Debra Schnabel during her interview with the assembly. (Emily Files)
On Tuesday night, the Haines Assembly sought a new direction over stability in its choice for the borough’s top municipal job. Pending contract negotiations, Debra Schnabel will be Haines’ new borough manager. She was one of two finalists, both of whom are locals. The familiarity of the candidates made the decision especially personal to Haines residents. The rollercoaster ride of a meeting ended with one assembly member resigning.
Emotions are heightened in Haines right now. Three assembly members are targets of a recall effort that is currently in the signature-gathering stage. The acrimony of the recall loomed over the manager hiring process.
“Probably the most pressing issue is the division in the community and that’s where I feel my strength is,” said current interim manager Brad Ryan.
Ryan told the assembly that he could bring people together. Here’s his answer to what impact he hopes he would have as manager:
“I’d like people to say I’ve brought calm and at least a direction forward,” Ryan said. “Maybe not consensus, but a community that can talk to each other and agree to disagree without getting hostile or emotional about it.”
For many people, Ryan represented stability. He has only worked for the Haines Borough for a year and a half, but in that time he has served as interim manager twice. His regular job is director of public facilities. Ryan had the strong support of many borough employees. Chief Fiscal Officer Jila Stuart said Ryan has helped the staff heal after years of leadership turnover.
Brad Ryan during his assembly interview. (Emily Files)
“It just seems like such a shame when we’ve had such turmoil and turnover in the manager position to finally meet with some success, to think about throwing it away,” Stuart said.
But for the assembly members who may be looking for a new direction, there was another candidate: Debra Schnabel.
“I do think that our borough, I’m not going to say it suffers, but I think it could benefit by having our leadership have more time to deal with visioning and doing more to develop a better community as a whole,” Schnabel said. “I think in a lot of ways we’re very reactionary.”
Schnabel is a lifelong Haines resident. For the past few years, she’s led the local chamber of commerce. But she’s also served in the assembly and done work for the borough.
Schnabel too addressed the contention epitomized by the recall effort. She said the biggest challenges facing Haines are infrastructure projects and community division.
“I think the pressing need is for greater community cohesion in problem solving,” Schnabel said.
The specter of the recall carried into the public comments in support of Ryan or Schnabel. Carol Tunyman said Schnabel as manager and Ryan as facilities director could be the team that leads the borough to a happier place.
“What I’ve become aware of is there’s a lot of pain in this community,” Tunyman said. “I think it’s gonna take at least 3-5 years for us to stop blaming each other and us to stop going behind each other’s backs and recalling candidates.”
Members of the public spoke for about 30 minutes, with the majority supporting Ryan.
The assembly debated whether they should deliberate in public or in executive session. They ultimately voted to speak privately.
It wasn’t a fast decision. After more than two hours in executive session, they came back to the dais. Tresham Gregg spoke first.
“We have two really great candidates that we all really respect and love,” Gregg said. “And we’re just all trying to be as forward-thinking as we can.”
The assembly first had to vote on a motion that Mike Case made before the executive session: to hire Ryan. That motion failed, 4-2, with Case and Margaret Friedenauer the only ones in favor.
Then, Tom Morphet moved to hire Schnabel. And Case said that even though he thought Ryan was the better candidate, he would vote for her. So, the tally was 5-1 for Schnabel. Morphet, Case, Gregg, Heather Lende and Ron Jackson were in favor. Friedenauer was opposed. Lende explained her reasoning.
“I want to say that I was swayed by the people who pointed out what a great team they would be,” Lende said. “And I have a lot of confidence in Debra and a lot of confidence in Brad. And I think this is a vote of confidence in both and it’s a vote of confidence for our community.”
Lende said she would be proud to have a manager and a mayor who are graduates of Haines High School. That didn’t sit well with borough employee Krista Kielsmeier, who spoke in favor of Ryan.
“I didn’t grow up here, I didn’t go to Haines High School,” Kielsmeier said. “But I work hard, I have a record of progressively responsible experience. So I really relate to Brad, he moved here, he has progressively responsible experience, he’s done the job, he’s done it twice. And what you’ve just done is told me that I don’t matter because I didn’t grow up here and I haven’t lived here for 20 years. And I’ve never felt more like I don’t belong here.”
