On Aug. 10, the Haines Borough finalized an agreement with Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) to offer free testing for asymptomatic travelers entering Haines from other parts of Alaska. The agreement will allow people to comply more easily with revisions in June to Haines’ 14-day quarantine recommendation. Under the updated borough recommendation, travelers entering Haines from […]
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Assembly abandons areawide policing ballot measure
The Haines Borough Assembly has decided voter approval is unnecessary to formalize the practice of emergency police response outside the townsite. On Tuesday, the assembly voted to amend a resolution from December instead of placing the question on the October ballot. In response to concerns that areawide police response was not permissible under borough charter, at the […]
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GAS Committee supports museum restructuring, begins car towing plan
A restructuring of the Haines Sheldon Museum is on the horizon if the board and the Haines Borough Assembly have their way. At present, the museum is a quasi-governmental organization with attributes of both a borough department and nonprofit. Existing in this liminal space has created confusion about the museum’s relationship to the borough, hampering the organization’s […]
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EOC recommends holding off on mask mandate, for now
The soonest the Haines Borough Assembly would consider a public mask mandate, if it follows Emergency Operations Center (EOC) recommendations, would be when the community has at least nine active cases or is deemed a “high risk” COVID-19 environment for other reasons. At a July 30 townhall, EOC incident commander Carolann Wooton presented a document titled “Haines […]
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HEDC hires new part-time director
The Haines Economic Development Corporation hired David Simmons, 30, as its new, part-time executive director on Aug. 1. Simmons will work on an interim basis through the end of the year. A former Fullbright scholar, Simmons holds a masters of science degree in international business studies. “He is knowledgeable about federal, state, and local economic […]
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Assembly approves individual CARES Act grants, extends business grant deadline
At a meeting Tuesday night, the Haines Borough Assembly took additional steps to approve a spending plan for $2.1 million in CARES Act funding received earlier this year, including approval of a household assistance program, and extension of the business and nonprofit grant application deadline until Aug. 14. The assembly instructed staff to get the household grant […]
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Hazardous waste disposal discontinued
The Haines Borough’s annual household hazardous waste free disposal program will not take place this year, although the borough is looking for a way to resume the service in the future. The $31,450 program that in past years collected and shipped out materials including paint, fertilizer and household chemicals, was eliminated from the budget this […]
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41% of borough employees take furlough in July
Nearly half of the Haines Borough’s 51 full-time and part-time employees will be out of the office for a week at some point this month, the result of a budget cut for the fiscal year that began July 1. To help offset loss of state funding and sales tax revenue due to COVID-19, the Haines Borough […]
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Borough has no plans to consider face mask mandate
A growing number of Alaska communities in recent weeks have considered mandates that people wear face masks to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 infections but, at present, the Haines Borough has no plans to consider such a measure. This month, city councils in Valdez and Seward approved mask mandates, while Juneau and the city of Ketchikan […]
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Library begins closures due to budget cuts
The Haines Borough Public Library will be closed Fridays beginning July 17 through the end of June 2021, due to budget cuts. This is not the first time the library has seen its budget reduced, but it is the first time cuts will translate to a significant loss of service. “Over the years, we’ve been asked to […]