The Haines Borough Manager was directed to order the police to stop responding to calls outside the townsite unless assistance is requested by the state troopers. (Emily Files)
The Haines Borough Assembly is struggling to finalize the ballot measures for the upcoming municipal election. The assembly decided to hold another public hearing on a ballot question that would ask voters if they support making police service a borough-wide power. There is disagreement about what voters are being asked.
According to Haines Borough Charter, the police department can only operate within a specific service area. Right now the only police service area lies within the boundaries of the townsite. However, the assembly has directed the police department to respond to urgent calls from areas outside of the townsite.
Police Chief Heath Scott says this has forced the department into a situation where it is violating municipal law when it responds to calls outside of town. To resolve this dilemma, assembly members Sean Maidy and Will Prisciandaro drafted a ballot measure asking residents if they support amending the charter to provide police services across the entire borough.
At a meeting Tuesday, assembly member Brenda Josephson asked to clarify the question.
“If the voters vote yes on this are they authorizing a power or are they voting in an area-wide service?” Josephson asked.
In other words, if the ballot measure passed would it establish police service for the entire borough or would it simply make it legal for that to happen?
Borough Manager Debra Schnabel said it would be the latter, simply making it legal.
“As I would read the amendment as it’s been proposed, it’s providing for a service that could be enacted with a program,” Schnabel said. “For example, solid waste management is something that is an area-wide power, but we don’t do it. So we could look at this as saying the establishment and operation of a police department is a valid area-wide power. We have the power to do it, but that doesn’t mean we have to do it.”
But Josephson pointed out that the proposed amendment to the charter is slightly different than the question posed to voters.
“The question we’re asking the voters is to provide for borough police services area-wide,” Josephson said. “It hasn’t been thought out. It hasn’t been worked out. We don’t know what we’re providing. We don’t know what it’s going to cost. So it’s not ready for the ballot. It’s going to fail.”
Assembly member Heather Lende agreed that there should be more discussion about the wording of the question. She also suggested that the vote should be split between those living inside the townsite service area and those living outside the service area.
“I think it’s unrealistic to think that this isn’t going to cost us some money and that the people who are currently paying for the service and the people who may end up paying for the service should all get to vote on it separately and we should agree,” Lende said.
Although the proposal would make police an areawide power, the existing townsite service area wouldn’t disappear. According to the charter, an areawide power may be exercised within a service area to provide a higher level of service.
Borough Manager Debra Schnabel said that policing across the borough and within the townsite would be different under the proposed ballot measure.
“Perhaps our issue would be to define the difference between what the service is areawide and what service is being provided inside the townsite service area, which is a higher level of service. I look forward to exploring that possibility a little bit further,” Schnabel said.
Despite these uncertainties, assembly member Sean Maidy felt that the assembly couldn’t wait any longer to resolve the issue of police service outside the townsite.
“This is not a new thing,” Maidy said. “This is something we have been dealing with for far too long and these are the same discussion points we have been hitting for over a year. How is this any less of an emergency?”
The assembly voted to postpone a decision on whether to include the ballot measure in this year’s municipal election. The assembly will revisit the issue at a committee of the whole meeting August 27.
