Kodiak Island Borough Assembly candidate forums 2025

Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for clarity, however candidate answers and statements are transcribed in their entirety. 

For transparency, Kristina Van Hoogmoed is a member of KMXT’s staff, but neither her nor the other candidates were shown any of the questions ahead of the forum. Van Hoogmoed also did not see this transcript before publication, and does not have any editorial influence in KMXT’s newsroom. 

Candidates were given one minute for opening statements, in alphabetical order by last name:

Jeremiah Garner: Good evening. Thanks everybody for attending virtually and in person. My name is Jeremiah Gardner. I went to [sic] most of my childhood here and most of my schooling, middle school and high school. Then I left for some time and returned about 15 years ago to purchase a local business. Over the years, we’ve kind of seen this steady decline, especially if you rotate it back into the 90s and whatnot. And now that I’m here raising my own family, and they’re entering the school system, I’m seeing the difficulties that are portrayed in everyday life trying to conduct business here in Kodiak.

I think it's important that it's everybody's civic duty to step up and serve at some point, and that's why I'm here. I want to be a part of making this island as great as it can possibly be. And at the end of the day, I also want to thank all the other people running for positions for both borough or for both the borough and the city. It's amazing to see so much more participation, and I think the entire community Kodiak is going to luck out with their options. Thank you.

Rob Lindsey: Good evening. Thanks again for this opportunity. Thank you for hosting. Lifelong, born here, lot of roots here. I pretty much fished everything there was to fish, and worked in pretty much every sector that you can find on the island, short of flying the airplanes. But, I did work for Bob Hall with Kodak Airways for a couple of summers. And, you know, we see the trend. Fisheries is not the main thing it was – lot of challenges there. We also have a lot of consolidation in the processing sector.

I think our future is extremely bright. I think Kodiak is so strategic, so well placed, and so rich in geographic and history, and we have things that people are just giving up whatever it is to come here and see what we've got, and I'd like to preserve that as much as possible. I'm raising a grandson. He's 10, and I have, I owe deep debt to the schools and the teachers, and I want to make sure that we can maximize the education component and appreciate your time.

Caroline Roberts: Good evening. My name is Caroline Roberts, and I'm running for Kodiak borough assembly because I want our community to continue being a place where families, businesses and individuals of all ages can thrive. I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and three years ago, my family and I moved to Kodiak to plant roots and make this our home.

As a mom of two young kiddos, I see both the opportunities and the challenges our community faces, and I want to help ensure Kodiak remains family friendly, welcoming and sustainable for everybody. My background is in public safety as a 911 dispatcher, marketing and communications and now population health roles that strengthen my skills in problem solving, collaboration and clear communication. Thank you.

Kristina Van Hoogmoed: Good evening. My name is Kristina Van Hoogmoed. I'm also known colloquially as K-Van. The people of Kodiak deserved to be safe, seen, and supported by their government and community. When I was a teacher, my purpose was to empower my students and give them the tools to be successful.

I want to do the same for Kodiak as Assemblywoman. I will make it a priority to respect and invest in Kodiak's number one resource – our people. Even now I'm constantly talking to people in every part of the community. I want to get everyone involved in decision making. The people of Kodiak are craving connection and purpose. Right now, we have a very small amount of people that make decisions, but it takes a village. Luckily, we have a bunch of them. If I'm elected, I look forward to continuing to listen to the people of our community and welcoming their voices. Thank you.

Jeffery Woods: Good evening all. My name is Jeffery Woods. I have spent my entire adult life in Kodiak – graduating Kodiak High School and obtaining my associates degree through Kodiak College. I've spent my career for the most part, in public safety. Although, I have had done a couple other things in my career relating to working for the hatchery for a while, doing some guiding here and there, and just absolutely am pleased to call Kodiak home.

The reason I'm running for borough assembly is Kodiak will [sic], and truly is home. And I think we were a pretty exceptional place with exceptional people. I think the people of Kodiak deserve options, and I'm just here to provide another option. Thank you so much for your time.

Questions posed by moderators, candidates were given two minutes to answer. 

What connections, skills, and experience would you bring to the Borough Assembly that would otherwise not be represented by current members or your fellow candidates?

