Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

The Haines Borough will pay Karen Hess $23,500 in legal fees and costs arising from a lawsuit she won in Superior Court against the borough and former assemblyman Greg Goodman, according to a settlement agreement the assembly approved Tuesday.

Hess said the settlement covers a portion of her legal fees and she’s "as satisfied as I could be, I guess, when you consider the fact that the more you try to negotiate, the more your lawyer fees go up, so I finally had to settle."

The settlement ordered $23,500 to be paid to Hess by Friday. Jila Stuart, borough chief fiscal officer, said the money likely would be drawn from the general fund.

The assembly met in executive session June 14 and directed borough attorney Brooks Chandler to accept the settlement offer from Hess. The settlement was included in the packet for Tuesday’s assembly meeting, and assembly members approved it as part of their consent agenda, with no discussion.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg in May ruled that Goodman did not meet borough residency requirements and ordered Goodman to vacate assembly seat "E." The borough, Goodman and Hess in the settlement waived all rights to appeal Pallenberg’s decision.

The assembly vacancy will be filled in a special election to run with October’s municipal election, despite a borough code provision that vacancies must be filled within 30 days.

Hess, a write-in candidate in last October’s election, has declared her intention to run for the assembly again.

Under the settlement agreement, Hess "shall dismiss all claims asserted against Goodman" in the Superior Court lawsuit and "the parties shall release each other from all claims arising from, related to, or which could have been asserted in the Lawsuit, including the manner in which the vacancy on the Assembly will be filled."

Hess said the reference to how the vacancy would be filled "was part of the agreement, but it was something that I wasn’t going to challenge, anyway."