Fairbanks, AK - The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that outline Legislative priorities for the borough. Janice Golub is a member of the Assembly’s capitol projects committee that drafted the wish list. “A lot of them are maintenance projects, upgrades to facilities and that sort of thing," Golub siad. "We really as a committee didn’t prioritize them or put them in any special order.”
The assembly voted to prioritize items on the list, which includes everything from programmatic funding for the Enhanced Home Heating Appliance Exchange Program, as well money for gas distribution and a residential heating conversion loan program. As well, the list includes things like ambulance replacement, animal shelter improvements and a handful of energy efficiency improvements.
Assemblymen John Davies amended the list to include a request that the Alaska Department of Transportation to add LED lighting on state roads with speed limits of 30 miles per hour or less. Borough Mayor Hopkins agreed with the addition in part because lighting on city streets has already been upgraded to LEDs. Hopkins says it’s in keeping with a trend across the country. “This is again just an ask," he said. " "It seems like we ought to be trying to put LED lighting in other places. The city of Fairbanks I think is saving about $400,000 a year.”
The priorities list also addresses renovations for area schools including Barnett Middle School as well as upgrades to artificial turf for high school fields. It also outlines capitol improvements like parking for the new boat launch and swim beach at the Tanana Lakes Recreation area, a warm storage facility for emergency response equipment and borough-wide safety and security upgrades.