Borough manager Debra Schnabel hired new employees to fill the director of public facilities, and contracts and grants administration positions. Ed Coffland is the new public facilities director, pending assembly approval and tourism director Carolann Wooton was hired for the grants administration position. Coffland, a civil engineer, has worked across the world on mining, and oil and […]
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Posted inNews
How will the assembly appoint a third seat?
Despite municipal elections one month away, the Haines Borough Assembly will be tasked with appointing a person to fill resigning member Will Prisciandaro’s seat by Oct. 10. Last week, Prisciandaro resigned his seat after relocating to Vermont. Originally, he said he wished to serve remotely, but after the assembly meeting Aug. 20, he changed his mind. “I […]
Posted inNews
Lawyer seeks residents input for scholarship
The Haines Borough school board is seeking public input on how residents would like to see a recent donated scholarship fund dispersed to students. The board was notified last fall that former resident Vera Smith, who died in 2016, left the district $622,000 to establish the William George Seig Scholarship, named after her first husband, also a former […]
Posted inNews, Elections
Prisciandaro resigns; but only two assembly seats up for election
This week, Diana Lapham revoked her candidacy for a seat on the Haines Borough Assembly, and assembly member Will Prisciandaro resigned, opening up a third seat for election. Assembly member Will Prisciandaro emailed an official resignation to Mayor Jan Hill on Sunday, amid calls to step down from some assembly members and residents who said his recent move to […]
Posted inNews
Who owns Haines’ trails?
Hiking trails around Haines have been used recreationally for decades. But now, the legality of their use has been called into question. On Monday, Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office southeast area lands manager David Griffin sent an email to the Haines parks and recreation advisory committee, warning that three trails in the Haines area […]
Posted inNews
Haines Brewing combats salty beer
When Paul Wheeler of Haines Brewing Company heard that the borough was reaching record-low levels in its primary water source earlier this month, he knew he’d need to mitigate a salty situation. On Aug. 12, a mix of drought conditions and a construction error in the pipe that transports 80 percent of Haines’ drinking water […]
Posted inNews
Assembly ups harbor project scope
Last week, the Haines Borough Assembly passed a resolution, 4-2, expanding the harbor boat launch improvement project scope to total $5.8 million, exceeding budget funding by $130,000. Contract administration, inspection and engineer designs will add another $1 million to the total cost of the project. On July 24, the assembly authorized a $4.7 million contract with Skagway-based […]
Posted inNews, Timber
Tariffs stall timber sale indefinitely
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on U.S. exports to China are apparently to blame for an indefinitely stalled timber sale in the Haines Borough. The University of Alaska’s land office announced Tuesday that the interested buyer of roughly 6,000 acres of forest in the Chilkat Valley “is now choosing to wait until the tariffs improve on U.S. […]
Posted inNews
Area-wide policing fails, assembly misses deadline
The proposition to allow police services boroughwide will not appear on the October ballot, after the assembly failed to vote on the ordinance in enough time to allow for the required 40-day notice period before elections. “At least 40 days before each general or special election, notice of the subject of any proposition, referendum or […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Six candidates vie for two seats in assembly race
Residents Diana Lapham, Sally McGuire, Zephyr Sincerny, Sean Gaffney and Gabe Thomas filed candidacy for two vacating seats on the Haines Borough Assembly, joining applicant Paul Rogers, who registered last week. Lapham, a three-decades long Haines resident and former assembly member from 2013 to 2016, said she was solicited by community members to campaign for a […]