City and Borough of Sitka Assembly Meeting – October 8, 2024
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City and Borough of Sitka Assembly Meeting – October 8, 2024
The Sitka City and Borough Assembly met in regular session on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, at 6:00 PM in Assembly Chambers, adjourning at 10:19 PM. All seven assembly members were present. The agenda covered special reports, a proclamation, routine approvals, the swearing-in of elected officials, a re-appointment, a liquor license renewal, a water/sewer loan resolution, expansion of a school heat pump project, a detailed discussion on animal shelter operations, rescheduling of December meetings, and committee liaison assignments.
Proclamation and Special Reports
- Mayor Eisenbeisz read a proclamation reaffirming Indigenous Peoples Day. Representatives were invited to receive the proclamation.
- Police Chief Robert Baty reported: 4 jail officer vacancies, 4 dispatch vacancies, and 5 patrol vacancies, with temporary experienced officers helping; recruitment has generated about 50 initial applications, with the transcript also stating 57, and 27 moving forward in the background process. Year-to-date there have been 10,661 calls for service generating 459 reports. The department completed archiving 40 years of records.
- Sustainability Coordinator Bri Gabel presented on energy planning: Sitka is an islanded microgrid supplied by Blue Lake and Green Lake hydroelectric projects; Sitka typically uses about 70% of its potential generation, and year-over-year load growth averages about 2%. She described the Clean Energy to Communities project with Pacific Northwest National Lab and NREL, including hydropower analysis, risk assessment, microgrid modeling, and workforce development, plus a second ETIP project (SCRES) for community energy strategy with webinars and workshops planned for winter 2025.
- Acting Public Works Director Amy Ainslie reported that street repair funds dedicated in this year's budget are actively being used, with a cityofsitka.com/roadrepairs website listing streets.
Consent Calendar
- The September 24, 2024 meeting minutes were approved on the consent agenda by a 7-0 vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- In the first public comment period, Julia Nabua invited the community to the 2024 Salasalo celebration honoring Filipino American History Month on October 26 at Blatchley Middle School; Leah Mason thanked voters, congratulated new officials, and asked that filling the Public Works Director position be prioritized; Eric Jordan spoke in support of heat pumps and electric vehicles, citing personal savings; Arleigh Reynolds invited the community to the 28th annual Sitka Whale Fest, October 31-November 3.
- In the later public comment period, speakers focused primarily on the animal shelter. Austin Cranford asserted the city was out of compliance with state shelter care laws and said an Article 5 investigation was active; Jim Rogers, former animal control officer, described shelter history and said volunteers had operated the shelter for a year without an ACO; Linda Behnken praised the assembly shelter discussion and urged that the boat haul-out serve the local fleet; Victoria O'Connell Curran urged direction to make the shelter work with full respect for volunteer groups; Dr. Tokoa Wolf urged immediate resumption of veterinary care and use of local veterinary expertise; Allison Brazel supported the volunteers and questioned the police department's narrative; Kate Johnson advocated for a care shelter meeting national standards with city funding; Sydney Stong asked for transparency on euthanasia numbers, saying she understood 10 cats were euthanized while Chief Baty later said five; Patricia Durham recounted decades of volunteer service; Tabitha Sutton disputed claims about volunteer access and cited adoption standards; Miriam Taylor expressed concern about euthanasia and decision-making; Leah Mason called the administration memo misleading and praised FOSAS efforts.
Discussion Items
- Project 90990 Heat Pump Replacement: Acting Public Works Director Amy Ainslie explained that the Blatchley heat pump replacement was complete with about $125,000 remaining, and two failed heat pumps at Sitka High School were estimated to cost $60,000-$70,000 to replace. Assemblyman Pike disclosed that the heat pumps are at his place of employment; no conflict was found. The assembly voted 7-0 to rename the project to School Heat Pump Replacement, allowing use of remaining funds and fast replacement by December.
- Animal Control Facility Operations: Municipal Administrator John Leach outlined the facility's history, including a former vet lease, the formation of Friends of the Sitka Animal Shelter (FOSAS), multiple ACO turnovers, and code that defines animal control rather than shelter operations. FOSAS board members Kristina Tirman and Dusty Kidd described thousands of volunteer hours, their temporary role running shelter operations when the ACO position was vacant, and recommended allowing volunteers back in and pursuing long-term solutions such as code revisions. Police Chief Baty cited accountability, security, and liability concerns for restricting volunteer access, but said he was open to volunteers returning if duties are clearly delineated. The assembly consensus was to have parties meet collaboratively, develop a revised memorandum of understanding, restore volunteer access as quickly as possible, and pursue longer-term code revisions; no formal motion was made on this item.
- December Meeting Rescheduling: The assembly rescheduled the two regular December meetings from December 10 and 24 to December 17 and 30 because of staff and assembly travel and the Christmas Eve holiday.
