Kodiak Island Borough mayor 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, Jared Griffin is a member of KMXT’s staff, but neither he nor Scott Arndt were shown any of the questions ahead of the forum. Griffin 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:

Scott Arndt: Good evening. My name is Scott Arndt. First came to Kodiak in May in 1964 so I was 10 years old at the time, and so I've grown up here, raised kids here, and have grandkids here, been involved in local government, I'm going to say, since 1979 and have been on the borough assembly at different times. And for the last two years, I have been the borough mayor. I'd like to do a full three year term, and then it's time for me to get out. So thank you.

Jared Griffin: Hi everyone. I'm Jared Griffin. I want to start off by thanking KMXT and KVOK, and especially the Chamber. I've in the past, worked on these forums before, and I know it takes a lot of work to put them together. So thank you so much for that. Kodiak has been my home for nearly 20 years. It's where my wife and I, we've raised our kids, and our adult children have found support here, and my son is growing up with that same sense of adventure and community that I had growing up in the Chugach foothills in East Anchorage. I grew up in a military family of faith, often moving, and I learned just how important stability is and just how strong communities are when neighbors step up for one another – and those lessons are why I've dedicated myself to serving Kodiak. I believe a mayor should be steady, transparent, collaborative. I bring that experience on the borough assembly as deputy presiding officer and our nonprofits, where I've managed staff and balanced finances, at Kodiak College, where I teach the next generation of Alaskans, and with our Shakesbears, where I build championships and leaders, and I'd like to lead and build a championship team at the borough.

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

What qualifies you to be the mayor of the Kodiak Island Borough? What unique experience, skills and connections would you bring to the position?

• Jared Griffin: I think I bring with me a breadth and depth of service to Kodiak, and that's, like I mentioned, on the assembly, chairing the Health Facilities Advisory Board, being on the board of SWAMC, the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference, chairing the Workforce Regional Advisory Council, the Joint Fisheries Work Group consolidation committee. I have that kind of breadth and depth of service with the borough, but my nonprofit leadership, many of you are already familiar with as part of that in my education leadership at the college, and work with KIBSD, I think all of them together bring, help build, this sense of just why I love this place. Because I feel like this, this place needs what I have. I believe Kodiak deserves a mayor who listens and I listen. A mayor who plans ahead – I love planning. That's why I think I've succeeded so well in my work, is with planning, and also I get along with this great borough staff. I think that's really key – making those relationships work. And I work well with the staff, and we can get a lot of projects done.
• Scott Arndt: Number one, I’m currently the mayor. Second, it begins with the length of public service that I've gotten. I've been on the borough assembly at different times, three different times, three different generations in there. I have been on the Planning and Zoning Commission and chaired it. I've been on the lands committee and chaired it. I've been on the Fire District One Board and chaired it. Service District One Board and chaired it. Originally, Service District One was created for sewer and water. Roads were thrown on as an afterthought when it went on the ballot. All it is now is roads, but it helped provide the infrastructure for Service District One to grow into what it is. So the experience there, the business experience that I have now, a lot of people don't realize it's not the mayor that leads the Borough Assembly, it's the manager that leads the Borough Assembly. The Assembly hires the manager. The mayor cannot even write a letter without approval of the Assembly. So the planning that you want to talk about comes from the Assembly and is then carried out. So that's a little misunderstanding I think that's out there, the Assembly, is that Mr. Griffin should know that, because he's on the Assembly. Thank you.

One of the powers as mayor is the ability to veto ordinances and resolutions passed by the borough assembly. How do you think vetoes should or should not be used and how would you use the power to override assembly decisions?

• Scott Arndt: I use the power sparingly, but I do use it well. Now, some people think that you do not veto something that passes on a seven “Yes,” and zero “No,” at the assembly level. But I did it because it was on principle. There was [sic] mistakes made. Too many mistakes made, that opened up the borough to liability. The Assembly last week did not override. So another one that they chose to do was when the borough was looking at doing a Band-Aid approach to repairing the pool instead of doing an overhaul that is desperately needed on that facility, and that wasn't overridden. And we are now looking into the full depth of the problem, and have decided that it is quite extensive. Hope that answers your question.
• Jared Griffin: Like Scott said, the veto is a very important power that the mayor has, and it should be used rarely. It's something that someone should take very seriously when they're thinking about doing that and overriding the wishes of the assembly. I think I would, probably, I would consider veto [sic] for a couple of things. One, if there is some kind of conflict of interest that I perceive that was not addressed. That is important to me, is declaring those conflicts of interest. And I think that's something worth looking at too. I think it's to ensure that the manager and the staff are following policies as they go through whatever ordinance resolution that comes through. I think, also, it's a tool to prevent the assembly from succumbing to tunnel vision. And being on the Assembly, we can do that. We can get an idea in our head, and then we just run with it. And there's some tunnel vision involved. And I think the mayor has to have that skill of perception to see when the assembly is leading themselves down, not necessarily the wrong way, but maybe in an incomplete way. And the veto, I think, is a way of helping to make the assembly decisions or decision making more complete. So I see it as supporting the assembly and their and their real and their goals, rather than chastising the assembly for getting something wrong.

