The Haines Borough Assembly Tuesday adopted an ordinance that will increase pay for the assembly and Mayor. The change will cost the borough an estimated $11,172 annually. The assembly approved the ordinance by a 4-1 vote, with member Scott Rossman opposed and Greg Goodman absent. Assembly members have been paid $100 for assembly meetings, and Jan Hill, as Mayor, earned […]
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Posted inNews, Haines Borough
New start at heli-ski question; Mayor appoints 9-member panel
The Haines Borough’s new heli-skiing work group held its first meeting Tuesday, and members said they want to avoid the heated tone of previous discussions about the industry. “I think that this is a better way to resolve some of the issues than to try to do it through assembly meetings, where we’re way more […]
Posted inNews
Former mayor gives away the farm
Former Haines Borough Mayor Bob Henderson will donate his 14-acre farm to the American Bald Eagle Foundation for use rehabilitating eagles. The property will be the site of a 20-by-20-by-200-foot cage for re-training eagles to fly. The Haines-based foundation hopes to have the facility in place within two years. “As you get more birds, you’re going to need more space. […]
Posted inLocal News
Assembly Briefs: taxes, past and future elections
Takshanuk Watershed Council tax error Takshanuk Watershed Council will not have to pay a property tax bill it received this year. Untangling this took the assembly roughly 20 minutes of digging into why the watershed council got the bill in the first place. The watershed council applied for multiple community-purpose exemptions in 2025 for five […]
Posted inLocal News
Global Ports seeks to hide dock backers
Global Ports Holding last week asked the borough to redact information revealing which cruise lines support its dock management proposal. Four letters of support from cruise lines were included in the company’s response to the borough’s public solicitation for offers to manage its cruise facility. The letters were from Norwegian Cruise Line, Virgin Voyages, Silversea […]
Posted inLocal News, 2026 Haines Borough Election
Despite second data error, election night canvass resulted unchanged
For the second time this election season, borough staff reported a data-entry error that caused a planning commission candidate vote total to be reported lower than it actually was. Election official Mike Denker kicked off Tuesday night’s election canvass explaining that a stray semi-colon in a spreadsheet resulted in 45 votes not being counted for […]
Posted inLocal News, Haines Borough
Listen: Assembly to discuss cruise ship dock, child care, Mosquito Lake agreement
Correction: While the election canvass is happening on Oct. 13, final results won’t be certified until the Oct. 27 assembly meeting Melinda Munson: So Tuesday’s meeting should be exciting with the election canvass at 6:30 p.m. and the assembly officially certifying election results. Will Steinfeld: Yeah, we’ll have a new Assembly with former assembly members […]
Posted in2026 Haines Borough Election, Local News
Borough updates vote count, race results unchanged
Updated at 11:45 a.m., Oct. 8 Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct vote tally for Erika Merklin. Due to a data entry error moving votes from absentee ballot scanner to the results spreadsheet Merklin’s vote tally from was under-reported by 30 votes. Mayor After a three-year hiatus, Doug Olerud will […]
Chilkat Valley Newsletter Friday Oct. 2
Oct. 2, 2026 / This week from the CVN Built with Newsletter Glue. If you’d no longer like to receive emails from the Chilkat Valley News, you can unsubscribe here.
Posted inLocal News
Sovereignty debate in Haines court, borough admin says no policy change forthcoming
A small-dollar collections suit has made a Lutak Road property one front in an unresolved, statewide conflict over land sovereignty. And despite losing the lawsuit — in which a tribal government defendant argued the borough’s tax policy ran afoul of federal law — the borough says its stance on the issue remains unchanged. Last September, […]