Greetings!

It has been an honor to serve as your Mayor for the past two years and seven months.  As I reflect on the past several years and think about the short time I have served, our administrative team has worked tirelessly on moving the Borough forward and have accomplished many goals we set forth in our strategic planning, operating and capital budgets, strengthening our investment portfolio to sustain operations for the long term, addressing and managing a public health pandemic and improving the quality of life for our residents.

There is still a lot of work to perform to improve services in each department, including planning of capital projects related to public safety, new mining activity opportunities and a deep-water port.  Public Safety still remains a challenge with recruitment and retention.  We have put a lot of effort into sustaining law enforcement and emergency management services.  In addition, the Cape Blossom Road and Kivalina School projects are in the beginning stages of construction and we are excited to see those projects move forward through completion.

The Declaration of Public Health Disaster and Emergency Order 06 are currently active through September 30, 2021.  They will be amended and extended through December 31, 2021 due to the current up tick of COVID-19 cases. The Northwest Arctic Borough offices will continue to remain closed to the public. The Assembly Chambers is open for fully vaccinated individuals which is primarily for Assembly, Administration and guests engaged in planned meetings.  Participants are encouraged to continue to social distance and wear masks. The front entry area is open for those individuals who do not have access to a computer or are not able to submit documents electronically.  You can come onsite to fill out forms at the desk that is provided near the entry area with social distancing requirements.  The Borough’s regular business hours are Monday -Friday, 8:00am – 12:00noon and 1:00pm and 4:30pm.

Quyanna.  Mayor Lucy S. Nelson