Council approves police station design funding, traffic monitor

In a meeting that ran uncommonly short, the Homer City Council passed a number of ordinances at its Monday meeting without much comment or debate.

Among them were Ordinance 18-31, which appropriates the $473,829 needed from the Police Station Reserve to fund the 100 percent design for Homer’s new police station. This funding had been contingent upon the police station proportion passing in the recent special election.

Also passed was Ordinance 18-34, sponsored by council member Rachel Lord. It allows the city to use $3,500 from the Police Reserve to buy a traffic monitoring device. This measure stems from numerous ongoing reports of speeding on Ben Walters Lane that come to the city and the Homer Police Department. Lord sponsored the ordinance in order to give police actual data to back up the reported claims of rampant speeding, which she says will help them better decide where and how to spend limited city funds on traffic abatement.

Council members also voted to pass an ordinance appropriating $35,911 from the Harbor Depreciation Reserve Fund for the relocation of the Ramp 2 Harbor Backflow Prevention Facilities. Another ordinance related to Ramp 2, 18-33, was passed and allows the spending of “accumulated commercial passenger vessel funds” and money from the Port and Harbor Fund to complete the Ramp 2 restroom replacement project scheduled to begin in August.

Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com.