Both Skagway’s fire department and medical clinic are taking steps to fill leadership roles. This comes as the municipality considers a regional tribal health consortium’s interest in taking over Skagway’s local health clinic. KHNS’ Mike Swasey spoke with Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata about these topics and more for a preview of Thursday’s borough assembly meeting.

Swasey – Well, let’s start with the executive sessions. You got a couple of them on the agenda on Thursday. One of them is about port infrastructure. And the other one is interesting, it looks like there’s going to be a discussion about selling the clinic building and the land it sits on. I was under the impression that up until now, it was, you know, mostly there were talks about a lease deal. So what’s happening there?

Cremata – Well, so that’s always been on the table. And it’s actually been something that has been talked about at the assembly table in the past. And like I say, it’s a much more broad scope to the executive session than that one issue. When discussing, you know, what options are available to the assembly as far as what they can do in regards to the clinic, that has to be one of the issues that we talked about among all of the other ones, that’s the whole idea behind the Executive Session, really, is to kind of lay everything out, explore options, and see what we can do to, you know, perhaps drive the clinic toward more success.

Swasey – Well, let’s stay with the clinic, it looks like the board is on the hunt for an executive director again.

Cremata – So currently, there’s an interim director in place. And so you know, this job has to go up because, you know, eventually the clinic would definitely need a full-time director sooner than later. I was surprised, personally, that this job description didn’t go out considerably sooner than it did because we’re on a time crunch here. But that’s what the clinic board decided to do. And so I think that their goal is to find a permanent solution to that problem. 

Swasey – All right, well, could you tell us a little bit more about the letter that you sent to the governor’s office about the electric ferry concept?

Cremata – Yeah, so that stemmed from a meeting that we had with the governor’s chief of staff, Randy Ruaro, oh, and, you know, showing him some of the ideas that we’ve had for potential electric ferries or electric hybrid ferries that could service communities of Skagway and Haines, Skagway, Juneau and Haines, and it was a thank you letter. And also, you know, another key part of that letter was a, you know, outlining that we’re still having some obstacles as far as the acquisition on the Broadway Peninsula goes some of those deal with federal highways. So we’re kind of you know, reaching out to the governor’s office to try and help us figure out some solutions. And make sure that, you know, that process continues to move forward.

Swasey – And then I guess the fire chief position, Interim Chief, Emily Rauscher, has been nominated by the hiring committee to take over the role. Do you see that going off without a hitch on Thursday night?

Cremata – Well, you know, I’m always prepared for surprises. But Emily Rauscher has come into the interim role and literally turned the fire department around. I think the number of volunteers, year-round residents, that are now signed up numbers 25. She’s done an exceptional job, hoping that she can receive some further training and go into that role, with a unanimous decision by the hiring committee, I hope that’s well-received by the Assembly and we can get that approval done (Thursday) evening. I know one thing for sure, we have cruise ships coming in 55 days, it’s essential that you have a fire chief in place, and it needs to happen sooner than later. So I certainly hope that the approval happens so that we can make sure that we’re able to respond to the tremendous amount of EMS calls that we’re going to get in the summer.

Swasey – Mayor Andrew Cremata, thanks so much for the assembly preview. 

Cremata – Hey, thank you. Have a great day.

The live audio stream of Skagway’s Borough Assembly meeting can be heard starting at 7 p.m. Thursday at khns.org.