The Haines Assembly met Tuesday night to verify election results. Two assemblymembers ended their terms making way for two new members and the new borough manager attended her first meeting. And as KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports, there was an update on recovery efforts from last winter’s deadly storms.

 

The Haines Assembly canvassed 72 ballots at its Tuesday meeting from last week’s municipal elections. That means assembly members and the borough clerk reviewed and accounted for every ballot cast, to make sure all valid votes are included. For Haines it was absentee ballots sent by fax and email, ballots cast in a different precinct than where the voter was registered, and special needs ballots. 

Borough clerk and elections officer, Alekka Fullerton says Haines increased its voter turnout to 44 percent, and noted some trends among Haines’ two precincts, in town and out the road in the Mosquito Lake community.

“​​The other thing that I found interesting is that 37% of Haines in town voters voted early. So of those who voted 37% of them voted early 26% of them from out the road. And, a great majority or 62% of out the road, voters voted on election day. Whereas about half of that in town voters voted on election day,” Fullerton said. 

After the canvass, the official election results were announced, with Tyler Huling maintaining her lead with 605 votes, and Debra Schnabel with 594 votes, winning two seats on the borough assembly. 

Brenda Josephson had 426 votes, and Richard Clement had 362 votes. For school board, Brian Clay and Michael Wald were elected to a three year term with 748 and 642 votes, respectively. Kevin Shove and Shannon Dryden were elected to a two year term with 453 votes and 440 votes. Shannon Dryden was elected to a two year term with 440 votes. Write-in candidate Keely Baumgartner received 332 votes, and Jonathan Ray received 240 votes.

They are scheduled to be sworn in on October 26, replacing Jerry Lapp and Carol Tuynman.

Assemblymember Tuynman thanked the assembly and community Tuesday night, her final meeting. 

“I want to express my deep appreciation for the people of Haines, this assembly and the staff of the Haines borough,” Tuynman said. “It’s been a tremendous privilege to serve on this assembly, I’ve learned so much.” 

Tuynman also had last words on two borough issues – she emphasized the importance of an open, public process for redrafting its heliski ordinance, which has been hotly debated this year. And, later in the meeting, Tuynman introduced a motion for the assembly to create a committee to weigh in on the state’s redistricting plans, which will redraw legislative districts based on 2020 Census data. 

“I feel it’s a way to cement our vision of how we work regionally and throughout you know, our direct region, Juneau, Skagway and Haines and also how we work with the rest of Southeast Alaska,” Tuynman said.

But the assembly voted it down 3-2, with Rogers, Stickler and Thomas voting against, without comment. Jerry Lapp was not present.

Newly hired borough manager Annette Kreitzer was welcomed to her first assembly meeting, and gave the manager’s report. That included a report from Haines’ lobbyist in Juneau, Ted Popely, who was contracted by the borough for $48,000 to work on  the Lutak Dock redevelopment plan. The state legislature did not grant the funding. Kreitzer has an extensive background in state government, and said that was likely due to the federal infrastructure bill still being debated in the US House.

“So I think there’s a big hole on probably a lot of projects,” Kreitzer said. “I mean, this is me speculating right now, but I just based on my previous experience, I would say that there’s probably a hold on a number of projects as the state and other municipal entities like yourself, wait to see what’s gonna happen with the infrastructure bill.” 

In other news, Sara Chapell with the Haines Long Term Recovery Group provided an update on the disaster recovery effort. She reported over 400,000 lbs of disaster debris has been removed, also thanks to the assistance from Team Rubicon, a veteran-led disaster recovery organization that spent 10 days in Haines last month. 

She also made an announcement that the partnership with Team Rubicon will continue.

“I am very excited and humbled to report that Team Rubicon, really thanks to the generous welcome of the community, they’ve chosen Haines as one of their two communities in the nation, that they’re going to assist with rebuild efforts following a disaster. This is a huge deal,” Chapell said. 

The group reports 125 households needed disaster assistance after the deadly December storms. 16 households have returned to their homes since June, and seven households remain in temporary housing. Eight homes were completely destroyed last December, and Chapell says Team Rubicon rebuilding for two of them will have a huge immediate impact. 

“And it’s going to allow those residents to return back to their residences this winter,” she said. “Additionally, they’re considering a larger rebuild project next summer to address some of our more complex cases. And they’re also sending a communications team up to highlight the story of resilience in Haines to a national audience. So it’s just really good means that I wanted to share with you all.”

Chapell says more details on the construction, labor and costs will be negotiated in the coming weeks. The next time the borough assembly is scheduled to meet is  6:30 p.m. Tuesday October 26.