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Assembly adopts amended ordinance to reestablish Resilience and Security Advisory Commission
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Summary
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted 7-1 April 1 to adopt an amended ordinance revising the borough's Resilience and Security Advisory Commission (RSAC) enabling language, clarifying appointment and reporting procedures and preserving a role for the mayor's office in reviewing RSAC recommendations.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on April 1 adopted ordinance 20 25-04, amending the borough's Resilience and Security Advisory Commission enabling ordinance. The motion to adopt the ordinance as amended passed 7-1, with Assemblymember Basen casting the lone no vote and President Rivens recorded as excused.
The ordinance rewrite restores the assembly's formal place in the RSAC's scope while adding procedural clarifications intended to make the commission operational. The adopted language allows the RSAC to make recommendations "directly to the assembly," but an amendment reinserted during debate requires RSAC to work "in collaboration with the administration" when doing so.
Assemblymembers said the changes are intended to reduce prior confusion about the commission's role and to encourage productive, actionable proposals. Under the amended ordinance, prospective RSAC members must submit resumes with applications, appointments will be made by the mayor and require assembly approval, and the RSAC must report annually to the mayor and assembly in January on progress made the prior year. The ordinance also authorizes quarterly work sessions without a quorum requirement; work sessions will be open to the public and may include audience participation.
Mayor Michicky said he previously supported reconstituting the RSAC but opposed language that would let the commission bypass working with the administration before bringing projects to the assembly. "The way that this was set up ... nothing has occurred in nearly five years," Michicky said during debate, arguing that collaboration with the administration helps avoid wasted time on projects that cannot move forward. Assembly members amended the draft to retain direct assembly access while also preserving language requiring collaboration with the administration.
Assemblymember William Dunn moved to adopt the Cox/Dunn revision; the ordinance was approved as amended. The clerk recorded the final vote as seven in favor, one opposed, with one member absent.
The ordinance text and the amendment memo were made available in the meeting packet; the assembly indicated the amended ordinance takes effect according to the borough's normal ordinance-adoption rules and will guide future RSAC appointments and operations.
The assembly's action follows committee discussion held March 18 and subsequent revisions laid down by Assemblymembers Cox and Dunn. Supporters said the rewrite restores several provisions from the original enabling ordinance that had been omitted, and they described the changes as steps to make RSAC recommendations more useful to borough decision-makers.
No fiscal appropriation or specific project funding was included in the ordinance; future RSAC recommendations will be considered through the usual borough processes.
