Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for clarity, however candidate answers and statements are transcribed in their entirety.
Candidates were given one minute for opening statements, in alphabetical order by last name:
Djuna Davidson: Hi, I'm Djuna Davidson, and as you know, I'm running for City Council. I am a Kodiak kid, born and raised. I moved away from Kodiak to work to build my skills through higher education and lived in Olympia, Washington for 20 years. I always had the goal of returning to Kodiak and serving the community where I was raised. I love Kodiak, and I believe that it has everything that a community needs for people to be happy, healthy, and thriving. As every one of my fellow candidates has already acknowledged in previous discussions, there are challenges to our infrastructure and building stability. There are challenges for housing security, there are challenges for our education and meeting the needs of our students and our teachers. I believe that I am the person who can serve Kodiak with compassion, with dedication and with the willingness to have difficult discussions.
Nick Mangini: My name is Nick Mangini. I am running for city council along with the other two candidates here and Jay Celli. Thank all of you for putting your hat in the ring. I think very much we're all in the same boat, and just wanting to give more options on the ballot. I don't necessarily have a specific platform or, you know, drive other than I want to be a part of whatever is going to happen in the future for Kodiak. I'd like to be an approachable and worthwhile member of our council. Thank you.
Sandra West: Thank you. This is always the hardest part, right? It's like, “Who in the world are you?” My name is Sandra West, and I got that part down. I came to Kodiak in 1977 as an active duty Coast Guard and got promoted to full time mom, raised three kids here. I started attending more borough and city meetings because I had an agenda. I wanted to make Kodiak more walkable, bikeable, and then just attending meetings, I found it all very fascinating, and I was drawn into the bigger picture of our harbor and our housing and our people and all that's been going on. And it's been fascinating for me to come in not knowing. So I've been asking lots of questions and meeting a lot of people. So I'm excited about taking another step forward. Thank you.
Jay Celli was absent from the candidate forum on Sept. 29, however he issued a statement for a moderator to read in his absence.
Jay Celli: I wish I was here in person, unfortunately, work has pulled me away. I wish all the candidates the best of luck, and I very much look forward to election day. Thank you to everyone for putting your names in the hat and giving Kodiak real choices at the polls this year.
I believe I can make a real difference for the people of Kodiak. I’ve attended numerous council meetings, and I know that voters deserve clarity on how their tax dollars are being spent. The council's role is oversight, not daily administration, and that oversight has too often been missing in recent projects.
I respect anyone who steps forward to serve, and my friends, Djuna, Nick and Sandra have the best intentions, but it's time for meaningful change. Kodiak needs leadership that is accountable, approachable and willing to engage directly with our citizens. That's why I will bring back town hall meetings in a relaxed potluck setting, giving residents an open, untimed and welcoming space to talk about issues that matter most.
As your council member, I will bring fresh eyes and practical solutions to our community's toughest challenges. Kodiak needs a dedicated maintenance department to take care of our city's infrastructure and equipment before problems grow more costly. We also need to be more proactive in pursuing and enforcing city contracts, ensuring that every project is completed on time, on budget and to the standards Kodiak deserves.
Tourism is a vital part of Kodiak's economy, and we can do more to support it. I propose designating spots on the city dock for local businesses to “bid” on during tourism season, helping maximize business to tourist connections and keeping more visitor dollars circulating in our community.
Housing remains one of Kodiak's greatest needs. I will work to expand low-cost workforce housing through annexation and smarter land management, ensuring that families and businesses alike can thrive here. In addition, I support term limits for both city and borough political seats, because fresh leadership and accountability are essential for healthy government.
My service on the KIBSD strategic planning board, along with my volunteer work with Kodiak students through Highmark Marine Fabrication has given me deep insight into how collaboration between schools, nonprofits and businesses strengthens our community. I will continue building those partnerships to expand services and opportunities for residents.
Kodiak's economy depends on its people and its industries. Our seafood industry, fishermen, processors and support businesses remain the backbone of our island and the city must keep investing in the infrastructure that sustains our fleet. Tourism brings new dollars to Kodiak, and smart public-private partnerships like those already underway in marine fabrication, can create even more local jobs. Long-range planning can position Kodiak as a true gateway to the Arctic, with expanded shore side services and even a floating dry dock to support military and commercial vessels as Arctic routes continue to grow.
