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Ruffridge selected for open Soldotna council seat

Soldotna Professional Pharmacy

The Soldotna city council has a new member. Seat F has been vacant for nearly a month, following the resignation of Keith Baxter, who recently moved to Anchorage for a new job.

 

Two candidates submitted applications for the council to consider Wednesday night. Jordan Chilson and Justin Ruffridge, both locals, shared similar views on promoting more recreation opportunities in the city and taking a measured approach to the ongoing annexation issue. An analyst in the IT department at the school district, Chilson also said he was interested in broadening the city’s revenue streams.

“I think that if we were to contribute more into our investment account, I don’t think that’s going to solve the financial dependence on sales tax issue. But I think it’s a step in the right direction. As of FY 17, we got 4.3 percent of the city’s operating revenue from that investment portfolio. I think it would be reasonable to contribute a little bit more. Maybe over the next couple years we could bump that to five or six percent and who knows? Maybe in 20 years we could be operating off of 10 percent revenue from that investment account. It’s a step in the right direction.”

Justin Ruffridge is a pharmacist and a recent appointee to the city’s planning and zoning commission. He shared with Chilson the view that any annexation should happen slowly and deliberately, with as much public input as possible. Ruffridge also wants to emphasize the city’s natural resources, in particular, the Kenai river.

“I think it is our responsibility as members of this community to protect it, and to enhance it in any way if we can. We have the pleasure of hosting what seems like a million people a summer, and I think anything we can do to help them see the beauty that we see being here all year would be amazing. I think we’ve done a great job with that, especially Soldotna Creek Park. Continuing that project and growth in that direction to really make our city shine would be amazing.”

After a brief Q&A with both candidates, the council voted unanimously to seat Ruffridge. He was sworn in at Wednesday’s meeting and will serve a partial term that runs until this October, when Seat F will be up for grabs during the regular election.