By Tom Morphet Facing a room full of advocates for local non-profit organizations, the Haines Borough Assembly Tuesday backed away from a manager’s recommendation to reduce by 50 percent the municipality’s contributions to community organizations. It appears instead the borough’s total contributions may hold steady to last year’s amount, roughly $155,000. Sixteen groups requested $180,118 this year. […]

Residents can weigh in on the Haines Borough’s draft comprehensive plan at two town meetings next week. Each meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. The first is Wednesday, May 16, at the Haines School and the second is Thursday, May 17, at Mosquito Lake School. The comprehensive plan is “a community blueprint” for the future, […]

Mayor Stephanie Scott on Tuesday broke a tie vote of the Haines Borough Assembly to adopt an ordinance that removes code language mandating the municipality have a department of economic development and an economic development director. Assembly members Debra Schnabel, Norm Smith and Joanne Waterman also voted in support of eliminating the department from code. “I’ve been here long enough to say that this […]

Haines Borough Police Chief Gary Lowe said he’s pursuing local hire in the wake of resignations from the department. Recent departures have reduced the force to Lowe and officers Simon Ford and Jason Rettinger, who both lived in Haines before starting careers in law enforcement. Lowe moved from Illinois to become Haines Police chief in June 2008 but said […]

The Haines Borough Assembly is investigating a state-collected municipal motor vehicle registration tax that would help fund local storage and disposal of junk cars, or an annual “junk car clean-up.” The municipality for years has discussed how best to deal with junkers parked around town and abandoned on public property. Its interest sharpened last year when residents […]

Haines Borough Harbormaster Phil Benner and his staff are hosting a customer appreciation barbecue on Wednesday, May 16, and will share plans for facilities. “We’ll do it every year,” Benner said. “You get to interact differently with people when you’re eating with them, and also to show the projects that we got funded, as long […]

The Haines Borough Assembly last week introduced an ordinance that would require a simple majority vote of remaining members to fill assembly vacancies, a move aimed at easing gridlock. The borough’s government affairs and services committee of assembly members Daymond Hoffman, Debra Schnabel and committee chair Steve Vick recommended the change. Last June, the assembly failed to appoint a replacement for a […]

By Krista Kielsmeier Haines Borough code mandates the municipality have a department of economic development and a director to lead it. “Despite this code requirement, to my knowledge the department has never been established,” Mayor Stephanie Scott wrote in a memo last month, requesting that section of code be repealed. The Haines Borough Assembly this week advanced to a second public […]