The Government Affairs and Services (GAS) Committee on Friday deferred action on whether to expand Haines’ limit on heliski operator permits from three to four. The committee sent the issue to the full assembly.

Committee members initially seemed split. Assemblymember Caitie Kirby suggested pressing pause on the decision until winter before making a recommendation to the assembly. “I think we should kind of hold off and make sure we do this right,” Kirby said.

But assemblymembers Cheryl Stickler and Gabe Thomas said they’d like the whole assembly to weigh in now.

“I don’t disagree with (Kirby) but maybe we need to bring this up to the assembly,” Thomas said.

“It’s a decision that has to go beyond this committee for sure,” Stickler concurred.

All three members ultimately agreed to push the issue to the assembly.

Even with a power outage that caused a 15-minute intermission, Friday’s hour-long meeting was considerably shorter than the last one, which lasted two and a half hours. There were only a few public comments, and those who spoke raised similar points as in the past.

“The current version of the heliski code and the heliski map represent 20 years of compromise and input,” said Eric Holle, former president of Lynn Canal Conservation (LCC). “There’s no reason to change code now.”

Reggie Crist of Stellar Adventure Travel, which wants the fourth permit, said “granting Stellar a permit will not lead to an increase in use” because he and his clients have already been skiing in Haines with other operators for several years.

Still, local hunter and fisherman Steve Fossman predicted that if another operator is permitted “the pressure to expand the map is going to be placed on (the assembly) right away.” Current operators already have said that the assembly should expand skiable terrain if it permits a fourth operator.

Crist suggested that the borough charge companies $10 per skier day to raise revenue and incentivize operators to use the skier days that, as of now, are free. (A skier day is counted as an individual skier or photographer on any one day of a tour.)

Apart from heliskiing, there also was a question as to whether the borough gave proper notice for the meeting.

In a Thursday email to borough staff and committee members, LCC board member Cary Weishahn said there were a few errors, including that notice of the meeting was not physically posted in three locations, as required by code. Weishahn requested that the meeting be canceled and rescheduled.

Interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton said the posting was proper but “not ideal.” She said notice of the Friday meeting was given more than 72 hours in advance.

GAS Committee meetings are regularly held on the first Tuesday of the month. Last week’s meeting was on the calendar for Tuesday, Sept. 7, but no agenda was posted. On Tuesday the meeting was rescheduled to Friday and 32 people attended.