Four recommendations from the Government Affairs and Services Committee to reform public advisory commissions were advanced for public hearing at the assembly’s regular meeting on Tuesday. Most controversially, a proposal that would give the borough more responsibility over the operations of the Library Advisory Board was advanced for a public hearing on Sept. 26, the next regular assembly meeting. Several community members spoke out against the change. “The government will be deciding what citizens of Haines will read and watch,” said library director Rebecca Heaton during public comment. The ordinance as written would give oversight of operations to the assembly. But Cheryl Stickler, chair of the GAS Committee, said the ordinance was not intended to do that, and that it had been developed to fix challenges library staff have faced. “Please, everyone, take a breath. It is not meant to be interpreted the way it has been interpreted,” she said, adding the ordinance was designed to relieve library staff from things like overseeing maintenance work. The assembly voted to advance it to a second public hearing unanimously, after assembly members decided they could make fixes to the language of the ordinance through amendments instead of sending it back to committee.

Another proposal, passed unanimously, would dismantle the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee, which has been defunct for years. Assembly member Debra Schnabel explained her rationale for introducing the ordinance. “Until we as an assembly have the commitment to funding recreational programs, I think we should cut it out and stop pretending we have a recreation department,” she said. The assembly also voted to advance an ordinance that would end the Public Safety Commission, which also hasn’t met regularly in recent years. Some speakers suggested the proposal could be amended to give the commission an ad hoc status so that it could meet when public advice is needed, such as when hiring a new police chief, which the borough will likely have to do in the coming months with the current chief set to step down. An ordinance to give the borough more power to staff the Chilkat Center was also advanced unanimously.

Gillnetter Dennis Gudmundson pleaded with the borough to allow commercial fishing boats to be stored on the Small Boat Harbor parking lot during the winter. He said there were likely 20 fishermen getting ready to sail to Skagway to store boats for the winter instead of the parking lot in Haines, which is usually mostly empty in winter. “All we’re looking for is a safe place to put our boats, and we have an empty parking lot that’s not being used,” he said. “I don’t understand why we can’t get over the hurdles.” Gudmundson, who has been fishing for 50 years, had his commercial boat overturned this spring when pulling it out of the water. He said other fishermen face the dangerous and expensive prospect of getting boats towed to Letnikof Cove for winter storage. The assembly has previously considered a proposal, but there are restrictions about how the lot can be used, since it was developed with federal sportfishing money. The assembly voted to send it to the Ports and Harbors Committee to develop a policy for winter storage for commercial boats.

The first absentee ballots have been sent in the mail, borough clerk Alekka Fullerton announced on Tuesday. In-person early voting opens on Monday, the same day that electronic absentee ballots will be sent out. The deadline for applying for absentee by mail is Sept. 22.

A plan to distribute $100,000 to local nonprofits was advanced to its next hearing. The plan, developed in the Government Affairs and Services Committee, would allocate $22,500 for Salvation Army Alaska, $22,000 for Alaska Avalanche Center, $8,000 for Haines Senior Village, $5,000 for Hospice of Haines, $2,000 for Alaska Arts Confluence, $24,000 for Becky’s Place, and $7,250 for both SAIL and Takshanuk Watershed. Members from the Alaska Arts Confluence were at the meeting and asked for a higher allocation to organize a spring arts festival that would draw tourists. They said their original proposal estimated marketing costs for the festival would be $20,000, but a clerical error reduced it to $2,000, which ultimately was the amount the Government Affairs and Services Committee recommended to the full assembly. Debra Schnabel suggested pulling $10,000 from Fund 23, which is allocated for tourism and economic development, to pay for the shortfall. That motion was narrowly defeated in a 3-3 vote with Mayor Douglas Olerud breaking the tie, but members said money could be pulled at a later meeting.