If elected, I will dedicate the time and energy this role demands. I will attend every meeting, learn the council process in depth and always listen to the people of Kodiak. I will be engaged, approachable, responsive, fiscally responsible and transparent in every decision. Together, we can preserve what makes our island unique while building the future Kodiak deserves.
Questions posed by moderators, candidates were given two minutes to answer.
What connections, skills, and experience would you bring to the City Council that would otherwise not be represented by current members or your fellow candidates?
- Djuna Davidson: I have a career in education and social services and working in nonprofits. I currently work at the Alutiiq Museum, and have for almost the entire seven years since I've moved home, so I have a pretty intricate understanding of the tourism industry and how that is affecting Kodiak. Which I think we all know is part of how our economy is going to continue to develop as other industries, like fishing, are changing. So I have connections and knowledge of tourism and what can be done to shepherd that industry to benefit the economy of Kodiak. I am the secretary for the Kodiak Arts Council, so I have an understanding of the arts in Kodiak, and we all know that arts are a big part of quality of life. One of the things I want for Kodiak is for every person in our community to feel that they are able to access not just the resources they need for their basic needs, but also the enrichment that they need for a thriving life. And I think I have a good understanding of how to help people feel heard, and how to help people find their voice to share what is important to them. I have a lot of training in conflict resolution and mediation through my career in Washington. I have a certificate in mediation from the Dispute Resolution Center in Olympia, and I think that in government, you always are having difficult conversations, and having someone with experience shepherding difficult conversations is something that can be helpful. I also am, just by nature, a very collaborative person, and grew up in a family of civic engagement.
- Nick Mangini: It's going to be really hard to not be represented by current fellow candidates, because we all have a lot of things in common. So rather than talk against any of their skills, I'd rather just talk about mine. I think number one, just my connection to the fishing industry over 20 years of being a fisherman is very important. I know all the people that walk the docks daily, see them, can't get out of Safeway within an hour, like most of us, because you're spending half your time visiting, and I think that's very important. As far as experience. The last five years I've spent doing economic development through my connections to mariculture and the mariculture industry here. So I've got to really see a lot of the nuances of trying to start a nascent industry in Kodiak, and it's very tough. And I think we're in a position where we need to diversify both our economy and our skilled work set, and what these work, what the workforce is doing, and start thinking about the future, rather than trying to make Kodiak what It's always been in the past. So I think that's a lot of what I bring to the table. Otherwise, I can't say that I would be here to represent something that's not available in your other candidates. Thank you.
- Sandra West: We've all been here a bit, so we have similar connections, definitely and probably similar experience. I think some of the good connections that I'm bringing is not only my relationship with the Coast Guard, having worked out there in various capacities as active duty civilian contractor, but also, I've been reaching out to the city department heads and visiting with them, talking about their budgets and what are their needs. And so that's been helpful in making connections, and been part of the KDEC walkability group as well as the Housing Action Group, and those people are working towards getting solutions. So that's been really fun. I think one of the things that it's important to bring is the ability to say, “Oh, whoops, that was a mistake.” So one thing I have, I think I can say, “Yeah, we made a mistake.” And I think it's important to look at where mistakes have been made and be able to fess up if you mess up, that's it. Thank you.
In part due to increased supply chain prices like for groceries and housing, the cost of living is rising in Kodiak, making it harder for people and businesses to afford to stay here. If elected, what would you do to support both established and incoming residents as well as businesses?
- Nick Mangini: I don't have the silver bullet for all of these. All of these questions, I'd just like to be a part of the group that's helping to decide the best path forward, even if it's not, maybe the perfect path forward. I have a number of ideas of making businesses to afford to stay here. I mean, that all just comes with being supportive of commerce, I think your City Council needs to be supportive of every business and every consumer in Kodiak, giving everybody better access to different goods. Working on supply chain, issues like the cost of groceries and housing and cost of living are all things that are on our everyday plate as a City Council. So I think that's things [sic] that we've been trying to answer for years. So I don't have a necessary, like, “Here's the answer.” I think just being very supportive of the process and the projects that would come with, bringing down the cost of shipping, finding. And new ways to bring things in at a cheaper level, maybe collaborative ways to ship in goods. But these are all things that I look forward to learning about, so I guess that would be my answer. Thank you.
