A. (The budget) drives everything. ... It's probably going to be about a 90-day process. The transition officially, I guess in some people's minds, ends July 1, but we're anticipating the true transition is going to go at least 60 to 90 days afterward, and that will coincide with how we're developing our budget. ... The goal is going to be, can we do things, provide at least the same level of service at a better cost.

And we are going to look at -- it might take a year or two to develop -- but if there are areas where putting things out to competitive bid makes sense, we're going to try and develop that. That's something you do very cautiously, though. You want to make sure you don't make the mistake like the state did with the road sweeping this year. You want to make sure you've got good, qualified people with the right equipment, and that you have benchmarks for performance, and if those benchmarks aren't met, then you have alternatives ready to go.

Q. The Port of Anchorage is in the middle of a huge expansion process. What do you think about that?

A. We've got Bill Noll, the former mayor of Seward, as the transition director for the port. We've asked him to augment his initial report by interviewing the users -- TOTE and Horizon, some of the barge companies. Their tariffs essentially help pay for maintenance and operations down there. So we'll take a look at it. It's a phased project. It may well be that some of the phases get pushed back on the timeline, or re-evaluated altogether.

I've actually had some correspondence from some folks who think the port project is much too ambitious and much too expensive. And that's going to be part of our analysis. Is that true? How do you determine it? Obviously, it's a strategic military port now as well as a cargo port, so there's certain factors that drive that expansion.

But I've got a feeling you might see, as with everything else, a little bit of a slowdown in some of that development. It also depends, too, (because) most of the money for that expansion has come from the federal government. (Port director and former governor Bill Sheffield) has been very successful in working the different departments to get funding, and whether or not Sen. Stevens being gone will somehow impact, that remains to be seen. I don't think there's going to be much support for any local bonds, or any local money for it.

Q. What do you think about downtown Anchorage right now? Do you think it works?

A. It does, but for the second year in a row, E Street is completely closed off. I don't know what they're doing there, to tell you the truth. Are they fixing stuff they did last year that didn't work? It's the exact same closure: I don't get it. ... Downtown improvements are essential. ... The only thing is that heated sidewalks are hugely expensive.