An ordinance that would have cut the second public comment period at Haines Borough Assembly meetings has died.
Assembly member Mike Case proposed the ordinance with Mayor Jan Hill’s endorsement. Before it could be introduced on April 14 at the assembly level, it was pulled from the agenda and sent to the Government Affairs and Services Committee due to a wave of concern and discontent.
The ordinance died a quiet death in committee last week when assembly member George Campbell moved to table the ordinance indefinitely. The motion passed.
Former Mayor Stephanie Scott, a critic of the ordinance, attended the meeting and said the issue received little attention. “There was no discussion. I was sort of surprised. They seemed to have already made up their minds,” she said.
Opponents criticized the ordinance as an apparent discouragement of public participation that would stifle the public process.