- Sandra West: That’s very kind of you to think we can make that big of a change. But we also have ideas. Right when you're struggling, you come up with something. I would like to see, I know it's a balance, but I would like to see us lower the cost of food, because everybody has to eat, and it hits the poorest of the poorest. So we are taxing food. If we could tax food less, that'd be great. We'd have to raise the taxes somewhere else, but I think to care for the necessities that people really need first would be a start. Thanks.
- Djuna Davidson: This is a big question, and there is no one answer to address it. I agree with Sandra that the cost of food and basic needs is something that needs to be addressed. I am optimistic that maybe the city can work in collaboration with our grocery store and see if there's ways that we can address. My understanding is that a lot of the cost of goods in Kodiak is tied to the cost of shipping to Kodiak. And I'd like to look at what options there are to try to reduce the cost of getting goods to Kodiak. One of the things that happens is the cost of goods goes up and they just never seem to go back down. I think as far as supporting established and incoming residents and businesses, part of that is the community piece, and bringing people in and making people feel like they are a welcome part of the community, that they have a place here when they're new to Kodiak. As far as businesses, I think that the city does a great job at creating opportunities for people to come and learn about the city processes, but I would like to see more support for people in learning like workshops or classes or opportunities to help people who want to start businesses understand more about what it takes and what are the permits and the you know, the different things that you need to do to get your licensing. I know that the Chamber of Commerce has been doing some great work bringing in some business training courses. I know that the college does great work with offering educational opportunities, but I'd like to see the city participate more. Not saying the city is not doing anything, but I just think we could do more. I think that the more access people have to information, the better it is for us all.
What factors do you think are worsening the local housing crisis and what actions should the city take to address the lack of affordable homes?
- Sandra West: That's a tough one, in that it's always been short of housing. Some of the work I did at the Coast Guard base was to do a housing survey in town for what rentals were available. That was pretty easy – it was a short list. I can only guess that, so I won't but I do know that through the KEDC, there is a Housing Action Group, and the part that I'm hopeful about that group is that it's connected nationwide to people who are working on this problem nationwide. So it's not just Kodiak, but. We are between a rock and the ocean here, which also adds to it. I think the best steps for the city going forward with this and addressing it is to continue to address it, to continue. I know it's been in all the discussions, whenever there's action going to be taken. How will this affect housing? So that's good that we are talking about it and keeping it in the forefront. But yeah, no, no silver bullet, but I think that the city needs to keep talking about it and talking to people nationwide. Thank you.
- Djuna Davidson: Like Sandra said, that is such a big question. One of the things, obviously, is whether or not there is enough housing for the people that want to live here and the housing that's available. Not just is it a house that's available, but is a house that meets the needs of the individual or the family? Is it in good shape? I mean, Kodiak has a lot of buildings that are quite old, and one of the other factors that impacts people's ability to pay for their housing is any kind of maintenance costs that are also incurred through that housing. There's not enough housing in Kodiak for all the people that we would like to have living and working in Kodiak. We know this because our schools and our hospital are struggling to find housing for their employees that they're trying to hire, which is preventing us from having a full staff at our hospital, and is requiring us to find other ways to meet those needs. And we need hospital workers. We need teachers. We also need nonprofit workers. You know, we need everyone in the community. I think that it's a multi-faceted discussion on how to address that. I think I would love to see the city and borough work together on some of the property that is already in the borough's control to maybe create some new multi home – what do you call an apartment building? Multi-density, multi-family. To create some more dense housing for Kodiak, and also trying to – it's a little bit out there – but I would love to see us look at tiny houses as part of the solution. I have seen other communities be very successful in using small housing, tiny houses as sort of transitionary housing. Thank you.
