Unalaska is moving forward on its financial plans for next year and into the future.

The city council is still developing the city’s operating budget for 2016, as well as funding for local nonprofits. They’ll discuss those plans in a work session -- and take a final vote on two others -- when they meet tonight.

Council will be asked to approve a $3.9 million city contribution to the Unalaska City School District's 2016 budget. It’s a slight increase over the schools’ 2015 request.

After weeks of discussion, Unalaska’s city council rejected a plan to open up bidding for long-term tenants at the municipal dock.

Dozens of longshoremen and employees from Horizon Lines watched last night as councilors debated whether to ask for proposals from other shipping companies that want to secure space at the Unalaska Marine Center.

The measure needed four votes to pass, since councilor Roger Rowland was excused from the meeting. It failed 3-2, with Alejandro “Bong” Tungul and Yudelka Leclere voting no.

Besides finding a long-term tenant for the Unalaska Marine Center dock, city council will tackle a wide range of issues at their meeting tonight.

During a work session, the council will hear a presentation on the school district’s upcoming budget.

The council will also hold a public hearing and take a final vote on spending an extra $84,000 for upcoming capital projects. More than half of that would go toward designing a stormwater management system for Unalaska Lake.

Hladick departed Unalaska in mid-March for his new job as Gov. Bill Walker's commerce commissioner. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)

For the first time in 14 years, Unalaska is between city managers.

Former manager Chris Hladick left for Juneau this past weekend to start his new job as the Alaska’s commissioner of commerce, community and economic development.

Hladick was Unalaska’s longest-serving manager by a long shot -- before him, the record stood at around six years. But after stints as a manager in Dillingham and Galena, Hladick says he was eager to work in Unalaska’s more active economy.  

Unalaska’s city council hopes to pass a basic set of local regulations for marijuana at a special meeting tomorrow.

Council will meet at 9 a.m. Friday to hold a public hearing and take a final vote on a proposed set of marijuana rules, based on the ballot measure voters approved last fall.

The special meeting time is to accommodate councilors who will be traveling starting this weekend.

Unalaska has tapped a veteran local administrator as its interim city manager.

Donald Moore will fill in for Unalaska's outgoing city manager, Chris Hladick, who's leaving the job after 14 years to become the state's new commerce commissioner.

Moore is a former Cordova and Mat-Su Borough manager who's been a professional fill-in around Alaska for many years, in places like Dillingham, Whittier and Palmer. Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt says he came highly recommended by the city of Nome and the Bristol Bay Borough.

City staff say the grant for the Iliuliuk River doesn't cover the cost of its own requirements. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)

City council will consider giving back a quarter of a million dollars in grant money for cleaning up the Iliuliuk River at their meeting tonight. 

The grant requires the installation of a certain amount of riverbank revegetation, stairs and walkways, plus a fish weir to count salmon at the church hole in the lower river. The state has said they won’t fund the project unless all those elements are completed.

Two resignations in the past few weeks have left a hole on Unalaska's planning and historic preservation commissions.

Steven Gregory was the joint commissions' chair, and one of its longest-serving members. In his resignation letter, he said he needs more time for teaching and coaching at the high school, among several other commitments.

Gregory also wrote that he doesn’t have enough time or "interest" to contribute to the historic preservation commission, which he calls "important and demanding." Preservation has only been active and a part of planning since last year.

Along with a work session on restoration projects for the Unalaska Lake watershed, city council will set their own city-wide goals for 2016 when they meet tonight.

They'll focus on keeping budgets tight until major capital projects, like the wastewater treatment plant, are out of the way.