I don't remember all the exactly.

All right, well, it is six o'clock, and I have 25 minutes to beat Kevin's record, so I have got to get this meeting going.

Welcome everybody.

Thank you for joining us on a regularly scheduled meeting of Monday, November 10th, 2025.

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 Clinkett Ani.

Roll call, please.

Here.

Mr.

Pike?

Here.

Ms.

Carlson.

Here.

Miss Riley.

Here.

Mr.

Christensen.

Here.

Mr.

Moser.

Here.

And Mr.

Saline.

Here.

Thank you.

And I will do my best not to say Sarah this entire meeting because that's what I just about did and then had to pause myself.

Correspondence or agenda changes this evening.

I do have one.

We're going to be pulling item C, adopting the historic preservation plan.

Reason for that, this has not had legal review yet, and our attorney has indicated there are some concerns that they would like looked at.

So we'll be pulling that for legal review and then bringing it back to the assembly at our first available opportunity.

Anything else under agenda changes.

All right.

Ceremonial matters.

We have a proclamation recognizing Veterans Day today.

Or tomorrow is technically the day, but I have the proclamation today.

A proclamation honoring Veterans Day.

Whereas America is the land of freedom, preserved and protected willingly and freely by citizen soldiers.

And whereas through generations, their courage has allowed our republic to flourish, and whereas a nation acknowledges its profound debt of gratitude to those who have died who have served and died in war.

And whereas, with respect for and in recognition of the sacrifices and contributions of those who serve in the U.S.

military who are deserving of commemoration, honor, and recognition.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka does hereby call upon citizens of Sitka to observe the 11th day of November 2025 as Veterans Day and commend, honor, and recognize the valor and sacrifices of our veterans for defending and protecting our country, our freedom, and our way of life.

Thank you.

Sorry, I'm not honored with to do this for all the veterans.

It's my honor to do this for all the veterans of not only here in Sitka, but throughout the land.

I really appreciate the honor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Also, while I know there's a Marine Corps birthday celebration going on at the uh veteran or at the uh uh Legion right now.

Uh tomorrow there is a veterans uh celebration at the Elks.

Uh Veterans Eat Free.

Uh so please, if uh if you don't have anything going on tomorrow, or if you do have things going on, cancel that and uh head down to the Elks.

I believe it's a Veterans Day Parade tomorrow.

Veterans Day Parade as well.

Do you know the time?

Perfect.

Thank you for acknowledging that as well.

The Veterans Day Parade should be happening tomorrow.

Uh moving on in the agenda for special reports.

Uh, we have two scheduled special reports this evening.

Uh we'll start with Harbors and Mini Stanley.

Howdy.

So quarterly report.

We have a few big projects going on this winter.

We have the Crescent Harbor High Load Zone.

That's gonna start here in the next few weeks.

It's gonna be a full revamp from the pile up.

So that'll get another 25 years out of that facility.

We have the state 50-50 matching grant on the fisherman's work float over across the bridge, as well as the Elias and Harbor Electrical and Float Ugrade, which is just in the beginning process.

We're gonna be in the design phase of that here before too long.

Um we had a short staffed summer this year.

We had one person on in the office, so that was pretty tough.

We're back up to full staff, which is really nice.

Other than that, we're working on internal policies trying to speed up some of our vessel impound stuff and move through some of the debt collection stuff.

Um see what other options of revenue we can find other than just more age.

And that's kind of what we're working on internally.

Um as of the end of September, we were looking about nine percent as our FY26 budget.

That's about that.

Uh perfect.

Uh thank you, Brandon.

Um, I also wanted to say congratulations.

This is the first time you've sat in front of the assembly since assuming your new role.

Uh always appreciate it when we can um promote from from within.

So looking forward to working with you over the next uh long foreseeable future.

Yeah, thanks.

I'm excited.

Our next uh report this evening, uh, public and government relations.

Thank you.

Good evening, uh, mayor and assembly members.

Melissa Lounis, public and government relations director.

What I did not include in my report in the packet was the CDS request, otherwise known as earmarks.

They're on a hiatus with the shutdown.

So fingers crossed, those will be submitted um or continue on once once we get back up and running, and uh they'll be on my next quarterly report with good news.

There weren't any projects that that were state funded through the CAPSIS system.

It sounds like a statewide thing.

I I talked to Senator Stedman's office, and he said that nothing has been uh funded for that.

The citywide communications plan is moving along.

There were a few questions on the strategic plan survey that surrounded communications, so sort of hitting two birds with one stone.

It closed yesterday, so just working on compiling um those.

Internal and external stakeholders have been um identified, and about a dozen of them for one-on-one interviews.

The ADA Title II administrative policy implementation is complete.

So we have the procedures and the forms, um, and then there will be an ordinance coming forward to the assembly for approval.

But legal is working with the codifiers to figure out like where exactly in the code that goes.

So for the strategic plan update three, we'll all see you on November 22nd.

Um the survey, like I said, is wrapped up, and so just gonna be going through that with the consultants and coming up with the agenda and uh plan for that day.

