by Michael Armstrong

Special to The Seward Folly

“A wolverine that got in the control enclosure” might be the most Alaska explanation for why Seward needs to upgrade an electric company substation. That was part of Seward Electric Department Operations Supervisor Taylor Crocker’s explanation at Monday’s Seward City Council meeting on one reason why the city needed to spend up to $5.3 million to rebuild the Spring Creek Substation.

“So we’re basically wanting to go in and just rehab this whole thing. Basically, take all the rocks out, get all the vegetation out of it,” he said. “… Everything will be brought up to the national electric safety code standards, will be good for the next 50 years on that side of the bay.”

Resolutions 2025-104, -109, -110, -111

Power projects topped the council’s agenda as it considered and passed Resolution 2025-104, authorizing City Manager Kat Sorensen to accept the $5.3 million proposal by SEL Engineering Services and Northern Powerline Constructors Inc. to rebuild the station. In unanimous votes, the council also passed Resolution 2025-109, authorizing the city manager to add the position of apprentice lineman in the Electric Department; Resolution 2025-110, authorizing the city manager to allocate $450,000 in funds for the Mount Marathon Hydro Plant Rehabilitation Project, and Resolution 2025-111, authorizing the city manager to renew and appropriate funds of $950,000 for a management agreement with Matanuska Electric Association to provide for the Electric Department operations.

The Nov. 17 meeting saw the first appearance of newly elected Council Member Lori Draper. Draper had an excused absence for the Oct. 27 meeting but was officially sworn in on Oct. 16.

In a laydown (https://www.cityofseward.us/home/showpublisheddocument/5482), Sorensen put the Spring Creek Substation Rehabilitation in context with other projects to upgrade Seward’s power system and increase its capacity from 69 kilovolts to 115 kV. 

“This project is an essential piece to our infrastructure upgrades that we’ve been working on for the past few years to maintain system reliability, expand future capacity, and meets Seward’s long-term engineering and energy infrastructure goals,” Sorensen said.

The resolution noted that funding for the substation rehabilitation would come from the Electric Enterprise Fund Capital Project Account and would be appropriated through a city infrastructure bond scheduled for possible issuance in  May 2026, “and/or other financing funding.”

Council Member Mike Calhoon proposed an amendment “to strike the sentence that says it will be appropriated through the city’s last infrastructure bond scheduled for possible issuance by the end of May 2026, and/or other financing funding” — i.e., that last clause.

In response to a question by Vice-Mayor John Osenga on why that clause had been included, Sorensen said, “So we worded it that way because we had previously anticipated paying for these with an infrastructure bond, electrical bond. But as discussions have moved forward, administration has looked towards the idea of an internal loan instead, and so this sentence was thrown in there saying one or the other, you know, we’ll get, we’ll do either of those.” 

Removing the bond language would give administration direction for the council to pursue an internal loan, Sorensen added. Osenga asked her if leaving the bond option in there would restrict the city to funding it only with a bond, and Sorensen said, “Technically, no.”

Calhoon explained he wanted to remove the bond option in the event the city decided to sell the electric utility to a cooperative.

“We don’t know what the future of this utility is just yet,” he said. “And so my thought is we, we internally have more than enough funds available to take care of this project without bonding it. If we bond another 5 million or another 10 million, then we’re tying ourselves to those bond payments for 20 or 30 years, or whatever it is.”

Should the city sell the electric company, it would still have to pay off that bond, Calhoon said. 

“It needs to be finished. I don’t have any issues with any of that,” he said. “I just feel like we’ve probably bonded enough for this, not knowing what the future actually holds for this utility and not indebting ourselves more.” 

Calhoon’s amendment passed unanimously, as did a vote on the main motion as amended.

Laurel Street and Hemlock Avenue rezone and land swap

The council also passed Ordinance 2025-017, introduced at the Oct. 27 meeting, and Resolution 2025-107, a land swap related to that rezone. Previously, the council recommended to the Kenai Peninsula Borough that 1000 Hemlock Avenue, 2500 Laurel Street, 2405 Seward Highway and 2413 Seward Highway be replatted in an equal exchange of property. That exchange of property will give the city better access to the snow dump on Laurel Avenue. The city owns two lots just south of the Seward Highway lots. The swap also would give the landowners lots better suited for housing development. 

The lot at 2500 Laurel Street is in a Resource Management zoning district and 1000 Hemlock Avenue is in an Institutional zoning district. The two Seward Highway lots are in an Auto Commercial zoning district. The replat has the two new lots with split zoning districts. The ordinance passed rezones the two new lots, Tracts 5B-1 and 5B-2, into the Auto Commercial zoning district. Tract 5B-1 would be the new city lot and Tract 5B-2 would be the new privately owned lot. Resolution 2025-107 authorized the swap of the replatted property.

In other action, the council:

• Passed Resolution 2025-108, authorizing the city manager to accept the proposal with CRW Engineering Group to engineer and design infrastructure to disinfect effluents from the Lowell Point and Spring Creek Wastewater Treatment Facilities in an amount not to exceed $665,600, with that amount paid for through an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation grant;

•  Passed Resolution 2025-112, supporting full funding for the State of Alaska municipal harbor facility grant program in the fiscal year 2027 state capital budget in the amount of $18.1 million;

• Passed Resolution 2025-113, in support of raising the maximum available Alaska Department of Transportation harbor facility grant to $7.5 million for eligible projects on an annual basis; 

• Passed Resolution 2025-114, authorizing the city manager to accept the proposal from CRW Engineering Inc. for design and engineering services for the Elm Street water main replacement project in the amount of $78,840 plus 10% contingency and appropriating funds;

• Passed Resolution 2025-115: Authorizing the city manager to accept the Online With Libraries internet cost assistance program award from the Alaska State Library in the amount of $1,242, and 

• Passed Resolution 2025-116: authorizing the city manager to accept the public library assistance grant from the Alaska State Library in the amount of $7,000.

There is only one council meeting for December, to be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 15.

Michael Armstrong is a retired Homer News reporter and editor. Reach him at wordfolk@gmail.com.

The Seward Folly publisher Robert Barnwell is a current member of the Seward City Council, but he did not participate in the editing of this story.