Fifteen Haines residents recently filed a complaint with the Haines Borough on behalf of Diana Lapham, who applied for, but wasn’t appointed to the borough’s Ports and Harbor Advisory Committee.

The complaint, put together by Don Turner Jr. and Terry Pardee, says that during the Jan. 10 regular assembly meeting, Lapham’s rights were violated.

The complaint, along with a recording of the Jan. 10 meeting, was forwarded to the district attorney’s office by Haines Borough Police Chief Heath Scott.

Turner’s complaint asked that borough police and the borough’s attorney investigate. Borough attorney Brooks Chandler said this week he couldn’t investigate the matter without direction from the assembly, Mayor or manager.

District Attorney James Scott was unavailable for comment and Lapham did not return repeated phone calls from the CVN. District attorney Scott told KHNS news director Emily Files that he “strongly suspects” that no criminal offense was committed.

Turner’s complaint said: “It’s our opinion that the action of the majority infringed upon Lapham’s constitutional rights granted under the Constitution of the United States of America and the State of Alaska.” It alleges such an infringement is a class A misdemeanor offense.

It was not clear this week what in the complaint led chief Scott to believe it should be investigated as a criminal matter. Police routinely refer people making rights complaints to civil court. In a brief interview, Scott said he is taking Turner’s complaint as seriously as he would if someone made a complaint against one of his officers.

During the Jan. 10 meeting Mayor Jan Hill presented her committee nominations for confirmation by the assembly. The assembly’s motion to appoint Lapham to the Ports and Harbor Advisory Committee failed by a 4-2 vote.

The statement also added that the assembly members blocking Lapham’s appointment broke their oaths of office.

During discussion at the assembly meeting, members Heather Lende and Margaret Friedenauer spoke against Lapham’s confirmation. Members Ron Jackson and Tresham Gregg joined them in the vote; Tom Morphet and Mike Case dissented.

Friedenauer said part of the reason she didn’t approve Lapham was that she had started a crowd-funding page on GoFundMe.com for former borough manager Bill Seward, who the assembly fired in December.

The GoFundMe page has a goal of $35,000 for Seward. As of Feb. 1, a little more than $3,500 had been raised.

Turner told CVN the only open seat on the committee was reserved for a commercial fisherman, but no one else applied for it.

Police Chief Scott Heath said he is taking the complaint as seriously as he would if someone made a complaint against one of his officers.

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