Two former members of the Haines Borough Assembly, Jerry Lapp and George Campbell, have submitted letters of interest for the vacant seat left by Caitie Kirby’s resignation.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Lapp and incumbent Gabe Thomas are the only candidates to have filed for three open assembly seats up for election in October.
Lapp currently sits on the planning commission but said he “likes assembly work a little better.” He spent 13 of the past 20 years on the assembly and was Mayor from 1996 to 2002.
Lapp said he thinks the current assembly has a number of new members and could use the “balance” of more seasoned public servants. “You should have some folks on there with experience, to help with the history of the borough so we don’t make old mistakes or invent the wheel on something,” he said.
Kirby outperformed Lapp by 12 votes the last time he ran in 2020, giving her a three-year term and him a one-year term.
Lapp and his wife Kathi owned 33 Mile Roadhouse for 34 years, until 2011. Since then, both have worked for Constantine — Lapp does part-time maintenance and expediting work for them, and Kathi was a cook for the project.
Lapp mentioned a new public safety building, the completion of the Lutak dock project, and the borough’s “solid waste problem” as the “biggest issues” currently facing the assembly.
The other letter of interest to fill the vacant seat came from George Campbell, who served one term from 2013-16. Campbell grew up in Haines and graduated from Haines High. He works as a pilot and owns a storage facility.
“I hunt and fish and play outside here,” he said. “I guess I’m just a local guy.”
Campbell responded to the vacant seat notice because he saw that former assembly members were preferred, and, he said, “somebody’s got to do it.”
Like Lapp, he mentioned both the dock and general infrastructure repair as key priorities. “I’m definitely on the conservative side, believing that the government should be doing less,” he said of his general political orientation.
Unlike Lapp, however, Campbell does not intend to run in October. In fact, he said that he thought “Jerry would be a fabulous choice” for the interim position and said that he might withdraw his name if Lapp is indeed available and willing to do it.
Candidates for the October election must file with the borough by Saturday Aug. 20. Those interested in filling Kirby’s temporary vacancy must submit letters of interest by Sunday Aug. 21.
So far two candidates, Lapp and incumbent Gabe Thomas, have filed to run in the October election for the three open assembly seats.
Thomas said he wants to see through what he’s worked on in his first term as an assembly member, especially the Lutak dock project and Tlingit park, which he helped design and now wants to fill with art.
He said he believes his presence on the assembly is important because he is the only parent of school-aged children – his kids Mila and Silas are 6 and 9 – and also the only Tlingit Native.
Thomas works construction with Southeast Roadbuilders and was born and raised in Haines. He said he’s learned a lot in the two years since he was elected and has appreciated the ideological balance of the recent assembly. “You start to realize you serve the whole community, not just the people that voted for you,” he said.