By Marcia Kuszmaul

Homer Independent Press

Cupcakes, flowers and a mayoral recognition at Monday’s City Council meeting launched Chief Mark Robl into retirement after more than 41 years of service with the Homer Police Department, nearly 26 years as chief. With his official retirement on March 19, Chief Robl seals his place in history as the longest-serving police chief in Alaska.

“I stayed quite a while. I don’t regret that one bit,” Chief Robl said. “It just turned into something in my life that I’ve really, really enjoyed. Thank you.”

Mayor Rachel Lord presents retiring Police Chief Mark Robl with a plaque of her proclamation at the March 9 city council meeting recognizing his more than 40 years of service to the Homer Police Department as a patrol officer, community jail administrator, investigator, lieutenant and chief. (Photo by Marcia Kuszmaul/Homer Independent Press)

After a brief party break, the council resumed its business and approved $380,000 for the purchase of four properties to bolster the city’s utility infrastructure.

Two lots comprising 11.29 acres adjacent to the 1 million-gallon water treatment tank on Skyline Drive will provide for future expansion of water treatment operations. Two lots totaling 2.95 acres immediately adjacent to the city’s Bridge Creek reservoir will help protect the city’s water quality from future development.

Council also approved two requests from the Homer Volunteer Fire Department (HVFD), including a 10% local grant match of $3,245 to purchase training manikins, video laryngoscopes – which improve the success of intubation in emergency situations – automated external defibrillators, and other medical training supplies and equipment through the Southern Region EMS Council Fiscal Year 2027 Code Blue grant program. 

The Council approved HVFD’s application for the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Wildland Fire Slip-on Tanker Units Grant. Fire Chief Dan Jager described the slip-on unit, valued at $40,000 to $50,000, as a tank, water pump, hardware, and other firefighting tools and equipment that would slide into the back of the department’s current tactical rescue pickup to make it a dedicated truck for wildland fire response. No local match is required.

Planet Youth data

In an information-packed 10 minutes, Hannah Gustafson, coordinator of the SKP (Southern Kenai Peninsula) Resilience Coalition, and Anna Meredith, project manager of Planet Youth Homer (PYH), summarized data from an anonymous, voluntary survey of youth in grades 9 through 11 at Homer High School, Homer Flex High School and in homeschooling to learn what it’s like to be a teenager in the southern Kenai Peninsula community.

Gustafson said the data collected in fall 2025 will be used to develop next steps in the PYH project , a framework based on the Icelandic Prevention Model, an international muti-year, community-wide prevention approach developed and refined since the early 1990s to help reduce risk factors and build upon protective factors on behalf of youth.

The initial data collection, Gustafson reported, showed that youth believe the community is connected and strong, families are engaged and supportive, schools are relationship centered, youth are active during their free time, and substance use is low. 

When asked what they liked the most about their community, Gustafson said, “They liked the small town size, that it feels safe, the trails and public spaces, the activities offered, the physical attributes, and that the community is relational.” 

Meredith reviewed four areas of opportunity the survey identified for the community to strengthen on behalf of youth – mental health and wellbeing, factors influencing substance use, sleep and related fatigue and screen time.  

She encouraged people to learn more about the survey findings at presentations PYH will make around the community and at SKP Resilience Coalition monthly meetings. Next steps for spring and summer 2026 will be to set community goals and strategy based on the data. 

To request a presentation to your group, provide feedback on the data and engage with next steps, visit the PYH website.

HART Policy Updates

In a worksession prior to the regular meeting, Juie Engebretsen, community development director, reviewed proposed updates to the Homer Accelerated Roads and Trails (HART) Policy. HART is a voter-approved sales tax established in 1987 to support local roads and trails. It is renewed by voters every 20 years, with the next reauthorization vote this fall.

Engebretsen said the goals of the policy update are to make the document more clear and user friendly, to enable HART funds to leverage state and federal dollars through matching grants and to align the policy with current plans and practices.

Council member Shelly Erickson expressed concern that the current policy does not prioritize projects within the city limits over those outside the city limits, such as the Diamond Creek underpass project. Engebretsen suggested and council members agreed that any prioritization statement should include “within city limits or on city property,” as the city owns the Diamond Creek property even though it is outside city limits. 

Next steps are to refer the draft to the Planning Commission and to the Parks, Art, Recreation and Culture Advisory Commission for feedback then a revised policy for council adoption likely in May.

Community Concerns: Title 21 and the Pool

In her Mayor’s Report, Rachel Lord addressed community concerns about the Title 21 zoning code revisions and the future of the Homer High School pool. She assured council and the community that the Title 21 update process will be slow and deliberative with multiple opportunities for community feedback. She encouraged the community to read her March 8 newsletter and her March 3 letter to the Planning Commission and council linked from the newsletter. 

The mayor’s letter also addresses the pool. In the council meeting, she emphasized her confidence in a solution to keep the pool open past June 30 when the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will stop funding it. 

“I appreciate people’s patience and also like to keep the concerns . . . coming forward,” she said. “We will figure out what our role is . . . as a municipality, but there needs to be some more . . . numbers and conceptual ideas at the table.”

Borough News

The Kenai Peninsula Borough District 8 Assembly Member Kelly Cooper announced the sale of foreclosed property on April 25, with maps of properties on the borough website by the end of March.

She also noted that property assessments have been mailed, with a reminder that property owners have 30 days of the postmark to file an appeal. She said that assessment issues can often be resolved with a phone call to the assessment office at 907-714-2230.

Cooper said the borough budget process has started and acknowledged the community’s intense interest in keeping the pool open. Mayor Peter Micciche will hold community budget meetings throughout the borough, and Cooper will confirm the dates for the Homer area. 

Long-term rental incentives

In his Planning Commission report, Commissioner David Schneider referred to a memorandum drafted by Commissioner Dotti Harness detailing incentives other communities are using to promote long-term rentals – the “carrot approach” to short-term rental discussions. The memo will come to council with a recommendation it be shared with the Economic Development Advisory Commission.

The draft memorandum is included in the Planning Commission agenda packet from its March 4 meeting.

Public hearings

All three ordinances up for public hearings were adopted with no public comment. The council voted to:

• Purchase a 1.12-acre lot at the end of Mattox Road for taxes owed for conservation purposes and to support stormwater conveyance and green-infrastruture filtration.
  
  

• Procure timbers for immediate and future repair of the spare fender for berths at the Deep Water Dock.
  
  

• Change Homer’s municipal election day from October to November to align with the new Kenai Peninsula Borough election day.  Candidate filing dates move to September, and runoff election dates move to December. 
  
  
  

Closing comments

City Manager Melissa Jacobsen reminded the community that the Homer Education and Recreation Complex (HERC) will be closed March 9 through 29 for floor replacement in the multi-purpose room and gym.

Mike Dye, treasurer of the South Peninsula Hospital Board of Directors, invited the community to learn about and provide feedback on the hospital’s long-term plans at a lunchtime program, 11:45 a.m., March 18, at the Kenai Peninsula College Kachemak Bay Campus. Lunch provided.