SEC NEWS-March

Summary

Monday, March 1^st

Opening ceremony kicked off nicely with the National Anthem being sung by Laurel Stone and the Alaska Flag Song being sung by Megan Wright, both beautiful renditions. The welcome address by Governor Parnell set a good beginning tone by addressing the overall need for improved economic development in our region, the benefits of the Alaska Class Ferry to improve transportation, and the incentive scholarship legislation that is being sponsored by the Governor. Juneau's Deputy Mayor Randy Wanamaker followed up the Governor with support for economic development. A special welcome to the "under 40" emerging leaders in southeast was given by Nils Andreassen of Institute of the North.

The Funders Forum kicked off with a program rundown from Tessa Rinner Denali Commission. Jim Nordlund outlined what the USDA has available and Sandra Holst provided a comprehensive look at what the Alaska Division of Investments can offer and how to apply. The Forum presentations were concluded with Brenda Hewett from United Way with a smaller, but equally important, literacy program opportunity for communities. At this time the presenters took up stations in the crowd to allow individuals one-on-one time for questions and discussion.

At 11am Nils Andreassen led the SELF group into a roundtable discussion in the Egan Room.

After the lunch break Board Member and Economic Development Committee Chair Linda J. Snow lead the attendees in a discussion on SEC's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, outlining EDA's expected changes in 2011.

At 2pm the Southeast Alaska Regional Solid Waste Authority Board met in the Hickel Room.

At 3pm the Conference of Mayors convened in the Egan Room.

SE_delegation

Tuesday, March 2^nd

The energy day started off with Gene Therriault, the Governor's Senior Policy Advisor. John Haberling updated the attendees with an overview of D Hittle's report on the Kake to Petersburg Intertie Project. From the Kake-Petersburg update we moved right into an operational update from Metlakatla Power & Light. Intertie updates lead us right into generation projects with updates from IPEC's Peter Bibb, AP&T's Bob Grimm, and Kootznoowoo Peter Naoroz. Dick Levitt presented on the successes of Gustavus new hydro project and also highlighted some of the challenges that they face, now and in the future. SEAPA's Dave Carlson showed a video that spotlighted various construction phases of the Swan-Tyee hydro project and followed that up with a presentation on some of the mechanical and design features of the project.

After lunch and an AEA update from Steve Haagenson we heard about Dorothy Lake from AEL&P's Corry Hildebrand. Nathan Soboleff of Sealaska presented on their conversion to pellet heat and provided a supply and demand analysis of southeast's wood heating potential. Jessie Ellen Cherry gave a climate tracking presentation, showing attendees the potential for anticipating their hydro potential from year to year. Polar consult's Joel Groves described the demonstration project they are kicking off this summer by completing Phase I-Proof of Concept for a prototype converter. Ernie Christian introduced the ACE Coalition to attendees and gave a summary of what they'd like to see developed from southeast's hydro potential. Denali Daniels from the Denali Commission stepped in to cover the last minute vacancy left when Jim Strandberg was unable to speak. She reviewed some of the programs The Commission has available to qualifying applicants. Energy concluded with Marilyn Leland of Alaska Power Association describing for us what APA is and what it does for the region and the state.

At this point in the afternoon we began the Legislative Panels, beginning with a video address from Senator Lisa Murkowski. Starting the panel discussions off was the Southeast Delegation with Representatives Munoz, Kerttula, Thomas, and Wilson; and Senators Kookesh and Egan. Each spoke briefly on what their main focus has been during this legislative session and then we moved to a Q&A period.
Federal

The next panel was federal representatives Susanne Fleek-Green with Senator Begich, Chad Padgett with Representative Young, Kevin Sweeney with Senator Murkowski. This followed the same format as the Southeast Delegation panel. After the panel discussions we broke for an evening reception in which we honored JC Conley, showing a slide show of pictures from his life and sharing stories from individuals closest to him.

RedShoes

Wednesday, March 3^rd

At 10am all attendees broke into individual committee meetings. After lunch we re-convened and met Beth Pendleton, the Regional Forester for Alaska. Then we had a presentation from James Beedle with DOT on the Alaska Class Ferry project. General blueprints were shown and an outline of how much community outreach went into the design features was discussed. Linda J. Snow reviewed a presentation that was given by Desiree Pfeffer from Rivada-Sea lion on a potential broadband improvement project for the southeast region. Sealaska's Ron Wolf and Jaleen Kookesh presented on its land entitlement legislation and land management programs. Sealaska outlined its intentions and purpose with the selections and the affected tribes and communities. SELF, via Nils Andreassen, presented a draft resolution to the attendees to establish SEC continued support with the development of the group throughout the region. Committee Chairs presented a brief report on what developed in their break out meetings and in some cases the anticipated goals of their committee and then the group broke for the SEC Board Meeting.

The final day of the Mid Session began with a presentation on southeast festivals, their economic value and how we might market ourselves regionally to get the most out of our region as a destination and not a drive through. Eric Davenport from the US Census Bureau shared a video and presented on the importance of the 2010 Census. They shared with us ways that they are doing outreach and what we as individuals and communities can do to help them. Gordon Harrison presented on the potential pitfalls of re-districting that will affect our region due to the population losses.

The Economic Development Committee met and the topic of conversation was the effort being put into getting broadband in the communities in Southeast Alaska.Health, Education and Social Services discussed the value of Vitamin D and Omega3 in the diets of young people and seniors in our region. It is important that we focus on this because of the dramatic effect it has on behavior and general health. They also talked about the parents as teachers program. There is concern about the lack of senior care in the small communities. The seniors are leaving home because there is not care for them in the communities.Fisheries topic was mariculture (shellfish farming) they talked about ways to entice farmers to the industry and make it feasible for someone to try such as cooperatives.

Transportation committee got to hear from DOT Jim Beedle regarding the Alaska Class Ferry.

The tourism committee focused on the marketing of our region. We really need to get together as a region and develop a marketing plan that can pool our resources and make a difference. We are putting together a list of festivals for all the communities.

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