My name is Bill Holt and I’m running to serve as your District 7 representative on the borough assembly. District 7 covers the area from south of Soldotna to Anchor Point.

Right now there are many challenges facing our borough. Assembly members need to have energy, skills and commitment to work together for solutions. I am ready and able. My eight years of service on the School Board has provided me with the skills and knowledge base to be up-to-speed almost immediately on the Assembly.

In my opinion education is the most important responsibility of the borough government. The Borough has the fiscal responsibility to support education and seventy percent of the Borough’s general budget goes to education. With the fiscal realities facing the state and borough it is important to have an assembly that supports the school district mission as well as to find ways to reduce costs where possible. I am currently the vice president of the School Board. I understand the funding and the budget process. During my tenure I have learned that there are many innovative approaches and options for educating our children. I have also worked for the School District in the past as the Community School Coordinator when Skyview was a high school. It will be a continuing challenge to support our students and teachers during a time of declining revenues and it will require creativity and hard work to find ways to provide our kids with the best education possible.

I moved to the Kenai Peninsula in the mid 1970s and stayed because of its beauty and diversity. Life has been good here for my family and I have been paying that forward by committing my time and energy to improving the quality of life for all of my fellow residents and visitors. I have worked to bring healthy and interesting activities to our borough through the development of our world class Tsalteshi trail system, past work as a community schools coordinator, course director for Nordic events at Arctic Winter Games and helping to find innovative ways to support the public use of KPBSD swimming pools. I have written and managed about $500,000 in grant funds for the Tsalteshi trail system. I have been project manager for most of the improvements on the trail system and have experience coordinating volunteers, community organizations, business and governmental groups into the kind of partnerships that get projects done with the best results and the least cost.

For almost four decades I have worked in commercial fishing: drift gillnetting; set gillnetting; seafood processing and marketing; and I have worked as a sport fish guide prior to moving to Alaska. I thoroughly understand the importance of fishing as a part of our diverse economy here on the peninsula.

I offer a positive perspective to move us forward.

I would appreciate your vote on October 4.

Thank you.