The Haines Borough is looking to buy a 450-square-foot trailer to use as extra office space despite having an empty desk at the administration building and empty offices in the public safety building.
The $12,500 “mobile office” would be located behind the administration building on Third Avenue.
Manager David Sosa said the trailer would be used as a “temporary” office for public facilities director Carlos Jimenez and as an on-site office for upcoming construction projects like Third Avenue improvements.
“The staff has been critically thinking about this challenge for many months and has looked at many ways to reconfigure the existing building but has not come up with a solution that does not involve incorporating additional space,” Sosa said.
Jimenez and public facilities assistant Krista Kielsmeier moved from their offices in the public safety building to the administration building during the transition period from former manager Mark Earnest to Sosa. Kielsmeier took a desk in the space near the building’s entrance, while Jimenez occupied Earnest’s old office.
Now, with Sosa on the job, Jimenez has been using the conference room as an office. Kielsmeier, whose job was combined into a deputy clerk position, replaced Michelle Webb, who left the borough last month.
Sending Jimenez back to his old office apparently isn’t an option. Jimenez’s close proximity to the clerk, manager and other department heads has “proven to be extremely efficient for communications,” Sosa said.
“Many impromptu problem-solving sessions have occurred that have saved the borough time and money. It is unanimous among staff that having the public facilities director in the admin. building is in the best interest of the borough,” Sosa said.
Mayor Stephanie Scott said she also doesn’t want to send Jimenez back to the public safety building.
“The more tightly knit they are in terms of even proximity to one another, the quicker problems get solved. I’m convinced that that is the case,” Scott said. “To isolate (Jimenez) in another building is problematic.”
Jimenez needs more space than most borough employees, Scott said, because of the nature of his work. “He doesn’t just work on a computer. He works with these large blueprints and plans and teams of large contractors that come in,” she said.
While Scott admitted she “doesn’t like trailers,” this trailer – situated at the Port Chilkoot Dock and owned by Pacific Pile and Marine – “is not too obnoxious looking,” Scott said.
The assembly voted 5-1 Tuesday to put $12,600 ($12,500 plus a $100 mobilization fee) into a budget amendment ordinance for the trailer, though the ordinance has a second public hearing May 27.
Assembly member Debra Schnabel, who opposed inclusion of the trailer in the budget amendment, said she believed the current space is adequate.
Schnabel said she was skeptical of the staff’s argument that putting Jimenez in the trailer will be better than making him go back to his old office in the public safety building, since the trailer is still separate from the administration building.
The trailer includes two offices and a small meeting room, and the $12,500 price tag includes file cabinets, printers, chairs, desks and other office items, Jimenez said.
Sosa said the trailer can be sold or reused when a more permanent solution is identified, like expanding the existing administration building or building a new “muniplex” to house the police department, fire hall, borough offices and assembly chambers.
The borough is in the process of planning to add space to the administration building, Scott said. “There isn’t money put toward it yet, but there’s a concept that was provided by MRV (Architects),” she said.
Scott referred to the concept as “back-of-the-napkin” and very preliminary.
The trailer, as a temporary use dwelling, can sit behind the administration building for up to 18 months, according to code.
The offices in the public safety building are currently being used as office space by PND Engineers for the Port Chilkoot Dock and Letnikof Harbor projects.