1990 Time Capsule to be opened this week

By Diana Haecker |

In the absence of Mayor John Handeland, who is still nursing a bout with pneumonia, Councilmember Mark Johnson presided over Monday’s Nome Common Council meeting, passing the downtown rezoning ordinance in second reading and an ordinance delaying the implementation of a new sales tax of 6 percent – if approved by the voters in October – to January 1, 2026.
The intent for the downtown rezoning effort to include mixed uses was to encourage active commercial uses, building development and also residential uses. 
Permitted uses include retail and wholesale businesses, offices, churches, restaurants, medical facilities, hotels, as well as funeral homes – which Nome does not have – and parks and playgrounds as well as, curiously, outdoor storage including junk, boat marinas, docks, warehousing and even a helicopter landing pad.
However, single family homes and duplex buildings require a conditional use permit.
The minimum lot size is 5,000 square feet and building setbacks include zero feet setbacks from dedicated rights of ways, five feet from other lot boundary lines and ten feet from the top bank of drainage ditches and closed drainage systems.
The ordinance had been mulled since January 2024, when the Nome Planning Commission took up the task to allow a mixed use district downtown to spur development.
In its second reading, with a public hearing, no member of the public stepped to the podium to comment on the ordinance.
It passed unanimously with all council members except for Kohren Green in attendance.
City Clerk Dan Grimmer explained the ordinance that would delay the implementation of a sales tax hike to January, 2026 if Nome voters in October approve a ballot measure authorizing the sales tax increase from 5 to 6 percent.
Grimmer said, with the vote in October – provided the measure passes – the extra months would give the city and businesses extra time to implement the measure effectively and fairly.

The council also granted a request by Front Properties LLC to waive the penalties and interest for a late property payment last year.

As an add-on to the agenda, the council passed a resolution designating the month of July as Park and Recreation Month in the City of Nome. 

City Manager Lee Smith invited Library Director Marguerite LaRiviere to speak on an exciting event that will unfold on Thursday evening at the library. As part of the Summer Reading program in 1990, kids prepared a time capsule that was supposed to be opened in 2010. LaRiviere gleaned from articles in the archives of The Nome Nugget, that Dee McKenna was the library director then, and as part of the summer reading program, young library patrons took polaroids and wrote letters to kids in the future, which are the only items known to be in the time capsule. “That’s all we know, the rest is a mystery,” LaRiviere said. The time capsule had been displayed in the old library on Front Street, was then moved to storage in the Public Works building which a few years ago suffered a fire, and now it is prominently displayed at the new library in the Richard Foster Building to be opened in the presence of McKenna, city officials and the curious public on Thursday, July 17.

City Manager Smith reported that he is pursuing a public-private partnership for a potential separation of the bowling alley and the newly renovated kitchen to lease out the kitchen to a startup restaurant. He is in talks with a cook wanting to open a Mexican restaurant. The vision is to lease the kitchen to a startup and if they succeed, they would find another space to carry on. Then the space would be rented out to another startup.  Council member Scot Henderson, attending virtually, cautioned that it’s an interesting idea, but that the city needs to be careful to not give unfair advantage and hurt existing restaurants and businesses.

City Manager Smith spoke on pursuing a text messaging app for the city to inform Nomeites of city events, push out warnings or missing persons alerts. The app he prefers is already working with FEMA and he expects a beta version to be tested in Nome this fall.
He also announced that the city is putting out a request for proposals of auditors, who would then go out in the community and audit businesses for personal property, making sure that the self-reported personal property is indeed actually correct.

Prompted by a question by Council member Henderson regarding the swimming pool and the low usage of the pool, Smith said the city has a difficult time finding lifeguards, both senior and junior, to staff the pool. He said it costs a lot of money to keep the pool warm and operating, while the pool cannot be used if lifeguards are not available. “Is it worth keeping it open?” he asked. “We need to have an open and honest conversation with the public.”
Henderson asked for a work session on the matter.

The next council meeting is scheduled for July 28.