Haines’ incoming borough manager, Annette Kreitzer has been on the job for a week. She comes from Juneau where she had a long career in state government. But as KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports, she says she has the leadership and problem-solving skills to be the Haines boroughs’ top administrator.
Annette Kreitzer drove off the ferry in Haines, to start work on October 1. But she says she didn’t get very far.
“The first thing I had to tackle was the alternator went out on my truck,” she said with a laugh. “That kind of presented me with a little bit of a problem.”
She said her husband helped her out with that one, and then she started in on borough department briefings and getting oriented.
Annette Kreitzer, Haines borough photo
“So I’ve been down to the pool, I’ve been out to Mosquito Lake, I met with the police chief, the fire chief, the harbormaster, tourism…I met with a finance director and we haven’t finished our overview because I have too many questions for one hour at a time,” she said chuckling. “So I’m continuing to work with the finance director to finish the briefings about the budget.”
Kreitzer has been retired since 2012. Prior to that, her professional career was in state government in Juneau. From 1992 she worked as a legislative aide, then chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, before being named Commissioner for the Department of Administration under Republican Governors Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell.
“It’s about 15,000 employees that you’re essentially responsible for (as a Commissioner), because you’re doing retirement and benefits and all of the inward looking things, labor relations, personnel issues, those kinds of things, the backbone for the state,” she said.
Kreitzer says she brings those lessons learned for problem-solving in a smaller town like Haines.
“When you hear a new idea that will bring change, a lot of times the first reaction is no, because of concerns that you might have about the idea. I would always tell the folks on my team, don’t say no, just say, how will you handle this challenge? Because a lot of times people can figure out good solutions for the concerns that you have,” she said.
Haines Mayor Douglas Olerud says her background and experience made her a strong candidate.
“I think the thing that’s the most important for the manager is a willingness to listen, but then also be firm enough to make a decision when you have to make it,” Olerud said. “It’s great to get input from a lot of different sources. But at the end of the day, there’s a lot of things that are just her decision to make. And I think she has those characteristics to listen to a lot of points of view, and then find the one that’s best for the borough going forward.”
She was one of 10 applicants for this round of the borough manager hiring process, which took 18 months. Haines’ last borough manager, Debra Schnabel was fired in May 2020, along a contentious 4-3 vote. Schnabel is now back in public office, having just been elected to the Assembly for a three year term.
Kreitzer went through three public interviews, and a community visit, and was offered the job in August.
Asked why she wanted to come out of retirement to work in Haines, she said she feels she’s the right person to help Haines stabilize its local government.
“I watched the turnover,” she said. “And just thought, that’s terrible. In terms of not only the community, but in terms of government employees, borough employees.”
Kreitzer and her husband have had a vacation home in Haines since 1999, and visited periodically, so she says she has been following community affairs.
“I just felt like I could perhaps help in this situation. Not every, you know, thing that it was intriguing to me. And so not every problem that happens is intriguing to me, but this one was, and so that’s why I applied,” she said.
Annette Kreitzer’s salary is $130,000 plus benefits. That’s a 38 percent pay raise from the last manager Debra Schnabel, who made $96,300, according to the borough clerk’s office. Her contract is for a year, and stipulates the first evaluation after three months, and again at nine months. After that, it can be extended another two years to September 2024.
To prepare to start the job, Kreitzer said she’s been studying borough code and policies. But she also went on a five week hunt in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
“Mostly antelope. All antelope as a matter of fact,” she said. “And the groups that we go with to hunt,))) most of the game gets processed, and then over time goes to orphanages in the area. I would love to be able to bring game meat home, but that’s prohibited.”
Between meetings and research, she says she hasn’t been out much.
“I wish I could say I’ve been out and about, but I have not. I’ve had my head buried in the computer so much in the first several days that I didn’t even realize that there was a parts place across the street from my office, for instance,” she said laughing. “But it is my intention to get out and meet people in the community, you know, business leaders, other folks in the community who hold positions of leadership.”
Kreitzer says the best way to reach her is by email at akreitzer@haines.ak.us, or at the borough office at (907) 766 – 6404. Her first assembly meeting as borough manager will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in-person and via Zoom. See the Haines borough calendar here for login and agenda details.
