I want to start off by echoing the citizen comments from
Friday’s city council meeting and thanking the administration and employees for
their work during the storms earlier in the month. While it’s worrying that
these events are happening more frequently thanks to climate devastation, I’m
grateful for The City of Kotzebue for their work in fulfilling our need for safety.
Several people mentioned the need for shelter at higher ground, and it just
happens that I’m working on an article for The Green Party of Alaska’s
newsletter on leadership needing to make their communities antifragile.
I want to congratulate Saima Chase and Johnson Greene on their
electoral victories. We get to welcome back Cory Jackson onto the council as
well, who has been chosen to fill the vacancy we had. I’d like to congratulate Saima
Chase om being chosen as our new mayor of Kotzebue and Ernest Norton on
becoming our new vice mayor. Before we move on with the new, I’d like to thank former
mayor Derek Haviland-Lie for not just his leadership during the three storms
but throughout his term as mayor. He is a man that continues to put the
community first and does what he can to improve The City of Kotzebue.
I’m grateful that with the turbulent year we’ve had that Ron
Johnson has stepped up to the plate to be the city’s acting city manager. I
appreciate that the entire city is working together as they work to fill voids in
the team. If you’re looking for work be sure to check out open positions at City
Hall. It seems like everyone has several jobs to do with how many open
positions there are. As Johnson Greene has been pointing out it’s worrisome how
much of the work to be done is being outsourced.
While climate devastation, an economic downturn, and political
polarization keeps the federal government shutdown is all quite worrying we
shouldn’t fall into nihilism over it. We must remember our most important resource
is people, and we people right now in the administration working on building a
great team. And it’s good as well that we have a full city council filled with leaders
who care about this community and where it’s going. The City of Kotzebue is a
listening government and will work on the feedback it gets from its citizenry.
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