Assembly adopts Chilkat River Access recommendations The borough assembly unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday endorsing the Chilkat River Access Working Group’s recommendations for improved state maintenance of the Haines Highway Miles 12 to 26. The recommendations will go to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The working group met three times in April and May and included […]
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Posted inLetters to the Editor
Reliable ferry service shouldn’t be a problem
Why did the planners and dreamers at Alaska DOT-PF spend millions to construct and pave an additional football field-sized parking lot at the Haines ferry terminal? This is not a joke: to accommodate the terrific, revenue-positive “demand” for ferry travel on Lynn Canal aboard the new Alaska Class vessels. Recall, too, the titanic joke by the Parnell […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted
Daniel Johnston is back in Haines after a five-month trip that included two-month stays in India and Sri Lanka. He kicked off his trip with a visit to Seattle, where he visited fellow Glacier Point guide Sam Edwards and Sam’s mom Mary. In India, Johnston and girlfriend Erin Dowden of Skagway visited cave temples and ruins, the Taj Mahal, and the […]
Posted inNews
Assembly to restart manager search
The Haines Borough Assembly is starting over with the search for a new manager after Tennessee real estate investor George Zoukee turned down the job last week. Assembly members met April 2 to discuss next steps. The meeting began with clerk and interim manager Alekka Fullerton withdrawing from consideration. Fullerton was one of four finalists selected from […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Zoukee rejects manager job offer
Tennessee real estate investor George Zoukee may have set a new record for shortest Haines Borough manager tenure when he turned down the assembly’s job offer on Monday. “The logistics of the move were a lot harder than I thought with borders being closed and the pandemic. It made it a tough time to make that move,” […]
Posted inNews, Alaska Marine Highway System
Assembly to consider supporting improved Juneau access
The Haines Borough Assembly plans to take up a resolution in support of a ferry terminal at Cascade Point, 30 miles north of Juneau’s Auke Bay terminal, at its next regular meeting April 13. “As we’ve seen with our winter ferry service the last couple of years, there’s a lot of drawbacks to the current ferry system,” Mayor Douglas […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Assembly offers manager job to Zoukee
The Haines Borough Assembly voted this week 5-1 to offer George Zoukee the borough manager job. Zoukee and interim manager and borough clerk Alekka Fullerton were finalists for the job. A third candidate dropped out of the running this week. Mayor Douglas Olerud said the assembly offered Zoukee the position Tuesday and contract discussions began Wednesday. Zoukee spent […]
Posted inNews
Borough offers Alten grievance settlement
Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud has sent a settlement offer to Public Employees Local 71, the borough’s employees union, in an effort to resolve a grievance filed last July on behalf of former museum director Helen Alten. The museum board eliminated her position on June 30. Those involved in the settlement talks including Alten, union business representative […]
Posted inNews, Alaska Marine Highway System
Matanuska breaks down for second time in 2021
The Matanuska ferry, the only Alaska Marine Highway vessel currently serving Haines, is once again experiencing mechanical difficulties, prompting the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT) to cancel sailings for the third time in just over a year. “I was on vacation for a month in Florida. I was very careful to line […]
Posted inNews
Misclassification threatens to deprive community of relief funds
The Haines Borough is slated to receive at least $490,000 through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the new pandemic economic recovery bill signed into law on March 11, but officials said it’s too soon to predict how funds will be spent because it’s still uncertain how much the borough will receive. “We are continuing to […]