One year after the Haines Borough Assembly cut from its budget a $43,200 federal lobbyist position, manager David Sosa is proposing to spend $45,000 for a state lobbyist. Sosa included the lobbyist job in his draft budget released last week.

The lobbyist’s salary would come from the borough’s economic development fund.

Clerk Julie Cozzi, who served as interim manager and assembled last year’s budget, removed the Washington, D.C. lobbyist and said the money saved would go toward the salary of the newly-created community and economic development director.

Community and economic development director Bill Mandeville this week wouldn’t say whether he supported funding a lobbyist. “That’s not really a question to ask me,” Mandeville said. “I support whatever the Mayor and the assembly come up with.”

One of the key responsibilities listed for the community and economic development director position is “state and federal representation, advocacy and communication.” Essential duties and responsibilities listed in the job description include “working with state and federal agencies to advocate for, and implement Haines priorities,” and “maintaining a liaison with various local, state, and federal agencies.”

Mandeville’s salary is $65,000. Including benefits, the position costs the borough $103,800.

Sosa explained his rationale for funding a lobbyist in Juneau at Monday’s first budget workshop with the assembly.

“One of the things we are seeing with the state is that, particularly during troubled times, it’s very important to have a voice that is representing your interests on a regular basis with the legislature,” Sosa said.

“As a staff, we have been working on that and I know members of the assembly have been working on that, but even the short distance between here and Juneau… If you’re not getting the word in a timely manner, and you’re not able to engage in a timely manner while someone else can engage in a timely manner, you’re at a disadvantage,” Sosa said.

Having a lobbyist in Juneau will allow the borough to have more influence with legislators, Sosa said. “Sometimes that influence can be to get funding, other times that influence can be to obtain legislation that is supportive of our interests, and sometimes that influence can be to prevent money from being taken away from the community,” Sosa said.

One of the reasons the lobbyist position’s presence in the budget was not immediately apparent is its funding falls under the general category “professional and contractual services.”

In previous budgets, the lobbyist position would have been listed in the expense detail worksheets, which provide further spending details. Those details were eliminated from the budget this year by Sosa and chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart.

At last week’s Chamber of Commerce lunch with Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, Haines resident Kristine Harder asked whether it would behoove the borough to invest in a state lobbyist.

“I think it’s really a local decision,” Kito said. “One of the things that can be beneficial is to have people down there that are tracking things day to day. That’s part of our job, but there are municipalities and school districts that do have people down in Juneau that are working on their specific issues as well,” Kito said.

Having an engaged, dedicated staff and assembly helps lessen the need for a lobbyist, he added. “It’s really about having continuous representation. So if you’ve got an active city manager or assembly and people are in the capitol building on a regular basis, perhaps having a lobbyist is not as necessary,” Kito said.

Sosa in January hired former state Rep. Bill Thomas, who also is a former lobbyist, to work for one month helping the borough develop its grant requests to the legislature. Thomas also was to assist the borough in developing a legislative strategy, including which people to talk to, what to talk to them about and when during the session to approach them.

At the time, Thomas said he didn’t understand why the borough didn’t just hire him as a lobbyist. “I think they should just hire me and say, ‘This is what we want,’” Thomas said.

Assembly member Mike Case said this week hiring a state lobbyist for $45,000 “would definitely be worthwhile.”

“To an extent, our representatives and senators are our lobbyists but they have a broader constituency than our own paid lobbyist would have. There is an ever-reducing pool of money that the state will have to dole out to the communities. We need to be sure that we get at least our share,” Case said.