The IT director Grant Turner and I are working on um and working with content managers to create pages for the website redesign.

Um hopefully rolling that out in January, January.

And then in the next few months, I'll be working on the annual report, um, legislative priorities, and the next edition of the CBS news.

That's all I have unless there's questions.

So that earmarks the 5.6 for the wall out, right?

That one didn't make it in.

We have the wastewater treatment, effluent treatment um in for 10 million, and then um that's that's the only one sort of still alive at this moment, but the transmission line um for a one million for like the Thimbleberry area uh hasn't been written yet, so we don't know what that looks like.

Great, thank you.

Uh that'll bring us to or let me go back.

Anyone else here for uh special reports?

Anybody boards, commissions, committees, municipal departments, school district.

Um seeing none persons to be heard.

This is public participation for any item off of tonight's agenda, not to exceed three minutes for any individual.

Seeing none, we'll go on to consent agenda.

I move to approve the consent agenda consisting of item A, approve the minutes of the October 28th Assembly meeting and item B authorizing a 50-50 matching grant application to the Office of Justice Programs Bulletproof Vest Partnership first and final reading.

Second.

That's been moved and segmented to approve the consent agenda.

Is there any public comment?

Holly.

All right.

On the motion to approve the consent agenda consisting of items A and B.

Mayor Eisenbais?

Yes.

Mr.

Christensen?

Yes.

Ms.

Riley.

Yes.

Mr.

Mosier.

Yes.

Mr.

Saline?

Yes.

Ms.

Carlson.

Yes.

Mr.

Pike.

Yes.

Motion passes pass the 70 on item A's and B.

Thank you.

That will bring us to new business item D this evening.

I move to formally accept the resignation of municipal administrator John Leach, effective May 30th, 2026, and begin the recruitment process.

Second.

John, would you like to start us out on this one?

Yeah, thanks, Mayor.

I just have a brief letter that I'd like to read so I can offer some explanation to the Assembly and to the public.

So thank you, Mayor and Assembly members.

After considerable after considerable reflection, I've submitted my notice of resignation as a municipal administrator for the City and Borough of Sitka with an effective date of May 30th, 2026 in accordance with my employment agreement.

When I retired from military service, my family and I chose to make Sitka our home because it offered something truly special.

A sense of belonging, natural beauty, and a community spirit that aligns deeply with my values.

I wanted to fully experience Alaska, give back to this remarkable place and continue serving in a way that made a difference.

Over the past six years, I've had the privilege of leading Sitka through some extraordinary times.

Just two weeks into the job, I found myself managing the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, a public health and economic crisis that tested every aspect of local government.

It required immediate trust between the Assembly, staff, and the public.

Those first months were some of the most intense and challenging of my career.

And I will never forget the dedication of the city staff who showed up every single day to keep this community running.

In the years that followed, we shifted from crisis management to strategic transformation.

Together, we developed and implemented Sitka's first ever strategic and asset management plans, frameworks that now guide every major decision from infrastructure investment to operational priorities.

These plans brought structure, foresight, and long-term discipline to how Sitka manages its future.

Because of that focus, Sitka is stronger today, fiscally, organizationally, and operationally than it has been in many years.

We've pursued funding aggressively, maintained sound financial stewardship, and secured historic levels of investment in our community infrastructure.

Projects that sat idle for decades are finally moving forward.

The airport terminal, the seaplane base, and the marine hall out and shipyard, to name a few.

For three consecutive years, staff engagement scores have improved in the climate survey that I put out every year, and our workforce has become more resilient and better equipped to meet the needs of our community.

Even on complex issues like cruise tourism, where opinions are often divided, we've taken a thoughtful, balanced, a thoughtful, balanced approach that listens to residents while still supporting a thriving economy.

Those efforts have helped create jobs, launch new small businesses, and strengthen the local economy in ways that benefit everyone who calls Sitka home.

These are not small achievements.

They reflect years of strategic work, collaboration, and shared purpose.

I'm deeply proud of what we've accomplished together, and I know Sitka's future is bright because of the foundation that we've built.

That said, this job comes with real cost.

The sustained pace, constant public scrutiny, and emotionally charged rhetoric from a small but vocal minority have taken a toll on my health and family's well-being.

I know that local government is deeply personal for people.

And while I understand that some people will always disagree with local government decisions, I hope the broader community will see this as an opportunity for reflection, a chance to reaffirm the importance of civil dialogue, responsible leadership, and the shared values that make Sitka such a special place.

This decision was not made in frustration.

It was made with clarity, with gratitude, and with a commitment to leave the organization in the strongest possible position.

Over the next seven months, I will continue working to support the admiss uh the establishment of the assistant municipal administrator position, help recruit a port director and a new police chief and strengthen the police department, complete the FY27 budget, and if asked, assist the assembly in planning for a successful leadership transition.

Beyond my time here, I look forward to focusing on my family and my health while continuing to serve Alaskan communities through my own consulting work, helping other organizations build the kind of structure, accountability, and teamwork that I've seen thrive here in Sitka.

So to the assembly, to our city staff, and to this community, thank you for the opportunity to serve.

