In Unalaska, two-thirds of city council has to vote yes to pass an ordinance. That proved a challenge Thursday night, as council rejected a funding package by a 3-1 vote.

The $125,000 budget amendment included money for public safety grants and new power transformers, plus a controversial grant for the Museum of the Aleutians. But while the measure failed, it might not be dead yet.

Councilors Dave Gregory and Tom Enlow couldn’t make it to the meeting, which meant that all four members who were present needed to vote yes for the budget package to pass.

The sticking point for councilor Zac Schasteen was the museum grant. He said a lot of people have approached him to say they don’t think the city can afford a museum grant right now. Especially not with federally-mandated utility projects and rate increases on the horizon.

But during the public comment period, all seven members of the community who signed up to speak said they support the grant.

Sonia Handforth-Kome said the museum’s mission is to share Aleutian history with the community -- and with the classroom space and exhibitions they’re planning to add, they’ll be able to meet that goal.

The final vote on the budget package was 3-1, so the measure failed. Councilors Roger Rowland, Dennis Robinson, and Zoya Johnson, who is also the museum director, all voted yes. Schasteen voted no.

But council didn’t leave the matter there. Rowland made a directive to city manager Chris Hladick to bring back some or all of the budget items, so council would have a second chance to fund them.

Rowland refused to provide more details on what he wanted Hladick to do.

"I don't want to tell him how to do his business," Rowland said.

In an interview Friday, Hladick said he’s not sure what that budget amendment would look like.

"I don’t know, because that wasn’t clear direction last night," Hladick said. "And I have to figure out what to do next."

During council’s discussion, Schasteen said he wanted the whole package -- museum grants, police funding, and power transformers -- to come before a full council. That way, the supermajority approval wouldn’t be necessary.

For now, Hladick says he’ll look over the rules that govern council and see whether he could make that happen.

"I need to do a little bit of research on that -- whether or not I can bring the ordinance back as it currently sits or if it has to be changed or what," Hladick says.

Hladick says it’s tough to figure out what budget items to bring back -- especially since some of them seemed urgent.

Public works director Dan Winters says he still needs the $32,000 he requested from council. But when it comes down to it, he’s not in a rush.

"Yeah, we can wait a little bit longer. There’s still money left in the operating fund," Winters said. "You know, I wouldn’t want to wait all year for it -- until the end of the fiscal year. That money does need to be recovered."

Winters already spent the $32,000 -- he took money from the normal operating budget to buy new transformers. Those machines will replace broken units at the landfill and on Biorka Drive. So what Winters really needs from the city is a refund.

Jamie Sunderland, the director of public safety, says he’s not worried about the $14,000 grant council rejected. The money would have funded the local emergency planning committee.

Sunderland says he’s confident the city will give them the money eventually. The sooner the grant comes through, the better. But Sunderland said public safety could wait as long as May, if need be. 

At the museum, Johnson says she’s disappointed that council didn’t approve any of the projects, let alone the museum grant.

Even though council was only considering a $75,000 grant for the museum last night, Johnson’s total request is still for $202,000 -- the full amount the museum needs to start building its new design.

Johnson says it will be up to Hladick to decide whether council should reconsider part of that request, or the full amount. But she would rather have access to the full amount, and soon.

"As a museum director, I would prefer that the funding was available to start the project and finish it within a reasonable period of time," Johnson says. "And as a museum director, I am very aggressively looking into all kinds of options."

Johnson says she’s thinking about applying for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, called "Our Town." It’s a new program that funds creative partnerships between local governments and arts groups.

So far, the museum has secured more than $300,000 in outside grants like that to build their new design. If they can’t fill the rest of their budget, they’ll lose those grants. Johnson says she’s now trying to get extensions from the groups that have pledged money, to keep the project alive a little longer.

Council’s next meeting will be Nov. 27. There will be a special workshop on Nov. 28 about utility rate increases, and the city’s options for funding extensive upgrades to three of its utilities.