Any Haines Borough resident can propose an infrastructure project for formal review by borough staff under an initiative launched this month.

Modeled after a Fairbanks North Star Borough program, the new program is intended to increase public engagement and expand the pool of ideas for the borough’s capital improvement project list.

Haines Borough clerk Alekka Fullerton, who worked to launch the program after learning about the Fairbanks model at a 2019 Alaska Municipal League conference, said there are no parameters for project nominations. “I think we’re trying not to limit it. Maybe someone will come up with a better way to do a CIP program. It could be IT-based…We want to hear all kinds of ideas,” Fullerton said.

Fairbanks published a list of 99 proposals from staff and residents last year. Much of the projects were geared towards recreation: an ice rink; a new playground; park improvements; a turf sports field. But others involved parking, signage, communications and utility repairs.

Nominating projects is the first of seven phases. During the second phase, borough staff will evaluate and score proposals based on feasibility and relevance to the Haines Borough Assembly’s goals. “A $2,000 proposal is going to be scored one way, and a $200,000,000 proposal will be scored a different way,” Fullerton said.

Borough staff will present a list of projects to the finance committee, which will determine which ideas to forward to the assembly. At that point, there will be public hearings about the project list. Then a team of experts will score and rank projects and return their list to the assembly for another round of public hearings. Finally, the assembly will determine which projects to adopt—and work towards completion.

The proposal form can be filled out at https://www.hainesalaska.gov/cip-suggestions. Nominations must be submitted by March 1 to give the borough manager enough time to incorporate project ideas into a budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

Fullerton said the borough hurried to launch the program this year and that it will be a work in progress. “We plan to develop it even more this summer or whenever we have more time,” she said.