The Haines Borough Assembly voted 4-2 to spend $57,000 to clear brush about town in an effort to reduce “bear hiding areas.”

The project will remove and dispose of underbrush and trees less than 10 inches in diameter and limb larger trees to a height of 12 feet off the ground on five different areas around the townsite including near the Haines School, the Haines Hitch-up RV Park and Tlingit Park.

Assembly members Debra Schnabel and Ben Aultman-Moore were opposed to the expenditure. Schnabel said the project was “beyond brush removal” and that the residents should do more to reduce bear attractants in the townsite.

“I’m not convinced that we have done that at this time,” Schnabel said.

Jerry Lapp expressed skepticism of the proposal, but ultimately voted for the project. The request to conduct brush clearing came from the Alaska State Wildlife Trooper, but Lapp said the Trooper’s proposal was smaller in scope.

“His understanding was you go out and clear the brush with a weed whacker. It seems like it’s developed into a lot bigger project than what he was thinking at the time,” Lapp said. “I think it needs to be looked at more. Bears look for food. You see them out in the open all the time. They’ve got lots of places around town.”

Assembly member Cheryl Stickler, a former Haines School principal, said the project would protect students.

“We had bears in the playground,” Stickler said. “In my time at the school there was an incident where a bear acted aggressively toward one of our students. I think this is totally necessary. I know it’s a large expenditure. I get that. I kind of gulped when I saw the price tag. But we need to get it done.”

Kreitzer said they selected sites for the brush clearing and tree trimming and removal after consulting with the wildlife trooper.

Public facilities director Ed Coffland said he made the decision to go beyond brush clearing. “I just picked out some parameters I thought would open up the area that you could see if there was a bear,” Coffland said. “It’s not only school children but in areas where we have tourists also.”

Areas to be cleared include the woods between the school and Aspen Hotel, between Mountain Market and the track, woods surrounding Tlingit Park and an area south of the cruise ship dock parking lot.

The $57,750 contract was awarded to Little Diggers after a request for proposals went out to a sealed bid.

In other news, the assembly unanimously approved an ordinance requiring a year of residency in the borough before an individual can join an empowered board or commission.

“It’s good for someone who’s coming into the community to live here awhile before they get on an empowered board,” Lapp said. “It helps them understand our community a little bit better.”

Mayor Douglas Olerud also read a proclamation honoring the legacy of Stephanie Scott, a former borough assembly member, Mayor, clerk, master gardener and teacher who died this month.

The proclamation called Scott a “role model for public officials” who “modeled civility in public and private debates,” and whose “intelligence, diligence, faith, love of public service and commitment to the common good contributed to the evolution of the Haines Borough.”

The proclamation names June 17 “Stephanie Scott Day.”