Unalaska, AK – The Port of Dutch Harbor is looking for new ways to increase its revenues and attract new business. At this week's city council meeting Ports Director Alvin Osterback presented a list of ideas to bring in new money.

The "Ports [Department] runs pretty much barebones. There's not a lot of frills or extras so there's not really a lot of room to cut things out of our operating budget. The other thing that we can do and that we're working on is looking for a new customer base to come and to utilize the facilities."

Osterback said the city needs to update its promotional materials and work with the Convention and Visitors Bureau to get information out about what the port has to offer. They can push existing facilities, the upcoming new small boat harbor, and local services and businesses at boat shows and during council travel, and not just to fishing vessels and industry representatives. With more yachts and sailboats passing through the region, he said the city should market our facilities to them as well. But attracting smaller crafts to the new boat harbor won't solve all of the problems.

"I don't believe adding a new harbor, with the costs associated with it, is going to help the bottom line," he said. They also need to reeducated people about what's currently available here.

"Some of it is going to be letting other parts of our existing seafood industry know that the docks are open and available because for years the factory trawlers basically came one after another and kept the dock spaces full between containerships and Coast Guard vessels. So it's going to be a bit of a learning to curve to let people know that it's available, it's out there."

The ports revenues are in trouble because of the amount of business they lost to the DH Ports cold storage facility. Osterback also plans on promoting Unalaska's facilities to members of the mining, oil and gas industries to encourage them to use the area for staging if their large scale projects go through.

Other revenue building options include changing rates at the light cargo dock to attract more long-term moorage. The council also decided to bring the ports tariff and fee schedule increase back before them. The increase was rejected in a 3 to 2 vote over the summer when one council member was absent and when Skip Southworth, one of the opponents, was still on the council. The proposed ordinance would increase the tariff by 4.8 percent for each of the next three years. The ports tariff has not increased in over 10 years. The tariff increase and other revenue building suggestions were put forth by Northern Economics in their study on Unalaska's ports.

In other city council news, the group heard a presentation by John and Sue Honan about the Alexandria House, a proposed new emergency shelter for people who are stranded on the island. They want the city to be co-applicants on a community block grant from the state. The money would be used to build the new shelter. Originally they planned on building at the old Elbow Room site. That idea was rejected by the planning commission after many community members testified against the location. Now, the Alexandria House non-profit is looking at other pieces of property around the community. The council did not make a decision on the grant application proposal at last night's meeting.

The council also heard about the Convention and Visitors Bureau's efforts to promote the community by sending out information packets and giving tours to cruise ships. They voted on the legislative funding priorities for this year as well. The city will submit a list to the state government about which municipal projects need funding. This year's priorities will remain the same as last year's. The city will try to get $5 million for the powerhouse project, $5 million for paving Ballyhoo Road and $2 million for the water treatment plant upgrade. City Manager Chris Hladick said many forces influence what projects get funding, but he thinks that the number of legislators who saw the powerhouse project during the legislative fly-in may help bring that project funds. The city is also waiting to hear if funds allocated for a ports project can be used for the Ballyhoo Road paving project instead.