June 25, 2026, by Michael Armstrong

Special to The Seward Folly

Funding the pool topped the council’s agenda. The council also dug into the usual fine details of running a city: approving a land swap with Afognak Logging for land in the Afognak Subdivision and appropriating up to $90,000 to continue repairs of a D-6 Caterpillar bulldozer that went into Resurrection Bay in an accident while a Public Works operator worked at the Lowell Creek outfall area in the flood waters. Under new business, Council Member Lori Draper also asked for a clarification on why the city charged a mandatory fee for trash collection.

Pool Funding Agreement

It didn’t take attendance by the Tsunami Swim Club alone to persuade the Seward City Council to pass a resolution approving $200,000 to keep the Seward pool open, but a room full of energetic swimmers showed the need to keep the pool open. The motion passed unanimously and without debate.

The intergovernmental agreement between the City of Seward, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and the KPB School District appropriates $200,000 from the city for the district to pay the salary of the pool manager, utilities and other costs while the borough is responsible for facilities maintenance. For more on the agreement, see the Lifeline for Seward Pool https://sewardfolly.com/2026/06/25/lifeline-for-seward-pool-city-council-acts-to-keep-doors-open/

Afognak Land Swap

The Afognak subdivision land swap came about as the city looked at how to make roads there meet borough standards and also design them for ease of snow removal and maintenance. Deputy City Manager Jason Bickling said the city needed more road right-of-way to make that happen. In the exchange, the city would grant Afognak about a half-acre of the north end of Pine Street that’s mostly gravel pit in return for a 350-by-50-foot section of one lot that would connect Pine Street to Oak Street. The city also would get two sections at the end of Afognak Avenue to widen a cul-de-sac. As part of the land exchange process, the city also will file for a replat reflecting the changes, Bickling said.

That resolution passed unanimously and without debate.

Bulldozer Repairs

For the bulldozer repairs, Public Works asked for up to $90,000 on top of $200,000 the council approved in May to rebuild the saltwater-immersed heavy equipment. When a contractor started reassembling the dozer, workers identified additional repair costs. Public Works Director Doug Schoessler said the city had received $325,000 in an insurance claim. He said he didn’t think the additional repairs would be more than $25,000, but asked for up to $90,000 to keep from returning to the council for smaller funding requests. 

Council Member Mike Calhoon asked about the accounting of funds. “What I wanted to make sure everybody understood is we’re not taking motor pool fund money to fix this. It’s actually the insurance money. It was just put in that fund,” he said. Schoessler confirmed that was the process.

Mandatory Trash Collection Fees

On trash collection, Council Member Draper said she had received several phone calls from citizens asking why they had to pay a mandatory free for trash collection.  “I just wanted to bring this forth so that way all of our community members can understand why, what has happened in the past with our trash collection inside city limits, and where we currently sit with it,” she said. 

City Manager Kat Sorensen said voters in 2021 approved, 268 to 88, a contract with Alaska Waste to collect trash. Sorensen compared trash collection to a utility like water and sewer. It’s a utility and for it to be a service to the area, it has to be a service to all.

“It’s the same as if you wanted to opt out of electricity or water. You can shut your water off, you can shut your electricity off, but you still have to pay a customer charge because you’re paying for the infrastructure that is there to have the power as a utility,” she said.   “… It’s technically a customer charge, you know. You need to pay that minimum amount each month for trash pickup to exist as a utility.”

Sorensen noted some might be confused about how the city collects for people who don’t pay for mandatory trash collection. Those back charges get added to the electric bill.  She said the city is addressing it by sending out bills for the actual utility.

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.