The Soldotna City Council last week voted to “modernize and streamline” their election process.
Kenai Peninsula Borough voters in October ratified Initiative Proposition No. 5, changing the borough’s municipal election date from the first Tuesday in October to coincide with November’s state and federal elections. Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney and city council member Jordan Chilson introduced Ordinance 2025-32 during the Oct. 29 regular meeting in the hopes of increasing voter turnout.
“I believe it’s pretty well established that our community has an expectation at this point, given the way that our elections have historically been run,” Chilson said during the Nov. 12 meeting. “I believe if we do not make the decision to align at this point, we’re really just inviting a lot of confusion and problems with our elections moving forward.”
The ordinance also eliminates run-off elections, which Mayor Paul Whitney referred to as “an added expense,” and removes the requirement to publish election notices in the newspaper. Soldotna City Clerk Johni Blankenship said the city will continue to print election notices in the Clarion “for as long as there’s still a paper,” but the city will seek additional methods of public noticing.
The decision to remove the requirement to publish election notices comes from concern about the paper’s continued operation. The current municipal code requires election notices to be published in “a newspaper of general circulation,” and the city council would violate their own code if the paper were to close.
“It’s more about a proactive approach to prevent any situation in which we aren’t able to comply with our own local laws on publishing notices,” Chilson said during a phone call to the Clarion on Tuesday. “Given the history of the paper and the reduction of its publication schedule, there is concern there about that being a very real possibility.”
Whitney said the paper’s dwindling circulation and the expense of publishing notices also contributed to the decision to remove printed notices.
“Someone mentioned to me yesterday that they can’t even find a newspaper downtown to buy one anyway,” Whitney said. “Plus there’s no more home delivery and so forth and so on.”
Concerns about publishing notices in newspapers while the mediascape evolves are nothing new. When the Seward Journal closed in November 2023, Seward began posting notices on the city’s website and in physical spaces throughout town, including the city hall, library and harbormaster’s office. The Homer City Council passed a resolution in August 2024 supporting web-based public noticing after several instances in which public notices the city submitted for publication weren’t printed, causing delays in the council’s agenda and impacting their ability to govern efficiently.
Soldotna passed a resolution in May 2023 limiting notice by newspaper publication to “only those that are required by Soldotna Municipal Code and Alaska State Statute Title 29” shortly after the Clarion announced the paper would be printed twice per week rather than daily.
Blankenship said the city will notify the public of elections via social media, the city’s website and email notifications in addition to publishing them in the Clarion.
“I have every confidence that the city clerk will be standing out on the street corner with a bullhorn telling everybody what’s going on,” Whitney said.
For more information on the ordinance, visit the Soldotna City Council meeting portal through the city website.
