Nome is without legal taxi services

The city’s deadline to apply for taxi cab licenses by March 2 came and went, with the result that currently no legal taxi cabs are roaming Nome’s roads for the lack of any entity or person to submit an application to run a legal taxi cab.
During Iditarod week, visitors and locals alike had to make do without any cab services. During Monday’s Nome Common Council meeting, Leon Boardway stepped up during citizens comments, urging the council to do something. “We have a problem,” he said. He spoke up for senior citizens who are without wheels and rely on taxis to get to the store and back home. He spoke for people with health issues, who can’t just run up to Hanson’s to get groceries due to health restraints. And how do people get to and from the airport? “I’m a senior citizen, I should not have to hitchhike out there,” Boardway said.
The council was surprised to learn that the measures the passed to ease the burden of applying for a taxi cab license did not result in any applications and mulled to put out messages and ads that would clearly spell out the process of how to apply for a cab license. A hurdle is the necessity of a health certificate to obtain a chauffeur’s license and the lack of health professionals qualified to issue such certificates.
In other citizen comments, Emily Stotts with Rural Alaska Animal Resources asked the council to provide equal funding for vendors providing vaccines, pet licenses and deworming supplies. The city sponsors a pet vaccination clinic each year, hosted by the Nome Animal House. Stotts said the nonprofit organization Paws of Nome has been providing free vaccines for regional communities since 2021 and her for-profit business RAAR provides an average of 600 city pet licenses annually since 2024. “Over the past several years, two local businesses host city of Nome pet license vaccination clinics with one receiving city support for advertising vaccines and deworming supplies, I respectfully request that the city provide equal funding to all vendors currently providing these services,” she said.
Stotts also contracted with the city to provide animal control services but the contract has lapsed. City Manager Lee Smith in his manager report said that he plans to bring animal services “back in-house” with the help of the police department. Smith named efficiency and cost to the city as a few reasons. He said on average there are 2.5 animals picked up per month and the costs per contract are “outrageous.” He wanted to address this issue in an executive  session. Council member Scot Henderson wanted to see the numbers and said, “I’m a big believer in outsourcing services when the private sector can do it more efficiently or cost effectively and provide a better service or outcome.”
Council member Adam Lust said although he has no knowledge of the situation, the fact that there are only 2.5 animals per month to deal with “means our system works incredibly well.”
Stotts responded in the second public comment period. She said she has provided animal control services with no contract in place, currently. “I’ve been running city Animal Services out of the RAAR facility since June 2025, without compensation,” she said. With the several acting and interim city managers in place since last fall, she said there were only verbal agreements. “I had asked for about $19,000 to bring me up to just under what the average is for people in the animal control position around the state,” she said. “I was told that there was a budget issue and that wouldn’t be possible. So, I kind of stayed on, thinking that it would happen, but it hasn’t.” She added that before she contracted with the city, animals would be killed after five days of impoundment, if there was no reclaim process started by that time. This has changed as she works with the nonprofit PAWS of Nome to place animals in foster or adoption care. “Since I took on this position, not one animal has been destroyed by city services. All animals go into PAWS custody on the fifth day to reduce that burden on the city.”

Action items
The council passed a resolution to award a contract for bulkhead repairs to the West Gold Dock to Resolve Marine for nearly $250,000. The dock was damaged by a cruise ship in 2024 during a storm. The costs were paid in advance by the ship’s agent Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska.
The council also passed a resolution to recognize April as the month of the Military Child.

Washington trip
Mayor Kenny Hughes reported that he and Port Director Joy Baker traveled to Washington D.C. and met with the Alaska Congressional Delegation and high-level Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers officials. “The primary message to send to everyone was the full support behind the full build-out of the port as currently designed,” Hughes said. “There’s also talk about the possibility of one of the new Coast Guard cutters being home ported here.”

Budget
As the council is setting next year’s budget, City Manager Smith said that he is reviewing department budgets with the finance director. “Now finance and myself will begin going line item by line item with the departments. And that’s where we may make changes,” he said.
And as a start, the budget pencils in $2.7 million for the Nome Public Schools District. The district asked for $3.5 million. 
Property assessment letters have been sent out and councilmember Scot Henderson noted an increase of two percent for land values and nine percent for improvements. He asked if people probably will see a seven percent and more increase in their property taxes.
“There is no probably there,” Mayor Hughes said. “They will.”