A Resolution of the City Council of Homer, Alaska, Requesting the Governor to Include in His FY 2015 Capital Budget a Deposit of $100 Million into the Vessel Replacement Fund for the Purpose of Constructing a New Ocean-Going Vessel to Replace the M/V Tustumena. Mayor/City Council.
CITY OF HOMER
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF HOMER, ALASKA, REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO INCLUDE IN HIS FY2015 CAPTIAL BUDGET A DEPOSIT OF $100 MILLION INTO THE VESSEL REPLACEMENT FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING A NEW OCEAN-GOING VESSEL TO REPLACE THE M/V TUSTUMENA.
WHEREAS, The M/V Tustumena was built in 1963, is approaching its 50th year of service, and has had a hard life servicing the Homer, Kodiak, and Aleutian communities for the past several decades; and
WHEREAS, The M/V Tustumena provides year-round service to Homer, Seldovia, and the Kodiak area, and travels to the Aleutian Chain ten times each year, providing a critical transportation and and tourism like that affectes the economies of each community served by this vessel ; and
WHEREAS, The rough and exposed waters of the Aleutians can accelerate the deterioration of any vessel servicing the region; and
WHEREAS, Recent vessel ageing problems and repair delays are well documented and have created significant, recurring service disruptions and outages in the region ; and
WHEREAS, The M/V Tustumena is at the top of th equeue in the AMHS Vessel Replacement Fund, and the legislature appropriated $10 million from this fund in 2013 for the design of a new ocean-going vessel to replace the M/V Tustumena; and
WHEREAS, The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has begun the design process and estimates that it will take 18 months to complete; and
WHEREAS, The department estimates construction of the new vessel could cost as much at $210 million; and
WHEREAS, Since it will take another two to three years to construct a new vessel and ready it for service, it is imperative to develop and implement a strategy to ensure construction funding is in place by 2015 to allow an immediate start of vessel construction.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Homer City Council hereby requests that Governor Parnell include in his FY2015 captial budget a deposit of $100 million into the Vessel Replacement Fund for the purpose of constructing a new ocean-going vessel to replace the M/V Tustumena; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Homer City Council requests Governor Parnell plan to include in his FY 2016 captial budget and other deposit in the Vessel Replacement Fund to provide the remaining amount of funding needed to construct a new ocean-going vessel to replace the M/V Tustumena.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Homer City Council this 14th day of October, 2013.
CITY OF HOMER
MARY E. WYTHE, MAYOR
JO JOHNSON, MMC, CITY CLERK
Fiscal Note: N/A