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Finance committee postpones resolution to repurpose old clinic site amid bond legal questions
Summary
The Skagway finance committee delayed action on Resolution 25-22R, which would designate the former clinic site for senior or clinic-provider housing, after staff and counsel recommended resolving whether a voter-approved bond ordinance that was never issued legally restricts future uses.
The Skagway Municipality Finance Committee on Oct. 2 postponed consideration of Resolution 25-22R, which would revise prior actions to allow the former clinic site to be used for a senior center or clinic-provider housing, after attorneys advised the panel to await bond-counsel review of an earlier voter-approved bond ordinance.
Manager Deach told the committee the legal question centers on an ordinance ratified by voters that specified a project location but was never issued as bonds. "We're in a bit of a legal limbo," Deach said, summarizing counsel's view that because bonds were not issued the restrictions may not yet be binding, but recommended a repeal ordinance be reviewed by bond counsel before the assembly acts on the resolution.
The attorney memo in the packet recommended repealing the 2016 bond ordinance first and then, if appropriate, bringing a resolution that states the assembly's intent to offer the property for clinic-provider housing subject to any legal or voter-approved obligations. Chair Hansen and other members agreed the safer procedural path is to resolve the ordinance question first.
Assemblymember Potter noted the relevant grant cycle for 2025 has already closed and framed the discussion as a housekeeping issue: "If we have bonds that are approved to be issued but for one reason or another we know we're never gonna do it, should we just go ahead and pass an ordinance saying that we're never gonna issue that?" Potter said. Potter also said he had not found community demand for the originally designed senior center and expressed concern about the original project's cost.
Treasurer Rodig and staff described how the municipality reports voter-approved but unissued bonds to the state and that bond counsel opinions vary on whether issuing long-ago-authorized bonds would require returning to voters. Given those uncertainties, the committee directed staff to prepare documents and to delay bringing Resolution 25-22R to the assembly until bond counsel has advised and, if necessary, an ordinance repealing the older bond authorization has been adopted.
The committee did not take a final vote on the resolution; members said the matter will return to the assembly after bond-counsel review and staff preparation of the repeal ordinance or other documents.
