Two credit unions have answered Skagway’s call for increased banking services. But before anyone can start depositing money – there’s a catch – both require free office space to start.
Credit Union 1 and Tongass Federal Credit Union expressed interest in starting mini branches in Skagway. They responded with visits and letters after the Skagway Borough Assembly directed staff to investigate how to entice a second financial institution to set up shop in the one-bank town.
The hope was that a second, Alaska-centric banking institution, might be able to service the unique needs of rural Southeast life. Currently, Skagway is home to just Wells Fargo.
But, according to Borough Manager Brad Ryan, both institutions would require free office space, at least for the first few years.
Deputy Borough Manager Emily Deach questioned if the municipality had the capability to give away space for free. She says the borough’s code dictates that the municipality charges fair market value, with some exceptions for non-profits.
“So there might be a roadblock there, to giving them something for free,” Deach says. “On the other hand, even if that’s not possible, and the assembly did want to put it out there that there’s a space that a financial institution could lease, or whatever it was, for those purposes, the municipality could do that. But I would suggest that it maybe go out to RFP like the waterfront areas. You know, because we don’t know who might be interested. We don’t want to treat it unfairly, and like, favor one over the other.”
Whether it’s legal or not to supply free space might be a moot point. When asked if there was even any space available in the town hemmed in by mountains and the ocean, the answer was a quick no. Deach also worried about municipal buildings complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Well, I think if you asked maybe me or the public works director, we’d say no,” she says. “But I think mostly the problem – like we might have space here and there. But a lot of the issues we have with those buildings that aren’t being used, is that they’re not up to code for public use. You know, I would worry about ADA accessibility.”
Assembly member Alex Weddell said her view might be an unpopular opinion, but she felt uncomfortable loaning space.
“I would like to see a credit union here,” she says. And perhaps there’s another way that we go about doing it. Because, I just, it seems grossly unfair. Because it could be argued that, I don’t know, it’d be nice to have like a second grocery store. How great would that be? So do we go out of town and, you know, invite grocery stores to come and use a facility for free for a few years? That sounds totally off. Right? So it’s like, not that different.”
The assembly directed staff to look into the legality of the situation and obtain more information.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that a credit-union is a not-for profit financial institution.
