Haines Borough employees and elected officials will be manning a booth at the Southeast Alaska State Fair this year.
Manager David Sosa said staff members will be paid for their time at the booth. Sosa, clerk Julie Cozzi, public facilities director Carlos Jimenez, chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart, police chief Bill Musser, tourism director Leslie Ross, community and economic development special projects coordinator Christina Baskaya and others will take turns staffing the booth.
Salaried employees like Sosa, Cozzi and Musser won’t receive extra pay for their time at the booth, though employees will be running the booth during the work day.
“For those who are not salaried, they will be paid for their time at the booth and this I view as an investment in our community and a worthy expenditure of funds,” Sosa said.
Hourly breakdowns for the employees scheduled to staff the booth include: Sosa ($47.13), Jimenez ($38.63), Musser ($36.06), Cozzi ($31.32), Stuart ($29.88), Baskaya ($25), and Ross ($21.75).
The booth will feature informational handouts and placard boards, Sosa said.
“A major personal goal since arriving has been to reach out to the public and news media as a way of providing information and of getting to know people. This has been extended to a staff goal as a way to provide information, encourage participatory government, and improve services,” Sosa said.
Mayor Stephanie Scott said she encouraged the borough to reserve a booth at the fair. Scott cited the Comprehensive Plan’s directive to “enhance engagement by periodically conducting less formal outreach events at different venues than the assembly chambers.”
“My thought is to take the government to the people from time to time as opposed to asking the people to come to the government. I am so pleased when I see a new face in the audience at assembly meetings, but it doesn’t happen enough from my point of view,” Scott said.
“It’s making government more human, putting a face on it and taking away some of the formality,” she added.
Assembly members will be encouraged to staff the booth, though unlike employees, they can’t really be told they need to attend, Scott said.
“You can’t make assembly members do anything. They are invited, so they will come if they can,” she said.
Baskaya, who is in charge of scheduling, said she hasn’t hammered out all the details yet in terms of who is staffing the booth when and for how long.
It costs $220 to rent a booth at the fair for the four-day event. The booth comes with one transferable vendor pass, otherwise booth vendors must purchase a four-day $32 vendor pass for each person at the booth, which is also transferrable.