seek out new approaches to work with Tribes and the Tribal Environmental Protection Agency (TEPA) as a joint effort to protect lands from chemical pollution and other problems created by companies and other user groups that endanger subsistence resources in the Unit 23 area.
NWAB Leadership: The NWAB administration, staff and assembly are all committed to working closely with all Regional leaders to get things done.