Welcome to Haines/Deishú round two?
In his report to the assembly, Mayor Tom Morphet wrote that interim manager Elke Doom and he met with Chilkoot Indian Association tribal administrator Harriet Brouillette and – among other things – spoke about the borough placing signs reading “Deishú” in parentheses, under the “Welcome to Haines” signs currently sitting at Picture Point and on the Haines Highway.
The borough already has carved Deishú signs; they were confiscated after someone swapped them for the word “Haines” on the borough’s signs in late April.
At the time, the change sparked conversation about potentially changing the name of Haines to Deishú, which means the Beginning or the End of the Trail in Tlingít.
NoowKaKáawu – David Albert Strong Jr., of Klukwan, said he appreciated the subject of the sign coming up again and wanted the assembly to consider putting Deishú above the word Haines on the signs.
“Haines is the Johnny Come Lately compared to the longer history of what is Deishú and Jilkáat Aani,” he said.
Strong said he was speaking on behalf of himself and not in an official capacity with Chilkat Indian Village tribal council which he sits on.
The assembly voted to send the issue of wording on the signs to its government affairs and services committee.
A new head tax on the horizon, but questions about where it will go
The assembly adopted a Port of Haines terminal tariff, or per-passenger head tax, of $9.
The fees are aimed at helping offset the borough’s costs in maintaining and improving its port facilities, according to the ordinance.
In March, when this proposal first came up to the assembly, they also voted that a dollar from each tariff would go toward cultural preservation. But that language has since been stripped from the measure the assembly voted in on Tuesday.
Assembly person Kevin Forster asked what happened to it.
He said his understanding is that it was deemed to be potentially illegal – though global tourism experts have said that there are legal ways to build such a program.
“I feel like it was a really valuable thing. I don’t want to lose sight of it, and I don’t think that because we didn’t really flush it before it was deemed that it wasn’t the right way to go – that the whole thing is invalid,” he said.
Assembly person Gabe Thomas said he doesn’t think the cultural head tax fee has been lost, but that the body was trying to get the actual port tariff’s passed and discuss disbursement later in the process.
“I wasn’t going to let it go,” he said, laughing.
They amended the plan to include a boost in the fee to $12 in 2027 and $13 in 2029. The new tax will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.
Burn permit review
Assembly members decided to ask the public safety advisory council to review the borough’s burn permit code for possible changes.
Morphet said the change came after interim manager Elke Doom had to revote a burn permit in Haines.
“Somebody is smoking out the neighborhood every day,” Morphet said.
Chuck Hollenbeck, who lives on Beach Road, said he appreciated Doom revoking the permit. He said it was enabling one of his neighbors to burn, for the third year in a row, for five months straight.
“For me, it’s a personal plea. I have severe asthma, so does my daughter,” he said. “There’s other people that have breathing issues.”
Dawn Woodard said she lives right below the disputed permit as well.
“There’s days I can’t work outside because it’s horrible. I have a lovely garden out there and I like to maintain it but I can’t even water it some days because it’s choking,” she said. “I would really like to see you guys figure out how to address that problem. He wants to burn alder day or night practically.”
Fire chief Brian Clay told assembly members the burn permit language does need to change. But, he said some process things need to be fixed as well.
“We are talking about things at the borough assembly level that affect how the fire department operates or does things and I don’t find out about it until I look at the agenda,” he said. “That communication level needs to come through you guys to the manager to the department heads so I don’t get surprised.”
At the committee level, Clay said there are several stakeholders who will need to be involved in the discussion of revamping the burn permit including federal and state foresters, the Haines and Klehini Valley fire departments, and Klukwan as well as local construction companies and property owners.
And, he said, whatever changes the assembly makes to the code will fall on the slim staff he has to enforce.
“I do not have the power to write a citation. I do not have the power to revoke a permit. As the fire chief I carry none of those powers. So if you’re going to change the code and make it enforceable you’re going to have to add responsibilities and consider the workload,” he said.
Junk Car removal program
Assembly members also voted to change its junk car removal program.
Despite the deadline of Oct. 18, Morphet said just 60 cars had been brought in under the program so far and 21 of them are from the tribe, which does the towing and potentially pays the fees.
“The program is coming along, but it’s just not coming along as quickly as we’d like it to,” said Manager Doom. “We really want to see as many junk cars gone as we can.”
After some discussion on the intent of the program, assembly members voted to remove the disposal fees for regular and medium sized cars.
They also voted to ask Alekka Fullerton, who is on contract to administer the contract, to bring recommendations to the borough manager for changing the parameters of the program to potentially assist people with towing their junk vehicles.