The Haines Borough Assembly denied a request Tuesday from former bear monitor Shannon Donahue to begin small-scale bear-viewing tours along the Chilkoot River. The assembly split 3-3 on the decision to deny the permit proposed by Donahue. Assembly members Joanne Waterman, Steve Vick and Jerry Lapp voted to award the permit; Debra Schnabel, Dave Berry and Norm Smith were opposed. Mayor Stephanie Scott broke the tie with […]
Search results
Posted inNews
Nonprofit funding request process changed
The Haines Borough Assembly is changing its process for doling out funds to local nonprofits, and will be capping allocations from the general fund at $80,000 in its 2014 budget. Borough manager Mark Earnest also will decide how much money to set aside for nonprofits from several other funds, including the tourism and economic development fund, medical service area […]
Posted inNews
Union: Complaint mishandled
The union representative of Haines Borough workers this week said manager Mark Earnest has been “out of line” and not compliant with procedure in dealing with an employee complaint against police chief Gary Lowe. Though he received a formal complaint against Lowe on Feb. 19, Earnest did not contact the complainant until Tuesday to provide an explanation of how the […]
Posted inNews
‘Corrective action’ for Lowe
The Haines Borough Assembly directed the manager during a March 12 special meeting to “apply corrective action” to address the assembly’s concerns about police chief Gary Lowe’s behavior during a March 5 assembly meeting. “Appropriate public comments in dealing with personnel matters” and “appreciation for a respectful relationship between law enforcement and the media” were the two […]
Posted inNews
Special meeting on Lowe Friday
Haines Borough Assembly members have called a special meeting to be held 5:30 p.m. Friday to discuss police chief Gary Lowe’s actions during the March 5 assembly meeting. Members Joanne Waterman, Jerry Lapp and Debra Schnabel made a written request for the special meeting Wednesday afternoon. Code requires requests from three assembly members for the scheduling of a special meeting. […]
Posted inNews
Manager reports on police chief
Haines Borough manager Mark Earnest reported Tuesday the results of his investigation into complaints made from within the police department against chief Gary Lowe. Earnest told the assembly he received a complaint from an employee within the department and subsequently conducted multiple interviews with officers and dispatch personnel to investigate. The interviews yielded “suggestions, ideas and concerns” […]
Posted inNews
Lowe: Morphet threatened me
Haines Borough Police Chief Gary Lowe this week said Chilkat Valley News editor Tom Morphet threatened him personally after a discussion about the newspaper’s access to police call logs. Lowe said he met Feb. 14 with Morphet, reporter Karen Garcia and manager Mark Earnest to discuss newspaper access to logs. Before Lowe was hired as chief, reporters had access […]
Posted inNews
Borough reviews not done
Although required to by code, Haines Borough Manager Mark Earnest has not provided for evaluations of employees since starting on the job three years ago. As manager, Earnest serves as the borough’s personnel director. He is responsible for supervising and evaluating about a dozen of the municipality’s upper-level employees, including department heads and three borough “officers”: police chief Gary Lowe, […]
Posted inNews
Police employees raise issues about chief
Haines Borough manager Mark Earnest is reviewing complaints from personnel within the police department about chief Gary Lowe, mayor Stephanie Scott confirmed this week. Scott said Tuesday Earnest is investigating complaints made by employees in the police department, but would not discuss the nature of the complaints. “I am aware that there are personnel complaints within the department regarding the […]
Posted inNews
Borough: Tweak sockeye study
The Haines Borough is taking a closer look before signing off on a $10,000 study of local commercial fish stocks and management. The draft report, “Data Review of the Sockeye Salmon Declines in Chilkat and Chilkoot Lakes,” was submitted by Golder Associates in August. About 10 fishermen and residents attended a committee meeting about the 40-page report […]