Haines may have its first permanent borough manager in more than a year. The Assembly voted unanimously to offer Annette Kreitzer the job, pending contract negotiations. The Haines Assembly has also finalized a ballot measure that would create a sliding scale sales tax. And there’s federal relief aid for victims of the December storms on the way. KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports on all that, as well as an update on the debate over bringing more heli-ski tour operators to the Chilkat Valley.
The Haines Assembly moved to offer the borough manager job to a former state commissioner of administration who’s been retired for nearly a decade. It voted unanimously Tuesday to offer the job to Annette Kreitzer who had served in the administrations of Govs. Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell.
But it’s not a done deal. The offer is pending the outcome of negotiations over her contract.
Still, Assemblymember Jerry Lapp, sounded upbeat that the assembly had finally filled its top position which has been vacant since May 2020.
“We wanted somebody who was diligent about doing their research on topics that they were responsible for. We wanted somebody who had integrity, we wanted somebody who didn’t get involved in local politics or things like that,” Lapp said. “There is nobody in the world that would come here and check all the boxes for every assembly member, every citizen in this Bureau. So we need to find someone that checks most of the boxes. And I think that in Annette Kreitzer, we have someone who checks the majority of the boxes.”
Members of the assembly thanked borough clerk Alekka Fullerton who has been filling in as interim manager. The job has been open after a divided assembly fired manager Debra Schnabel in a contentious 4-3 vote. It struggled to find her successor. Its top applicant declined the job in April 2021. And after whittling 10 applicants down to two, one dropped out leaving Kreitzer – who lives in Juneau – as its sole finalist.
If Kreitzer accepts the job she said she’d be available to start in October. She says she’ll decide in about 10 months whether to stay on, after which her husband would follow her from Juneau where she’s been a longtime resident.
In other business, Haines voters will be asked to create a sliding scale sales tax hike that goes up in the summer and down in the winter in a bid to capture more revenue from visitors. It would increase the existing sales tax by as much as 1.5% in the townsite and lower it by that much during the winter.
Haines currently has three sales tax rates – 5.5% in the townsite, 3.5% in Excursion Inlet and 4% in the rest of the borough. The proposal would lower the winter tax rate between Oct 1 and March 31 to 4% in the townsite, 2.5% in Excursion Inlet and 3% everywhere else, and raise the summer rate April 1 through Sept 30 to 7% in the townsite, 4.5% in Excursion Inlet and 5% everywhere else.
The sales tax adjustment will go before voters on the October 5 municipal ballot.
In other news, The Assembly also authorized appropriating $110,000 in federal aid to survivors of last December’s storms that killed two people and destroyed houses along Beach Road. It would pay for debris removal and will be reimbursed by FEMA.
It would allow for people to bring storm debris and damaged household items to the dump, free of charge. Collection dates will be announced, and the project is organized by the Haines Long Term Recovery Group.
Coordinator Sylvia Heinz says 10% of the Haines community was impacted, and needed financial assistance after the storms this winter. And though many organizations have contributed, Borough support is necessary at this stage.
“The upfront cost asked from the Haines borough has been matched with significant investment contributions from homeowners from nonprofits from the state of Alaska from individual donors and an incredibly impressive disaster response from tribal government,” Heinz said.
Haines Mayor Douglas Olerud told the assembly that the temporary road through the landslide area on Beach Road has been completed, and Alaska Power & Telephone are working on restoring power in the next few weeks.
The mayor also advised caution this weekend when crowds are expected to arrive for the Southeast Alaska State Fair.
“Please do your part to keep everyone staying safe and healthy,” the Mayor said. “Alekka (Fullerton) came up with a PSA, and hopefully letting people know that we want them to be COVID safe and follow the fair protocols while they’re in town so we don’t have Haines blow up with COVID cases like they have elsewhere in Southeast.”
Haines residents turned out in force to discuss heli-ski tourism. Haines’ current borough code allows three operators in the Chilkat Valley. That came to a head when a fourth operator applied – and was summarily denied — to operate out of Haines.
The prospective applicant, Stellar Adventure Travel, has appealed the decision. Owner Reggie Crist says he plans to also develop a high-end lodge at 18 Mile Haines Highway, to boost tourism in the area.
“If we were able to actually improve this, the luxury accommodations with helicopter in and out lodge, that’s something that just doesn’t currently exist in Haines,” Crist said. “And that’s something that would actually attract this higher end user, which I believe is where this market is heading.”
Haines helicopter pilot Rhianna Rasmussen was among those to voice doubts that Chilkat Valley should allow a fourth heli-ski operation.
“I can tell you that having a lot of aircraft in such a small area is not safe,” Rasmussen said. “It’s also not a safe situation for skiers. We just don’t have the available acreage to make it a solid one sellable product and a safe product.”
The Assembly has referred the question to its Government Affairs Committee to study and discuss the issue at its September 7th meeting.
