Although a contract has yet to be signed, Mayor Douglas Olerud and assembly member Paul Rogers reached an agreement over employment terms with prospective borough manager Annette Kreitzer. She’ll be paid $130,000 and work one year under probationary status before a 3-year contract is offered.
The assembly will also evaluate her job performance after three and nine months based on her desire to take stock of her performance after eight to 10 months given the high turnover rate of borough managers.
“The normal probationary period is six months,” Olerud said. “We put it at a year because she wanted to have a test of eight to ten months. If we go through the year that will give her an idea of Haines and the borough assembly will have two opportunities to evaluate her and switch to a three-year contract.”
A draft contract is still being written, Olerud said. Kreitzer, currently living in Juneau, will start Oct. 1.
“My husband and I are going to be (in Haines) to start looking for housing pretty soon,” Kreitzer said. “We’re excited.”
Kreitzer spent 18 years working as an aide and chief of staff in the legislature and as commissioner for the Alaska Department of Administration where she was responsible for 1,500 employees.
The assembly voted unanimously to offer her the job last week after three rounds of interviews. She met with the public last Tuesday.
The borough assembly has been searching for a new borough manager for 15 months after Debra Schnabel was fired in May 2020 at the instigation of Rogers.