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Borough expands pellet heat dream

Haines Borough Mayor Stephanie Scott has said she wants at least one municipal building heated with wood in her lifetime. The borough assembly supersized Scott’s dream Tuesday, approving a renewable energy grant request for money to install wood-pellet boilers in the Haines School’s voc-tech building, swimming pool, Human Resources building, Visitor’s Center and borough offices. The amount of […]

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Borough pellet boiler option delayed

The Haines Borough will look to the Senior Center instead of the public safety building for installation of a wood-pellet boiler, facilities director Brian Lemcke said this week. A faulty boiler in the public safety building will be replaced in the coming weeks by another oil-burning one, he said. “I’m not comfortable with an experiment in this […]

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Connelly Lake hits eagle preserve hurdle

Developers of the proposed Connelly Lake hydroelectric project must acquire permitting for ground-disturbing activities in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve before federal agencies will move ahead with licensing of the project. In a letter released last week in which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a request by Alaska Power & Telephone to use a traditional […]

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Financial disclosure language vexes assembly

A third and expected final public hearing on a proposed Haines Borough financial disclosure law for local leaders bogged down Tuesday when assembly member Debra Schnabel raised a list of issues, including changing the definition of “sources of income.” Another change proposed for the meeting would have added real estate brokers to a list of professions that under the […]

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Draft study: No new port customers looming

There’s no impending business in ore shipments from new mines in the Yukon Territory, but the Haines Borough can improve its chances of landing such business by marketing itself as a port, members of the borough’s Port Development Steering Committee were told Thursday. A slide presentation by representatives of consulting firm Northern Economics recommended steps for the […]

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Manager: Expand heli-ski map

Haines Borough administration recommendations on changes to heli-skiing management came under fire by critics of the industry during an assembly committee meeting Tuesday. Mayor Stephanie Scott said the purpose of the meeting was to get “a sense of assembly direction” before bringing the recommendations back for statute considerations by Sept. 11. Rob Goldberg reacted indignantly to a […]

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Assembly: No full income reporting

The Haines Borough Assembly on Tuesday relaxed its proposed financial disclosure reporting regulations, eliminating a requirement that would have made elected officials report their full incomes. Under an amendment pushed by assemblywoman Joanne Waterman, borough elected leaders would have to report only sources of income greater than $5,000, not total amounts of income from those sources. The change […]

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Heli-ski review set for Tuesday

The Haines Borough Assembly will meet as a committee Tuesday to review the past heli-skiing season and consider a host of regulatory changes. The meeting starts 5:30 p.m. at the assembly chambers. Critics of the industry say global positioning technology has confirmed that flights operated out of prescribed boundaries on several occasions during the past season and […]