As mayor, one of your responsibilities is to represent the whole of the Kodiak Island Borough, not just road system communities. How would you connect with and represent the surrounding villages and ensure their needs are a priority for the borough?

• Jared Griffin: Transportation issues and and housing issues and those little brief kind of listening sessions that I had were very important, and so I would use some of the, or much of the mayor's travel budget to actually travel to villages, instead of Washington, DC, to connect with the people that are here on the island. I would also like to organize a Mayor's Council, including all the village leaders and the city and the mayor to meet when we can. I would make a more intentional, concerted effort that has been made to appoint emerging leaders from the villages onto boards and commissions. I think there's a lot of repairing of relationships that need to happen, especially on the cultural side of the villages. And really, you know, it's leading by listening. It's the listening that will direct the policy and that will direct the solutions. As was said earlier, the more voices at the table together. But for me, it's about more. It's not just about voices at the table. It's about increasing the number of decision makers at the table and the village. Yes, we should listen to village advice and feedback, but they also need to be at decision making tables, on boards and commissions and work groups and things like that. So I would make a more concerted effort to integrate the leadership there.
• Scott Arndt: First off, I grew up with a lot of the different people in the different villages, because they came to town for school, the connections we have there. One of the things I try to do is participate in the rural forum when they come to town twice a year, here, and listen to what they're saying, what they might have to say. One of the things that gets misconstrued is the borough only has certain powers. The primary power is education, and we support the schools. That's the main service that's provided to the outlying communities. They have their own city councils, and they have projects they bring to us that go on our capital improvements list, that we try and incorporate in, and we try and help them any way we can, especially through Alaska Municipal League does and tries to work with different communities on different grant opportunities for the villages. So when it comes, we put their projects on because the borough does not have sewer and water powers. Borough does not have road powers, the borough does not have police powers. So cities typically have that, and we try and help them where we can if they have something, what we provide is education, and we, through community development, which is planning and zoning, we try and help them there. We are in charge of assessing which we also collect any property tax that the other cities wish to be collected, and we remit that too. Those are the duties of the borough. So if there's something we can do to help them, we're more than willing to listen.

What factors do you think are worsening the local housing crisis and what actions should the borough take to address the lack of affordable homes?

• Scott Arndt: The lack of affordable homes and the housing crisis has existed since I got here in 1964. It's no worse than during the 70s and early 80s. Now, we have some different demographics. We have a loss in population, but yet we have a reduced housing availability. Part of that is our community is aging, and we're in our homes. Our homes are relatively paid for and we're empty nesters, and we haven't downsized, and so we're not helping, and there's many of us in that boat in Kodiak, here. Some people feel the Airbnb, and that's a different animal. That's created some, there is also what I'll call some snowbirds that have lived here, now don't live here, but four to six months a year and are gone, and their houses are are vacant. So we've got a different demographic taking place, but housing is expensive and is not going to get any cheaper here. Thank you.
• Jared Griffin: I worked with the Kodiak Economic Development Corporation. There's so many “C” words. And when they were working on their housing plan and housing survey, I went to several of those workshops. And pinning down the factor that is worsening a local housing crisis is really difficult. I agree that there are some demographic things going on, especially as there are smaller families. So it looks like population is going down, but they're not. But our young families aren't having as many kids as they used to. There's issues with stock. There might be some issue with corporate speculators and rental properties, perhaps, but we need to think about it. So the borough does not have housing authority, but we do have economic development power, and so we think about housing as economic growth and workforce stability keeping families here. We got to start off with the lands committee, which is, under our purview and and I think their recent meeting was just canceled due to lack of quorum. I believe in better preferences when land does come available for younger families, similar to a homestead kind of policy that was brought up earlier. Long term leases, long term leaseholds for developments, engaging in our partners a little bit more intentionally, KEDC, with the Chamber, with major employers, with builders. We don't engage with them enough at the borough level to make these kinds of plans and to match the demands of what's actually out there. And of course, mixed use zoning was brought up earlier. I was talking to someone yesterday about the cottage housing, and there's some. I talked with the community development director about small homes with a common living space so it brings the cost down. So there are things that we can do on our side, but the problem is quite complex.

