City council met last night to approve two construction contracts related to road maintenance and accept the resignation of one councilor.

Director of Public Works Nancy Peterson opened the special meeting with a presentation that described the city’s road improvement plan. She said that the city is currently working on preventative maintenance to keep costs down, but that it’s difficult to quantify the final price of fixing the community’s roads because of factors like Unalaska’s geographic location and the presence of WWII-era contaminants. The cost for improving just the city’s two main streets, Airport Beach Road and East Broadway, is being projected at $9 million. Smaller arteries could be maintained with locally recycled asphalt, which could help keep costs down and allow major construction to be deferred. She also announced that an ordinance limiting trailer height and use of chains in an attempt to prevent damage to the roads would probably be introduced by July.

Following Peterson’s presentation, council then unanimously approved two resolutions related to road maintenance and construction. First resolution grants a $204,000 contract to PND for the pavement resurfacing of Airport Beach Road and East Broadway. Two bids were considered for the project. The second resolution grants Northern Mechanical a $1.3 million contract for the Summer Bay Road re-alignment project. Right now, the city is working on expanding the landfill, and Summer Bay Road needs to be redirected around the new boundary. Councilor Dennis Robinson stressed a desire to see the project come in at costs.

“I’d like to see that road completed at this price,” said Robinson. “Hopefully, we won’t have to come back through with multiple budgets amendments to cover some ‘oopses.’”

Three bids were considered for the project.

The special meeting closed with a resolution accepting Councilor Dick Peck’s resignation. On Friday, Peck announced that he would be stepping down from council and eventually relocating to Kenai, citing a lack of housing opportunities in the community as one of his reasons for leaving.

The resolution accepting Peck’s resignation passed unanimously. The city is now accepting letters of interest and resumes from community members

The deadline for those letters is April 23 at noon. The appointee will serve until the October 2 election.

City Council is scheduled to meet again next Tuesday for its regular meeting.