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

By Ceri Godinez

At a meeting July 14, assembly member Zephyr Sincerny moved to censure Paul Rogers, another member of the assembly, for his involvement in borough manager Debra Schnabel’s firing in May.

Sincerny made the motion at the suggestion of resident Ron Jackson, who had filled out a request form to add discussion of the manager’s firing to the July 14 agenda.

In the form, Jackson criticized Rogers for “usurping the supervisory authority of the (assembly)” when he requested the manager resign without seeking the approval of other members and “for belittling the manager in public” during discussion of Schnabel’s termination at an assembly meeting in May.

Sincerny said he views censure as a public statement that the assembly doesn’t support the way Rogers handled the firing.

“What I hope is conveyed by this is an expression of dissatisfaction and just saying, ‘Hey, the way that Mr. Rogers did this… is not how we want it and need it to go forward in the future,’” Sincerny said.

The motion to censure came at the end of discussion of how best to avoid contentious borough manager firings like the one that ended Schnabel’s tenure in the future. Haines has a tumultuous history when it comes to borough managers. Of the 10 managers since consolidation in 2002, four were fired or resigned to avoid being fired, including Schnabel.

Although several assembly members acknowledged Schnabel’s firing could have been handled better, most said they didn’t view censure as a productive way to address the underlying issue.

“Here we are again creating another divide,” assembly member Gabe Thomas said. “We got over something, or I thought we were over it, and here we are ripping the Band-Aid off.”

The assembly voted down the motion to censure Rogers 3-2. Sincerny and Stephanie Scott voted in favor of the motion. Rogers abstained from the vote.

At the meeting, the assembly also discussed potential changes to the manager hiring and firing processes to improve the manager-assembly relationship. Suggestions included adding a term limit in the contract so the assembly would need to take action to extend a manger’s tenure, making annual performance evaluations part of the contract’s terms and requiring a unanimous assembly vote to fire a manager instead of a simple majority.

At the suggestion of borough clerk and interim manager Alekka Fullerton, assembly members agreed to flesh out ideas for improving the manager-assembly relationship in the personnel committee.

The personnel committee meeting has yet to be scheduled, but members said it should take place after the Aug. 6 town hall where community members will have the opportunity to weigh in on the role of the manager in borough government. The town hall was scheduled at the recommendation of the personnel committee with the hope that communitywide discussion will improve the longevity of manager tenure moving forward.