• Rob Lindsey: I've spent between six and seven years on the Planning and Zoning Commission. I learned a lot about how that process works here, also how it works other places. I've spent a lot of time as a former and current employee of City of Kodiak in the utilities in the ground, and I've actually worked quite a number of contractors putting utilities in the ground. I'm acutely aware of our infrastructure situation, which is good, but it's very aging. We have a lot of things that need to be addressed, and I like to approach them in a proactive fashion. I'm very well familiar with the fishing community from every sector. Presently, I just recently sold my Prince William Sound sein permit, and I still retain my Kodiak sein permit. I'm very pleased that the salmon guys had a good year, which is critical, because we have seen there are almost no little shoulder seasons left. Doubtful, whether you get a tanner season this year, jigging went from a three to five month occupation, where you could always go out and make a house payment to another dirty fishery. We have a lot of competition. I also think that, as always, we're going to have fiscal issues. And I wouldn't say I would overlook anything as far as where we could go to look for economic gain, except I will hold the line that the last thing I will look at is another mill rate increase. I think that the federal component is strong. I am very appreciative the federal agencies we have here, but I think by the same token, they share a lot of the burden, and I think they are not going anywhere, and I think we need to work with them, particular, in particular, with our wastewater situation, possibly work jointly together on a wastewater plant that would help alleviate their needs. And while for Kodiak, more expansion, as well as look forward to expansion around to the land around beyond Dead Man's curve. Thank you.
• Caroline Roberts: I have strong organizational skills. I like to listen to everyone's ideas and take that into account when making a decision. I bring a voice to the table, representing young families in the community, and I've worked in high stress environments that make me really think about what I'm organize my thoughts in the moment and really make an organized decision. Also working full time as a mother to two kiddos, really manage my time. Thank you.
• Kristina Van Hoogmoed:  I've only lived here five years, but one of the greatest things that I've been able to do is become in so many different parts of the community. I love talking to new people. I worked at Main for four years and was able to meet a lot of students and their parents. So in actual terms of connections, I have a lot of connections. I got a call a few weeks ago, somebody had an idea for to put a play on, and then I was like, Oh, I know somebody else that that writes plays, and we were able to hook them up. Somebody needed help finding a face painter, and I was able to help them find that. So I think my sheer ability to get out into the community and go and meet people and ask people and connect with them is a very big asset. Another big thing is my background experience as a teacher. As a teacher, you have to take very dense, complicated information and break it down into smaller chunks, not only into a digestible way, but an interesting way. You got to make those kids pay attention. So I look forward to the challenge of learning about the government more, and being able to take a step back and communicate with other people about how it works, being able to explain big things like MapTR. What is MapTR? The these complex ideas and restrictions and rules that surround our government. Also, I I have a little bit of the audacity and enthusiasm. I'm excited about Kodiak's future. I am excited to go talk to people and bring them in, and I think we can do this together.
• Jeffery Woods: I have phenomenal analytical skills as well as critical thinking skills honed through a career in law enforcement. My daily – I have to interact with people from a wide range of backgrounds to accomplish a wide range of objectives, everything from employment to having to make critical decisions about recommendations for something as simple as sentencing or for something as complicated as a bail argument. Thankfully, I'm in a position where I get to work with everybody, and I love that fact. As a result, I've developed a true gratitude for the wide ranging expertises [sic] in our community that are all over our community. Knowing how to utilize resources, to put people in contact, to get them where they need to go, has been a real skill I've developed over the years, as well as building relationships with different tribal organizations, nonprofit organizations, and frankly, anybody who's willing to give a hand along with that, I've had to deep dive into reading a tremendous amount of statute over the years and how to practically apply it now in the moment and under high stress situations. That's something that has become a bit of skill of mine, and I look forward to bringing that to the borough assembly.
• Jeremiah Gardner: I have my finger on the pulse of the economic climate here in Kodiak, I'm constantly interacting and interfacing with not only business leaders, business owners, but also consumers throughout our business ventures that we operate on a daily basis here in town, I get to hear their concerns, I get to hear their triumphs, and I get to see what's working for whom and what's not working for whom. Skill wise, I've always been able to see things from a middle ground. You and I don't need to agree. In fact, we can argue. We can debate in healthy fashion, but we can also walk away from that and still be friends and neighbors, even if we don't see eye to eye. Perhaps we've met some middle ground and can see some of the pros and cons to each other's viewpoints. Experience wise, I've been pretty heavily involved in the Kodiak political climate on and off over the years. I've done a lot of work with the Parks and Recreation system. I've done a lot of work with the school system. I've seen the ins and outs of much of the political workings throughout the assembly and the city council. And while I can't call myself an expert by any means, I'm excited to learn more and to be the best possible candidate I can be for everyone. Thank you.

As housing prices and the cost of living continue to increase, how would you, as a borough assembly member, support both incoming and established residents and businesses? What solutions would you pursue to make homes on the road system and in outlying villages more affordable places to live?

• Caroline Roberts: Kodiak's housing shortage is one of the biggest challenges that Kodiak faces for families and workers her. High rent and limited housing stock have made it really difficult for people to stay here, and too often, locals are priced out, while outside buyers purchase homes and land. I think the borough can help by reviewing zoning, incentivizing development and encouraging locally led projects through public-private partnerships and redevelopment of even older properties. I believe if the borough does sell land, covenant should be in place to ensure it's used for long term home ownership, not short term rentals. Our goal should be stable, affordable housing that allows people to put down roots and stay in Kodiak. 
• Kristina Van Hoogmoed: That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Housing, we all love it. First, I would make it a priority. It's sort of, we've done a lot of talking and not a lot of action. And the power that the borough has is to zone and to tax, and those are the big ways that we can help and open lands for purchase, and we can use those tools to incentivize bidding for first time home buyers. I know I don't own my own home, and I know the headache that is being able to find a home here, and being able to be more flexible and thinking outside of the box, mixed use zoning, and looking into alternates [sic], maybe even co-op housing – centralized spaces with tiny homes. And beyond that, we currently tax our short term housing. There is a current fee for that, and that goes to tourism, our tourism funds, and I think it would be good if that went to go support long term housing as well. We could work to, I said, incentivize denser housing and discourage vacancies. I know there's a bunch of vacant homes out there, and if we could provide some sort of incentive or encouragement for people to have those homes occupied by somebody instead of just just sitting there,
• Jeffery Woods: As you approach this issue, it’s kind of a two part issue, One, on the road system, land ownership is a little bit less complicated, a little bit less locked down. A large portion of road system lands are owned by the borough. So potentially, borough lands could be opened up for development, which I am massively in support of. How that, which land should be opened up, and how you go about that process, I think you start until he needs to start with a really hefty public comment period, and really, intentionally looking at where you're going. I for one – at least on face value – I'm a big fan of the 257 odd acres between where the town side of Rezanoff is across from the dump and backing up towards the Selif and the Mountain View area there. That's essentially not being used a whole lot. When it comes to the villages, land ownership is largely in the hands of Native Corporations. I don't really think there's a whole lot the borough could or should do to try and compel a private organization to open up land for development, especially if that's not the will of the village. That's not really our place. Thankfully, though, you kind of solved both problems as you in this question with the one action you make more available. If you make more available, tax revenue goes up. Tax revenue goes up, you can potentially look at lowering tax rates, making it affordable for people who are already here.
• Jeremiah Gardner: Okay, so obviously, we have a housing shortage, and nobody's been able to solve it. I'm a big fan of developing raw land. I look specifically at the land back behind the Dark Lake area. There's roughly some odd 300 acres or so back there that could be developed. It's relatively close to infrastructure. The other closest area I see, just like Mr. Woods said, is that area just after Dead Man's – but excuse me, he was talking Monashka. Just after Dead Man's, we have a lot of unused land, but we need to come into some sort of partnership between our Native Corporations and the United States Coast Guard. A lot of that land isn't being used to its full potential, and to that same effect, the United States Coast Guard, who I absolutely love and adore, they're continuing to bring in more staff, and it's causing us some more difficulty in our housing shortage. We just had all these new boats come in. They have support families, et cetera. There's got to be some middle ground where we can work together as several separate agencies to come up with some sort of solution. And one of the biggest factors here, in my mind, is financial forethought. We're not just going to open up some sort of area and pour a ton of money into infrastructure that all needs to be tied in together, zoning and codes in terms of off grid living, whether or not you can have a rain catchment system or something like that. Or, you know, where can you actually have a well? Is there brackish water nearby? Do we need to bring in city water supply? All those things need to be thought, far ahead and in advance, so that we can make some sort of modular system, or modular forethought, where we have access to those infrastructure needs and can apply them into the next development. Because, make no mistake, Kodiak is growing. Yes, the fishing industry has had a few rough years, but it's had a great year this year, at least with salmon. And you know, we're seeing tourism increase. And yeah, those are my thoughts.
• Rob Lindsey: Well before getting off too far into that, I want to state that I feel it's really important that my goal is that we're not just going to reach out and raise the mill rate or raise assessments other than what's required by the state. Now there is land in several places available. Discuss that a little bit. Von Scheele should go up and over the hill, but that's, again, we’ve got to put some very expensive infrastructure in the ground there. And it's not just that simple, because you have to look at the capacities, what we already have, and also with the wastewater treatment that the city has – it's a limited footprint. Unfortunately, we've gone to secondary treatment, which is very, very expensive to do, and I believe we're forever bound to that. So whatever we do to upgrade or replace the city wastewater treatment system is going to be key to opening up any of the areas that are close to town. I think that to do whatever we can to encourage a joint venture between the USCG and Koniag, the landowner of the land around the corner from Dead Man's curve would be the best thing we could do. We have very little, as the borough, that can help that, other than through the zoning process and be a sounding board for them. There is a proposal to bring the water line over that hump between where, I think is American President Lines is right now, and into that area. The Naval Reserve has a lot of old utilities in the ground. And as we're well around Kodiak, it's a rock. And when you go to put in utilities, such as to say, if you could, if you had utilities out in Monaska, you could put all kinds of lots. But it's, again, the cost of doing so. We do reach some areas with the present system. We have property, city property that's available all the way out to Abercrombie, and we have services out there that could be expanded to some extent, but I think at the root, we've got to work on the utilities and work together with the things that we have in hand for the short term, long term. We're going to talk about that.

