Haines Police Chief Heath Scott. (Jillian Rogers)
The Haines Borough Assembly is considering a proposal that would change the way the police chief receives directions from the borough. Rather than answering to the borough manager, the police chief would report directly to the assembly. KHNS’ Henry Leasia has more.
As it stands, if the Haines Borough Assembly wants to ask the police department to carry out an action, they have to direct the borough manager to communicate that to the police chief. Essentially, the borough manager is the middle man between the police chief and the assembly.
But at a meeting last week, assembly member Heather Lende proposed to make the police chief an officer of the borough. Lende says this could help improve communication between the assembly members and the police department.
“Because of the structure, the police department is relatively insulated from the assembly and I think we would be able to have a freer give and take of exchanges that I think would serve the public better,” Lende says.
There are four municipal positions that are defined as borough officers in the Haines Charter: the manager, the clerk, the attorney and the chief fiscal officer. These officers serve ‘at the pleasure of’ the assembly. The assembly also has the power to appoint and remove people from these positions.
The assembly approved the motion to make the police chief an officer of the borough. This would make the chief answer to the assembly. Assemblyman Sean Maidy voted in favor of the motion, but says he wants to reconsider the decision at the next meeting.
“The assembly is just well beyond their scope doing this. It’s just such micromanagement. It’s completely unnecessary,” Maidy says. “They want the police to do this. They want this many officers. They want the police to respond specifically to these calls as opposed to the manager just managing.”
Haines Borough Manager Debra Schnabel also has doubts.
She does not expect many assembly members to have a thorough understanding of how a police department really works. She says that a political body might not be appropriate for managing the police.
“The management of a department based on what they hear from the community isn’t altogether a good practice because that is a highly political environment. The manager does not live in that political world,” Schnabel says.
But assembly member Brenda Josephson thinks that the borough manager has too much power over the borough’s administration. She says that managing the police chief through a political body is a good thing.
“Having this very important position within our community that affects all of us to be held more accountable to the people through the assembly, I think, is a positive step,” Josephson says.
The police chief used to report directly to the assembly. Five years ago, the assembly voted to make the position answer to the manager instead. The decision was made during a personnel dispute with the chief who was serving at that time.
Assemblyman Tom Morphet thinks that the borough should make the chief an officer of the borough once again.
“We’re just correcting a mistake that was made in 2013,” Morphet says.
The discussion about the assembly’s relationship with the police chief comes at a pivotal moment.
Chief Heath Scott’s contract is currently up for renewal. He has indicated that he would be open to signing on for another five years. However, he is also considering a move to Wrangell where he is the only candidate for the community’s vacant police chief position.