- Nick Mangini: This is a tough one for a number of reasons, because you have to really understand all of the factors of why they can't afford this housing. So I think it just goes to the very root of why we're all here. Is just making, you know, the proper changes to make Kodiak a more affordable place to live also means providing jobs and making the workforce enough money to be able to afford this, said affordable housing. I don't know that this is just a city problem. It's definitely about making the city and the borough work, you know, in lockstep, to make this a possible possibility for all the residents of Kodiak. I wish that I knew what was the worsening cause, because I would go to work right now on how to change those things. But to me, for example, as I lost opportunities in fishing and the fishing opportunities around Kodiak, I look to diversify my own business by turning to mariculture. So I think it's just maybe the education of our general public and helping them to diversify their own work, if they so choose, so that we can create more opportunity for all of our residents. For me that's having more than one job, and I know that's not what everybody wants to do, but making sure that people know those options are out there so that they can afford to live in a place that they love and call home is probably the most important. Thank you.
Both state and federal capital improvement project funds have become more competitive in the last year, but the city still needs more money for projects like replacing St. Herman Harbor. How can the city improve its efforts to find funds for these types of projects and what projects would you prioritize if elected to the council?
- Djuna Davidson: Funding is always going to be competitive. I think that one of the biggest priorities for Kodiak is obviously the harbor, but also I'm interested in sort of overall infrastructure as well. You know, our city water and shorelines are pretty aging, and so, you know, I want us to get ahead of infrastructure challenges. It's expensive to repair things, but it's more expensive to replace them. How can we improve our efforts to find funds for these types of projects? Obviously, looking at any kind of federal funding is always an initial place to start, but we all know that federal funding streams are changing and getting more competitive. I do have a lot of experience through my career working with grant funding and federal funding, and I know that it is very competitive, but I think Kodiak has compelling arguments for the value of getting state and federal investment in our community. We are an important point of contact for Alaska with both the fishing industry, but now with this whole “Gateway to the Arctic” thing, there's other industries that are attracted to Kodiak for our convenient location. I think that the harbor has to be the first priority. I think we can look at state funding as well. I also wonder about looking at private and foundation funding recently at the museum, and I know that non profit funding is very different than [sic] municipal funding, but there's a lot of foundations in the lower 48 that are interested in Alaska. Maybe we can make them interested in us.
- Nick Mangini: I think that we're all going to say the harbor is the most important, just because it's glaringly obvious if you use it every day, and it's not through lack of planning in the past, but just more lack of funding. So I think just putting that in the face of both our federal and our state legislators as well, just keeping it in the forefront of their mind, so that every time they see you, they're like, “Oh, here comes the harbor guy,” and just getting out there and doing those kinds of things. It's hard to make money to be created from thin air. So I think you hit the nail on the head with the Gateway to the Arctic. I think that that's going to put a lot bigger strain on our local, especially skilled, services coming in the future. You know, like we just saw this lack of electricians around town, because if everybody was out working on this Base housing, and if you were somebody that was in need of an electrician during that last two year period, it was frustrating. So I think bringing that to both the legislators’ attention and just showing, “Hey, like we're the city of Kodiak and its residents are kind of suffering from this building infrastructure,” and all this funding can't just go out to the base. It also needs to go to where all of you know, the communities, or all of the residents of the base will rely on some town services as well. And just trying to make sure that we get some funding to help build up this infrastructure as well. I think our waterfront infrastructure is in some need to prepare, too. Just being a fisherman, kelp farmer around Kodiak, you deliver to these docks every day, and you can tell some of them haven't had a thing done to them since ‘64 so I think it's time. Thank you.
- Sandra West: The city has done really well in receiving state and federal funds, as we see at the firehouse and the other projects that have been doing. And my understanding, it's ask, ask, ask. Show up, show up, show up. Exactly what Nick said, when they see you coming down the hall, they know what project you're looking for. They will know. They've known about the fire station. Now we're going to swap that, and we're going to be the people that need harbor repair to support fisheries that're feeding everybody. So I think that that's a continued effort. I think that it's been a good effort. See if we can prove it, that'd be a challenge, and I do for projects that I would prioritize would be the harbor, would be first. Thank you.
The city owns several unutilized properties – what ideas do you have to better use undeveloped or unoccupied facilities and areas within Kodiak city limits? How should the city approach planning and zoning ideas?
