A look back—and the week ahead in the Chilkat Valley.
Take a look around and let us know what you think by leaving a comment here and if you have meetings or deadlines you’d like to see included, send a note to Rashah McChesney at [email protected]. |
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| Duly Noted: Easter eggs, boat engines and a curious moose |
(Courtesy/Derek Poinsette)
A moose followed Derek Poinsette for about half a mile while he was riding a snow machine across Chilkat Lake. |
Recently, Derek Poinsette was snowmachining on Chilkat Lake when he encountered a moose who was maybe curious, maybe mad, maybe feeling territorial – it’s unclear. Regardless, as he passed it, the moose began following him and continued to do so for about a half mile or so, he estimated. |
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| | Today, traffic control is resuming between mile 20 and 25 on the Haines Highway. Drivers can expect a one lane road, pilot cars and delays. And, if you're bored while you’re at a standstill, take a minute to read reporter Will Steinfeld’s look at what everyone else is doing while they’re stuck.
Tuesday, April 14
5:30 p.m. Haines borough finance committee meeting. Members will be looking over manager Alekka Fullerton’s proposal for next year’s budget. If the assembly follows its schedule, this will be the first of a dozen meetings on the budget before an adoption hearing on June 9.
6:30 p.m. Haines borough assembly meeting. Several public hearings are on the agenda including a proposed sewer maintenance service area at Tanani Point where a problematic sewage system is causing problems for residents. Another on accessory dwelling units which have been described as a starting point for adding more housing to the borough, but has gotten pushback from people worried that it will impact their property values and the character of their neighborhoods. They’ll also be hearing more on a new Alaska Mountain Guides tour of the Upper Lynn Canal, including Eldred Rock, and a severance tax.
The acting borough manager’s report includes a cost analysis of the Freeride World Tour. The tourism director finishes her analysis by saying that hosting the international competition brought visibility and economic activity, but it required “substantial financial and operational commitment” from the borough. There’s also an update from the harbormaster on a large crack on the Lutak Dock which has expanded by several feet since it was first identified more than a year ago. The acting manager, finance director Jila Stuart, also included a cost estimate for “pausing” a seasonal sales tax.
Finally, the assembly will consider weighing in on a beer and wine license for Deer Heart, it has also received a request for funding from Chilkat Valley Preschool which is seeking to expand licensed childcare services and assembly member Mark Smith wants to discuss suspending borough-collected taxes on all fossil fuels.
Thursday, April 16
5 p.m. Meeting with a traffic engineer working on the Safe Streets for all Program at the Haines public library and on Zoom. Share ideas for improvements and hear more about the results of a community safety survey.
6:30 p.m. The planning commission is meeting and will host public hearings on both a new vacation rental and a new commercial greenhouse on Comstock Road. They’re also set to review the design concepts for the Lutak Dock and recommend an option to the assembly, and will discuss a new strategic plan to address landslide risk in Southeast Alaska.
Friday, April 17
4 p.m. nominations meeting to meet candidates running for SEARHC representative at the Jilkoot Kwaan Kahidi (Chilkoot Indian Association) office on Third Avenue. |
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| | 9 a.m. start to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s regular meeting in Nome and via Zoom. The Haines Brewing Company’s brewery retail license is up for renewal | | Cell-tower proposal. Atlas Tower is proposing building a 140-foot tall monopine telecommunications tower near 52 North Sawmill Road inHaines. Public comments on the potential side effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted to Trileaf Corp, Rachel Bishop at [email protected], or to 2121 W Chandler BLVD., Suite 108, Chandler, AZ, 85224. Or, by calling 480-447-8260. | | Early voting starts for the Chilkoot Indian Association tribal council election. Three seats are open and four candidates, James Hart, Georgiana Hotch, Aubrey Katzeek, and Gewen Sauser are running. Election day is on May 14 at the Chilkoot Indian Association office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. | | Written public comment deadline for weighing in on Proposal 189 on local traditional knowledge, which is being taken up by the state’s Board of Fisheries. The board, which sets regulations for management of all fisheries in the state, is considering creating a path for people with local traditional knowledge about an issue, and nominated by their community, tribe or a certain organizations, to share their experiences, values, observations, and data directly with the board.
Have a meeting, public comment period or something else you think Chilkat Valley residents should know about? Submit it here. | |
| | Reporter Will Steinfeld is nearing the end of a month-long stay in the capitol as part of the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism’s Legislative Reporter Exchange. You can reach him anytime with questions or tips at [email protected] | | More budget talk this week in the capitol, as lawmakers try to figure out how to fund the government for the upcoming year. It’s an unforgiving task, having to come up with a whole new plan every single year, otherwise the complicated machine that is the government shuts off. | | In long floor-sessions in the House this week, lawmakers tried to pass amendments to the operating budget before they send their first-draft to the Senate. | | When you sit in the room where the votes get taken, you get some sense of interpersonal dynamics: the freshman representative who presents a budget amendment only to be abandoned in the vote by his caucus; that representative making the rounds in the room after, asking people what went wrong. | | Mainly, the minority party proposed the amendments, given that the majority, by controlling the committees — particularly the finance committee — were largely responsible for drafting the budget. And mainly, the majority kept that stranglehold, voting down the minority’s proposals. But seemingly small items would throw a stick in the spokes, forcing long discussions. Sometimes the majority would shut down the floor for a break to go privately discuss in the Speaker of the House’s chambers. | | In those moments, I think part of it is the adage that budgets are a signal of value. In other words, there is a narrative in the documents, one that just has to be somewhat decoded from its numerical form. | | Like one set of amendments that would have passed along a big chunk of money to improve main highway arteries to the northern edge of the state. | | In the budget, it just looks like more hum-drum Department of Transportation money. But House minority members saw it as a way to spur resource development in the arctic, which some said is primed to become a figurative (or literal, maybe) goldmine as the world warms and permafrost melts. | | That’s worthwhile spending, the minority believes, even as it has made it a central tenet to cut the scope and scale of government spending. | | In other news, I finished the article I’ve been talking about on PFAS regulation. Amid all the budget and legislative talk, I think the story is a good reminder that the other branches of government have plenty of policy-making power too — in this case, the executive, and the state agencies that work for the executive. More to come this week, which is my last here in Juneau. Luckily, I won’t have to leave all the law-making and budget-crafting for even a second: the borough is diving into the same process. You can read an update here on the Haines borough manager’s first pass at a taxing and spending plan for the year. | |
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