A special election scheduled in August for Skagway residents to vote on the municipality’s tidelands lease has been rescheduled.
The Skagway Borough Assembly voted Thursday to repeal the resolution scheduling the August 25th special election. The decision moves the lease question to the regular municipal election on October 6th.
Several Skagway residents and officials called for the election to be postponed from its August date to give the public more time to become informed about the lease.
The vote will determine the future of the 35-year contract between the municipality and White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. It delegates control, responsibility and payments for Skagway’s tidelands property.
At a July borough assembly meeting, a proposal from Assemblyman Gary Hanson to reconsider the election date failed in a 3-to-3 vote.
But after that meeting, Assembly member Steve Burnham, who voted against Hanson’s proposal, changed his mind. Burnham says he had talked to some regular voters who didn’t know about the August election, and that made him feel more time was warranted.
Burnham proposed the resolution to change the election date at Thursday’s meeting, and the decision passed unanimously.