Haines Borough assembly members host town hall in Excursion Inlet

Haines Borough Assembly members met face-to-face with residents of Excursion Inlet on Friday. The town hall-style meeting took place at the Ocean Beauty fish-processing plant. Residents voiced questions, comments and concerns about a number of issues affecting their community. 

The first issue raised at the town hall was the recent transfer of state lands to the borough. In October, the Borough selected a number of parcels to be conveyed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The Borough is in the process of acquiring the title for the land, which is located to the northwest of Neva Lake.

Residents wanted to know what the plans were for this land. They were most concerned about maintaining local access to the lake. Borough Planner Holly Smith responded that currently there are no proposals for that land.

“We serve the public at large, the Haines Borough residents, so that’s what we would work towards in any plan,” Smith said. “In particular, the community that lives here would be taken into account broadly overall.”

Borough Manager Debra Schnabel said that the first step is to meet with an appraiser to determine the highest, best use in accordance with the values of the community.

Some concerns were raised about Excursion Inlet’s relationship with the rest of the Borough.

While the small community is part of the Haines Borough, it’s located about 60 miles as the crow flies from the Haines townsite.

Resident Bruce Gordon said he does not want to pay taxes for services in the townsite that he is not receiving.

At several points throughout the meeting, road maintenance was discussed. Borough Manager Debra Schnabel mentioned that residents have the option to create a road maintenance service area to determine which services they want and how much each resident would pay in taxes to fund those services. Some residents were opposed to paying more taxes for expanded services. Borough Assembly member Sean Maidy offered another suggestion.

“We know you guys take care of yourselves up here, but we need to know what you need to take care of yourselves, that’s why we’re here,” Maidy said. “If you don’t want us to come in with a service area and tell you all the different steps you need to create your own service area, why don’t you send us a list—instead of resolutions and service areas—send us a list of tools you might need. We need a track hoe, price one out.”

Resident Chuck Elliott agreed that a decent trackhoe would be invaluable to the work he has been doing on local roads. Mark Warner of  Doc Warner’s Adventures offered to rent his trackhoe to the Borough for road maintenance. Assembly members were open to the idea and encouraged residents to send a proposal before the assembly finalizes its budget this summer.

Borough Clerk Alekka Fullerton informed Excursion Inlet residents that in addition to mail and fax, they can now apply to vote by email. This method does wave a bit of confidentiality because she will have to print out email votes to be counted.

Applications for voting by email must be received by October 1st. Email votes must be sent by election day on October 2nd.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Excursion Inlet residents pay taxes that fund the Haines Police Department. The Haines Police are paid for by a State Community Jails contract and by property tax and sales tax collected in the Borough’s townsite.