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

The borough has been without a permanent manager since last May, and the Mayor is hoping the latest round of applications will produce a successful job candidate who could start this fall.

Applications closed last Friday. The borough received 10 applications.

“I would like to be having a Personnel Committee meeting first to go through all the applications,” Mayor Doug Olerud said Wednesday, with the committee maybe narrowing down the list to four or five candidates.

Those names would go to the assembly. “The assembly will decide if they want to interview all four or five,” or reduce the number, the Mayor said. He would like to see the Personnel Committee meet within a couple of weeks.

“In all practicality,” it will be at least September before a new manager could be at work, Olerud said.

The applicants are:

Helen Alten, currently deputy clerk for the Haines Borough. Her prior experience includes more than six years as executive director of the Haines Sheldon Museum, a program analyst with the Juneau Economic Development Council, and executive director of the Northern States Conservation Center in Minnesota, working with museums worldwide.

Cameron Caputi, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the finance director for the Borough of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, a job he has held since April. Caputi was previously an economic development specialist in Cleveland.

John Cox, who reported on his application that he is currently living in Honduras, but in earlier years was an office manager at a logging camp in Southeast Alaska, and worked at a lodge in Glacier Bay. He said he was a bookkeeper at Chilkat Guides in Haines in 2015, and also had worked in the office at seafood processors in Excursion Inlet, Petersburg and Ketchikan.

Jennifer Holmes, of DeForest, Wisconsin, is a section chief with the Bureau of Driver Services at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. She also was a supervisor at the department 2008 to 2017. In between the two stints at the transportation department, she managed a tour operator in Florida.

Richard Kraft, of Juneau, has worked in project and construction management in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, including work at the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. His work experience also includes engineer, cost estimator and quality control inspector.

Juneau resident Annette Kreitzer has experience in state government. Kreitzer worked as a legislative aide and later as commissioner of the Department of Administration under Govs. Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell. She also served as chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Loren Leman.

Chugiak resident Nevins Lavtar is currently employed by the Municipality of Anchorage’s Parks and Recreation Department. Lavtar previously worked in business development and landscape architectural design.

Gerald Merrill, from Abbot, Maine, has a criminal justice education and has worked for the Maine Department of Corrections since 2001. Merrill has also worked as an adjunct professor in criminal justice studies.

John Millan, from Kennewick, Washington, has a background in public works. Millan currently works as the deputy director of public works for the city of Pasco, Washington.

Mark Payne, of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, directed the New Mexico High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2013-2019. The federally funded program covered 13 counties. Payne has extensive experience in drug enforcement work, going back to 1991. He also worked as an investigator for the state of Alaska’s Medicaid fraud control unit in 2013.

The job was advertised at $110,000 to $130,000 a year, with extensive background and experience requirements: “Experience in budget preparation, policy, fiscal strategy … experience building working relationships with elected officials, as well as state and local agencies.”

The requirements also included, “Working knowledge of public financing; experience with economic development/project management; background in human resource activities including contract negotiations, collective bargaining, performance evaluations and staff development.”

Borough clerk Alekka Fullerton continues to serve as interim manager, a job she has held since the assembly fired manager Debra Schnabel in May 2020.

The assembly advertised to fill the position in January, eight months after Schnabel was removed. That effort collected 31 applicants, which the assembly narrowed down to 12 and then four, before deciding to offer the job in March to Tennessee real estate investor George Zoukee.

However, Zoukee changed his mind and quickly turned down the position, blaming high moving costs for his decision.

“The logistics of the move were a lot harder than I thought with borders being closed and the pandemic. It made it a tough time to make that move,” Zoukee told the Chilkat Valley News.

Though Fullerton was one of four finalists before the assembly selected Zoukee, she later withdrew from consideration and announced she would not reapply when the job was readvertised.

The assembly readvertised the position in early June.