Executive Session
A much-awaited decision on new executive session rules has been passed.
A proposal by assembly member Cheryl Stickler restricts participation in executive sessions to members who call in via telephone – rather than Zoom – and only if they affirm they alone are listening to the call. Prior to that final vote, the assembly replaced the original proposal with an amended version which will now make all executive sessions recorded.
That’s how things currently are, but Stickler’s original proposal would have stopped recordings. Now they are back – a change opposed by assembly members Gabe Thomas and Kevin Forster, who were concerned that recordings are potentially subject to discovery in lawsuits. Forster also said that the purpose of the whole proposal, of limiting remote participation, was to prevent leaking, and was concerned that recordings might be conducive to leaking. The amendment also limits each member to four executive sessions attended remotely per year, and no more than two consecutively.
Executive sessions were a hot topic elsewhere in the meeting. Originally, there was one executive session on the agenda to “discuss mayor and assemblymember misconduct….”
In a statement submitted prior to the meeting, mayor Tom Morphet described that agenda item as “character assassination by assemblyman [Mark] Smith,” who he said submitted the agenda item “at the 11th hour.” Morphet’s statement also said there was no misconduct by either him or assembly member Craig Loomis, who was not named in the agenda listing.
But at the start of the assembly meeting, the assembly voted unanimously to take that executive session off the agenda. Smith introduced the motion to withdraw that executive session, but did not elaborate during the meeting on his reasons for doing so. He also did not respond to a phone call seeking more information on Wednesday.
In the end, there was still one executive session on Tuesday night. Soon after taking the misconduct executive session off the agenda, the assembly voted to go into executive session to discuss a lawsuit with Southeast Road Builders. Back on August 7, 2023, then-borough manager Anette Kreitzer sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering Road Builders to stop work on a gravel storage site on Lutak Road, which the borough said was in violation of permitting. The borough planning commission later revoked the company’s original permit and denied the company’s reapplication in April 2024. Road Builders sued, but that proceeding now looks to be coming to a resolution.
That’s because in the executive session, the assembly voted to settle with Southeast RoadBuilders. CVN specifically requested the terms of the agreement on Wednesday but interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton refused to release those terms, saying they were still protected under attorney-client privilege. She said they will be made public once RoadBuilders also agrees to release terms. Morphet said during the meeting that he believes the settlement is “going to be in the best interests of the community.”
School Budget
Haines Borough superintendent Roy Getchell asked the assembly to fund the school district to the cap for the 2025-2026 school year. That would mean another $563,000 in borough funding for a total of nearly $2.6 million next year. Getchell’s message was one of slipping finances and increasing need, pointing primarily to stagnation of the base student allocation, which makes up the majority of the state funding formula. According to the Alaska Council of School Administration, that number has risen by only $280 since 2011, to the current allocation of $5,960 per student. Adjusted for inflation, that number would be less than what the district received in 2011 dollars, or about $4,419 per student.
One-time funding from the state has helped add to that number, and Getchell says last year the district received an additional $500,000. But Getchell noted that these appropriations aren’t finalized until the summer months and are unreliable year-to-year. Without a comparable appropriation this year, Getchell says the district could face an $880,000 budget deficit in the upcoming year.
Of that funding, Getchell said staff salaries are “absolutely a priority” given current problems with recruitment and salaries lagging behind those in other states.
Bears and budgets
135 free bear-proof trashcans are set to be distributed to Haines residents participating in a program between the borough and a partner nonprofit. But complications arose in January when mayor Tom Morphet told the assembly that Alaska Marine Lines would not be donating the $4,500 in shipping space needed to get the trashcans to Haines.
The assembly was originally set to vote on adding this cost to the budget, but Morphet said Tuesday that the Alaska Bear Foundation has agreed to donate $2,250. That will halve the cost the borough would pay for shipping, and the assembly will vote on whether to approve the amount at a future meeting.
That vote will be included alongside a number of other potential budget amendments before the assembly, including a line item for emergency dispatcher overtime, totaling $38,264. This was due to severe short-staffing in the Public Safety building, where two dispatchers were rotating 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, for parts of 2024.
A discussion about how to allocate $100,000 earmarked in the current budget for nonprofits has also been pushed to a future meeting. Assembly members ranked their highest priority nonprofits and decided to wait to see the final results of those rankings before continuing the discussion.
Managing the police chief
Interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton announced she was transferring supervision of her acting police chief Michael Fullerton, her husband, to new borough clerk Mike Denker.
Currently, the interim chief is being supervised by finance officer Jila Stuart but Alekka Fullerton said Stuart was “entering arguably the busiest time of her calendar year,” handling the borough budget.
Tourism survey
Fullerton also reported the initial results of McKinley Research’s cruise ship survey seeking more information on what Haines residents believe about cruise ship tourism. Fullerton said the company “got a much higher response than they were expecting.”
According to her report, about 50% of the people who responded said that the cruise industry has an “overall positive impact on the Haines Borough,” less than 3% said they had a negative impact, about 40% said it’s both positive and negative and 60% said that the cruise industry is “very important to the Haines economy.”
Lutak Dock
Fullerton also clarified in her manager report Tuesday that the borough is still in litigation with Turnagain Marine Construction over the Lutak Dock project. The company is claiming the borough breached the contract between the two and is demanding what it alleges are outstanding payments. Fullerton says the borough filed a motion for a stay in the case because the borough’s contract with Turnagain requires the two to go through mediation before reaching litigation. Turnagain has filed opposition to that motion to stay. According to Fullerton, a judge’s decision on the stay could take up to six months.
Mayor’s business
Morphet received regional coverage last week for sending “love letters” reaffirming friendship with neighboring Haines Junction and Whitehorse amidst U.S. – Canada tensions. Now, he says, a response is coming back.
Morphet said on Tuesday that Haines Junction mayor Diane Strand will soon send back an official letter of her own. Based on informal responses, he expects both affirmed friendship, but also a request to advocate for Canadian neighbors directly to the United States federal government.
That’s not a typical role for the borough. Morphet said that he “opposes as a policy” borough involvement in national issues, but this issue is an exception. Once Strand’s letter comes in, Morphet plans to discuss in a future assembly meeting an official borough statement opposing U.S. federal-level talk of annexing Canada.
“This issue came to us,” said Morphet. “This could be very damaging to our relationships and economy.”
Regardless, Morphet and his Canadian counterparts are pressing forward on partnership in at least one other capacity: Morphet reports he has been invited by Whitehorse Mayor Kirk Cameron to join a “Border Cities Mayors’ Alliance.” Morphet plans to accept, and though he doesn’t know exactly what work it will entail, he’ll “do anything to strengthen the relationship and show goodwill.” He said he expects the main focus of the alliance to be trade and tariffs.
The mayor’s report also brought news from the Southeast Conference Mid-Session Summit of a new freight company considering expanding service into Southeast. Morphet said the arrival of Anchorage-based Alaska Logistics could “[reduce] or [slow] the cost of local consumer goods across the board by reducing or slowing the cost of local consumer goods across the board.”
In other news from the conference, the Southeast Conference received a $49 million grant for developing mariculture – marine farming – in the region. Morphet says at least two Haines residents are involved in the initiative.