I believe the borough assembly and manager should do what their sign on the dock says: Breathe. And, after that breath, I hope they will realize it didn’t make sense to pay thousands of dollars to study the former middle school as a potential recreation center and then pay up to $167,475 more to tear the building down.
And, now, even before the school that was recently sound enough for students to attend was felled, the borough is planning to ask for proposals for the design of a community center that would include a recreation center and new borough offices.
The population of Haines has changed little over the years, but now we have pressing needs for more office space and we hire consultants to give advice on such basic issues as what to do with junk cars.
I hope that the clear-headedness that can often come from breathing will allow the borough assembly and manager to understand the importance of not wasting the resources that we have, of keeping only clear and fair codes which it is willing to consistently enforce on the books and making do with the staff that it already has.
Sharon Resnick