Politics

On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Bethel City Council will look at employment contracts, online sales tax, and cleaning up city codes. 

One of the effects of enacting local option is that Bethel loses much of its alcohol sales tax, which is $500,000 that the city estimated it would receive last year. It still receives some alcohol sales tax from restaurant beer and wine sales. The decreased revenue means funding for Bethel’s Community Action Grant program is almost gone as well. 

Bethel is now much closer to filling the top positions in the city’s administration. Last night, the city council interviewed two candidates for two positions and unanimously voted to offer contracts to both of them. This decision came after in-person interviews with Vincenzo “Vinny” Corazza for city manager, and Elizabeth “Libby” Bakalar for city attorney. 

The Bethel City Council will conduct two important interviews on Feb. 10. They will assess the finalists for both the city manager and city attorney positions in person, starting at 6 p.m. in interviews open to the public.

Former Alaska State Rep. Bob Herron, a Bethel Democrat, had a stroke on Sunday. Alaska House Majority Leader Steve Thompson, a Republican from Fairbanks, announced the news on the House floor on Monday.

Bethel residents may have to start paying sales tax on online purchases soon. Bethel City Council unanimously voted to join the Alaska Remote Sales Tax Commission, a state-wide organization that will help Alaskan cities collect sales tax on online purchases by their residents. 

Despite an evening power outage on Jan. 28 that took out lights all over Bethel, the city council powered through its meeting agenda, which included the renewal and transfer of Fili’s Pizza’s liquor license.

The Bethel City Council meeting on Jan. 28 will cover liquor licenses and taxes.

Fili’s Pizza is applying to renew its liquor license for selling beer and wine. In addition, the ownership is changing hands. Current owner Mefail Saliu is selling the restaurant to Marina Inc., a company partially owned by Todd Perez. Perez formerly managed Caribou Traders Liquor Store, which shut down earlier this month when Bethel entered local option alcohol status that allowed restaurants to continue selling beer and wine.