The Haines Borough Assembly voted unanimously to approve a land lease agreement for a telecommunications tower near Lutak Dock.

The agreement enables Vertical Bridge Development to build a tower that the company plans to sublease to Verizon Wireless, which would provide cell service to the Lutak area.

Initial reports said the tower would have 5G capacity, but Vertical Bridge representatives said 5G is not included in the project.

Some community members have raised concerns about the health effects of 5G and other electromagnetic radiation. Andrew Thatcher, a doctor with expertise in radiofrequency exposure, presented at Tuesday’s assembly meeting and said there is no evidence of serious adverse health effects, like cancer, caused by cell-phone use or exposure to radio waves at or under the federally allowable limit.

Assembly members discussed whether to allow only 3G and 4G on the cell tower for the time being out of concern for residents who have expressed reservations about 5G. Rather than write a condition into the land lease agreement, they voted to come up with an ordinance—to be officially introduced at a later meeting—that would require cell phone service providers to go through a public permitting process before using towers (and installing 5G) in the borough.

In other news, the assembly unanimously voted to adopt a resolution to repair the harbor icehouse coil for $43,125. The fix is needed to provide ice to Haines’ fishing fleet this summer.

The assembly unanimously introduced an ordinance to prohibit profane language and obscene gestures at public meetings, in response to a recent Zoom bombing episode.

Assembly member Debra Schnabel moved to allocate $8,000 to pay for snow plowing at the Mosquito Lake Community Center parking lot, but the motion failed 4-3, with Mayor Douglas Olerud breaking the tie alongside assembly members Paul Rogers, Cheryl Stickler and Gabe Thomas.

The borough formerly provided snow plowing at the facility but its most recent memorandum of understanding with FMLSCC and the borough’s current budget don’t include the service. Borough manager Annette Kreitzer said she authorized some plowing in the parking lot but just enough to let borough staff access the fuel tank and make sure water and sewer lines haven’t frozen. Assembly member Rogers said the lot has been plowed just eight times this year by volunteers. He encouraged FMLSCC to get together to devise an arrangement for plowing on a rotational basis.

The assembly voted unanimously to appropriate $144,650 of federal coronavirus funds for the small harbor gangway repair.

The assembly also voted unanimously to refund $5,000 to Alaska Mountain Guides. AMG paid that amount to secure access to a second helicopter for the heliski season before borough manager Annette Kreitzer allocated helicopters to the operators. Kreitzer and assembly members acknowledged at Tuesday’s meeting that the payment issue was the result of confusion among heliski operators amid the roll-out of a sweeping heliski ordinance just two weeks before the season began.

The assembly unanimously introduced two ordinances to allow the borough to borrow money from the Alaska Department of Conservation, including two $100,000 loans, for the water and sewer system master plans, and a $640,952 loan for wastewater treatment plant electrical upgrades.

The assembly also unanimously voted to direct borough staff to write a letter of support for a proposal from the United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters to the state Board of Fisheries. Proposal 124, recently backed by the borough’s new commercial fisheries advisory board, would maintain a long-standing cap on wild sockeye harvest in the northern Southeast seine fishery.

An audit of fiscal year 2021 finances found that the borough’s finances are healthy. The borough has enough money in reserve, excluding the permanent fund, to cover 9.9 months of expenses (and two years in reserve including the permanent fund). The borough is spending less money now than it was 10 years ago, adjusting for inflation, and savings have increased over the last seven years, according to Juneau-based accountant Max Mertz, who conducted the audit. “The Haines Borough has been, in my view, prudent in terms of its budgeting,” Mertz said.