by Michael Armstrong

Special to The Seward Folly

Photo credit: Seward Chamber of Commerce

Resolution 2026-017: Seward Chamber of Commerce Contract Renewal

From citizen comments to the Seward City Council debate, renewal of a proposed 5-year, $400,000 contract with the Seward Chamber of Commerce dominated the discussion at Monday night’s meeting. After passing amendments reducing the contract to three years and clarifying how inflation adjustments applied, the council approved the contract on a 6-0 vote, with Council Member Mike Calhoon absent. Under the contract, the chamber will provide services of economic development, visitor information, and destination management, with funds paid from Seward’s bed tax.

Citizen comments leaned mostly in favor of renewing the contract, though one supporter suggested a 3-year contract. Seven spoke in favor of the contract, one spoke against it, and two people suggested tabling or modifying the contract.

Greg Haas praised the chamber staff and board and its role in small business development, saying that he supported renewing the contract.

“I can tell you for darn sure, the chamber makes a big difference for the folks who are grass-rooting their business or pulling up their bootstraps and trying to grow, and they don’t know how to ask for help, and that’s what the chamber does,” he said.

Rhonda Hubbard told the chamber she was the person who posted the contract on Seward Announcements on Facebook.

“And I just wanted to kind of get a feel for where people were at because I don’t think that we’ve been hearing enough from the public about how they feel about this contract,” she said.

Hubbard asked the council to rethink the destination marketing part of the contract.

“In today’s tech world, a lot of those pieces are not as necessary, and it’s obvious to me that the Seward Chamber, ironically, has accomplished this goal in a very good way. We know that people are coming here. I always say that Seward is oversold, and I just think it’s time that we pull back on this piece.”

Managing growth is why the council should support the contract, said Stephanie Millane, the chamber president: 

“How we manage the growth matters as much as the growth itself,” she said. “That’s why the collaboration between the city and the chamber’s destination management arm is so important.”

She noted that it’s not just outside people visiting Seward.

“It’s Alaskans coming for winter school tournaments. It’s families visiting friends and family, it’s friends and relatives, it’s people bringing down their boats to fishing camp. That activity touches everything. …When visitation is well managed, it supports the entire local economy, not just one sector.”

The chamber also benefits new residents, said Christiana Smith in favoring the contract. Before she moved to Seward 13 years ago, Smith said she browsed the chamber’s website, seward.com.

“It provided me with information and links, different information that I needed to understand,” she said. “Living in Seward, when I got here, it was one of the first places that I stopped. There were a number of questions from ‘where can I seek after-school care for a first-grader?’ and as well as, ‘is there anywhere in town that can hem my pants for the job that I’m going to be starting in two weeks?’”

The chamber also helps promote community connectivity, said Andrew Scrivo, director of Youth360 Seward. Youth360 follows the Icelandic Prevention Model, “which is built on a simple, powerful idea that the best way to prevent youth substance use and support mental health is to strengthen the environment kids grow up in,” he said.

“The chamber is one of these key connective tissues,” he said. “In Seward, they create a shared bulletin board that helps residents and visitors know what’s happening, where to go, and how to participate. When families can find events, activities, and local opportunities, they are more likely to show up. When people show up, they form relationships, and when relationships grow, our community becomes more resilient and safer for kids.”

John Wisel did not support the contract.

“Seward does not need more marketing,” he said. “We are already at or beyond capacity. Lodging is full. Traffic is strained. Residents feel the impact. Continuing digital outreach to bring in more visitors is not solving a problem the community needs. We should be careful not to follow the path of places like Skagway, which has effectively become a cruise ship terminal town.”

When the Resolution 2026-017 came before the council, Seward City Manager Kat Sorensen noted the money used to fund the contract is bed tax revenue. Before 2021, the chamber received half of the previous year’s bed tax revenue. After that, the contract was for a flat $300,000. The new contract would start at $400,000 and be inflation-proofed for the following years. How that would work prompted some questions from the council.

Resolution 2026-017: Amendment

Vice-Mayor John Osenga asked how the calculation would work in relation to the Consumer Price Index. Sorensen explained that it would be the 5-year average of the previous five years of the CPI for Anchorage. Osenga made a motion to add an amendment clarifying that point, and it passed without objection.

Council Member Robert Barnwell then moved to make it a 3-year contract. He said that would have the contract fit in with the city’s 5-year budget cycle ending in fiscal year 2029-2030.

“It helps for us to make sure we’re holding everybody accountable between the chamber and between us, and making sure our relationship is firm and our expectations and things are really dynamic right now,” Barnwell said.

That amendment also passed unanimously.

Draft ordinance to revise cannabis regulations

Council Member Calhoon had put forth a draft ordinance to revise cannabis regulations in the city code, but since Calhoon wasn’t there to speak, Mayor Sue McClure proposed, and the council agreed, to hold that until the Feb. 23 meeting.

The next Seward City Council meeting will be held on Monday, February 23, 2026, starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Find the latest Council Packet here.

Michael Armstrong is a retired journalist currently volunteering as the editor of the Homer Independent Press. Reach him at wordfolk@gmail.com.

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