The borough owns several undeveloped properties both on the road system and near villages – what ideas do you have to better utilize undeveloped or unoccupied facilities and areas?

• Kristina Van Hoogmoed: i don't think I'm the right person to make that call. I think that's a bigger thing. I want to hear more from constituents about that. On specific parcels, on specific buildings. I know some things that we’ve talked about that’s come up a lot is the old mental health buildings, which are a conundrum unto themselves. We tried to make, the borough tried to make it work, and it doesn't seem to be working. But I think that the neighbors and the people closest to those properties need to be consulted when looking to utilize those and we should also be looking at what our town needs, and what our town is missing. Do we – I don't know, crazy idea – do we want a community banya or something? I don't know. That we could all go together? It's really looking at our needs, what we have, what we need and what we want, and the people that are closest to those parcels of land would know better, so I would be consulting with them.
• Jeffery Woods: Well, the first step is realizing not every property is good for everything. Planning and Zoning plays a huge role in that. I for one, would like to see a substantial amount more of R1 zoned lots. That opens up a great deal of flexibility, largely single family homes, lets you have a mother in law. That's a particularly mother in law apartment. I should say that the other ones, not entirely a city or borough matter, sorry. With regards to that, though, another real issue we do have in Kodiak is a massive lack of commercial space. Talking to some local business owners trying to expand their operation cost prohibitive due to the high cost of usable commercial land. And that's where I think coming in through and looking at these parcels we're talking about, having an informed discussion, inviting a tremendous amount of public comment for these areas is absolutely critical. I'm one voice. I'm one set of eyeballs looking at a project. And frankly, I am not a construction worker, nor have I ever been a contractor. Being able to accomplish these designs is going to largely depend on what's actually feasible for me, commercial property is huge, taxed at a fairly high rate. It adds a secondary benefit to the community. I really like R1 zoning, particularly for that Monashka Bay area we discussed and those public private partnerships can be a phenomenal thing when closely and carefully administered. But yeah, that is, that is my take on that.
• Jeremiah Gardner: So this question feels a little bit like Part Two to the prior question to me. Undeveloped properties, like we just said, housing is a huge issue. Mr. Woods is also correct – commercial space is pretty hard to come by, and we need to make doing business in Kodiak easy. It generates taxes all across the board, and it's always been a little difficult. And I know firsthand from owning a couple businesses that it's not easy doing business in Kodiak. There's a lot of ups and downs, and the more that we can do to attract and develop that industry, the better we all are off for taxes and services. Additionally, going back to housing, one thing that I've always really wanted to see in Kodiak, that you see down in the Midwest, is a homesteading program. I would love to see the opportunity for young families to get a plot of land in a relatively inexpensive way and to be given a period of time to build a primary family dwelling that would be maintained as their primary dwelling for, say, 10 years, or whatever the contract provides. We need to get people to be able to live here sustainably in order to attract the skilled specialists and leaders that this community needs that are often, frankly, turned away due to a rising cost of living. My primary function on undeveloped property for both the road system and the village would likely be housing. We have the highest rent in the entire state at a median rent of $1,713. That's pretty ridiculous to think of your single person that wants, you know, a reasonably sized little apartment that you're going to have to spend 1700 bucks a month on rent. So we need to address that problem first, and I would put that as my priority. Thank you.
• Rob Lindsey: I don't have a lot of ideas that are going to be a fresh and new take. For example, Cliff point, we see a very forward looking project out there. I think it will develop over time. I'm not sure if the developers are really happy with how that worked out in the end. It's gorgeous out there, underutilized properties as kind of a catch word. We're just talking about vacant pieces of land. The borough has one system of selling property that's generally proved, that's by public outcry, auction, and then another way is to have qualified contractors, developers, agencies come forward with their ideas, such as the Native Corporations have some ideas using their land. Or in the past, they've approached about buying certain pieces of city land. Most of the land that you're looking at is in more in the hands of the city, I think, for the overall scope of what you're addressing, this is more of a planning and zoning, and it's a planning part. And again, developers bring forth proposals in the villages. I think that the villages have to have the 90% of the say, Port Lions, say for example, had a kind of a massive shift in home ownership there in the last decade and a half. And some of the, some of the younger people that are left and and houses, land got developed and pretty nicely subdivisions and a lot of homes there. But it kind of priced out some of the younger people that now wouldn't be looking to move back. So I think that's very, and is very, much up to the villages, primarily, and the road is just assist them to seek what they want. I'd like to see, again, preserve that way of life. The Native Corporations have a tremendous amount of land, and I think they're private land holders, and they can sell land if the price is right. Thank you.
• Caroline Roberts: Just piggybacking off the last question, housing is obviously a really big problem here, so opening some of that land open, but make it affordable for the middle class to be able to actually buy it and not be competing with off-island big people that have a lot of money to spend on it.  Make it affordable for the young families that are here and convince them to stay here and grow this economy and make Kodiak a great place to live. Another thing that I have, and our family has, been restricted by here is child care. Child Care is such a desperate need here in the community, and having a vacant building plan could be made available to a child care facility would be amazing and greatly appreciated by so many families here. That would be a huge incentive for people to go back to work and then, therefore, put money back into the local economy. As far as the vacant land, I think we should listen to the community members that know those properties and talk to them about what they want to do with it, and what ideas do they have, looking at the needs and wants, just making a financially responsible decision at the end of the day.

