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Date of Meeting: June 12, 2024
Meeting Location: Council Building, Zoom
Website: chickalooncc.com
Email: info@chickalooncc.com
Prepared By: Cassie Johnson

 

CHICKALOON COMMUNITY COUNCIL – Meeting Minutes for Wed. June 12, 2024

Officers: Kalee Bowen (Chair), Angye Leavitt (Vice-Chair), John J Vessey (Member at Large), Janie Vessey (Treasurer), Cassie Johnson (Secretary)

Call to order: 7:01pm

Zoom Link ID: 589 406 0352

Pledge of Allegiance: Dave
Approval of Agenda as Posted: John Sr, Marcia
Minutes from last meeting (5/8/24): Cassie Johnson
Approval of minutes: 1st by Hugh, 2nd by Dave

Announcements & Guest Speakers:
Report and Q&A with Austin McDaniel and Sergeant Lee Phillips from Department of Public Safety.  Austin McDaniel is the Communications Director for Dept of Public Safety.  Austin explained that staffing is low for troopers at this time, but recruitment classes are getting larger. As of right now there is an average of 5 troopers on duty to cover from mile 147 of the Parks Hwy to mile 110 of Glenn Hwy and down to the Hay flats. Its very important that we continue to alert the troopers to any and all nonemergent issues via email, calling the non-emergency line or using the website so that when its time to allocate new troopers to different areas, our community is not overlooked. Sgt Phillips is in charge of rural mitigation for our area so we can send an email or call him directly if there are non-emergent issues and traffic enforcement issues and he will work on getting them taken care of in a timely manner.

There was discussion about why the objection with CVTC police department getting special commissions.  Austin McDaniel explained that even though this is not new in the lower 48, this is a novel idea in Alaska. Most tribal police are cross deputized in the lower 48.  There was a lot of push back from the Sutton community and the Matsu Borough Assembly passed a request for the special commissions to not be issued. For now this is an indefinite pause on granting the special commissions so the Chickaloon Tribal police have time to build community support.

Chickaloon tribe has the inherent criminal justice authority to enforce their laws within their 5000 square foot ANSVA. State of AK has no oversight or authority over that.  The 2022 Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization expanded a tribes ability to enforce tribal laws in a limited scope (domestic violence, sexual assault, sexaual abuse of a minor, sex trafficking, etc) against non tribal members if a tribal member was a victim. That person can be held accountable in a tribal court if the due process standards are met.  There was discussion about if, for example, a native woman is abused by a nonnative man, then would the man get off “scot free”? In this scenario, any state officer could investigate. There is no gaping hole, but troopers are short on staffing, especially for communities that need to be accessed by plane.  Tribal police are not going away, but they have not had the funding needed for professional police training.

CVTC sends their officers to federal or state recognized training facilities and hires professional police officers. DPS took the resolutions for a certified state police officer and applied those to the CVTC officers. Those resolutions include being at least 21yo, have a thorough background check, psych check, poly checks, and attending a state or federal approved training facility.   CVTC police department is trying to be the example for all tribal police in the state. At this point, there has been so much negative pushback that there has been fear for the CTVC’s officer safety because of comments and threats that have been made. There are lots of rumors going through Sutton. Officer Howard said that the CVTC police dept can and will still assist with call outs to our community. 

Contact Info for Austin McDaniel (DPA Communications Director) Desk: (907) 269-5413 Mobile: (907) 744-6587 Email: austin.mcdaniel@alaska.gov

Contact Info for Sergeant Lee Phillips (Rural Mitigation) Office: (907) 373-8300 Dispatch: 352-5401 #6 Email: lee.phillips@alaska.gov

Presentation by Deb Lundy and Jody Serrano from Nine Star Education & Employment Services:  They are a grant funded non profit and they are being encouraged through their grant to extend services into more rural areas. Nine Star is the only Adult Education Program that services the Matsu valley. They can help with education, employment, workplace training, finding apprenticeships, internships, scholarships and other various workshops. They are located in Wasilla.

MSB Planning Department Capital Improvement Program – FY25 & FY26: MSB is asking the community to come up with  a way to spend at least $20,000 to make improvements anywhere within the whole borough. Looking for nominations for FY 26.  Nominations are due August 1st and can be submitted at https://cip.matsugov.us/

State Of Alaska / DOT 2024-2027 STIP Approval & Project Changes: We have a report of all projects that are planned in our area in the future. These projects can be viewed at https://airtable.com/appqC4ZnBxOF8jbnq/shro2Oza5u6OEcs3y/tblp3cNtpzxzDduiS. You can use the “Sort by” option to sort by “region” to help narrow the projects down to our area.

Reports and Correspondence:

Treasures Report: Janie Vessey

Road Service Area (RSA) 31: Dave Vancleve reported that Bryan Winestaffer is now a RS manager. Regarding the potholes, that should be apart of the contractors responsibility and anyone who thinks they are a problem, can call the problem reporter.  The more calls made, the more likely it is that they will get repaired.
Community Assistance Program (CAP): Angye Leavitt: no updates. Jeff mentioned the address numbers were a project through council so that police and fire departments have an easier time recognizing the locations.
Fire Dept. Report: Skip Stock: BURN PERMITS are necessary, there was a recent fire last month.
Crime Watch Report: No updates
VIII. Public Comment: Marcia gave credit to the floor seal getting fixed. Kalee and Austin Bowen donated a new floor seal and Austin installed it.
Old Business: Tabled until next meeting.
Water:

Gas:

Website Update: Link is auto generated to website for now.

Community Clean-Up Update: Put Trash behind Pavilion, Last day June 30, BBQ June 2, 2-4pm, Hugh took trash to the dump already.

New Business:
Continued discussion about the highway trail project and a possible vote on if the community wants to put out a letter of support or not. Community agrees that we need more information before providing a letter of support.

Agenda Items for Next Meeting (7/10/24):
Meeting Adjourn : Skip 8:27pm

 

Zoom: Officer Howard CPD, Christina VanCleve

Attendees: Skip Stock, Marcia Stock, Connie Koekkoek, Jeff Meyers, Dave Frederick, Andrea Frederick, Deb Lundy, Jody Sanders, John Vessey Sr, Janie Vessey, Ana Czajkowski, Jackson Czajkowski, David VanCleve, Cindy Hotz

 

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Status: Approved

President: Kalee Bowen

Secretary: Cassie Johnson

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NOTE: ALL MEETINGS ARE HELD AT THE CHICKALOON COMMUNITY CENTER ON THE 2ND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH AT 7:00 PM; LOCATED AT MILE 76 GLENN HWY, CHICKALOON, AK. 99674.ANYONE WISHING TO SPEAK OR HAVE A ITEM PUT ON THE AGENDA NEEDS TO CONTACT THE COUNCIL BY EMAIL: INFO@CHICKALOONCC.COM OR MAIL TO: PO BOX 1145, CHICKALOON, AK. 99674-1145. ALL MUST BE RECEIVED TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO THE MEETING. This deadline complies with the Mat-Su Borough Clerk’s Office advertising requirements.