As part of our election season coverage, KHNS is bringing candidates to you through a series of profiles. In Haines, four candidates are running for two seats on the borough assembly, vacated by Carol Tuynman and Jerry Lapp. Today, we hear from Brenda Josephson, who is running for her second term on the borough assembly.
Brenda Josephson has been active in several public service roles since she moved to Haines 13 years ago. She served on the school board when her son was in high school, then stints on the Planning Commission, the Haines Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and one term on the borough assembly in 2017.
Brenda Josephson
“Haines is a great place to live. I was really excited for an opportunity to raise my son here. It’s a nice, wholesome environment.”
The 56-year-old lived in Florida for many years and was recruited to Haines in 2008 to work for Southeast Roadbuilders, a local construction company, where she was a controller and compliance officer for 10 years. She retired in 2018 after the company was bought out by the Colas Group. Since then, she’s been working on a bachelor’s degree in business administration, focused on food business leadership from the Culinary Institute of America.
“My particular interest is food sustainability, as well as farm to table. I’ve got a big interest not only in sustainability, but actually healthy eating, and I’ve been enjoying the program,” she said.
Josephson has a master’s degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in strategic planning, and over 25 years professional experience in accounting. After serving a three-year term on the assembly, Josephson lost her bid for re-election by a dozen votes in a tight six-way race. She says despite that setback there was public support for her to try again this year.
“I had so many people call me up and asked me if I would consider it,” she said. “I’ve always been civically minded. And I really believe that it’s important for us to serve our community when needed. And so I decided to step up and run again this year. I’m excited about an opportunity to further some of the good momentum that we got started, and that the assembly this year has brought forward.”
Josephson says she wants to be a part of strategic, long-term planning, including updating the borough’s comprehensive plan. She’s concerned about Haines’ population decline, citing a drop in school enrollment she’s seen over the last decade. She wants to help young families be able to stay in Haines, by supporting economic opportunities, especially independent businesses.
“My general focus is how can we help the individual entrepreneurs and whatever it is that they’re their ideas that they’re looking to bring forward. Governments are risk averse, it’s the entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risk and try. So I think that that’s what’s key is how can we help the individuals that are trying to figure out how they can continue to live here, and so that they can stay so that they can raise their families and so that they can stay long term,” she said.
She says she’ll focus on fiscal sustainability to fund services, infrastructure improvements, and support economic growth. But the community needs to work together and collaborate.
“My goal is always to find optimum solutions instead of settling on the first acceptable solution that comes around. And I think that the way that we do this is we’ve got to address our challenges by asking questions, and then listening to seek answers. So that we can analyze the issues with intellectual integrity. And, it’s going to take everyone we’re going to have to work together effectively in order to move forward during these challenging times.”
Josephson also volunteered for a short time working on logistics for the Haines Emergency Operations Center, during last December’s storms, also with assembly candidate Richard Clement. But says she stepped down to focus full time on her studies.
Josephson is one of four candidates running for two open seats on the Haines Borough Assembly. She will face Richard Clement, Tyler Huling, and Debra Schnabel in the election on October 5.
A live debate with the four candidates for Haines borough assembly will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, September 16, and will be broadcast live on KHNS. Questions for the candidates can be submitted in advance to reporter@khns.org.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Josephson’s degree. She has a master’s degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in strategic planning.)