The future of the former North Star Elementary building is still yet to be determined. How do you think this facility should be used and what kind of services or businesses should be prioritized?

• Jeffery Woods: North star's got a phenomenal location in a lot of ways, but like any existing infrastructure, it still has maintenance projects that are going to be continuing expenses. What would I like to see in that facility? I would love to see childcare. Ms. Roberts hit the nail on the head. We do suffer from a massive lack of childcare, and essentially we have a building that's sitting vacant that was used for child education. It seems really well suited for it. Bigger issue you have with that, though, is, how do you practically make that happen? We in the past, I believe we had a nonprofit, small world, I believe, with the nonprofit a number of years ago, which was kind of plagued by some issues, but that was more administrative issues, and then followed, begs the question, okay, who's then responsible for the day to day operations of that? How does that look? I'd be supportive of an entity trying to take that over, to use that as a child care facility that seems to be appropriate to me. However, it's got to be financially responsible for the borough to do so, and with no current plans in the works, there's just too much that remains to be seen for what should happen to that building for me to take a firm stance on it beyond what I would like to see happen.
• Jeremiah Gardner: So first of all, North Star is a pretty amazing facility. And, you know, one of the first things that comes to mind is that, before my family moved here in 1996, I lived in Bristol Bay, and we had the community school building up in Naknek. And yeah, classes happened there during the day, but events happened there every single night that were for the entire community. And it was, you know, we have options here, compared to Bristol Bay. But it was a hotbed of community activity at all times. I think it's important to recognize that the building and the land around it is already kind of optimized for children. You've got a nice playground out that’s right there. It's fenced in, it's, you know, it's a safe space. It's a beautiful building, so I absolutely love the idea of child care in at least some form in that building. It's obviously not going to take up the entire building, so there's got to be room for other community services in there. Maybe it's continuing adult education and some sort of slight expansion for the community college. I'm not sure how much interest there is in that, but first and foremost with that building has to, again, be financial forethought. It's my understanding that the building needs quite a bit of money in repairs, and how are we going to pay for that in order to actually use that building, can we get businesses like the child care to essentially rent space from us and make it financially feasible and make it profitable in a way where they're paying the borough rent to use the space, but they're also making a profit off of the space, And we can use those rents to support that building and to support the infrastructure in and around it, to keep it up to code and up to date. Like I said, I think it's just important to remember that place is already optimized for children, so that should be a big part of that conversation. Thank you.
• Rob Lindsey: As I understand it, and I don't how confidential the negotiations are at this time, but we have a qualified entity that has already put forward an agreement, and there, far as I know, hammering out the terms to take over one wing of North Star for child care. I'm not sure the age range. I know that that agency has at least 50 people on their waiting list, and they already have a qualified child care [sic]. I agree. I also think that one thing that could be done, because I look at my options, I've got again, a boy, and he's a handful. He grew up with me as a guy who've been on the boat, and he has little trouble in the regular public school surroundings. He's a good hand on the boat. Nonetheless, I think that I can't home school him. I'm not qualified. I can't seem to find someone to do that for me. And I have seen a marvelous example of a public private partnership of a school in Queen Anne area of Seattle. It was magnificent. And every time your kid was there, a parent was there with him. The parents took on most of all the heavy lifting, and I don't know the bills got paid, but it's one potential that could exist. I'm not speaking that. That must be done right now. It's on the books, and we have to keep it maintained. I think that all options on the table, that was an awful tough site to develop. I'm not sure it was 100% sought through, but I don't know if you've driven out there in the middle of January and it's raining on that ice and those roads are practically vertical, the streets are not very well lit. There's an awful lot of big brown critters running around there. And so as a choice for a school, it was there. Nonetheless, it's an asset we have on the books. Again, it comes down to what the public wants, and I think it's a subject of greater discussion. I don't have a dog in this fight, except that encourage them to take that child care. And I know it's on a even a one year or two year maximum lease, so wouldn't tie it up. So I encourage that to go forward. And that's about all the specific that good question. Thank you.
• Caroline Roberts: I will always say child care when there is a space available. North Star was obviously created with children in mind, so it is an optimal space for a child care facility to go. The YMCA has shown substantial interest in coming to the island to be an affordable and trusted child care facility. They're established all over the country, and they're a nonprofit. I think they would bring a great service to Kodiak. I would like to see it, North Star, used year round, hosting summer camps, daycare for kids of all ages and as a place for the community to gather at and benefit from. The YMCA is already in motion in the community. We have some leaders in the community that we can work with to look into this option. I would really love to see North Star used as a child care facility that the whole community could benefit from.
• Kristina Van Hoogmoed: I see a lot of potential in the North Star space. It sort of reminds me of when I was a kid, and my parents would go to ministry meetings at church, and they would have lots of meetings there, and then I would go play on the playgrounds outside, and it would just sort of a general gathering space. I think we can make it. I think we can do childcare there. I think that we can have space for arts there. I think we can use the kitchen for more creative things that we want to. I think we can, we need to see what the people in this community are passionate about and are champions for. Like the YMCA, they got a champion. They came together. They made it happen. The child care center that's going to that's currently in negotiations or working on it,hey had a mission. They went to it. But in general, I think it should be not for profit businesses, businesses or organizations that are going towards the public good, going towards the mission of a more prosperous future. Maybe we have a lot of businesses that are just pop up businesses, maybe some of the space could be used for that. I think we are really limited only by our imaginations on this. Child care and our needs definitely have priority, but we can also use the space for doing things as a family, if we wanted to have resources there, like little art rooms for kids to go use, if we had a shared community cricket or something that people could work on. 

Despite the recent funding boost from the state, the Kodiak Island Borough School District is likely facing further significant budget cuts. How would you approach the funding request from district officials?

