Haines Borough Assembly members met Tuesday without Mayor Tom Morphet who is out of town. Deputy Mayor Cheryl Stickler presided over a four-hour meeting that included a public hearing on severance taxes, extensive discussion of who the next borough manager should be, and updates on open government positions, who can attend executive sessions, and the board of equalization.
Severance Tax
The assembly held a public hearing on adopting a 4% severance tax on natural resources exported from the Haines Borough. That includes minerals, timber, and any sand, gravel, or rock intended for export, sale or commercial use outside of the borough. Comments in favor of the tax included Thom Ely, who framed it as a way to bring in more revenue and take the pressure off property tax and sales tax income streams to fund the bulk of the borough’s budget.
“We all know that everybody needs to do their share,” Ely said. “The fishermen have been doing their share for many years with the 3% raw fish tax. There are other industries that are making quite a bit of money exporting resources out of the borough.”
Others, like Kimberly Rosado, said they were worried about an excessive tax burden.
“We need jobs. We need people. I am fearful that this tax might stop some people that want to be here, that want to grow business here,” she said.
Southeast Road Builders area manager TJ Mason noted that the tax rate is high for gravel extraction. “I’d hope you take that into consideration and look at what our neighboring communities are doing as far as the rates they’re charging for that tax rate,” he said. “As a community, we’re also competing against other communities in Northern Lynn Canal for supplying gravel to meet other needs. If you tax it too much people are just going to go somewhere else.”
Mayor Tom Morphet reminded assembly members that they’re looking at a deficit this year. He said fishermen pay a tax on a renewable resource that returns every year.
“So, I don’t think a 4% tax on an item that – once mined and removed from here never comes back, we can never get value on it again – I don’t think that’s excessive,” he said.
Assembly members Kevin Forster and Mark Smith both said the measure could use some further attention in the assembly’s finance committee and the body ultimately voted 5-1 to postpone voting on it. The next finance committee meeting is Dec. 10.
No Zoom in executive sessions
Deputy Mayor Stickler has pitched the idea of restricting who can attend executive sessions to those who are physically present in the meeting. In its current form, her proposal would not allow the mayor or assembly members to attend executive sessions by telephone, video conference or other methods.
“We are required by state law and local code to honor the confidentiality of executive sessions, so when someone attends via Zoom, there’s no way to ensure that the confidentiality is not being breached,” she said.
Assembly member Craig Loomis pushed back against that idea.
“As far as being honest … that’s what we swore to do when we got voted in. So I don’t see any reason at all why this should even be looked at,” he said.
He pointed to Skagway’s municipal code, which lays out guidelines for remote participation and encouraged assembly members to examine that before taking up Stickler’s measure. “Let’s just say the mayor is stuck in Seattle or something because of the weather and he needs to do this, or some assemblyman is out moose hunting or whatever. It just seems that with all this modern technology, why should we hinder ourselves?” he said.
Stickler emphasized that she is introducing the idea for discussion and the assembly voted 5-1, with Loomis dissenting, to schedule it for a first public hearing on Dec. 17 and a second one on Jan. 14.
Borough manager’s report
A number of human resources updates were included in interim borough manager Elke Doom’s report to the assembly, including that the borough has posted jobs for a ports and harbors director, open dispatch positions, a contracts and grants administrator, a borough clerk, and a lands director. Former clerk Alekka Fullerton is helping while they work to find a replacement for the most recent clerk, Kristine Kennedy. Her husband, Michael Fullerton, has stepped in as acting police chief while the borough goes through the process of hiring a new one. To that end, Doom said in her report that the public safety committee is forming an interview panel for candidates for a permanent chief.
Preschool ad hoc committee
Stickler reported to the assembly that she was asked to serve on an ad hoc committee looking into preschools in the Chilkat Valley. She framed it as part of the drive for economic development.
“If families who want to be in the workforce cannot get to the workforce because we don’t have sufficient preschool space and we don’t have sufficient childcare space, then part of our drive for economic development requires that we take a look into this,” she said.
