The Dyea campground host cabin project was conceived by the Dyea Advisory board as a way to attract a campground host to be present during busy summer seasons. Their duties would be to collect fees, monitor usage, and report any nefarious activities to the local police, including bear activity.
It’s a basic, no-frills cabin with propane heat that the campground host would need to furnish with cookware, lighting, bedding, and other amenities. The Dyea Advisory Board noted in Thursday’s meeting that they had found little interest in a simple tent or RV spot in the past and that they hoped a cabin would be more enticing to a potential host.
According to Michael Yee of the Dyea Advisory Board speaking on Thursday night, a campground host should be the primary use of the building.
“The Dyea advisory board’s intent was always for that cabin to be used as a place for the campground host to stay during the season. And then we can talk about the other season,” said Yee.
The Assembly agreed that finding a campground host is the next step. Then came disagreement over the scope of the campground hosts’ duties.
Assemblyperson Orion Hanson expressed concerns that he says have been brought up repeatedly at Dyea Advisory Board meetings.
“What happens outside of the campground is of great concern. People driving where they shouldn’t be in all-terrain vehicles, of having campfires outside of campfire rings of people camping, basically in the river causing erosion, driving all over the flats at low tide. I’ve been to some Dyea Advisory meetings and have heard these concerns over and over and over and over,” lamented Hanson.
Mayor Cremata thinks a campground host and a monitor for the flats are two different positions.
“If we’re talking about hiring somebody who is a monitor of the Dyea flats, that is a whole different job description. There’s a lot of responsibility there that’s not typically associated with what I would consider to be a campground host position, especially a volunteer one,” argued Cremata.
Then things got heated between Hanson and Cremata.
“I don’t think I agree with you Mayor,” said Hanson.
“Well, you don’t have to. But, somebody who’s in charge of now way beyond the campground now they’re out in West Creek, they’re monitoring people who are driving along the riverbed,” replied Cremata.”
“I think we’re talking about the flats. I think we’re talking about the flats, thank you,” said Hanson, talking over the Mayor.
“That is somebody that is now a Dyea flats Marshall, and if that’s the position that the Dyea Advisory Board wants, that is a separate discussion,” said Cremata.
In the end, the Assembly voted in a 3-3 tie with a tie-breaking yes vote from the Mayor to move forward with option three from the Borough Manager’s list of options on how to proceed with the cabin.
That option states that they hire a campground host this summer with no salary, but with free lodging in the cabin. The host would be able to perform their duties in the early mornings and evenings Friday through Tuesday so that they could work during the day at another job.
The topic of whether to rent out the cabin in the off-season seems to be headed back to the Dyea Advisory Board for further discussion. There was no discussion of potential revenues generated by renting out the cabin, whether renting out the cabin to the general public posed inappropriate competition for local lodging businesses, or how the hiring process for a campground host would proceed.