- Nick Mangini: I would need to know more about these underutilized properties, and the only way to really do that is to get involved with something like City Council, unless that was your passion as just a general resident of Kodiak, which it's just not for a lot of us. For me, I've been working on trying to find something to put in Gibson Cove for about four years now – finding the public private partnership that wants to take over that property has been an uphill battle, like an uphill-er battle. So just everything's changing so fast within so many industries, and whether those industries have the funding to invest in a property like that and that, and that's the only thing that I can use as my example, because it's the only thing that I'm really familiar with. As far as the planning and zoning ideas. I have been a part of the Borough Planning and Zoning Committee for the last six months. That doesn't mean that I have really even started to wrap my head around what's happening with planning and zoning and the policy that surrounds it, but what I do see is that it's just an arduous, slow process. There's nothing that you're going to make change in a month or five for that matter. So if we're seeing things that are hanging up the growth of industry or commerce within Kodiak, then we need to get those on the, you know, to the boards as soon as possible, because it's not something we're going to be able to change right away. So I think it's just more prioritizing what what we want to change and why we want to change it, and make sure that the communities behind that change and then acting on that. Thank you.
- Sandra West: I think I'm going to go with the planning and zoning ideas and just echo a little bit of what Nick was saying. I've just seen Chris French from the community development at the borough bring forth code after code after code, cleaning up our code. And I commend him for doing that, and I think it's an opportunity for us citizens to listen to what the code changes are. They're not big changes. Most of it's cleaning up, but that's a time for us to say, “okay.” And “How can we make this more what we want in Kodiak?” So those are my approaches for planning and zoning. I got some ideas from undeveloped and unoccupied facilities for sure – I'll just mention one. We have worked to have ownership of the Griffin Building down on the water. There's been ideas. I would love to see that building being used. Do I know all the ideas? No, I know a handful of city offices. I think that's a great idea, a city conference room where we could have city meetings, design it for that, maybe even add another third floor to it, because it's not quite big enough anyway – that's a big project. That's a big change, but it's costing us now, and it's empty, so let's go forth and do something.
- Djuna Davidson: I'll start by saying Planning and Zoning is an area where I have research to do. It is not something I am as familiar with as other things, but I do love to learn. And I know that there are a lot of people in this community who are great resources to help me learn more about that so that I could serve Kodiak well. In that realm, as far as undeveloped and unoccupied facilities, I think that part of what needs to be done is sort of assessing, you know, what is the list of the unused areas, and what are the priorities for what the community needs? We know that we need housing. Are any of those lots suitable for housing? Is there something that can be done there? If they're not suitable for housing, can they be used for other community needs? I would love to see more community gathering spaces, but I think that that is something I would like to see, and maybe not the first priority we need to address housing first. So I feel like that would be one of the first things I would look at for those spaces. I'm not sure how to best use the land. I would like to hear from the community what you guys want more of in Kodiak, we know that people want more housing. We know that people want more stability in our economy, but how do we use the land that we already have to meet the needs of the community? I realize that's the question that you're asking me, and I don't know what the answer is yet.
What are your priorities for the city’s budget? What programs or departments do you think are over or under funded?
- Sandra West: Nobody's over funded. I think everybody's doing a pretty good job of tightening their budgets and looking at it. I've talked to, like I said, some of the departments. I’ve talked to the chief of police and the harbormaster about how their budgets are going, priorities for the city budget, and balancing the budget is a real [sic] good idea. You have to do that in two ways. You got all these expenditures, and then how where's your money coming in? And we get our money from taxes. The costs are always going up. We don't want taxes to go up. There are a few other resources, there's been investments recently. I talked about the Griffin Building, and in our budget, we are paying rent, now, here, to have our offices here at the borough. So that might be a good budget-helping-balance-thing to invest in the Griffin Building and move there. Is it my number one? I don't think so. I think the harbor and good health of our community, mental health, physical health and housing are my priorities. Thank you.
