Last month Haines assembly member Tyler Huling resigned her position after serving less than half of her term. Margaret Jones, who narrowly lost her bid for assembly in the last election, was selected by the assembly to replace her until the term is up in the fall. KHNS’s Brandon Wilks reports:
After a tight race that involved five other candidates last fall, Margaret Jones did not expect to find herself on the Haines Assembly.
Jones: “Oh, it’s a bit of a surprise came as a bit of a surprise. But it feels like I am right where I’m supposed to be when I’m supposed to be there.”
Following her close defeat, Jones applied to an open seat on the Planning Commission. She says she believes the brief experience with the commission will translate well to the assembly.
Jones: “I think there’s a lot to be learned from all of the commission’s that have been set up and and the committees and advisory boards and the planning commission is a big one to have a good understanding of for the assembly.”
One of the ongoing issues that Jones will now have to contend with is the Lutak Dock renovation. The $28 million project received unanimous approval for its next phase from the assembly during their last meeting. Despite continued reservations from some Haines residents, Jones is confident about the progress of the project.
Jones: “I don’t personally have any concerns that haven’t been answered by the rounds of discussions that we’ve had with turn again, and the town halls that we’ve had, and the meetings where community members have been able to express their concerns and their questions. And they’ve been answered by the borough staff and the experts at Turnagain Marine. And I think that, you know, we’ll have to see what the 95% plans look like. But assuming that they’re they reflect the concerns that we’ve brought forward, and that they have adjusted for the things that assembly members and planning commissioners and all the people working on the project have brought up then I’m excited to see the project move forward.”
Jones also acknowledged the prevalent labor shortage in Haines. She says it’s a complicated problem that includes low wages and high cost-of-living. But she remains positive.
Jones: “I have been pretty encouraged by what I’ve heard from, from borough staff and assembly members, either, you know, whether in past debates or just in conversation that there is a lot of money out there to be found. There’s lots of federal money, there’s grant money, and I think that that is one direction we could go I think in order to maintain our strength as a community, we should find more ways to raise our economic base and increase our own economic activity so that we’re not as dependent on money coming in from outside to provide… in terms of low staffing, even if somebody could provide for themselves on a wage, you know, like at the the teacher salary then and could somehow afford housing without wage that housing is just not available. You know, there’s there are other issues that all feed into lack of staffing.”
One potential for reducing costs in Haines that was raised in the assembly forum last fall was a possible grocery tax exemption. That’s something that Jones agreed with in nature but stopped short of supporting. She says her position hasn’t changed.
Jones: “I think, again, if we’re not assessing what we’re currently doing with the money that is being raised by the grocery tax in the community, you know, like there, there are costs and benefits to each thing. So if we relieve that tax for the for groceries than we heard somewhere else, and it’s not like the borough has lots of money that’s just sitting around, and that it could be in residents pockets if they weren’t paying the tax on their groceries. And another thing that I heard is that although there are lots of community members who would significantly benefit from a grocery tax exemption, there are also many who are happy to pay at grocery tax to support the community and the tax base in the community.”
Jones’s predecessor, Tyler Huling, told the Chilkat Valley Newspaper that she resigned, in part, because of a corrosive public discourse. Jones says she thinks people should take note.
Jones: “I think that the perspectives of the the assembly members who have left the assembly stating that as their reason are important, and that we should pay attention to that, you know, the mayor himself said that he ran for mayor, in part to help improve public discourse in Haines. So I definitely think that it and I have seen that it can be an issue.” “and I think that there’s certainly space for us to improve our political discourse. You know, it’s so easy in the assembly chambers for things to be very stale, and to, for there to be kind of a veil between you and just another person that you’re you know, whether it’s the jargon and the vocabulary or the professionalism and and I think that there is definitely a need to, again, get back to basics of just seeing our community members or fellow community members as neighbors.”
Huling is the sixth assembly member to leave their term in six years. Jones says a lack of boundaries can lead to stress among some assembly members.
Jones: “I think that the strain that assembly members are feeling that it is kind of twofold, one, community members, you know, there’s been, they have reported community members really kind of being a nuisance, and sort of monopolizing their time. And then also, I think that there is just a lack of capacity in our government right now to really pay attention to our community members and for our community to feel heard by the government, by the people who are making decisions, who they’ve elected to represent them, they don’t feel represented. And I think that does have a lot to do with lack of capacity.”
When asked, Jones said that she was committed to fulfilling the rest of the term of her seat but declined to commit to running again. That term expires this October.