• Jeremiah Gardner: If I were to come into being one of your elected officials, one of the things I'm always going to preach is fiscal responsibility. One of the reasons that I'm running is that I feel like, over time, we're always spending more than we actually have. We're always spending more than is in the coffers, and ultimately that ends up putting the burden on the Kodiak taxpayer. The Kodiak taxpayer has had enough. It can't go up anymore. We need to come up with creative solutions to keep those taxes down. At the same time, as I've stated previously in the newspaper and other forums, we need to make our children and their education an absolute number one priority. They are going to be your leaders, your caregivers and your professionals later in the future, and to do anything less is simply shooting ourselves in the foot. Whilst prioritizing education, we have to be aware that we have an allowance of money, and we can't spend more than that because we don't have it. I love the idea of giving the children everything in the world, and that's what I strive to do with my own family and my own children. But at the end of the day, the paycheck is what it is, and that's what we have to spend so further significant budget cuts we need to address and approach any available funding that we can get from the state, I think Governor Dunleavy is not long for the governorship, and we may get an attitude change in the state government and start to see some of those education funds come back. And actively pursuing that and any grants possible is one avenue to get money back in the schools, but we can't keep overspending. Thank you.
• Rob Lindsey: First of all, that's a school board decision, firstly. And I think at the assembly level, we take what they send us and that we either approve it or have to send it back. And at the end of the day, we do only have so many dollars to work with. And again, I'm not gonna look to the mill rate. In many, many communities, it winds up being older people that have already raised their children, moved on, that bear the bigger cost. Because their homes have appreciated value, their tax [sic] go up. So I'm not seeing it going that way. I do think that the community really needs to prioritize. We do have a great sports program, and I'm not going to put sports on the table, except that you again, you can't have it all, and there just have to be priorities made at every level. But it seems that the state of Alaska in general is a race for the bottom. We're spending, as far as I understand, I don't know locally, but statewide, it's about 27,000 per student, and we're only, and I get may get the numbers mixed up, we're only 14-16 percent on math and 20-something percent in in reading, and we need to see improvement in that. I don't think it's on the teachers so much. I've got a kid that's tough to teach. He's super bright. I mean, I don't know where to go with it, but I think that every needs point, the community needs to decide where the priorities are, and then that's the thing for the people to come to the assembly with. And once we get a list of priorities, then we can look and we go, okay, this is here. We have some very expensive programs that and with Title 9, it has to be the same for the boys and the girls. So I say it's up to the school board to prioritize it, and if we can't fit it within the budget, then we'll have to send it back. But again, it falls on every one of us voters to speak out to me, the other members of assembly and the school board, and we've got to give the school board their dough due. It's there. It's in their hands first, before it comes to us. I wish I could be more specific. Thank you.
• Caroline Roberts: The borough plays a key role in supporting schools. I believe strong schools are the foundation of Kodiak's future. That means not only providing stable funding, but also maintaining facilities with basic upkeep, like painting, playground up maintenance [sic], and repairs. If state funding is reduced, we need to seek creative solutions like grants, partnerships, community support to make sure these essential programs remain strong. Think protecting education is one of the most important investments we can make for Kodiak's long term success. We need to work with our school districts to ensure that we are financially able to pay for a well rounded education for our kids.
• Kristina Van Hoogmoed: Funding the school district is the primary purpose of the borough. That it, when the borough was founded, and part of the charter it was, one of its primary purposes is to ensure the school district has enough money. Unfortunately, the state has chosen to not keep up as much as it was before. We are also only able to give certain amounts, like there is a set, fixed number that we are not allowed to go over, or else the state government will sue us. That's happening in Juneau. Most recent [sic], in our last budget, we gave about $13 million to the school district, which was up about a little more than half a million from the year before. But it wasn't nearly enough to make, they had to withdraw $5 million from their fund balance, which some but some, but, I heard they have like $20 left. Don't quote me on that, but they had to go a lot from their fund balance. I personally think it is our moral obligation to support our kids and our families as much as possible. We can elect school boards that make good choices. But we also need to trust our educators when they say what they need, and then we will give it to them. We are not overspending on it. We are actually limited in how much we can spend on the school district. We can't provide over that amount. And I think we can also look at other ways to support our kids, like such as child care, since we are limited by how much we can give to the school districts, but we are, we are approaching the maximum legal amount of what we can give.
• Jeffery Woods: Well, ultimately, you can't get water from a stone. The issue we run into with the school district is multi-part, really. One, our revenues aren't necessarily increasing at pace with our expenditures. Something needs to be done to increase tax revenue. I am not a huge fan, or not a fan at all, of raising mill rates. I think the Kodiak taxpayer is pretty well tapped out, and it can't go any higher. The solution to that is finding new revenue sources and looking at it creatively. Hence, why, for me, it's a big, big push to open up unused and underutilized lands. The flip side is our school district has not been performing well. I don't think you can tell me, anybody in town here who thinks our tests, our standardized testing scores, look particularly good. I think amongst ninth graders, it's just a little over 13% are testing at or above grade level from math. That's ridiculous. I'm sorry, but if you have to look at any major expenditure from a budget, much like an investment. If your investments are underperforming, why are we essentially rewarding poor performance? Which I don't think there's a person in this town who can say they're happy with 13% for math. Beyond that, I am not a huge fan of cutting programs. However, times where we're at, where unless we can get some new funding sources, it's time to tighten some belts.

Some village residents feel that their needs are not a priority when compared to communities on the road system. Do you believe the borough fairly represents them and addresses their needs? How would you work to improve relationships with village residents and leaders?

