The Haines Borough Assembly is taking steps to hire longtime lobbyist Ted Popely to represent the community’s interests in Juneau for somewhere in the $40,000-to-$90,000 range.

At a meeting Tuesday night, the assembly’s Government Affairs and Services (GAS) committee voted 2-1 to recommend the full assembly take action to secure Popely’s services. Members Cheryl Stickler and Gabe Thomas voted in favor, with Caitie Kirby in opposition.

Recent state capital and operating budgets have been lean, given the state’s ongoing spending gap, but assembly members said it would be important to have a presence in Juneau this year because of the funding that is likely to flow into the state through the CARES Act.

“We can talk about being (fiscally) conservative at a time like this, but I feel like there’s just too much (money) coming and to not have somebody sitting at the table, even protecting what little we could get, we’d be doing our community a disservice,” Thomas said.

Assembly members said the goal would be to secure funding for some of the borough’s big-ticket capital projects like the Lutak Dock or the Public Safety Building, projects ranging from $15 million to $30 million.

Kirby countered, likening hiring a lobbyist to “gambling with taxpayer dollars.”

“With how much we’re going to be scrimping and saving (in the upcoming budget cycle) and trying just to keep our basic facilities functioning, I just am not comfortable with ‘maybe,’” Kirby said. “I think we might have wiser ways to spend $45,000 than on a maybe.”

GAS committee discussion of hiring a lobbyist was spurred by an offer Mayor Douglas Olerud received last month from lobbyists Thor Stacey and Reid Harris, who offered their services to Haines for $1. Stacey and Popely made pitches for their hire to assembly members at Tuesday’s GAS committee meeting.

Stacey, who currently has four clients and has primarily represented hunting interests in the past, said he thinks his skills are transferable to lobbying on behalf of a municipality, and said his essentially free offer came from a desire to both expand his business and help Haines in the wake of the Dec. 2 natural disaster.

Popely, who represents 15 clients, ranging from native corporations to Fred Meyers to The Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, but no other municipalities, said he would advocate for borough capital projects by pitching their ability to benefit the entire state. He said his longtime connections in the capitol building are particularly valuable this year, as lobbyists aren’t allowed inside the building due to COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Stickler and Thomas said they were won over by Popely’s experience.

“Mr. Stacey is transparent and honest… but I agree with you, Gabe, that at this point we need the heavy hitter,” Stickler said. “We have to be ready to pounce (on funding opportunities).”

Kirby said she agreed with the need for Haines to have a presence in Juneau, but said she wasn’t convinced the borough would see a return on its investment. She asked Popely directly what the odds are the borough will be able to secure the capital funding it’s looking for. 

Popely said he couldn’t offer any guarantees. “That’s the $64,000 question when it comes to lobbying and public funds,” he said, adding that he thinks the borough is better off having “boots on the ground.”

Interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton said when she spoke with Popely, he said his normal range is $40,000 to $90,000 per year, funding that, if the assembly moves forward with the hiring, will come out of the borough’s tourism and economic development fund. The fund is supported by a 1% sales tax specifically dedicated to tourism promotion and economic development.

Kirby suggested the money spent on a lobbyist might be better spent restoring some of the borough’s funding for the Haines Economic Development Corporation (HEDC). Until this year, the borough had funded HEDC with $95,000 from the same tourism and economic development fund. For the current fiscal year, the assembly at the time voted to eliminate all funding for HEDC.

“We should take a look at how we’re cutting funding for an organization like HEDC, who employs local people, gives local people jobs and has done so much during COVID with nothing because we gave them nothing,” Kirby said.

Thomas and Stickler said they support using the funds to hire a lobbyist because the borough needs to secure a funding source to upgrade its crumbling infrastructure, and so far, nothing else has yielded results.

“I don’t consider it a gamble, I consider it an opportunity,” Stickler said.

The recommendation will be considered by the full assembly at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, March 9.

The last time the Haines Borough had a lobbyist in Juneau was in 2017. Former state legislator Bill Thomas, assembly member Thomas’ father, was hired by the borough at an annual rate of $45,000, paid from the tourism and economic development fund. In 2017, some assembly members raised concerns that, given the state’s economic challenges and limited funds available for capital projects, it didn’t make sense to have a lobbyist in Juneau.