It is kind of weird that you, the Haines Borough and their auditor think we have $15 million in savings and everything is hunky dory in Haines financial world. Lutak Dock is a $20 million liability, the sewer plant another $1 million, and under the fuel docks at the harbor are rotting wood piers that will require another $2 million to fix. We are $8 million in the hole at least. Not counting Letnikof docks, which are old steel drums in the ocean and not going to last forever. Your portrayal of our situation fails to account for these actual physical things that you can’t pay for with Monopoly money. Also, the Haines Borough has basically gone rogue and is allowing a giant forklift to operate over a known sinkhole and a cement overhang that has lost its steel support beams (they rotted off and fell into the ocean). The engineer’s report has declared this dock unsafe so when the forklift goes through and kills the driver, no one will be able to say, “We didn’t know that could happen.” I imagine the family is going to sue the pants off Haines Borough and Alaska Marine Lines for gross negligence. And if you think we have insurance for that, think again, there is no insurance for gross negligence. So we are over a cliff, editor, and you would do your readers a favor if you looked around and down instead of at the pie in the sky.
Joe Parnell