• Rob Lindsey: Well, that's a tough one, right there. It's hard because we don't really go out and hang out in the villages a whole lot. I know a lot of people in the villages. I have myself spent a lot of time in the villages as of lately [sic]. I don't think that the situation they're unrepresentative, per se, just that that line of communication needs to be worked on. How you accomplish that? I don't know. It's not on my radar. I feel deeply about the rights of those that have chosen to remain in the village to control their own destiny as best they see fit. And I think that we have an obligation to help them meet their water and wastewater needs as mandated by the state. And I, if they, I would like to make myself open to everyone in the villages, because they're a big part of what makes Kodiak so special and so special to me. We live in an extraordinary place where I don't think there's any place on this planet that you could get what we have here. I think subsistence is big. I hear there's some new challenges on the radar regarding the Katie John decision. I don't know where that lands right now, but I do know that subsistence is critically important, and it's very important. We're so blessed that here in this residential community, we have access to federal subsistence. I just put out at the Buskin today with my kid, but so the federal land subsistence is a huge issue, and I want to make sure we're tender to that, and then we're keyed in and ready to speak up to that. I just know that there's a lot of issues with the systems, their critical utilities, as well as their school systems, and I don't have any pat answer to tell you right now how to cure that. I don't feel that is by design, and I'm open. Thank you.
• Caroline Roberts: Kodiak is really a melting pot. It's really diverse population. That diversity should be reflected in how the borough engages with residents. I believe we can expand our outreach and make sure information is accessible, including in the languages people use at home. We also need to make sure our villages are included and that resources are distributed fairly across the entire island. It's equally important to encourage youth and diverse candidates to get involved in local governments, that future leaders reflect the community as a whole when more voices are represented, both from the road system and the villages, our decisions are stronger and better serve everyone in Kodiak. I think really, just listening to everyone in the villages and everyone in the community is key.
• Kristina Van Hoogmode: I don't think the borough fairly represents them and addresses their needs appropriately. I think that there should be a seat on the borough assembly specifically designated for people that live in the villages. A few years ago, I came across the assembly to look at restructuring the way elections happened in that, like different neighborhoods, could vote for their assembly person, and it's sort of just got swept under the rug. I think it would be, I think there should be somebody zooming in from each village, if possible. But somebody, that it is their whole focus is to take care of people in the villages and listen. Additionally, we should have our borough assembly members going out to the villages at least quarterly, and using some of it should be a budgetary priority to make those connections, because they can. Action is an investment and will create revenue and community in the long run, if we can get to the villages, have housing and talk to more people. Personally, I've never been off the road system, and it's cost prohibitive for me, so just getting places, talking to people, making those relationships, and that's what assembly people are for. That's what I want to do.
• Jeffery Woods: I love this question. I spend quite a bit of time in Port Lyons, where I've got phenomenal friends and friends that have become family to me over the years, people that have known me my entire life. So when I decided to run for borough, I phoned a friend like you do for everything at Kodiak, it seems like. And I asked them, ‘Hey, what is your guys’ interaction with the borough like?” All they could tell me was they met the borough assessor people, they were super nice, and my taxes went up after that. I don't think you can honestly say we adequately consider their needs or we fairly represent them. You have to look at everybody in our community, not just the road system. And I know the road system is easy to access, and it's as simple as driving down somewhere to go look at problems. However, our villages are still a huge part of Kodiak. I would personally love to see a substantial amount more of joint work sessions between village leadership and tribal leadership, like I mentioned before, village councils play a big part, but tribal leaders, tribal leadership plays a huge part in those areas. This summer, I got to go to Old Harbor. Got to do some talking with some folks over there, had a great time. It was a great work trip. But there, it seems that the tribe is a larger part of the community than their actual city is. Or let's, I think they’re technically a second class city in the borough. Bringing people to the table is never a bad idea. Hearing different perspectives is never a bad idea, even if you don't like them, if you don't get along, even if you can't make it happen budgetarily, being on the same page and same sheet of music can only do you good. Thank you.
• Jeremiah Gardner: As far as addressing the needs of the villages goes, that's a question I'm ill equipped to answer. I haven't spent a ton of time in the villages. That's something I'd love to hear about from the people that live in the villages. As far as representation goes, as often as I've been involved in various meetings throughout local politics, I've never seen any representation of anyone in the villages. So no, I don't think they're fairly represented, and I don't think that their needs are fairly communicated. To that effect, as far as improving relationships, some of the other people up here. Exactly right. We need to meet with their leaders, whether that's village council, tribal, whatever that is, however, I don't see the cost effectiveness in flying out to those villages frequently or flying other people from the villages to town. I see no reason why we shouldn't have tribal and village councils on zoom here in the middle of the borough assembly. I see no reason why they don't have a voice on the borough assembly, and in lieu of this vacant spot that has just opened up on the borough assembly. This is a great time to get started with representing the villages better. I don't hear about their needs very often. To be honest, when I talk to my friends in the villages, we talk about fishing and hunting and recreating, and I don't really hear about their needs because I've never been in a position to do something about it. I look forward to learning about your needs and to being able to help. 

Both state and federal capital improvement project funds have become more competitive in the last year, but the borough still needs money to maintain infrastructure both on the road system and in the villages. How can the borough improve its efforts to find funds for these types of projects and what projects would you prioritize if elected to the borough assembly?

