5 months have passed since the Haines Borough Assembly fired former borough manager Debra Schnabel. The borough has yet to post a job advertisement for the position. The newly elected mayor and assembly have been tasked with finding the next manager.
In October, the borough manager’s job description was updated based on recommendations from the assembly’s personnel committee.
The committee’s chair, Paul Rogers, said they tried to clarify the manager’s relationship with the assembly.
“There has been conflict in the past. I’ve talked with other assembly members from previous assemblies and there was a need to fix the written documents that related to the relationship between the assembly and the manager and we made an effort to do that,” Rogers said.
Before Schnabel was fired, Rogers cited communication issues and an unwillingness to take direction from the assembly as reasons to dismiss her. Numerous residents criticized the decision to fire Schnabel during public meetings before and after her dismissal.
In June, the assembly scheduled a town hall meeting to gather community input about the role of the borough manager. That meeting has been postponed twice.
Mayor Douglas Olerud was elected last month. He said he is still willing to have a community discussion about the role of the manager.
“If the assembly still believes that we need to have a town hall, I would be more than happy to facilitate that meeting and get as much input as we can as we move forward with the process,” Olerud said. “But that will be a decision that has to be made by the full assembly. I don’t know if that is something they still want to do.”
Olerud notes that the responsibilities of the borough manager are already spelled out in the charter, but he recognizes that some people may interpret them differently.
He said that it will be important that the borough clearly defines expectations during the search for a new manager.
“I think that’s a discussion that needs to take place with the full assembly, the mayor and any manager candidates that we’re talking about so there aren’t any surprises as we start dealing with a new manager about what the roles are.,” Olerud said.
Haines Borough Clerk Alekka Fullerton has been filling in as the interim manager until a replacement is found. She has not been directed by the assembly to start advertising for the position yet.
Rogers said that the previous assembly did not advertise the position in part because of the recent municipal election.
“Most of the assembly members felt that it wasn’t critical to push forward with advertising and stuff until after the election. Now we’re past it, so we can get moving again and we can get this process going forward.”
Rogers said the personnel committee will discuss the process for selecting a new manager at its meeting on November 24th.
Mayor Olerud said he planned to meet with the borough clerk to discuss hiring a new manager and put it on the agenda for the next assembly meeting.