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

• Jared Griffin: I guess we'll go 10 years out ish. Kodiak, a lot of you know I'm a competitor. I like to win. So my vision for Kodiak is, in 10 years, the fact that Kodiak will be the number one place in Alaska to start up a small business and succeed. Ten to fifteen years out, the fact that Kodiak will be number one to raise a small family or young family in Alaska, the fact that 10-15 years from now, Kodiak will be known as the gateway to the Arctic. The Coast Guard announced that they're recommending opening up four shipping lanes from the Bering to Seattle. Why hasn't Kodiak been a part of that conversation? I would like to get us there. In 10 years, number one in the state for community pride, which was brought up. We would be seen as the number one place for culture. The number one place, this may not bring well with a lot of people, but maybe the number one place for outdoor tourism, that's my vision. And it will take work, and it will take planning, and it will take consensus and repairing relationships. But we can get there, and we can be that place that is this. You know, still we're number one, but still kind of a secret place, an open secret, you know, so we retain our charm and our pride in this place.
• Scott Arndt: I think one of the first things we have to do is fix some of the problems we have, and that's part of what's consuming our time. We have student enrollment continuing to decline – projections based on enrollment right now. We won't know till after the October count what the actual enrollment is, but it looks like it's on track for decline again this school year. So North Star school was closed with basically the understanding that it was going to save somewhere between two and a half to three and a half million dollars in operating costs on the school district. I'm curious whether that is going to materialize on there [sic]. We have problems at the hospital. Jared and I were at a committee meeting yesterday where we got 12 to $14 million worth of work, and we only got about $5 million and that's more immediate work. There's other work in projects too. So it's an enterprise fund. But originally, the hospital was built with tax dollars, and every savings account that the borough had back then was used to build that hospital. I don't want to see us go broke trying to support that. We have problems with the boat harbor. We got problems with roads. We got problems with sewer infrastructure. We got to work on getting that infrastructure fixed in order to facilitate any growth in the future. So I'm looking at the stuff that needs to be done now. Yes, Kodiak has survived. We've had our ups and downs, and I am confident we will get out of this too, but it's going to take some effort, and I'm concentrating on that stuff. Thank you.

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?

• Scott Arndt: I've already stated on the record what my opinion is on that, and I'll stand by it, and I'll repeat it tonight here. First off, the closing of North Star school did not happen overnight. It took 10 to 15 years to decide to close that school, because that's how long the student population enrollment has been declining. Now, it is not going to open in a year or two. And there's a great many on the assembly that feel we need to hang on to that. I am not one of those. It needs a $2 million fix on the roof sooner rather than later. Operational costs? Well, give you an example. We get an electric bill for August. That's $2,400 and nobody was in it. So there's issues there. The borough does not do a good job owning buildings and leasing it out. It's going to be the taxpayers that are going to have to support anything that goes in there. I'm in favor of disposing of that facility. Is that really what I wanted? No. North Star, I testified, was a school that should have remained open, not closed. So with that, we don't need it, and there's no reason to hang on to it. So I think we need to sell it. The YMCA would be, YMCA Alaska, would be a great owner of that facility. Thank you.
• Jared Griffin: I would hope, you know, six months ago, that this question wouldn't even be up there. We – Scott alluded to it – we've known about this. We've known that this was coming for quite a long time, and it was official earlier this year, and it was only at a joint work session where the assembly compelled the mayor to start a committee to looking [sic] at this transition and this planning, and they only met one time. And that was to decide if they needed a city representative on the board. So now we're in this position where we're juggling the kinds of services, or even businesses that can go in there and it shouldn't really have had to be that way. It should remain a community building. The community built it. If we dispose of it, we will, not get a return. And even then, whatever we use, we will have to save, in case we need to buy the building back, if the school district population goes back up. So it's better used, and to let the borough staff kind of decide and work with organizations in town, primarily nonprofit organizations, preschools, daycares. Even the YMCA, if they want to lease space, and with the city too, it's a great spot, great location, great building. And I think this could be a pillar of how well the borough can work with organizations and work with people who need space, right? There's a lack of commercial space and nonprofit space in this community, and something has dropped into our lap, and it's the building that we already own. So free school, right, is what I heard. So disposing it should still be on the table, because if things don't work out, things don't work out, and we don't want to just let it sit there and get vandalized, but, yeah, let's keep it in the community.

