Haines’ police chief of seven years is leaving his post after he says discussions with the borough about a salary increase failed to give him what he considered a fair wage.
“I tried to convey my value, I tried to convey the institutional knowledge I bring to the table, and my background, what I’ve done here in my time, and I think they did a good job of expressing themselves and their desires. We couldn’t find common ground,” said chief Heath Scott in a phone interview.
Borough manager Annette Kreitzer confirmed salary was the biggest sticking point, despite multiple meetings with Scott, which she described as “cordial.” \
“When you’re negotiating, you know where your limits are, and I felt like we couldn’t go any more,” Kreitzer said.
Scott’s salary for the upcoming fiscal year was $112,000, the second-highest paid employee behind Kreitzer.
That puts his salary well above communities like Cordova, where the police chief position is currently being advertised at about $71,000 to $84,000. Petersburg pays its chief $113,431.
Scott’s salary is well below the $141,000-$163,000 offered in Juneau.
Scott said that he is “one of the most tenured chiefs in the region,” which justified a higher wage, though he declined to get into specifics about his demands when he met with the borough.
Tense compensation discussions have come up with the borough since before Scott was hired in 2016. Scott wavered on whether to move from Washington D.C. after the borough declined to meet his original demand of $27,000 for moving expenses. They eventually settled for $15,000 for moving expenses, which was the most the borough had ever offered a new employee, the CVN reported at the time. In 2019, Scott renegotiated his salary with a $10,000 raise after being offered a job in Wrangell. The deal included a $1,000 raise per year until 2023.
Communities around the state have struggled to recruit law enforcement over the past few years. The Alaska Police Standards Council currently has more than 30 police officer positions listed, including six chiefs. Scott said recruiting new officers was one of his biggest challenges.
The police department had a string of short-lived chiefs prior to Scott’s arrival. In 2013, chief Gary Lowe resigned after allegations of inappropriate behavior towards officers. The next chief, Bill Musser, lasted less than a year, after a former officer accused him of “laziness” and “incompetence.” Scott took over from interim chief Robert Griffiths after the borough spent tens of thousands of dollars to hire a recruitment firm.
Scott said his proudest accomplishment of the last seven years was “recapturing some level of community trust that was lost in the past and caring for the men and women of the organization.”
He said he invested a lot in professional development for the five-officer police force. And, he said he pushed digitization of records.
“When I came into the department they were using spreadsheet blotter to annotate calls,” he said, “It was like walking into the 1980s.”
He said he helped plan a new police headquarters building that the next chief – if they stay long enough – would be able to enjoy.
His tenure has at times come under scrutiny. In 2017, he stopped sharing the police blotter with the CVN and asked the borough extra funding to continue the service. That same year he forwarded a complaint to the state district attorney alleging the assembly acted improperly when it voted against seating former assembly member Diana Lapham on the borough’s Port and Harbor Advisory Committee. The complaint was dismissed by the DA, who said it would have been “unethical” to pursue charges in the case.
In 2021, Scott was investigated by State Wildlife Troopers after shooting a brown bear sow that he said opened a garbage can at his home.
Kreitzer, who took over as borough manager in 2021, said that she had no performance complaints with Scott.
“Always when someone is head of a department, they have a point of view about their department and that’s fine,” she said. “I would be shocked if I ever worked with someone that I didn’t disagree with at some point in time.”
Scott, who has five children, said he will be staying at the department until the end of September and then look for his next option.
“I loved it, I intended to stay here, but I don’t know I could have lived with myself … if I accepted less than I knew was appropriate,” he said.
Kreitzer said she would be meeting with assembly members and police staff to come up with a plan of how to recruit a new chief. As city manager, Kreitzer can appoint an interim chief if a permanent replacement isn’t found before Scott leaves.
“I don’t really want to think about recruiting until I’ve had a chance to talk with members,” said Kreitzer.