MEMORANDUM

TO: Timothy Navarre, Assembly President

Members, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly

FROM: Dale Bagley, Mayor

DATE: January 24, 2002

SUBJECT: Resolution 2002-018, supporting the application to host the Arctic Winter Games in the Kenai Peninsula Borough at Soldotna

The Arctic Winter Games provide an opportunity for youth from various northern countries and territories to participate in an assortment of sports characteristic of the arctic areas. It is an international sporting and cultural event held biennially with participation from Canada's Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories, Northern Alberta, Alaska, Greenland, and the guest Russian oblasts of Tyumen and Magadan. An aim of the Arctic Winter Games is to stimulate those athletes not yet at the highest competitive or elite level of athletic competition to participate and improve their skills. It also is intended to be a common ground for promoting cultural and social interchange among northern peoples and for providing education, understanding, and friendship between all peoples inhabiting the circumpolar world.

Hosting the Arctic Winter Games can provide a significant economic boost to the Kenai Peninsula Borough with potentially over 1600 athletes and coaches participating in the events, along with family members and other supporters.

The Arctic Winter Games generally last approximately one week, and are governed by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee, which establishes policies and principles for the games and chooses the host community to ensure the games are run according to specific standards established by the committee. A group, including members from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the City of Soldotna, Kenai Native Association, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, the American Red Cross and other community members, has been developing the bid package to locate the 2006 Arctic Winter Games in the Kenai Peninsula Borough primarily at Soldotna and also in other locations throughout the borough. The bid package will be due this spring, and an important part of that package is a demonstration of community support that the borough be the host community. The accompanying resolution would demonstrate the borough's support for designating the Kenai Peninsula Borough as the host community for the 2006 Arctic Winter Games.