The Haines Borough Assembly last week rescinded a February disaster declaration for sloughing of the Mount Ripinsky hillside at Lutak Road.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 […]

Staff turnover reached the top of the Haines Borough this week, as manager Mark Earnest submitted his resignation, effective June 15. “We’re getting good at changing managers, and I don’t want it to be taken lightly,” said Daymond Hoffman of the Haines Borough Assembly. “I think we really need to find out, from Mark, what we can do better, what we can […]

The Haines Borough is seeking a federal grant to purchase and install a new dispatch console that would improve response to 911 calls. “Thank goodness I do not have to call 911 very often, and the one instance where I did have to call it, it was very frustrating, because the equipment is so old, and on […]

After considerable discussion, the Haines Borough Assembly has dropped the idea of making its harbormaster a “peace officer.” That puts the local job on similar footing with the harbor chief in Skagway, but with less authority than the same job in Juneau. Skagway harbormaster Matt O’Boyle said municipal code does not designate him as a peace officer, […]

The Haines Borough has been asked to rescind a request for a state emergency declaration related to sloughing of the Mount Ripinsky hillside at Lutak Road in January. Borough manager Mark Earnest told the assembly last week that damage so far hasn’t met the threshold for a state disaster declaration. A state declaration would make the municipality eligible to receive emergency mitigation funding. […]

One week after an avalanche claimed the lives of a heli-ski client and guide, key details of the March 13 accident are missing, including its precise location. Alaska State Trooper Josh Bentz said Wednesday he has asked Alaska Heliskiing four or five times for the coordinates of the accident, information he needs to complete his […]

State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, hammered on the need to limit spending at a Friday Chamber of Commerce meeting attended by local school officials seeking increases in the state’s foundation formula. “I don’t know how many times I have to say ‘no,’” said Thomas, who co-chairs the powerful House Finance Committee, where a bill to increase […]

Are security cameras around Haines waterfront locations a good security measure or an example of Big Brother government infringing on the privacy of residents? The question was zipping around the Internet this week, in advance of a resolution before the Haines Borough Assembly to accept a $233,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for fencing […]

The Haines Borough Assembly on Tuesday approved hiring a full-time executive assistant to manager Mark Earnest, a position that would cost an estimated $81,000 annually. “It was a busy workload a year ago, and it’s even busier now,” Earnest said. “We just need to find a person who would fit the criteria and be a good fit, and […]