The Haines Borough Assembly will meet as a committee of the whole with manager Debra Schnabel on Aug. 20 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss personnel restructuring in light of a handful of soon-to-be vacant borough positions.
Last week, borough planner Holly Smith worked her last day after resigning in May; public facilities director Brad Ryan accepted a manager position in Skagway; executive assistant to the manager Krista Kielsmeier announced she’d be leaving at the end of August to enroll in a master’s degree program in Ireland.
“Given the resignations and the changes that are occurring, I think it would be a good idea to have a committee of the whole to discuss if we want to do any kind of restructuring or if we are going to continue with the status quo,” assembly member Heather Lende said. “It presents an opportunity for us to be able to save some money if it’s possible. I’d like to have that discussion before we go out and advertise it.”
Assembly members Sean Maidy and Stephanie Scott were opposed, saying it was the manager’s decision to structure the staff.
“If you’re talking about a discussion about whether or not the assembly should decide if we should keep our staff at the level that it is, no,” Maidy said. “I think that’s a managerial decision for the borough manager. I think that the staff level that we have should not be shrunk. If we’re going to have a staff discussion. it should be increased training, possible upward movement so people don’t want to leave.”
Maidy’s wife has worked for the borough as a planning technician since 2018.
Assembly members Brenda Josephson and Tom Morphet said that the budget is the borough’s responsibility, and staffing affects spending.
Morphet said the public facilities director position was created in 2008, when Bill Thomas represented the borough in the state legislature, that brought in “more projects and more money coming in than we could manage.”
“Now that we no longer have big capital funds coming in for capital projects that we did in 2008, we may want to direct the manager to eliminate the facilities position,” Morphet said. “It would be irresponsible now that we’re facing $1 million in cuts to our community, for us to not look at the staff and have this discussion.”
Schnabel said she had no objection to discussing with the assembly opportunities presented by the turnover of staff with the assembly, but she didn’t want to delay advertising for the vacant positions.
Last week, the Haines Borough posted listings for the public facilities director, and renamed the executive assistant to the manager position as a contract and grants administrator. The borough planner position has been listed since May. Ryan’s wife, Yolanta Ryan’s position as library education coordinator is also listed. Kathy Keller resigned from her position as accounts payable payroll clerk, but Schnabel has offered the position to Sally Garton.