Haines Borough manager Annette Kreitzer was given low marks on her communication to assembly members in evaluation that were distributed in early January.
Kreitzer received an average of 1.1 out of 5 for keeping “the assembly informed about important and/or changing situations,” 1.3 out of 5 in seeking “assembly approval/guidance on controversial issues,” and 1.33 out of 5 in keeping “borough assembly informed of department activities, plans, legislation etc. in a timely fashion and without prompting.”
Overall, Kreitzer scored an average of 2.62 out of 5 in the nine categories for which she was scored.
The evaluations come after several high-profile stumbles by borough staff that have jeopardized funding on the rebuild project for the Porcupine Trail Road. The borough is also awaiting a decision from the U.S. Department of Transportation on whether its contractor violated federal rules on the $25 million Lutak Dock rebuild project. And, the borough fumbled an effort to revamp property tax assessments, which ultimately led the assembly to let go of its contract assessor.
At a borough assembly meeting to discuss the evaluations, mayor Tom Morphet acknowledged that the timing was unfortunate for the evaluations. The assembly has yet to meet as a group to decide on its own priorities, which members acknowledged would help guide the work the manager does. Three of the five assembly members are new and lean farther left than the previous assembly.
A goal setting and planning retreat is scheduled for Feb. 3.
Kreitzer, who waived her option for an executive session at the meeting, said that not having clear direction from the assembly had led to some stumbles.
“The great hurdle here is I have no idea what the priorities are,” she said.
She said she hoped the Feb. 3 meeting would clarify the assembly’s priorities.
Several assembly members raised communication issues directly with Kreitzer. They charged the manager with preparing solutions for problems before getting guidance from the assembly, which set actions in motion that were sometimes hard to reverse.
Kevin Forster, who was elected to the assembly in October, brought up a recent letter the borough drafted as a response to FEMA’s allegations the borough had done work outside its project scope on the Porcupine Trail Road rebuild. Several assembly members said they found the tone of the letter inappropriately confrontational to an agency that had pledged millions of dollars to the road repair. Forster said the manager’s inclination to prepare responses before getting assembly approval was leading to some of the tension.
“It feels like we’re steering the ship at night with no headlights and looking into the rearview mirror,” said Forster.
Debra Schnabel, who previously served as borough manager, took issue with the manager’s style to already have solutions sketched out to problems before sharing them with the assembly.
“I can’t remember a time where the manager asked me a question in which she didn’t already have an answer,” said Schnabel.
Craig Loomis, another new assembly member, was more direct.
“Instead of doing it herself, she should ask us what to do,” said Loomis.
Morphet pointed to the history of the assembly-manager relationships, saying that historically, left-leaning assemblies didn’t keep right-leaning managers and vice-versa. He said he hoped the current assembly — which leans to the left — could break the trend.
Kreitzer’s contract is set to expire in the fall of 2024. Her salary is $130,000, according to 2024 budget documents. Kreitzer worked in the state legislature for Republicans and was commissioner of the Department of Administration under Gov. Sarah Palin.
Morphet compared the situation to a football team where the manager was the quarterback, the assembly the coach, and the public were the owners.
“I think we got off to a bad start,” said Morphet. “We have to decide whether the coach and the quarterback can work together to win some games.”