Friends of Mosquito Lake School and Community Center is asking the Haines Borough to spend an additional $9,400 per year to keep the facility open two days a week as a community center.

Dana Hallett, coordinator for the group, distributed copies of his proposal to the Haines Borough Assembly this week. The group said the building could be used for meetings, education and recreation for two days at a cost to the borough of $36,371.

The two-day option also keeps the building open for use as an emergency shelter and place where the Friends group could create a community garden and create new events and support existing ones, like the Alaska Bald Eagle Festival and Farmer’s Market, the proposal said.

The borough currently spends $27,000 per year keeping the former school building closed but operable.

In an interview this week, Hallett said if the building is designated a “community center,” the amount of the state’s Power Cost Equalization subsidy might reduce the requested amount. Also, his group could reduce other costs to the borough by volunteering to maintain the building, Hallett said in an interview.

“We have a community that’s capable and willing. We may be able to open without any costs at all over mothballing,” he said.

More than 30 residents turned out for a meeting about the building’s future at a meeting at the school Saturday.

Borough community and economic development director Bill Mandeville discussed options for the building with residents. school board member Mike Wilson and assembly member Ron Jackson attended the meeting.

Options discussed for the school Saturday included using it as an adjunct to the American Bald Eagle Foundation, using it as an agriculture site or using it in conjunction with production of wood pellets from valley trees, Hallett said. The borough officials also toured the school, which has been closed to the public for about a year.

“Bill Mandeville wants to meet with our steering committee and continue the conversation. He clearly wants to work with us collaboratively. People left the meeting feeling positive,” Hallett said.

Hallett said whatever the building is used for, his group believes it must remain in public hands, and its alternative use must be compatible and easily turned back to a school.

Besides petitions with 250 signatures of support, his group has compiled a list of economic impacts of a school at Mosquito Lake. The school must have 10 students for the Haines Borough School District to qualify for additional state funds for its operation.

The document submitted to assembly members also listed an option for a “Cadillac” plan that would keep the building open seven days a week for $59,572. Under such a scenario, the bald eagle foundation, heli-ski companies and others might be able to use the building.

The document says that at this time, the Friends group “cannot promise to pick up the $9,400 difference between mothballing and community use.”

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