A regional economic development organization is asking the Haines Borough and other communities for money toward crafting a 25-year plan for a sustainable ferry system, but some are skeptical about whether the state is serious about committing to reforms.
Gov. Bill Walker recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Southeast Conference to draft a long-term plan for the Alaska Marine Highway, including changes to the system’s leadership structure, revenues, operations and asset deployment.
Southeast Conference energy coordinator Robert Venables is organizing the project, which he emphasized is not a study but a plan to “re-create” a system in peril. “There is no studying happening. A business plan will be developed,” Venables said.
Development of the plan will involve several consultants and cost about $350,000, with two-thirds of that likely borne by the state, Venables said.
The other third, or roughly $100,000, will be raised by Southeast Conference. The organization started making contacts this week, asking municipalities to contribute to the effort.
Mayor Jan Hill, who sits on the Southeast Conference board, said the question of the borough’s contribution will likely come up at the June 14 assembly meeting.
“We’ve had little pockets of people in different communities trying to come up with creative ideas, and to have an organization able to focus on it, I think, is what is going to make it be successful,” Hill said.
Assembly member Tresham Gregg said he wouldn’t be opposed to contributing some borough funds – “You don’t want to be totally left out of the picture” – but said he hopes a proposal he recently made to Southeast Conference will be integrated into the long-term plan.
In March, Gregg proposed marketing the ferry system with a “Waterways Adventure Experience” tour, where riders would ferry to special events in different communities.
“I’d rather we did something to help with the organization and the implementation and the ideas of the project” rather than just donating money, he said.
Assembly member George Campbell was skeptical of another organization developing another “plan” or “study” that will end up “sitting on the shelf collecting dust.”
Campbell also questioned the state’s commitment to following through on any of the recommendations developed by the $350,000 plan.
“I would want to see something from the ferry system that says, ‘Yeah, we’re actually going to follow the plan.’ Presently, the ferry system already has had a gazillion plans,” Campbell said.
Venables said Walker’s signing of the MOU indicates a resolve to reform the system that hasn’t been there in the past.
“It’s a very significant gesture on behalf of the state, because they are allowing a third party to come in and not just critique its operations and governance structure but allow it to bring stakeholders across the state in and create recommendations that could transform the enterprise into something it is not today,” Venables said.
“At the end of the day, you cannot say all the recommendations are going to be adopted in the exact form that they are offered, but I think that the legislature has come to us and said, ‘Things need to change.’ The governor has come to us and said, ‘Things need to change,’” he added.
The first order of business is addressing the system’s leadership structure, which is constantly changing due to elections and turnover. Superimposing that revolving-door of executives onto a highly-politicized legislature makes decisions that should be business-like very difficult, Venables said.
“There is no way to properly plan,” he said.
Venables said Southeast Conference isn’t asking for specific amounts of money, but is asking communities to contribute what they can.
“We understand most of them feel somewhat nickel and dimed to death by the current legislative session, but the marine highway system is the economic lifeblood of coastal Alaska,” he said. “We’re not pressuring anyone to deliver ‘X’ amount; we’re just kind of identifying the need and we think the stakeholders will do their part.”