GBOS Candidates offer to serve Community
Voters to Choose Between Brett Wilbanks and Kellie Okenek by April 1 in Municipal Election.
By Brooks Chandler
TNews Contributor
Brett Wilbanks and Kellie Okenek are both offering to serve Girdwood as members of the Girdwood Board of Supervisors. TNews chatted with both in separate interviews recently. Their comments below have been edited for length and clarity.
How did you come to live in Girdwood?
BW- Out of college I ended up with the State of Alaska as an engineer working hydroelectric projects. I found myself wanting more out of skiing and I got interested in ski patrol. I started with National Ski patrol as a volunteer and I ended up doing 27 years here at Alyeska as an early volunteer and then as a part time pro patroller.
KO- I always knew I wanted to live in Alaska and live in a ski town. So I took a job in Prudhoe in 2005 and moved to Girdwood.
What inspired you to volunteer to serve on the Girdwood Board of Supervisors?
KO- I have lived here for over 20 years. I moved to Girdwood for the skiing and fell in love with Girdwood as a community. I have a passion for stewarding development and maintaining the quirky character and essence of the community.
BW- I have been co-chairing the Housing and Economic Development committee for almost 2 years now as a subcommittee of GBOS and it has led to some great discussions. I see GBOS as an opportunity to work towards local decisions and local input to local problems in the municipality. The challenge is for GBOS to engage with the municipality in ways that are new and Girdwood forward. That is what led me to look to spending some time trying to forward the community through GBOS.
What do you think are the most important issues for Girdwood?
BW- The latest includes what just happened with the Girdwood comprehensive plan amendments with the mitten and that amendment to what the community had come forward with in the Girdwood comprehensive plan. That’s one example I think of where the community’s interest may have taken a back seat to the municipality’s interest.
KO- Responsible development is the biggest issue. Frankly this means keeping the Assembly from bulldozing Girdwood as happened with Holtan Hills and the comprehensive plan. It also means Pomeroy participating in implementation of the comprehensive plan instead of doing its own plan without working with the community to maintain the character of Girdwood. Housing is a huge part of responsible development. Development needs to include housing for a diverse group of workers who live in Girdwood rather than just more dark homes.
Do you support Proposition 8 (the bond to pay for paving Timberline).
KO- Yes. Timberline is a maintenance nightmare. If there is one section of streets needing pavement this is it. I understand the concerns over safety but these can be managed. Paying for a capital project now will save future operational costs. But if Girdwood voters vote no I will respect that outcome.
BW- I would love to see infrastructure development in Girdwood. Missing from the conversation is the fact a major contributor to the municipal fuel tax is the Speedway. This municipality wide tax is used to improve municipal roads but it is only available to roads that are within the planning structure of the municipality road transportation planning group. Even though we may collect those taxes they do not directly contribute to our road infrastructure in the valley. A bigger conversation might be how being in the municipality could benefit us since one of the largest municipal gas tax contributors is right here in the valley.
Should short-term rentals be regulated?
BW- Girdwood contributes between 18 and 25 percent of the total amount of short term rentals in the municipality. The challenge is recovering some of that inventory to meet the long-term rental needs. How that is done is still open for discussion but the first part of this is to at least register the existing short-term rental activity in the valley just so we can understand what’s going on and to meet some of the basic needs as expressed by the community which include good operating neighbors, life/safety and some accountability. That’s been in front of GBOS since I believe October after being vetted through LUC and the housing committee. Another request made through GBOS that came out of discussions at the Housing and Economic committee was to recover at least a portion of the short term rental bed tax back into the service area.
KO- Yes. A specific proposal should come from the community through the committee structure. The Girdwood Housing and Economic Committee is actively working and using that structure is the right process. GBOS does not have as much time to dive into this issue as GHEC does. The GHEC can report recommendations to GBOS.
Do you think any of the rules or procedures of GBOS should be changed?
KO- I am not aware of any concerted effort to change rules. This is not an active issue on the GBOS table. There is a process to update bylaws. It is important to follow proceduresand strictly adhere to the bylaws. If that is not happening, weneed to ask whether the written procedure is bad or whether GBOS behaviors need to change to comply with what is written.
BW- There are established committee rules including decorum rules and process rules. Changing rules has been an agendarider since about 6 months after the GHEC committee was formed. At no point in the last year since that was introduced have we ever talked about any change or administrative change or proposed amendment to any operating rules.
How can GBOS impact HLB land disposals?
BW- I served as chairman of the HLB advisory commission during the Holtan Hills disposal Both Ron Tenny and myself were able to place conditions to the disposal via amendments. Unfortunately all of those amendments were dropped by the administration when they submitted the land disposal to the Assembly. The only concession in that Holtan Hills land disposal was for 1 of the multi-family lots to be disposed to a local non-profit for development. In the end this is not what the Holtan Hills housing committee asked for and it was not what was proposed by the HLBAC. This serves as yet another example of where the local community interests took a back seat to municipal interests.
KO-The process works as long as people follow the process. Girdwood struggles when Anchorage fails to follow the process. GBOS needs to work with HLB to be part of the conversation and not get siloed while things happen in the background. This idea is reflected in the GBOS comments on the HLB 5 year work plan. The industrial park discussion is a good example of trying to take a collaborative approach with HLB. But there are realistic limits to what GBOS can do.
Anything you would like to add?
KO- Since I was appointed to GBOS last fall I have come up to speed, gotten into things and feel like I have hit my stride. I feel good about the contributions I am making and would like to keep going. I am offering to serve because I care and have a passion for responsible development based on strong community relationships. Truly what I stand for is community. Maintaining and enhancing the essence of Girdwood. Trails, green spaces between current and future developments, community members dictating the future, and housing for people who truly want to live in our valley are implicit in any conversation around community.
BW- Going forward one of the biggest challenges I see for Girdwood is balancing culture and nature with the draw fordevelopment.