After months of back and forth with the city’s commercial vehicle users, city council unanimously passed regulations meant to reduce damage to the Unalaska’s roads.

The ordinance was just one of many items tackled before council takes a six-week break. The new rules would prohibit most uses of tire chains by truck-trailers and would require those vehicles to operate with the fifth wheel in the bottom position.

Most of the other items on the agenda provoked little debate. Council unanimously approved a $4.4-million contract with Granite Construction Services for road repaving, and they voted in favor of updating a contract with Bristol Engineering Services to move forward on a final design for the wastewater treatment plant in an amount not to exceed $1.6 million. They also agreed to update the municipal fee schedule, and to maintain a program that allows for partial reimbursements of sewer line extensions. Council also allocated $155,000 to keep the city’s lobbyists in Juneau and Washington, DC, on for another fiscal year, and they agreed to send Councilors Zoya Johnson and Dennis Robinson along with the mayor and city manager on the annual lobbying trip to Washington, DC.

There were two issues that provoked disagreement, however.

One concerned reimbursing utility line extensions. The city has traditionally offered partial reimbursement to developers who want to extend utility lines to their properties, and council is now determining whether or not to refashion the program.

Dan Winters, Director of Public Utilities, offered three staff recommendations for the program. He suggested that the reimbursement process should be streamlined by reducing council’s direct involvement in the program, and he also recommended that secondary lines shouldn’t be reimbursed and that the program should only be offered to residential users. He also explained that the maximum residential reimbursement was $1,400 and that only 10 reimbursements have been offered since 2006.

Because of lingering questions about how this would impact development in the program and disagreement over whether the program was a reasonable expense, the issue was tabled until council’s next meeting on July 24.

Roger Deffendall is a landowner in Unalaska, and he came to the meeting to speak in favor of the reimbursement program. As someone who is developing rental units, he says that the reimbursement does help defray the cost of bringing housing to such an expensive community.

“We’re in the process of purchasing a lot out in the Valley. When we spoke with Dan [Winters] about the initial electrical cost of that, the price to just take the mainline down there was $15,000,” says Deffendall. “That’s for a residential place.”

The other issue that provoked debate was the granting of an easement to Delta Western for a pipeline that will run under a city road. The contract stipulates that Delta Western will pay $7,000 each year for use of the easement, and it does not require Delta Western to pay an additional throughput fee for fuel that hasn’tbeen taxed by the city. That was a sticking point for at least one member of city council, and some council members expressed concern that the process was being rushed. Ultimately, the contract was approved on a four-to-one vote, with Councilor Zac Schasteen dissenting.

The meeting wrapped up in executive session, where council unanimously approved the city’s negotiations with the Public Safety Employees of Alaska, a labor organization.

Councilor Tom Enlow was excused from the meeting, and all other councilors were present.