A community forum aimed at “Creating a Positive Future for Haines” attracted about 35 residents to the Chilkat Center Saturday, and zeroed in on perceived limitations of local government for resolving community issues.
Resident John Norton said a “mechanism” was needed to engage the community in a “fruitful enlarging of understanding of all the issues we find as divisive.” Issues that surface at borough assembly meetings often haven’t had any larger discussion elsewhere, and comment at assembly meetings is limited.
“The issues that we face often require more than an evening or a half-hour’s or hour’s discussion… to work through to a final outcome that we have some kind of confidence in,” Norton said. “In our own lives, issues aren’t resolved quickly.”
Gershon Cohen said the borough assembly’s committee process should work as such a forum, but others said assembly committee meetings are structured similar to assembly meetings. “It’s a series of speeches and it isn’t a dialogue… It doesn’t work and it hasn’t worked for years,” said George Figdor.
Some participants pointed to work of the borough’s Energy Sustainability Commission as a group that took on a larger issue with some success. Former Mayor Stephanie Scott, who served as staff to the commission, told the group that a problem is that only the borough assembly and planning commission have paid staffers.
“Meetings without staff and notes are useless,” Scott said. “We need to find a way to staff our committees.”
Assembly member Ron Jackson attended the meeting and said testimony at assembly meetings can be intimidating and doesn’t foster good communication. “The last place to influence a decision is at an assembly meeting,” he said.
Other comments address the need for improved decision-making in the face of anticipated difficulties ahead.
“Things are changing and I don’t think it’s going to be for the good,” said Mike Durand, a retired dairy farmer who moved here six years ago. “I think, as a community, we’re going to be put to the test. We’re going to have to rely on each other. I’m hoping we can become better at this process than we have been.”
Chilkoot Indian Association leader Harriett Brouillette said too often the tribe is not approached on issues. Other concerns expressed at the meeting included the importance of teaching local history and government strategic planning.
Assembly member Tresham Gregg, who helped organize the event and introduced it as a forum for discussing ideas “for making us more financially healthy,” said afterward he found it interesting that the discussion centered on community decision-making.
“I think that the potential for taking particular issues and discussing them in a forum like this is still on the plate, at least for the next effort,” Gregg said.