Assembly plans Chilkoot corridor meeting, annual tour company conduct review
The Haines Borough Assembly last week approved two advisory board requests geared to improve management of tourism along the Chilkoot River.
The assembly agreed to hold a meeting with Chilkoot corridor stakeholders and land managers in the spring, ahead of the upcoming tourism season. The assembly also will hold an annual review of the tour operator code of conduct, a document that operators sign when they apply for tour permits.
The code includes items such as being responsive to public concerns and abiding by borough land management policy and recommendations.
The annual review is aimed to provide the community with a direct path to voice concerns and will encourage tour operators to read through the code of conduct thoroughly before signing the document, according to a written request from the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB).
Earlier this year, the assembly lifted a moratorium on new Chilkoot tour permits that had been in place for four years. Borough and state officials have long struggled to find solutions to the recurring issues at the site, like overcrowding and negative encounters with bears.
“It is believed that having this document reviewed annually will alleviate some of the administrative workload and burden to follow up with complaints and allow residents the ability to weigh in without feeling like they’re ‘tattling’ on their neighbor by filing a formal complaint,” wrote now former TAB chair Barbara Nettleton in the request for assembly action.
Manager suspends funds for Excursion Inlet harbor study
Without clearer support from Excursion Inlet residents, the borough administration doesn’t plan to look into upgrading the makeshift small boat harbor in the rural outpost, Haines Borough Manager Annette Kreitzer told the borough assembly last week.
Kreitzer, with assembly approval, included $25,000 in the borough’s capital budget this year for a feasibility study on improving Excursion Inlet’s “small boat harbor,” as locals call it, after three property owners requested an upgrade last spring.
The remote community in the borough’s southwestern corner, which has a dozen or so permanent residents, doesn’t have a place to moor during storms. The “harbor” is a small cove with a few dilapidated pilings and floats. It drains at low tide. In summer, OBI Seafoods puts out floats at its fish processing plant, but there’s no breakwater to protect them. There is a year-round seaplane float, which boaters aren’t supposed to use.
But after a visit over the summer and meeting with local residents who were split over the project, borough staff determined there wasn’t enough support to proceed. “We don’t have any plans until we get consensus from the community,” Kreitzer told the assembly Dec. 13.
Borough adopts new agreements with HEDC, Sheldon Museum
Borough staff inked new agreements with two nonprofits that receive borough funding — Haines Sheldon Museum and Haines Economic Develop Corporation (HEDC).
A memorandum of agreement with HEDC includes four deliverables: produce a report based on a community housing survey devised by HEDC and the borough’s housing working group; research the possibility of implementing an “introductory homebuilding program” for residents; do an analysis of Haines energy costs; and evaluate the effectiveness of Juneau Economic Development Corporation’s Southeast Alaska Revolving Loan Fund, which serves some Haines businesses.
Deliverables can be changed only with the manager’s approval, and HEDC must provide an activity report and an accounting of grant funds, according to the agreement, which lasts through June 30.
The assembly allocated $40,000 to HEDC in this year’s budget.
A memorandum of agreement and a lease agreement with the museum will last five years. The agreement splits responsibilities between the borough and museum. As in past years, the borough, subject to assembly appropriation, will provide an annual budget for the museum’s operations, insurance and maintenance, but the museum will be solely in charge of staff and some maintenance. Some changes are that the borough will assume responsibility for the museum’s fire suppression system and the fine arts insurance premium, while the museum will cover workers compensation insurance. The agreement can be canceled by either party with or without cause upon 60 days of written notice. The museum separated its staff and payroll from the borough last year. “It has been a long haul. But thankfully we have come to an MOA, a lease agreement that will provide a wonderful, secure future for the building and for the collection,” said Sheldon Museum board president Kelleen Adams.