• Caroline Roberts: Kodiak has important projects that haven't received the funding they need, and I believe we need to keep pushing for them. For me, the top priorities are basics that directly impact people's daily lives. Roads are critical for safety, making sure families and businesses can get where they need to go. I know all of us have hit a pothole that is deceiving, is bigger than it looked like it was going to be. Harbor improvements are essential to supporting our fishing economy and the jobs tied to it. Schools need to be safe and reliable learning environments for our kids, and water and sewer systems are fundamental to protecting public health and quality of life. And recently, there is a study about the bridges out in Women's Bay. I think that should also be a priority with the flooding issues. These are the types of projects that should stay at the top of our list.
• Kristina Van Hoogmode: I recently learned the phrase PILT, which is Payment In Lieu of Taxes. And this is money from the federal government that we get because the Coast Guard doesn't pay property taxes. All of these exemptions that we have in our community, and they pay a nominal fee by some magic magic formula that's in addition to our budget, I think we should do more lobbying to get greater PILT. I know Cordova gets a good amount of money for their projects through the PILT, looking at specific projects. One locally is looking at our landfill. We need to do a lot of thinking about our landfill, and the budget is definitely a priority. So we're going to have to get creative with our solutions, we're going to have to all pitch in and recycle more, figure out how to use things. Also, funding our harbor is not a thing that we can pitch in and recycle as much for. We're going to have to fund that. That is a backbone of our economy. It's sort of like, are we going to pay the electricity in this room? Yeah, we have to. It's like, we need it if we want to keep going. Looking at other capital projects, I noticed some things going forward, like the Chiniak Water is a priority, figuring out that balance. And I really give credit to Karluk, trying to do the food independence [sic]. We can work with grants for that and more, yes,
• Jeffery Woods: The borough can improve its efforts to try and find funds by either delineating an individual who's already a staff member to act as a grant writer, to try and obtain more federal funds, or to create a new position for that. Are we in a position to do that? Not necessarily, however, looking at what positions are vacant, that could be something looked into. How do we prioritize which capital projects to work on? We talk about the city and the borough like they're these two separate, completely non-touching entities, which is just, I think, a little bit simplistic. The issue we have is each affects the other. So when it comes to the pick on the Chiniak Creek wash out there, that's a bunch of different Native land out there that's no longer accessible, and there's quite a bit of BLM land out past that that's no longer accessible. That bridge has been out for, God, five or six years or better. That could certainly be a priority. Be it just there's going to take some investment there. The flip side of that too is, like I said, we talk about city and borough like they don't really communicate a whole lot. The harbor is a big project, and if we want to expand the borough properties, we're going to need to seriously look at, “How can the borough help fund some of these major infrastructure projects, such as the water and sewer expansion that we're talking about?” Funding, I'm certain exists, however, we need to seriously investigate how who we task and how we task them with seeking some of these federal funds that are available through a wide range of grant programs and utilizing our private public partnerships like Soil and Water Conservation District. I was talking to one of them the other day. They had the money to redo the bridge out in Chiniak. Nobody wanted to take over responsibility for maintaining it. That's an unacceptable dropping of the ball, in my opinion. Thank you.
• Jeremiah Gardner: Finding funds for projects, to me, is going to involve increasing revenue and generally doing that by increasing a tax base. So this goes back to several other questions that we've already answered. For me, opening up land opens up property taxes, whether that's commercial or residential, whatever works for that area is what's best for that area. Additionally, just making it easier to do business in Kodiak is going to generate more tax revenue for us at the borough. That's generally going to be in the form of property tax in the city. Obviously, that's going to circulate around sales tax, and that's really neither here nor there for this conversation as far as which projects to prioritize, anything to do with schools. Well, again, keeping fiscal forethought in mind we need to be taking better care of our roads. We keep getting companies from off-island to come and take bids and they're not as familiar with what needs to be done on these roads. I've had plenty of talks with friends that work for Brechan, and they can reiterate to me all sorts of issues and how things are done wrong, and that's why you see the stretch of road from the Y out to Pasagshak. It looks like it was done not very long ago. You see the stretches in the middle, not so hot. We brought in a company from off island a couple years ago, and it fell apart really fast. Harbors need to be a huge, huge priority. The lifeblood of this town has been in the fishing industry, and we need to support that. But there's a lot of other little pieces to that puzzle. We need to keep the fishermen here. They're going off to Homer to sell fish, even though there's that fuel cost, they're going off to ports down in Washington to do repairs, because the cost of the repair outweighs the cost of the fuel to get there. But a lot of that conversation goes hand in hand with the city and ports and harbors. Thank you.
• Rob Lindsey: Harbors keep coming up. That's a city issue, that's a big issue, and currently working for the city. Somebody wants to talk about potholes. I can have a really in depth discussion with potholes, about how we do it and what we do it. Discussion about on-island/off-island contractors is kind of a moot point, because there's a lot of sides to that issue. I think we need to look at a lot of forms of revenue. Again, this is not to the assembly, but we need to draw other things to the table that, I mean, Kodiak has. Why don't we try and push this place to make films and movies here? You've got everything. I mean, the weather, the wind, the beast, all of it. I gotta give big shout out to Sam much, because this is really where the driving comes. Sam is putting his money where his mouth is, building up a cold storage facility that this town's needed forever. And God knows what it's costing him, but it's going to house 1.2 million pounds of frozen product. Half of it is already committed for by Silver Bay, but that's still 600,000 pounds, or give or take of frozen product. And we really need to encourage our guys to be able to secondary process. Not only do we have guys that have short seasons, we need to, like the cod thing, it goes so fast now, and that was one of the things that guys could dabble in and get started in the secondary processing. We have some water facilities on Near Island that we could help to and not just our fishermen, but our processors. They're used to such short seasons now, as we can encourage people to prosper, they will have more money in their pockets. One of the things we got to look at is this federal presence. And again, I welcome them here. I like it here, but they've got to come to the table. You talk about the landfill? Well, Coast Guard, people make trash too. We've all got an interest in this together. I think there's a chance to work again jointly on some big projects around the corner of Dead Man’s, and you'll get some growth, and you'll get some property, maybe without having to put a whole lot of money in infrastructure. And I think that's what we got to look at. We got to look at saving where we can.

What’s your vision for the Kodiak Island Borough’s future and how do we get there?

