A sign hangs in the window of the Chilkat Center during the 2016 Haines municipal election. The voting location has been changed to the ANB/ANS Hall for the 2017 election. (Emily Files)
Haines and Skagway voters will elect a mayor and multiple assembly and school board members this fall. Residents interested in running for office can file their declarations of candidacy in a couple weeks.
There are a lot of positions up for grabs in the Oct. 3 municipal election.
Both Skagway mayor Mark Schaefer and Haines mayor Jan Hill’s terms expire this year. Both can run for re-election, and Hill already said she plans on it.
Haines mayors serve for three years at a time. Hill is finishing her third mayoral stint, although they have not been consecutive.
Skagway’s mayoral term is two years. Schaefer is finishing up his second term as mayor. Before that, he was on the assembly. Schaefer says he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run again.
All six Haines Assembly seats could be up for election. There are three seats due to open in October, and the other three are targeted in a special recall election.
Haines voters will decide whether to recall Tresham Gregg, Tom Morphet and Heather Lende on Aug. 15.
The other three seats are currently held by Ron Jackson, who does not plan to run for re-election, Stephanie Scott and Sean Maidy. Scott and Maidy were recently appointed to the assembly following the resignations of Mike Case and Margaret Friedenauer. Friedenauer only had one year left in her term. That means two of the open assembly seats carry three-year terms and one has just a single-year term.
It’s a bit of a complicated situation for the Haines School Board. Four seats total are up for grabs. Member Mike Wilson resigned with one year left in his tenure. Jeanne Kitayama was appointed to that seat. Sara Chapell was elected to a two-year seat in 2015, so her term is up. And Anne Marie Palmieri and Brian Clay’s seats expire this year. So, there will be one one-year seat (Kitayama’s) and three three-year seats on the ballot.
That means, minimum, Haines will be voting for a mayor, three assembly members, and four school board members.
The picture is a bit less complicated in Skagway. In addition to the mayoral position, there are two three-year assembly seats and two three-year school board seats set to open.
Spencer Morgan was appointed to Dan Henry’s asembly seat and Monica Carlson to Angela Grieser’s. Both of those positions will be up for grabs.
Skagway School Board members Cara Cosgrove and Mary Tidlow’s terms expire this fall.
The Skagway election filing period opens July 31 and ends Aug. 14. In Haines, the filing period runs from Aug. 1 to Aug. 20.
The election is Tuesday, Oct. 3.
