Residents who have clamored at recent Haines Borough Assembly meetings for more public involvement can step up Aug. 1 and declare their candidacy for local office.
Candidate filing applications are available on the borough website and at the administration office.
The filing period is open Aug. 1 through Aug. 20. In October, voters will elect two assembly members for three-year terms, two school board members for three-year terms, and one school board member for a two-year term.
Assembly member Dave Berry, whose term expires in October, said he won’t be running again due to health issues. Berry served three years on the assembly and 15 years on the Haines City Council.
In an interview this week, Berry said potential candidates “have to have big shoulders and thick skin” to deal with the constant barrage of input from the public.
“Be prepared to deal with a lot of emotion, passion and frustration on the part of the constituents,” Berry said.
Candidates should know they will have to deal with criticism, concerns and questions at their homes, their places of work and at public meetings, he said. “There are too many people in town that believe that because you work for the borough or because you’re on the borough assembly, it is okay to treat you differently than they treat anyone else,” Berry said.
Still, Berry said his time serving on the assembly and council was worthwhile. “It was extremely enjoyable and quite a learning process. And I loved it.”
The other assembly seat up for grabs currently belongs to Joanne Waterman. Waterman did not respond to calls and emails for comment asking if she planned to run again.
Mayor Jan Hill said it is “critically important” for residents to run for office. “It seems like we have had more people attending assembly and even committee meetings in the past few months. That tells me people are interested in what is going on, and I hope that some of those people would like to be more involved. One way to be more involved is to put your name on the ballot.”
“The more people on the ballot, the more choices we have. And I think that’s a good thing,” Hill added.
The school board seats up for election are currently held by Sara Chapell, Tiffany DeWitt and Mike Wilson. The school board has recently had trouble recruiting candidates, with only two candidates running to fill three seats last year.
Residents last year voted to eliminate the “40-percent rule,” so candidates this year are not required to receive at least 40 percent of the vote to be seated.
Residents must turn in petitions for initiatives and referendums by Aug. 12.