By Jake Dye
Special to the Homer Independent Press


The filing period for the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s municipal elections will be held later in the year, and there will be a new seven-day window for candidates to withdraw after seeing the field, following unanimous passage of an ordinance by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday.

The ordinance was penned by Borough Clerk Michele Turner and sponsored by three members of the assembly — Dale Eicher of Sterling, Len Niesen of Nikiski and Ryan Tunseth of Kenai. Members of the assembly on Tuesday described the legislation as a direct response to a successful ballot measure last year that moved borough elections from October to November — newly aligning with state and federal elections. That move was brought forward as a citizen’s initiative without involvement from the assembly, and has left many of the Kenai Peninsula’s city governments hastily adjusting to align their local elections with the new date.

Under the newly enacted ordinance, the borough assembly will set the rate of pay for election officials as part of their budgeting process, and the filing period has been moved roughly two weeks later. Candidate filing will open on Aug. 16 this year, and close at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 31.

The terms of the borough mayor, borough assembly members and elected service area board members, originally set to expire in October of either 2026, 2027 or 2028, all are also extended until their corresponding Novembers. 

Michael Hicks, who represents the borough’s central district, said Tuesday that many of the changes are administrative in nature. He spotlighted and expressed support for a new provision that allows candidates to withdraw from the election by providing written notice to the borough clerk within seven days of the end of the filing period. That change, he said, would allow candidates to change their minds if they see someone else filed who they’d rather support for election.

“This allows a week for that kind of reflection,” he said. “I support it.”

There have been instances in recent years, most recently in the 2025 race for the assembly’s Soldotna seat, where a candidate has publicly suspended their campaign but remained on the ballot.

Appropriations abound

In addition to the ordinance on election policy, the assembly via their consent agenda and without significant discussion passed several items of legislation that appropriate funds to different needs or accept grants or donations. The assembly accepted nearly $249,000 in opioid settlement funds to be allocated to the Opioid Settlement Fund Grant Program; transferred $342,000 from the school maintenance fund to pay for snow removal and sanding in what borough officials described as a “typical” annual move; directed nearly $682,000 in previously awarded federal grant funding to the local match for development of telecommunications upgrades in Turnagain Pass; and authorized the issuance of more than $31 million in bonds, to access the second tranche of funding authorized by borough voters for major school maintenance in 2022.

The assembly also authorized the trade donation to Bear Creek Fire Service Area of a new 2026 snowmachine in exchange for a 2014 snowmachine currently owned by the service area.

While the slew of ordinances and resolutions to approve each of those moves were passed unanimously via the consent agenda without any discussion or public testimony during Tuesday’s meeting, some saw discussion earlier in the afternoon in various committee meetings. 

The next round of opioid settlement grants — funding from a nationwide settlement with major pharmaceutical companies directed to local opioid remediation projects — are targeted for disbursement as soon as in March, Borough Grants Administrator Heather Geer said during a meeting of the borough’s finance committee. 

A feasibility study for telecommunications infrastructure in Turnagain Pass will determine what level of development is financially feasible, borough staff said during the same meeting. That might mean the project is limited only to emergency communications.

The borough assembly will next meet on March 17, when they will consider legislation introduced this week that would accept grant funding for Western Emergency Service Area, authorize sale of properties obtained by the borough in tax foreclosure proceedings, approve a lease with the City of Seward for a public shooting range, and approve a new lease to Chugach Electric Association for a communications tower that the utility has operated in Cooper Landing since 1992.

A full recording of this week’s meeting, agendas and other documents can be found at kpb.legistar.com.