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 as borough mayor?

• Jared Griffin: The reality is yes, there are a lot of infrastructure needs right now, and that dollar that we don't spend on them today is going to be, you know, four or five dollars. In a few years, the pool, the hospital, the auditorium, the leachate system, you know, and on and on. We can improve our efforts by coming up with, by developing a long term capital project plan. The CIP that comes to us every year – it almost always just seems like a surprise, and it's never on the agenda to build up those conversations that would turn into a plan. And the plan would include a strategy for incurring funds for these types of projects. I think the biggest thing that we will have to do is PILT was brought up, I think, in the previous work, or in the previous discussion. PILT is, I think, is a huge thing that we should double, triple our advocacy efforts with our legislators to show how we use that and how we're getting the shrift. You know, we're getting short-shrifted [sic] on it and and that would be a big place I would go to to get funding for some of these projects. They do cost money. I am not in favor of raising the mill rate to pay for the projects. But there are other ways that that we can do it and I see PILT and voluntary PILT and keep and as part of that capital improvement plan, we've got to make a plan and a timeline for having shovel ready projects so that when grant opportunities do come up, we can just hand them the grant, hand them the proposal, with the proposal and kind of be done with it. Why? Because it was part of our plan. We have predicted this, and we have planned for it.
• Scott Arndt: The state capital improvements projects have been non-existent for the last five years. Very little has come through from the state and what the federal government has been doing. Fortunately, we had a $7 million grant the city got for the USDA on the fire station. So that helped them, along with another major grand capital improvement one that Louise Stutes and Gary Stevens were able to get to match that 7 million. We, for the borough, we have schools that we need to maintain, both in the outlying communities and in town. We're behind on it. Like I said, the borough does not do well, plan, or even enterprise funds that are buildings. One on Near Island, GSA contract – there's not enough money to do the maintenance on yet. There's not enough money at the hospital, and there's not enough money for doing all the maintenance at the schools. So that's part of what our job is, is prioritizing what we're going to do on that. And we have a plan, and it's trying to do some both in town and in the rural communities. So our manager has been doing very well in working with that and presenting that to the assembly, and we'll continue to do that. Thank you.

If you are elected, what priorities, projects and changes would you focus on?

• Scott Arndt: I think that one of the things is ineffective, is the CIP list has been for the last five years. We still need to use that mechanism. And what I'd like to see, like what we did in the early 80s, and at that time, it was the right time, and it worked out. I don't know that it would be this time, but we need to get some smaller sewer and water projects on there. For instance, you have a water line that goes out Spruce Cape, and you have a water line that goes down Woodland Drive. Those two lines need to be looped, so if there's a problem, you can supply it from either direction. Also to do that, you tie the road in. So if there's a problem, it works out well, I think one of the things that the lands committee will be working on is what we call subdivision potential, which is otherwise sometimes called the KANA Field there. That development is going to take infrastructure and it's going to take sewer and water on there. We don't have that on the capital improvements list, and I think we need to put that on so it's some of that stuff we have. The boat harbor is on the CIP list, the borough CIP list. I think it was number one. I think it'll be number one this year again. Treatment plant facilities, so it's some of that infrastructure that we need to try and help. Thank you.
• Jared Griffin: I completely agree with Scott about all the projects that are there and that are knocking at our door. Those are things that we should prioritize because they are part of the structure, if we want to grow or build or at least maintain our community. Then we got to make sure the bones are healthy. I would prioritize planning as mayor, whether it's leading the assembly in discussions about strategic planning, long term capital project planning, working more closely with a community development plan that they are working on. That's where I said, and that's where I prioritize my discussions with the assembly. And then I would also prioritize relationships. I believe in open communication. As mayor, I would prioritize holding Q and A's when and where possible. I've gotten an open invite to the senior center, which I'm looking forward to. Writing newspaper columns,  coming on KVOK, and being more – I would prioritize – being more open and transparent and accessible to people. I would also prioritize integrating more community voices into the development of projects and what kind of projects that we need. A religion forum, perhaps would be great. You're not going to get any distractions from me, from my personal business, or my dealings with other duties that I have. The priority has to be that government is accessible, that government is accountable, that government is something that you can trust, and it's going to be a hard time. It's going to be, we're going to have a hard time completing some of these projects if we don't have that buy-in.

