Phil Benner is returning to his post as Haines Borough harbormaster, three years after leaving the job. “I am committed to Haines for the next 10 to 15 years,” Benner said this week. The Haines Borough Assembly approved Benner’s hire Tuesday, on the recommendation of manager Mark Earnest and the borough’s port and harbor advisory committee, at an annual salary of […]

After three years of relative quiet, debate over the fate of old school property on Main Street resumed at the Haines Borough Planning Commission meeting April 19, when commissioners split on a proposal that would classify two lots west of Fourth Avenue for sale “in the near term.” By a 4-3 margin, commissioners voted for a proposal […]

A public forum debate and discussion at the Haines School last month addressing whether income disparity is threatening the American Dream might lead to additional debates that take up local topics. The Haines “We the People” group sponsored the event that featured four members of the Haines High School Drama, Debate and Forensics team. “We […]

Add another plan to borough planning efforts. In addition to work on a comprehensive plan and a strategic plan, the Haines Borough is embarking on a master plan for facilities. The firm selected to provide professional design services for a proposed community center also will evaluate all Haines Borough facilities, manager Mark Earnest wrote in a report this month. Earnest wrote […]

Four years after the Haines Borough Assembly agreed to keep the Haines primary school building to see how land there would fit into a downtown plan, the borough’s planning commission is being asked whether the property should be sold. The borough demolished the building on the property in October 2010. The planning commission will hold a hearing […]

The job shuffle at city hall continued this week with the temporary hire of Phil Benner as harbormaster, and a four-month extension for facilities manager Brian Lemcke. Meanwhile, the Haines Borough Assembly is moving ahead with a transition plan that would give clerk Julie Cozzi responsibilities of the borough manager. Cozzi would be aided in the job […]

The Haines Borough Assembly last week rescinded a February disaster declaration for sloughing of the Mount Ripinsky hillside at Lutak Road. Borough manager Mark Earnest provided the assembly with an e-mail from Kerry Seifert, an emergency management specialist with Alaska’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, before the 5-0 vote. Member Joanne Waterman was absent. Seifert wrote “the slope has stopped or slowed movement […]

Can the Haines Borough dispose of surplus equipment through an online auction site like eBay? As members of the Haines Borough Assembly on March 27 discussed two pieces of equipment – a caterpillar 140H grader with wing blade and a Jeep and water wagon – set for disposal by public sealed bid auction to the highest bidder, assemblyman Steve Vick suggested […]