The Haines Borough Code Review Commission set minor offenses – the catalyst for the group’s formation – as its third priority as it begins to weed out errors and redundancies in borough law next month.

“That’s like a shotgun, minor offenses, that’s huge,” said commission chair Mike Denker.

The commission decided at its Feb. 2 meeting to tackle the first chapters of borough law addressing administration and personnel in March, with review of signage code to follow.

Audience member Carol Tuynman suggested the commission start at Title 2, which includes responsibilities of the borough manager, Mayor and assembly, in light of the controversial firing of former manager Bill Seward.

Commission member Don Turner and assemblyman Mike Case agreed that would be a good place to start.

With little guidance from the assembly on where to begin, Denker mapped out ideas heard from the public and commission members. Some other ideas included: starting at the beginning of Title 1, at minor offenses, at most used code, at “ordinances in the queue” being discussed by the assembly or committees, or at “hot button” issues.

Denker suggested starting with signage, saying a change in first amendment law makes this part of code unconstitutional. “These are potential legal liabilities for the borough,” Denker said. “I think this is a good project for us to get our feet wet.”

“We have to start somewhere, so why not start there?” said commissioner Jerry Lapp.

But commissioners worried that the group’s work might infringe on duties of other committees, including the Planning Commission, Tourism Advisory Board and the Public Safety Commission.

“We could be stepping on toes,” Denker said. “We can’t be going in like a bull in a china shop.”

The Planning Commission is tasked with looking at Title 18, which addresses planning, as well as the outdated Coastal Zone Management Plan.

The Public Safety Commission often works around Title 5 in code, which addresses business licenses, permits and regulated activities.

Lapp suggested the commission could simply review code that other committees are working on and send a recommendation to the assembly that it needs to be addressed. The assembly would then pass word to the Planning Commission as to not breach that group’s purview.

Deputy Clerk Alekka Fullerton said she was concerned that would create a “huge bottleneck” in borough processes.

Audience member Bill McCord repeated his sentiment from the commission’s first meeting, that it should hold a public forum to hear more of the community’s concerns about certain issues in code.

“If we really wanted to get people to buy into code, we need to find out what their overarching concerns are,” McCord said.

“We have to make sure we’re engaging the community in this process,” said commissioner Carolann Wooton. “The drive in this has been from the community.”

Commissioners were open to having public forums in the future, as they move to topics that may be controversial, especially minor offenses.

Wooton said she noticed a lot of redundancy in the minor offenses; state violations, which trump borough law, are repeated in code. Audience member Evelyna Vignola said she was in favor of removing the repetitive violations from the code. Denker said he would like Haines Borough Police Chief Heath Scott present when the group covers minor offenses, which could be in April or May.

The commission will meet 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month in the assembly chambers.

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