The Skagway assembly will soon appoint its next member. The seat became open after former Assembly Member Reba Hylton announced her resignation. KHNS’s Alain d’Epremesnil has more.
At their last regular meeting, the Skagway Borough Assembly debated how they will fill the seat left vacant by Assembly Member Reba Hylton. Hylton officially left her position on April 7th to pursue a career opportunity in Haines.
The borough code is short on specifics about how the position is to be filled. It only states that the remaining members “shall within 30 days appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy.”
This leaves open the question of how to select an appointee.
Vice Mayor Orion Hanson opened the debate.
Hanson: “In the past, a method that we did that I favored is we had letters of interest, and then those people came to that assembly meeting, and effectively gave a little short presentation, five minutes or so, and then there was an opportunity for the assembly to have questions and answers about germane topics to serving on the assembly.”
Assembly Member Dan Henry objected, saying this system would favor the first candidate considered for a vote. He argued for having the mayor present his choice for the assembly to vote on. He says the system was used in the past and he explained how it worked.
Henry: “The mechanism used was the mayor canvassed the community, spoke to members that had been previously involved in the community, they more than likely served on the school board, planning and zoning, one of the community boards or commissions that gave the citizens in the community a very good example of how that individual would arrive at a decision.”
Henry said putting the mayor in charge of that process would conveniently narrow the field of candidates. Hanson countered that, saying that having each candidate speak in front of the assembly is a more transparent process.
Outgoing Assembly Member Hylton said it is important that the assembly appoint a mother with a young child to her seat.
Hylton: “For me what is important is that the assembly takes into consideration the lack of diversity that has always been there, that’s why I ran. Because of being the mother of a young child, I feel like that’s also a niche, being a woman one, and then also being a mother. There is important demographics in Skagway that aren’t represented at the table. And it’s very important to me that they take that into consideration when filling my seat.”
In the end, the Assembly voted unanimously to ask that residents interested in the assembly seat write a letter of interest and come to the next assembly meeting, on April 20th.
The appointee will serve until the next municipal election, six months from now.
Letters of interest should be sent to the Borough as soon as possible. Per borough code, the Assembly must appoint its next member by May 7th.