- Liaison Assignments: After Deputy Mayor and Vice Deputy Mayor elections, the assembly assigned liaisons to the Gary Paxton Industrial Park Board, Health Needs and Human Services, Historic Preservation, Investment, Library, Local Emergency Planning, Parks and Recreation, Planning, Police and Fire, Port and Harbors, Sustainability, Tree and Landscape, SEDA, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and School Board.
Key Outcomes
- Oath of Office: Kevin Mosher and Scott Saline were sworn in as assembly members for three-year terms, and Steven Eisenbeisz was sworn in as mayor for a two-year term.
- Approved unanimously (7-0): consent minutes; ORD 24-23 supplemental appropriations for FY2025 Emergency Response Vessel Electronics/Harbor Department Equipment on second/final reading; acceptance of the October 1, 2024 Certificate of Election; reappointment of Gerry Hope to the Sustainability Commission; liquor license renewal for Dpjt, Inc. dba Nugget Restaurant; RES 24-16 authorizing the Municipal Administrator to apply for and execute Clean Water and Drinking Water loans (first and final reading); project scope rename to School Heat Pump Replacement.
- Deputy Mayor: Timothy Pike was elected with 6 votes over Thor Christianson with 1. JJ Carlson was appointed Vice Deputy Mayor.
- The Executive Session legal matter involving Baranof Taxi & Tours, LLC and Thaddeus & Melissa A. Lara v. Robert M. Baty was pulled because outside counsel was unavailable; it will be rescheduled.
Reports
- Mayor Eisenbeisz reported on Southeast Conference, including Sitka ranking second in lifestyle satisfaction in Alaska, about $470 million slated for ferry repairs, broadband redundancy discussions, and a potential state land transfer in the Indian River Valley.
- Municipal Administrator John Leach reported he also attended Southeast Conference and noted Sitka will host it next year. He will be out of town later in the week, with Clerk Peterson acting.
- Municipal Attorney Rachel Jones thanked staff for their support in her first days on the job.
- Liaison Thor Christianson reported on the Parks and Recreation meeting, including the Crescent Harbor restroom project and online reservations for Tongyoung's cabin.
- Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson thanked election workers and her staff for a smooth election.
Meeting Transcript
Well, welcome everybody. Uh, this uh call to order the regularly scheduled meeting of Tuesday, October 8th, 2024. Please join me for a flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional first people of Sheetka. With gratitude, we proceed on Clinket Ani. Sarah Rolcall, please. Mayor Eisenbais. Present. Mr. Mosher. Here. Mr. Pike? Here. Mr. Yastad. Here. Mr. Christianson? Here. Ms. Carlson. Here. And Mr. Celine. Here. Thank you. Any correspondence or agenda changes this evening? I see none, that would bring us to ceremonial matters. I do have a proclamation tonight for Indigenous People's Day. If there are representatives of the planning group after the proclamation reading, if you could step forward, and you will have an opportunity to speak about your event if you if you wish. A proclamation reaffirming Indigenous People's Day. Whereas the city and borough of Sitka recognizes the indigenous peoples of the lands that would later become known as the Americas have occupied these lands since time immemorial. And whereas the city and borough of Sitka recognizes the fact that Sitka is built upon the homelands and villages of the Klinkett people who have occupied this land, they called Sheetka since time immemorial, and without whom the building of the city would not have been possible. And whereas the city and borough of Sitka values the many contributions made to our community through Indigenous People's Knowledge, labor, technology, science, philosophy, arts, and deep cultural contribution that has substantially shaped the character of the city and borough of Sitka. And whereas in 2017 and 2022, the Assembly of the City and Borough passed resolutions 2017 and 20-20 and 2022-27, declaring the second Monday in October as Indigenous People's Day, and this Assembly desires to continue those commitments. Now, therefore, the Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka does hereby proclaim the second Monday in October as Indigenous People's Day. Firmly commits to continue its efforts to promote the well-being and growth of Sitka's Alaska Native American Indian and Indigenous community and encourages other businesses, organizations, and public institutions to recognize Indigenous People's Day. So if uh if we have representatives, um if they could come forward. If uh if they do come up later, we will uh we'll take another opportunity to pass on the proclamation. All right, moving on to uh special reports. Uh tonight we do have two scheduled special reports. Um first we will get an update on the Sitka Police Department by uh Chief Robert Beatty. Good evening, Assembly. Um I have uh passed out some uh information on our our structure and also our current budget. Uh we're well within our budget uh estimations for this particular time of the year. I'd like to take uh a few minutes to um talk about the uh overview of the department and then uh answer any questions that you might all have. But uh in sticking with them the normal format for these reports, I wanted to talk about uh our personnel first. We have uh currently we have four jail positions open.
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