Local involvement: Homer-Kachemak Rotary, Homer United Methodist Church, Homer Chamber of Commerce, Heritage Land Trust, Homer Council on the Arts, Pratt Museum, American Legion Post, Homer Board of Realtors
Residence: 8 years in Alaska, 1.5 years in Homer.
Family: Spouse, Karen Zak
Occupation: Real estate broker, lodge owner, community association consultant
Q: If elected, what will Homer look like at the end of your term and what will you do to shape it?
A: Homer will look and feel different at the end of my three-year term. Things that I plan to accomplish include: bringing a natural gas line to the city; protection of views and watersheds; public trails; growth of Kachemak Bay Community College; new city hall. In order to carry out these projects I will work with my fellow city council members to work in conjunction with the city’s staff and other commissions. I am a strong believer in working with and bringing people with diverse opinions together in order to find common ground.
Q: What will be the biggest challenge, opportunity for the city over the next three years?
A: The biggest opportunity for Homer is protection of its bay and other natural resources.
Q: How would you balance Homer’s small-town feel with its growth? Is that balance necessary?
A: In order to balance Homer’s small-town feel with its growth I would encourage the growth of Homer as a destination for fishing, education, technology, tourism and health-related businesses. We must also adjust to meet the needs of our growing senior population.
Q: Do you approve of the current sales/property tax structure? If not, how would you like to change it?
A: I support the current sales/property tax structure, but think we need to consider a sales tax cap on private property.
Q: What tops your city infrastructure to-do list?
A:The top of my city infrastructure to do list is to continue planned growth in and around the town center.
Q: How should the city deal with an aging population?
A: In order to support the aging population it needs to ensure adequate, reasonably priced public transportation, increased support of health related businesses.
Q: Rate the following industries on their importance to the future of the city. Commercial fishing, tourism, health care and construction.
A: The following industries are all important to the future of the city of Homer. We have to support our roots, which is commercial fishing and tourism.
By supporting these industries, and expanding our educational programs, we will naturally be able to support health care and construction.
Q: Does the city need more industry? If so, how should it attract new businesses?
A: The city needs increased high tech industry growth. By protecting Homer’s views, beauty and bounty of the seas we will attract these businesses.
We encourage you to add your comments. To prevent spam, comments with links are manually approved during the normal business day. Please be respectful of others with your comments, bear in mind anyone in the community may be reading your comments.