Despite the recent funding boost from the state, the local school district is likely facing further significant budget cuts. How would you handle the annual funding request from KIBSD and how much funding would you approve?

• Jared Griffin: Well, as been said, the borough's number one priority is to fund education. It's our number one responsibility. That's pretty much what we decide on first and then shape the rest of our budget around. I have always supported granting the school district's request. They need stability, but more than stability, guys, it's an investment. It's just not making sure that our kids are educated, and our families have a place to go. But this is like a literal investment in Kodiak's future. These are the people who are going to be leading Kodiak in 10, 20, 30 years down the line. So I think even proposals of lowering the mill rate is this kind of underhanded way of cutting education funding, so it has to be prioritized for us. How much funding would I approve? It depends. It depends on the ask. It depends on how much money. We're about to run into a ceiling where our allowable maximum is going up, but because of our tax code, our mill rate is going to be going down. So it may not happen this year, but definitely in two years, we're going to have to have serious discussions with ourselves, the school board and with the state on how to get the school district what they need. I don't buy into the argument that the school just needs to be accountable through test scores. Test scores is not about funding policy. Test scores are about to measure how effective are teachers and how well are the students learning. It's a tool to measure that, not to determine all these other kinds of big financial things. That's not how government works. That's how businesses work – that is not how government works. Thank you.
• Scott Arndt: Well, as the mayor, the mayor doesn't get to vote on the school budget appropriation, on there. Only in the case of a tie would the mayor vote on it. So first off, education is supposed to be the number one responsibility of the state. Also, the state under the Dunleavy administration, has fallen way behind on that. It wasn't until recently here, that the legislature was finally able to override one of his vetoes on education – first time in seven years. We got one more year with his administration, and I'm hoping there will be a change that will let the legislature and the governor proceed with providing funding necessary. It isn't just Kodiak that's had a problem. It's all boroughs. Look at the Anchorage district, look at the Kenai district, look at the Fairbanks districts. We all have funding problems. Juneau, Ketchikan, so it's a matter of the state facing up to its responsibility on education. The Kodiak Island Borough has been carrying the difference for years, given in the last four years, substantial increase in funding to schools, and we'll have to weigh that against the other revenue and other responsibilities of the borough. Thank you.

Commercial fishing makes up the largest part of Kodiak’s economy. As climate change and policies create issues in the industry, how would you suggest improving Kodiak’s economic resiliency?

• Scott Arndt: Economic resiliency. Well, I tell you, government isn't going to do a damn thing about it. It's going to be the private sector. It's going to be the people in the community, like Sam, much like the Rohrers, and you can go right on down the list, putting their money where their mouth is in this community. It's not government. I've watched government put money into so-called economic development for the last 40 years here, and the only gain I ever saw out of it was a branding thing that came when the Chamber of Commerce was doing it. And then there's some other communities that help steal that too, copy the idea. So no, I don't feel government. We can encourage, but government doesn't create the economic resilience. One of the things that I feel should happen in this community is we need to change the way we take care of our garbage, we need to basically produce energy from it. Which, means incinerate it and generate energy, and then look at using that energy for sustainability on growing food greenhouses and stuff like that, and also generating electricity. So that's one of the things. The fishing industry is in turmoil right now, and it's trying to sort itself out. It's, I would say it's the worst I've seen it in the 61 years I've lived here. And it's drastically affecting families in this community. And we're seeing the waterfront, the canneries are far less [sic]. We now have no other canneries around the island. The only canneries are in town here, and I'll say seafood processors. So it's going to be the private sector putting money where their mouth is, and that cold storage facility that Sam and his partners are providing. I've heard about that for 50 years. Thank you.
• Jared Griffin: I believe in place based development that works with the government. I guess, I'm a capitalist, by more of an Adam Smith capitalist that saw that – the private sector and government – they have to work together for any kind of capitalist economy to work. Fishing is the backbone we need to protect that however we can and look at opportunities for supporting the city and their harbor infrastructure. We can support, we can make resolutions for, you know, conservation minded policies. We can organize things like a fisheries work group that we have. That's government bringing fishery and maritime sectors together to talk about the economics of what they're experiencing right now. We can participate in SWAMC, which is focused on fisheries and transportation issues across our region. Too much wealth leaves our borough to go to Anchorage, to go to the valley, to go to Seattle. If we start to think about our economy as what's going on here, Scott mentioned a couple of examples, there are things that the government can do. There are things with zoning that we can do, which is a big part of it when we have properties like North Star. There are things that we can do to help with that. The borough can insert itself into these opening of the Arctic conversations going on for economic development. But again, we've been standing back too much, and we should really, yeah, get into that. There's explore logistics, storage, research, lot of opportunities there. We can look at land use and land policies to encourage more commercial space development. That's a tool in our toolbox. So there are a lot of things that the government can do.

