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” […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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Downtown revival effort to regroup
An upcoming meeting of the Downtown Revitalization Committee may help determine the direction of the group, which hasn’t met since June. Lenise Henderson Fontenot, who serves as volunteer chair of the informal organization, said that in the coming weeks she’ll call a committee meeting to be attended by Haines Borough Mayor Stephanie Scott and manager Mark Earnest. A date is […]
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Mine summit helpful, borough officials say
Haines Borough officials recently returned from a Canadian mineral exploration conference. Assistant to the manager Darsie Culbeck and assembly member Steve Vick traveled to Vancouver, B.C., for the Mineral Exploration Roundup conference, a four-day annual trade show. In addition to meeting with mining companies Constantine Metal Resources, Chieftain Metals and Prophecy Platinum, Culbeck and Vick spoke with officials […]
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Breakwater draft study: Sea floor soft
Extending the rubble mound breakwater is likely not an option for the South Portage Cove harbor expansion project, according to the preliminary results of a recently conducted geotechnical survey. Installation of a metal wave barrier will probably be pursued instead, Haines Borough officials said this week. Based on a draft report released by PND Engineers, soft clay […]
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Fixing ‘slump’ issues priced at $1.6 million
An engineering firm is recommending nearly $1.6 million in drainage improvements to address surface water issues that caused a slump and ground movement on the Mount Ripinsky hillside last winter. PND Engineers recently released a report recommending the installation of storm drains, culverts and drainage ditches to redirect water flow in the Oceanview Drive and Lutak Road areas. The […]
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Alaska Heliskiing loses 350 skier days
Citing Alaska Heliskiing’s 2012 safety record, Haines Borough Manager Mark Earnest cut the company’s skier-day allocation by 25 percent for the 2013 season. Earnest this week allocated 1,050 skier days to the guide company, 350 fewer than the company’s request of 1,400. “It was based on safety record. And I made a determination I was not going to allocate […]
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Sole bid for towing
The Haines Borough has received one bid from a local company proposing to solve the borough’s towing, impoundment and junked-car issues. Bigfoot Auto Service, owned by Paul Nelson, submitted the only bid to the borough. The assembly voted in December to pursue a private fix for junked vehicle and towing problems before making a decision on a […]