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

The Haines Borough Assembly voted unanimously to renegotiate an agreement with the Mosquito Lake Community Center following a request from the volunteer group that runs programs at the borough-owned facility.

In a 3-3 tie vote broken by Mayor Douglas Olerud, the Haines Borough Assembly rejected a request from the Friends of Mosquito Lake School and Community Center (FMLSCC) for the borough to manage snow removal at the facility.

The assembly also voted unanimously to renegotiate the borough’s agreement with the center, which was originally adopted last fall and states that the volunteer group was responsible for managing snow removal.

“We have no way of generating revenue,” FMLSCC president Julie Korsmeyer said. “Our mission, as we see it, is to provide lots of community activities and opportunities for the people in the upper valley.”

Assembly member Debra Schnabel made a motion for the borough to fund snow plowing at the facility.

“I would like to see us be as supportive as we can and not fight over who is going to pay for the snow plowing,” she said. “It’s not reasonable for a volunteer group to raise money to plow for a public building.”

Assembly member Cheryl Stickler, who opposed the request, cited the roughly $41,000 the borough already budgeted this year for the facility. She said the Friends group should encourage volunteers to plow.

“The cost for this building, the maintenance insurance and utilities will continue to go up. The fuel prices, who knows what they’re going to be this winter,” Stickler said. “Personally speaking, I serve on a couple of volunteer organizations, and we work with our membership to get things plowed out when we need access and everybody who believes in the organization is willing to step up and make it happen so I know that’s a possibility.”

Olerud said he would be more sympathetic to FMLSCC’s request if they collected fees for their events and programs. The assembly directed the borough manager to work with FMLSCC to establish a rate schedule for use of the facility, as part of an amended agreement.

“If I go to the Chilkat Center, either they’re charging me or the person has rented that from KHNS. Same thing with the Senior Center,” Olerud said. “You go to the gym, you have to pay for that. Go to the pool, you have to pay for that.”

Borough manager Annette Kreitzer said compared to other facilities, the community center’s revenues are 8% of what it costs to operate, much lower than facilities such as the Chilkat Center or Senior Center.

Assembly member Gabe Thomas said he was concerned about FMLSCC’s use of the facility and management of finances. “We still don’t know if there’s private enterprise operating in there for profit off of borough money, which to me I think is a huge red flag,” Thomas said.

Korsmeyer said the volunteer group does not sell produce for profit. They sell plants in the spring to fund-raise for operations at the Victory Garden, she said. Produce grown in the garden is distributed, not sold, to community members, she said.

Korsmeyer later told the CVN the board is unsure how to proceed “after being accused of dishonesty and laziness.”

In a memo to the assembly, Kreitzer said funds raised by FMLSCC should go to the borough, per the current MOU.

Kreitzer will renegotiate the agreement with FMLSCC.

The community center, which was a school until 2014, is used as a school bus turnaround, garbage collection site, storage area, emergency shelter and gathering place for upper valley residents. It’s been used for the Victory Garden, a community garden that also provides food to the Senior Center, yoga classes and educational programs.

The borough paid for and coordinated plowing until 2020, when the officials decreased spending amid the pandemic and state funding cuts. FMLSCC volunteers provided the service and covered costs for a year.