- Djuna Davidson: Definitely trying to balance the budget would be a priority. That's the eternal struggle in any financial organization, institution, or even for us as individuals, A priority is the infrastructure, what we need in the harbor, but also opportunities for people in our community. Training, connection opportunities, ways to get people invested and involved in what is happening in Kodiak. I think that the city is well poised to invest in providing ways for people to be more engaged in the community. There's a lot of discontent in Kodiak from people who feel like they're not being heard and feel like the city's wasting money, or they don't understand how the money is being spent, and I think that maybe if the city could create more opportunities for people to understand how the budget is working, how the city is trying to prioritize, what are the basic needs of the community, I don't think anything is over funded. I know that our police department is understaffed, I know that our fire department is understaffed, but I think we're currently doing our best, and we just need to keep working towards meeting those needs, for infrastructure, for housing and for quality of life. Thank you.
- Nick Mangini: I'm very much on board with that. There's probably nothing over funded and balancing the city's budget kind of goes hand in hand with what my priority would be looking at. Capital improvement projects and the things that are going to bring more money into the city than lessening our dependency on, you know, taxes for individuals. I think really taking a good look at tourism and how we can both promote that for Kodiak, but more promote the opportunities, or the things that the tourists get to do in Kodiak. Having come from Southeast Alaska that's very dependent on tourism, in no way, shape or form, do I want us to become a Sitka or Juneau – I think that that's an over capitalization of the opportunity – but I do think that Kodiak's in an unique position right now to make tourism work around us, so that we're not losing our everyday way of life. I think really looking at that and the amount of money that a head tax could bring into Kodiak, as well as just creating new opportunities for the tourists and the tourism in Kodiak could really open the door to a lot of money that we don't realize right now. Thank you.
Many borough residents that live outside of city limits have expressed frustration that they have no vote in what the city does, despite owning businesses and paying taxes in the city. Should the council reconsider who is eligible to vote in city elections? Why or why not?
- Djuna Davidson: I think we should reconsider who is eligible to vote in city elections. I knew that the boundaries of the city were small. I did not realize until I was running for city council how many people I know who thought they lived in the city and don't, because the boundaries [sic]. I mean, it's kind of crazy – my coworker and I live less than a quarter mile away from each other, and we are on this side of Safeway, but I'm city and she's not. I think that so many people are disenfranchised with the electoral process in Kodiak, and I think part of that is because a lot of people who feel that they put money into the city, they pay taxes into the city, they work in the city. They just barely don't live in the city, but they work in the city, and they feel like they don't have a say in the elections. I know there's a lot of talk about annexation, particularly focused around Service District One. I think that's worth exploring. I know there's a lot of expense to expanding city boundaries, but I think it's important for the community to feel that their voice counts. And for the large amount of people who are a part of the daily workings of Kodiak but live just on the other side of city limits, I think that we could get more community engagement and more income too, I guess, from more people. Yeah, I think it's a discussion that needs to continue to be had, and I am in favor of pursuing that discussion.
- Nick Mangini: First of all, I need to understand if that's really council’s sole decision or not. I mean, I think there's probably a lot of code and policy around how all of this works that I have no knowledge of. So start with that. Beyond that, yeah, Service District One in particular, is very tough. It's where a lot of my support would be, for sure for this election. A lot of my friends live there. I'm right on the edge of it. But also just looking at the annexation and just and really looking into what the cost of that would be, and making that service district understand that cost would probably be, where to start with all that, and and I don't know all of those things. I would love to learn about it. It's definitely been a very growing part of our population, maybe more than it was intended to be when it wasn't a part of city limits. But if you look at city limits, there's some sawtoothing down Mission Road that's interesting. So understanding why those lines are made where they were and just continue to stay that way would be another interesting thing to look at. I don't know how you differentiate whether a voter in service district one has a business within city council without including everyone. So I think it's an all or one decision. And in the end, I think it's really a Service District One decision, if we're talking about that area of whether or not they want to be able to vote within the city. Thank you.
