Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council convenes for its regular meeting and work session this evening at City Hall, with several interesting items on the agenda.

The council will take its first look at an ethics policy drafted by City Attorney Brooks Chandler following a council work session on the issue in November. The proposed policy would make minor changes to several aspects of the rules currently governing what city officials can and can't do. It would also create a more complete policy for investigations into elections complaints, such as the one filed by Randall Baker following the October City Council election.

The proposed new policy would give city investigators the power to subpoena witnesses, a need that became apparent in last year's investigation when Westward Seafoods plant managers refused to allow investigators access to plant personnel records and employees. The person targeted by the investigation would also have the right to an attorney, and greater ability to respond to the complaint.

The proposed policy would also ban the use of city resources to support candidates' campaigns for public office, and ban personal use of city property by elected officials.

Also on tonight's agenda is a briefing by the City Council-appointed energy committee, which was tasked in November with looking for short-term solutions to Unalaska's energy concerns. The nine-member committee has been meeting with City Manager Chris Hladick and Public Utilities Director Dan Winters to explore the options. Council member and committee chair Dick Peck said they've determined there are a number of things the city can do to reduce its fuel costs, which have nearly quadrupled since 2004. Options including motion detectors for lighting in city offices and simply encouraging employees to turn off the lights when they leave a room.

Peck said the city is already considering reducing the wattage of Unalaska's streetlights from 400 watts to 200 watts, which could cut public lighting power use by a third.

"[400 watts] might be good for Washington, D.C. or Anchorage, but we don't need that kind of lighting intensity out here," he said.

The committee has also come up with several ideas for how individual community members can save on fuel, from energy efficiency education to subsidies for compact florescent light bulbs, which use far less electricity than incandescent bulbs.

Peck said the city council is still committed to finding long-term energy solutions, too.

"With energy on the top of everyone's mind, here in Unalaska and the state and the nation, definitely some form of long-term solution is going to have to come up to the council to help all of us reduce our carbon footprint and reduce the cost of energy," he said.

The council meets at 7 p.m. tonight at its City Hall chambers. This will be the only meeting this month on account of council member travel.