Stickler said it’s an opportunity for the borough to collaborate with existing preschools, the school district, and childcare providers.
“We are in the very, very, very beginning stages of these conversations,” she said.
According to Stickler’s report to the assembly, the committee also includes school district employees superintendent Roy Getchell and Tiana Taylor, Chilkat Valley Preschool representative Summer Lynch, Chilkoot Indian Association’s Harriet Brouillette and Haines Headstart’s Patricia Faverty.
BOE appointees
The borough assembly unanimously voted to appoint several members of the public to the board of equalization, which is tasked with ensuring that property is valued fairly and that taxes on those properties are assessed correctly.
Assembly member Mark Smith, who chaired the board last year, nominated Barbara Nettleton, Brenda Josephson, and George Campbell for three-year terms on the board; John Middleton, John Wooten, and James Stanford for two-year terms; and Kyle Ponsford and Evelyna Vignola for one-year terms.
All eight of the nominees emailed the borough saying they were interested in serving on the board. Most served on the board last year.
“I’d like to mention that I read through all of those emails that Mark just mentioned and those people are very excited – believe it or not – they are very excited to be on the board of equalization,” he said.
Borough Manager Candidates
About two-and-a-half hours into the meeting, assembly members launched into a discussion about hiring a new borough manager. The two men in the running were Hunter Rieseberg, of New Hampshire, and Kim Zimmerman, of Pennsylvania.
Testimony to the assembly, both written and delivered in person, came in mostly in favor of hiring Rieseberg, who has decades of experience in government. But assembly members had trouble coming to a consensus. Stickler noted that they have had no opportunity as a full assembly to talk about what they’re looking for in a borough manager.
But one issue raised by assembly members was Rieseberg’s references, which interim manager Doom described as a “struggle” to obtain after she asked both men for three references.
“Mr. Riesberg sent me several pages. Some of them said that people had passed away, don’t call these people,” she said. She told assembly members that Rieseberg highlighted some for her to call specifically, though many had no phone numbers or even names.
“The references that … I did go from his list were people that have not worked with him in 30 to 32 years,” she said. “I was surprised that a highly qualified, experienced manager would provide references from over 30 years ago.”
Stickler called the issue of outdated references a red flag but assembly member Forster said he could see why it would be frustrating to sort through a long list of references but from the standpoint of someone trying to make a decision on the most qualified candidate, having more references is better than having fewer.
“I think as much information as you can get from people who have worked with these individuals is going to be nothing but helpful for us in understanding who’s going to best fit here,” he said.
The body suspended the rules so they could have an informal conversation about the two candidates. Loomis suggested postponing a vote on a new manager until they could sort out Rieseberg’s references and do some more vetting. But his motion failed to get a second in support, so it died.
“I feel we should give him the benefit of the doubt, having 30 years of experience with this and I just think that something’s gone haywire here through communications,” he said.
But Stickler said it felt like chasing a candidate. “I learned a long time ago, don’t chase the potential candidate. It bites you in the fanny every time,” she said.
Forster responded that Rieseberg has been participating via Zoom in assembly meetings, that he reaches out and clarifies things with assembly members after meetings, and that he is intimately familiar with Haines through his remote attendance.
“One candidate is intimately familiar with all of the issues facing this town, to the point where, when asked about what their skills are, they tailored them specifically to the major issues that we are facing,” Forster said. “The other candidate asked if we have jet service or a veterinarian in town.”
The conversation split with Mayor Morphet and assembly members Craig Loomis and Kevin Forster supporting Rieseberg while Stickler, Mark Smith and Gabe Thomas argued in favor of Zimmerman. And that’s ultimately how assembly members split on a vote to conditionally offer the position to Zimmerman, pending a background check and potentially a visit to Haines; Assembly member Richard Clement sided in favor of offering the job to Zimmerman.
During public comment after the discussion, assembly members heard a lot of pushback on their decision, including from Morphet who suggested that the body instead offer a position to both men, perhaps as borough manager and deputy manager.