As the Coast Guard continues to increase its presence in and around Kodiak, how should the borough work with officials to ensure smooth growth and maintain a partnership? What would a healthy partnership look like?

• Jared Griffin: A healthy partnership would be the fact, in 10 years, we are ranked number one for the most military friendly community in the United States. Yeah, I think that's a goal that we can easily achieve, but it takes, again, accessibility and conversation and collaboration with Coast Guard leadership, which does rotate out quite often. So that is a heavy effort to keep up those, those relationships there. That's what's big to me, is leaders talking to leaders because their plans affect our plans, and I think we need to make that more apparent, perhaps to the Coast Guard, and then plan things together, which would be ideal, because It would save us a lot of money when we have projects. And then again, I think if we could get the Coast Guard to work with us on PILT advocacy. That would be momentous, if we could get the Coast Guard on our side with PILT conversations too. But, those only work with the relationships and the communication that we build with them, we cannot see each other as silos anymore. Our economy cannot handle silos anymore. So, that's where I would go.
• Scott Arndt: I think we already have a healthy partnership with the Coast Guard. We invite them, and we talk about different things at different times with the commander out there. If they have any questions, it's an open form of communication both ways. One of the things that my opponent criticized me for was traveling to Washington, DC. It's also to meet with the Coast Guard. The manager and I have gone there, and it is effective in meeting with the people. PILT, yes, I've gone same trip –we try and get multiple things on trips. I'm on the Alaska Municipal League board of directors and NACO, National Association of Counties. Alaska Municipal League pays half of my cost going there. So it's a win-win for us when we go there, and that's usually when the manager accompanies, so we get the most bang for our buck. But it's talking with our legislators. It's talking with the Coast Guard, which is a big part of our economy here. It's advocating for the PILT through the National Association of Counties, I’ve been doing that. The other community that is there at the table every year for the three years I've gone is Ketchikan. Only they take three people from their borough assembly, their manager, the assistant manager, and the mayor. And so I've learned a lot from them on what they do. We get right now, we budgeted 1.6 and we got about 1.9 million. We thought it was going to be 1.9 but we try to keep it conservative in case there's a problem. Ketchikan gets 4.5 million on PILT, and they're looking for more because they're surrounded. So I think that we've got a good working relationship with the Coast Guard. 

Candidates were given one minute for closing statements.

Jared Griffin: Kodiak has given me and my family so much, and running for mayor is my way of giving back. Over the years, I've served on the borough assembly, chaired boards on the healthcare, workforce, fisheries, led a nonprofit, taught at Kodiak College, and coach star youth to multiple state championships and national bids, and those experiences have one thing in common: I've proven I can listen, I've proven I can build teams, and I've proven I can deliver results. I believe leadership matters. Kodak deserves a leader who is steady, who is transparent and is committed to planning for the long haul, someone who will protect education, who will tackle housing, who will maintain, help maintain our infrastructure, and do what we can to strengthen our economy. That's the kind of leadership that I bring. And when I go to travel to DC and I learn things, I promise to tell you all the ideas and solutions that I've learned. I love this community, and I am ready to put my experience and skills and vision to work for all of Kodiak.

Scott Arndt: This community has been my home. It's what I know. Like I said, 61 years here, and we've come a long way, and it's trying to survive. Right now we're going through reduced population, and I feel I have the experience and the leadership to get us through it. One of our biggest problems here, and the cost of living, is the cost of property taxes, because assessments have gone up, so we've got to work on lowering that, too, and sustaining education at the same time. Thank you.