Dahl Memorial Clinic in Skagway. Photo by Mike Swasey.

The Municipality of Skagway voted 4-2 on Thursday to advance negotiations with SEARHC (“search”), the region’s tribal health organization to run its medical clinic. It ratified a formal memorandum of understanding that opens the clinic’s books to the tribal health organization and agreed to a non-disclosure agreement that shields its talks from public scrutiny. 

Thursday night’s Assembly meeting got tense as members of the community and elected Assembly tried to come to terms with how the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium might help improve healthcare options in Skagway.

Assemblyperson Reba Hylton summed up the current state of affairs at the local government’s Dahl Memorial Clinic which has struggled with high staff turnover and a recent reshuffling of its management

“It’s no secret that our clinic is currently in a crisis,” said Hylton.

Skagway resident Bob Head told the story of how he got a rapid test for COVID-19 and three days later was still waiting for his results to come back.

“You guys have got to get this under control. And I don’t care if it’s with SEARHC or without SEARHC, but it’s got to be dealt with,” said Head.

But Assemblymembers like Sam Bass argued that now isn’t the time to invite an outside group in. 

“I understand that the clinic may be in crisis at this time. But when you’re in a crisis, that’s not the time to make life-changing decisions. That’s the time to deal with the crisis then move forward. I’d like to see us not in crisis when we made this decision,” said Bass.

Assemblyperson Dustin Stone pushed back.

“I disagree with statements tonight that there isn’t a sense of urgency to this because there absolutely is. We are in the middle of a global health crisis. And we’re turning away patients from our clinic because we can’t serve them right now. And that is a problem,” said Stone.

Ultimately, the Assembly voted 4-2 to advance a formal Memorandum of Understanding with SEARHC to continue talks. It also signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement that it says prevents details from the negotiations to be released publicly that could be viewed by a potential competitor. Assemblymembers Bass and Burnham cast the no votes.

The moves pave the way for negotiations to start regarding the future of the Dahl Memorial Clinic. However, no agreement will be final before going in front of voters. 

Assemblyperson Reba Hylton brought forward a resolution on Thursday evening to put the question before the voters about their opinion of SEARHC assuming healthcare responsibilities in Skagway. The vote was postponed until the August 19 Assembly meeting.

Skagway Borough Manager Brad Ryan told KHNS after the meeting that he understands the need for the community to have all the information on hand before making a decision, but also acknowledged there’s a deadline to the process.

“I know it’s only an opinion vote. But still, we don’t want an opinion that says we do or don’t want it if we don’t have enough information to be voting on it. So we’re in a bit of a time trap on this one,” said Ryan.

One of the sticking points, Ryan says, was a misconception that SEARHC was only interested in running the clinic if it could buy the 14th Avenue property.

“Do we have to sell it? No. That would be all part of the negotiation. My conversation with SEARHC Representatives has been, look, I don’t want necessarily to have to sell the buildings, are you amenable to a long-term lease? And they have said, yes,” stated Ryan.

With the Assembly’s ratification of its memorandum, it will provide SEARHC with the clinic’s finances and operational plan so that the tribal health provider can design its own proposal for Skagway’s clinic. 

The decision to put an opinion question on the ballot during the upcoming October 5 municipal elections will be made at the next Assembly meeting on August 19. 

And it remains unclear whether Skagway community members will have all th

e facts in hand if it’s placed on the October ballot. Ryan says he isn’t sure. 

“I can’t answer that. My hope is that we would have enough information to educate the community before they had to vote on that. I think SEARHC is relatively quick at this, but I haven’t been through this before. And so I would be the first one to speak out against it if we didn’t have enough information to make that decision,” said Ryan.

If the ballot measure is not approved, a special election would be required before any contracts are signed.