Kielsmeier accused the assembly of cronyism. She asked them to reconsider their decision.
It was almost 11 p.m., but there was one more surprise left in the evening. Before the meeting adjourned, Asssemblyman Case announced he was resigning and walked out of the room.
“So goodnight and good luck to Debra and to all of you,” Case said.
He told KHNS the next day that he resigned out of frustration with the four assembly members who voted against Ryan.
“It was in my opinion, a set-up job, so to speak,” Case said. “Asking the employees what they thought and then completely ignoring their endorsement of Brad was a real slap in the face.”
Case is 84, and he said health issues have made him consider resigning before this. But he said he may have stuck it out the five remaining months left in his term if the assembly had chosen Ryan.
The details of Schnabel’s hire have yet to be worked out. She and the assembly still need to negotiate a contract.
To KHNS please stop this silly censorship!
My comment wishing Debra the best was removed! I think Brad would have been the best for this job and still do. To KHNS please stop this silly censorship! I didn’t insult anyone. I just suggested the assembly get with it and get things done. Or was my suggestion of a teen center too much for you? Or was my criticism of Haines being over regulated too much for you? Snowflakes sure are EMO! Freedom of speech should be allowed on a public funded radio forum. Or maybe I should donate my money elsewhere.
Hey there,
No one deleted your comment. The comment system on our website requires all comments to be approved before they are made public. We simply hadn’t approved of yours yet, since it was made late last night. We do ask that commenters try to keep it civil and avoid personal attacks.
Thanks for participating in civil commenting!
Reporter Abbey Collins
Well I wish her the best. That said I as many others in town want to see some positive results and pronto! This childish infighting has to stop and professionalism should come to play to resolve the issues our town face. And pretty please stop this crazy regulating us to death scenario we have had going on. Haines Alaska should be a town of opportunities for all. And just my 2 cents; want youth crime to go down = then build a nice well run teen center. I’m sure if you involve the tribe funding can be had to do this so the youth here would have fun healthy things to do. If done right kids and the community will benefit and crime will go down among our youth.
we were told this was going to happen , way back when…………..and lo and behold ????
Time to heal and move on Haines. I would have been happy with either candidate and the concept of having them both on the team is not lost on me either. There was no way this was going to be an easy decision for Haines, but I believe the future is bright and I believe that both Debra and Brad are big enough to move on from this while continuing to respect and support each other.
Mike Case, I applaud your long service to Haines, but that was a cowardly thing to do. Statesmen and adults would not act in such a fashion. I believed you were a bigger man than that. You didn’t do much to set a good example for those who come after. Haines already had too much of the “pick up your blocks and go home attitude”. Brinksmanship and partisanship are not going to heal the community and allow it to move forward. The best way for you to have supported Brad would have been to swallow your pride and respect your fellow council members.
I wish you well Sir.
Congratulations Debra,
Today, you embark on the greatest venture, with the greatest honor, that can come to a citizen of Haines.
Like me, you are especially fortunate to lead our borough in a time of profound change, when old questions, not just about the role of this municipality, but about the very nature of our local government, must be answered anew.
You lead a proud, dedicated, great staff. And from this day you are the borough manager. I wish you success and much happiness.
The burdens you now shoulder are great, but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right and taking care of your people is inexpressible.
My prayers are with you and the Haines Borough. Good luck!
Sincerely,
Bill Seward
Brad would have been a great manager! I also believe Debra will do fantastic.
In any case, give Brad a raise so he can digest the “demotion”, as a bonus, training, whatever, and then support Debra. Too bad Mr. Case got emotional, maybe he shouldn’t have run for the position knowing that he could be so biased. That stinks that the tax-payers will have to pay for another election because of this move. I reckon another person will step up to fill Mr. Case’s shoes. I reckon a certain contractor who helped build Picture Point’s structures recently would be great. Initials D to the P.