• Kristina Van Hoogmoed: I love picturing what we could be, and it's amazing where we've gotten, and we can do so much more. 10 years in the future. 15 years in the future, I want us to be self-sustaining. We have the gift of living on an island with, I want to say, all our best friends, like people. That's crazy. We get to live with each other and take care of each other all the time. In the future, I don't remember how many years you said, or any specific years or anything, I want us to be even more self reliant as we can with the way things are going. The state is having less to do with it as it seems, the federal government. We are going to take care of each other. I think I picture us returning sort of more towards those Alutiiq values of taking care of our elders, taking care of our community, sharing more responsibilities. I picture us treating each other as more as a family. I think we are in interesting times right now, and I feel like it's only going to bring us closer together when somebody has an emergency in Kodiak, we step up, and I think we will continue to step up for each other. I think what we need is leadership. I think what we need is gathering. I think what we need is a return to taking care of the people right in front of us, and less looking at our screens and more at each other. If I were to dream big, I would go towards our child care being more collective, making sure that everybody's kid is looked out for. Thank you.
• Jeffery Woods: My vision for Kodiak is one of economic growth. It's one where people my age can afford to have a family here and afford to grow businesses here. Currently, it's an incredibly tough environment to either A.  have a family, B. grow a business, or C. even as something as simple as home ownership. I see Kodiak in 10, 15, 20 years as a larger and larger military port, maybe not ideally, but I think that's the way it's going to go. Not saying it's not ideal, I just think it's probably the way, it's the direction it's going to go with larger and larger Coast Guard investment. I think our fisheries are largely on the decline, and we have to somewhat prepare for that. I don't know that with some of those fisheries, there's a whole lot of hope, right, getting better any time soon, as much as I wish that wasn't the case, because any of you that knows me know I have a terrible outdoor addiction. How do we get there? We get there by increasing the tax base. How do we do that? We do that by opening up more land for development. But we do it responsibly and we communicate about it. Communication is ultimately key, and that's something that historically, the borough has not done a terribly good job of. Yes, we follow Open Meetings Act requirements. However, going above and beyond, that has often been lacking. I would like to see us communicate more. And I tell people all the time, it's really hard to over communicate. You may annoy somebody. That’s, I mean, a small price to pay for people being a part of the conversation and bringing their unique perspectives to bear on different issues. I see a bright future for Kodiak, but I see a time in between now and then where we have to buckle down, look at making hard choices and accept reality for what it is and move forward. I look forward to working with all my friends and neighbors and you know guys, it's going to be a hell of a ride.
• Jeremiah Gardner: My vision for the borough's future is a profitable entity that's able to have some money in their pocket. We're able to deal with crises as they come, and not having to run and look for a handout – a sustainable community. Groceries are a huge issue. There's got to be an easier way. I know some of our villages have dealt in hydroponics and other alternative sources and things – I don't know how feasible that is for the city. One thing that comes to mind is when our now borough manager had convinced Alaska Airlines to leave a flight here overnight, and so we always had that flight out in the morning, and how much that saved us. And maybe there's a partnership available with somebody like Alaska Airlines to help us get fresher groceries. Just the other week, I got a bunch of fresh stuff, and I brought it to my cabin, and it was all rotten before the weekend was over. It was disgusting. Another thing I'd like to see for our future is a clean town. You go to other towns in Alaska, and they're not much different than ours in terms of size. They're not much different in terms of tax base, but you're seeing the services rendered from the powers that be that are superior to what we're doing. And beyond that, you're seeing community involvement where it's just clean. There's community pride. They've taken care of it. Anybody who's lived here for a while, if you think about crab Fest in the 90s, how much community involvement was there? It was crazy. Yeah, we had cool rides that came down, but that wasn't the heart of crab fest, it was the people. Now, how do we get there? Tax base is essential. But also, like I said before, we need to make it easier to do business in Kodiak, and I think we need to keep construction and projects based on local companies. I know there's a lot to unpack on that topic, and there's other issues when you're bringing in an outside entity to complete a project, but when I see companies like Cornerstone working on the fire department here, that really bums me out. I want to see Brechan. I want to see Friend construction. I want to see Wolf and Gray. I want to see those tax dollars stay here.
• Rob Lindsey: Back to the Future, a town where you didn't lock your doors. You left something downtown on the harbor, whether you left it a day or a week, it was still there, where neighbor loves neighbor. I love the USDA hoop houses. I'd like to see that program encouraged. I think it was a great thing. I'd like to see increasing progress towards food security. I think a number of our neighborhoods, and permanently, primarily, a lot of the housing issues, they are city issues, not as much borough. But I think we have some areas that we could strongly look at for neighborhood revitalization. That's a complex thing. You've got to get incentivized people to either upgrade or part with them. I can, I could throw out half a dozen little neighborhoods that you could go, “yeah, you could put something new,”. I think that many cities, and this is probably sacrilege here, and you may hang me on this, but I believe that at some point in time, somebody's going to go first and to solve these issues, many of them will be what we call what most cities and towns are having to do. You go to what? Mixed use, medium density, mid rise buildings where you've got two or three floors of professional, commercial and three floors, perhaps of very, very nice residential properties. And I think being modern, efficient, you'll have reductions in water and wastewater as well as energy efficient. And you could put that. Say, like out there where, by KANA, is a beautiful spot. That could be done and be close to things, make pedestrian access as all good. We have to look at the areas we already have instead of reaching out. One thing that preserves the land, and it's sorry, but that's what's on the planning. You do put people closer together, you provide the access. I want to see a community that remains with what we have here, strong, subsistence, access, everybody, approachable, and another safe, safe community.
• Caroline Roberts: Looking ahead 10 years, I hope to see Kodiak as a family, friendly and resilient community, strong schools, thriving local businesses and sustainable opportunities for residents. We need to work to ensure that we are doing things that support local needs and strengthen Kodiak for the long term, not the short term. We get there by listening to the community's needs. We need to listen to everyone on and off the road system to be able to support each other and rely less on off Island resources. We get there by working with local businesses and farmers to grow the economy in 10 years. I hope we are a community where people want to stay.

Candidates were one minute for closing statements.

Jeffery Woods: I just want to thank KMXT for hosting this. This is a tremendous public service that you guys do, and thank you for all your hard work and staying up late, for getting this done, for all the staff that’s here today and everybody else who makes what happens, happen. Thank you so much for the opportunity to come to speak to everybody here. I am tremendously grateful to be able to run to be a borough assembly member here. I cannot tell you enough how excited I am for this opportunity and how much I look forward to having these great conversations for the next few years and being a borough assembly member. Thank you guys so much.

Jeremiah Gardner: I love Kodiak. I love this community, and over the last 15 years, all of you have supported me and my family so much, and I hope that you felt that we supported you too, because we sure as heck tried. I do want to see Kodiak be the absolute best place that it possibly can be. And I'm excited, excited excited about how much more involvement there is in this election cycle. I'm excited about the people that are sitting up here with me today. I think every one of these people has great ideas and has some solid contributions to give to you. And I feel the same way about the people on the city ballots, really, no matter which way you vote, I think this is going to be a great year in the start of something tremendous. I hope I get your vote, but I think you're going to do great no matter what happens. So thanks so much for having me.

Rob Lindsey: Imagine, if you will, I wonder how much more we'd accomplish if we would fill this chamber with this many people at every meeting we come to, I come to a fair number of meetings, and usually there's just myself and a couple other people that are obligated to be there. And that's what,getting the root of it, is that we all have a voice here. This is a very open place. I see this being, I love Kodiak. I don't really like the weather from January to March. But that aside, this is fantastic. We're getting such great exposure from the tourists. I think there's a lot of opportunities that we could look for additional income. And one thing that's going to happen, like it or not, is that with AI, we are going to see reduced cost in administration across the board. Now we're also going to be able to provide a need for those people to transition to something else. Some of those folks that are in administration don't know how to work with their hands. I'd like to see more vocational training, and most of all, I want to see you guys here for the next three years. Thank you.

Caroline Roberts: First of all, thank you for the opportunity to share tonight. I'm running for the assembly because I want to represent all of Kodiak families, businesses and villages alike, and make sure we're investing wisely in schools, public safety and the services that keep our community strong. My approach is to listen, work together, and make decisions that keep Kodiak. Friendly, welcoming and resilient for the future, I'd be honored to earn your support and thanks again.

Kristina Van Hoogmoed: Thank you for everybody for showing up and tuning in tonight. I'm glad we can connect like this. I want to bridge a gap between the decision makers and the everyday folks. Everyone should know who to talk to to install crosswalk or get a pothole filled, even I'm still learning local government is complex, but I want to look under the hood with you guys and see how we can make it run or run better at least, I'm excited. There's so many people interested in this and being on the assembly, and that I've been able to listen to you guys. It sounds like we have a really deep bench of ideas. These discussions are important to our community. If I'm elected, please know I'd be calling on you, all of you guys at you people on YouTube, and you people there calling on everybody. We can't do this by ourselves. We are a village going to be calling on you for your expertise, for your brains. The Assembly is the tip of the spear, but you guys are the rest of the spear.