- Sandra West: There's this thing called State Code, Title 29 that should lead us. I didn't know that we could just say, ah, do you want to vote? I think it has to be through annexation, and that's a guess. We can research that. I've never heard it put that way. Good job. I like the new idea, but I believe that they need to be either annexed or consolidated before they can vote. And yeah, they're frustrated that they can't vote. The price – that's not how America is supposed to work, that you can pay for your vote, but if they're annexed, they would be looking at their taxes a little bit different [sic]. The simple one is online shopping, that's the simplest one. If you have it sent to the your address in the city, you pay sales tax because the city has worked with the Alaska Municipal League and figured out how to collect that tax. If you have your packages delivered to your friend in the borough or to yourself in the borough, you don't have to pay online shopping taxes, so going to those folks in Service District One to start with, and saying, “We'd love to have your vote, it's going to cost you.” But the business aspect is really important, because those people that live in the borough and have businesses in the city is very important to them, so my first thought is, “Okay, encourage your neighbors to vote for annexation.” We'll see how it goes.
As Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies are challenged across the country, how do you plan to represent and support minorities and marginalized groups, which make up about half of the population of Kodiak?
- Nick Mangini: I would imagine that the city council is going to represent this and support minorities the way that they always have, in every way possible. I guess, just creating more opportunity for them in jobs around the city of Kodiak, making sure they have opportunity for every business and everything that resides within the city, access to our council, access to our city. I'm not sure how else to answer that. So thank you.
- Sandra West: If they make up half the population, I'm not sure how “minority” they are. Around Kodiak that are our neighbors and our friends and the people that I work with and so forth. Yeah, keep talking to them. We– these are our people. These are our friends. We have to listen as we have been, and continue to listen and pay attention again with the housing. Every time something comes up, we have to consider, how is their housing going to be affected? And same thing when we consider taxation, increasing taxes, decreasing taxes, how are the marginalized and the least of these going to be affected? We have to keep it in the conversation. Thank you.
- Djuna Davidson: Kodiak has always been a diverse community. It's a tag line at the Kodiak History Museum: Kodiak is a cultural crossroads. We are, we have been, and we will continue to be people from all different population groups are part of the foundation of who Kodiak is. As an elected official, I would continue to serve everyone and invite everyone in, call everyone in as much as possible, and hope to have as much representation from all of our cultural groups, from all of our marginalized groups. I'd love to see more people in those communities participate in local government. I'd like to create a welcoming environment to call them in. The programs that minorities and marginalized groups in Kodiak need are the same programs that everyone needs. We all need schools. We all need jobs. We all need firemen and policemen. We all need fun things to do with our friends, so I would just lean in to continuing to welcome everyone to be a part of the community, because we are all here together, and we are an island in the middle of the Gulf of Alaska. You know, whatever federal policies come out around the language of how we talk about it, the root of it is the same. Kodiak is a multicultural community, and that's part of our strength. Thank you.
Candidates were given one minute for closing statements.
Sandra West: It's just a privilege to live here. I mean, I'm just going to look in the audience and start crying because it's an awesome town, but I think I'm just going to encourage folks to vote. I went to the gym today, and one of the young people there that was working is not registered yet. I said I will be back. I have an appointment with you in two weeks. I want you to be registered when I come back. Won't be able to vote next week, but I just want to encourage people to register and to vote. Thank you.
Nick Mangini: First of all, thank you for this opportunity to address the public through both online and on the radio. It's a great way for people that can't get out of the house or have other obligations to learn about their candidates. Through all of this, I've just learned a little bit more about how much I care about Kodiak and how much I want to be a part of the decision making process. I think you have some great options in front of you as candidates this year, and I can't take or say a single bad thing about any of you and just thank you for your contribution to this election as well. I guess I just want to be an approachable and thoughtful person on your council, and I think that I could do some great things, but probably no one better than the rest of the candidates, so just get out there and vote. Thank you.
Djuna Davidson: I also want to start by thanking both KVOK and KMXT and the Chamber for putting on this forum. It's a great opportunity for our community to learn more about us as candidates. I want to thank my fellow candidates for running, because as you both echoed, it is so wonderful to see how many opportunity options there are in this year's election, both at the city and the borough level. I'm delighted to see and I hope that this shows us increase in voter turnout. Please do vote. I hope that you vote for me, because I love Kodiak with all my heart, and I know that I would serve it well. But if you don't vote for me, I know that you have lots of great choices before you. Kodiak is an amazing, magical place, and we live here for a reason, so let's continue to invest in this place that we all love.