It's truly been an honor to lead Sitka through such a transformative time, and I will always be grateful to the people who made it possible.

Thank you.

Is there any public comment on accepting the resignation of our municipal administrator?

I see none.

That'll bring it back to us.

So tonight I had originally in Vinna envisioned this as a single part process.

Unfortunately, I got a couple of the balls rolling too late, which is actually probably better for us as a whole in order to get a full packet out for uh starting the recruitment process.

Uh so tonight, if we have any big ideas on what we might want to see uh in this recruiting process, um we can throw those out there and start to shape that.

Um otherwise there will be another uh meeting um on the 25th uh to review our job description, uh set a salary and uh anything else that the assembly might want on there.

I'm assuming I will work with uh HR to set up a rough timeline as well for approval.

Um I have been working with uh HR, uh the clerk's office and our attorney on getting this rolling.

Um so I believe, as of my last meeting, anyway, that HR is pretty set, um, pretty ready to go and start advertising as soon as we are ready.

Um but I'll bring all that info back um to the assembly for their review and consideration.

Uh so if anybody has any big thoughts, um big um concerns or comments or anything, or um if they want to pat John on the back, this would be the the time for that.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Yeah, uh before I get into it, I want to thank John uh for several years of absolute dedication.

Um it's been an honor and a pleasure, and I hope you don't go too far.

Um we've been very fortunate and blessed as a community.

I don't think a lot of people in the community realize just how much uh you've done and the team that you've built has done.

I know uh is a very good assembly.

We've been told that many times, and I'm very pleased with the level of decorum and respectfulness and the way we talk and discuss things even when we disagree.

Um that's a team effort, and you you and your team have just absolutely gone above and beyond.

I know it's been challenging.

I know some of the things that were challenging, and I'm sorry for any suffering this caused you and your family, but thank you for being here.

Uh it used to be that I would, you know, when I would talk to you, I would you know, kind of encourage you to stick it out a little bit or whatever.

And at this point, I can see that you you need to move on to a better, better um place in your life.

Uh there's a timing and everything, and I think uh you made the right call at the right time, and thank you for waiting until that time.

And I don't think you've been dying to leave or anything.

I don't want to sound like that.

Um but you made a strategic decision that we are very fortunate and want to thank you.

Um as far as the process, um, you know, John is offered.

I would like to for help, I would like to say I wouldn't mind having his input on the job description because he's been in it.

But um, and you know, as we go on, if we need some some opinions, I would welcome that.

I don't want him uh super involved.

I think it's not really appropriate for that.

But um I think as we need him strategically, we could pull him for some information.

Uh I think that would be very helpful.

Uh as far as uh the pay, um I think that we got John on a discount.

Um, you know, he had retired from the Coast Guard, so he was in a my opinion, a better financial position to take less than he knew he could get.

Um and we also he also saw that we were coming off some uh a couple years of real difficulty and unease.

And so there was um trust needed to be rebuilt, and he built that for us.

He proved himself and built that trust.

But I uh feel bad, but uh I feel like he he could have been paid more.

Um I know we and for all of all people for me to be saying this, I would be the first one to say no, we need to be careful.

But longer I've been here, I've been in seven years.

I've learned that um, you know, if you if we try to lowball it, uh the level of of candidates that we get will be of a lower caliber.

If we start at a better price range, we'll get better people applying.

Um I think that we I don't know if we want to discuss numbers, but I think we need to uh bump it up at least to two to two hundred thousand at the very minimum.

That's just my thought.

I'd go higher, but I don't know what the assembly's will is on that.

Uh and then of course you have things to factor in.

If you start a person too high, then where's there to go?

Because you're gonna have raises and stuff.

But I just don't want us to cheap out on this, and um it so I I really believe we need to be thoughtful about this and um because we want a good candidate to apply.

We want we want a pool of good candidates to apply, and um the the market is the market, and it's not what it used to be.

So we can't look at old numbers anymore.

Uh and yeah, if we could you know get public input as much as possible.

I think uh you mentioned Steve that uh about having some meet and greets, I think that's a wise thing to do.

Um of course all the applications will be in the pot packet and it'll be f fully public, and um people are welcome to email us our thoughts, but that's what I got for now.

Tor.

Yeah, um I I I think I mentioned this to some other folks too, is John's coming here lined up with me getting back on the assembly almost perfectly.

Uh so I definitely gonna miss having him there.

I I feel a little bad that we I feel like as an assembly we might have failed him a little bit on protecting him.

You know, we're the ones that got elected.

We should have been the ones getting yelled at.

Um, but there is only so much of that you can do.

Um I know that the term asset management I had heard before, but I didn't understand it like I do now.

And those sheets showing the timeline of our very I mean that those are that's a huge thing, and uh and I know that that's near and dear to John, but it is to me now too, or it wasn't before.

Um I guess as far as the recruitment process, honestly, I think that's its own meeting, not not just an item on the agenda.

That's probably its own meeting or workshop where we talk about things like that.

Um the um and then I guess finally, I guess so.

What happens if we vote no then walks and then we don't get to start a recruiting process, which I'd kind of like to do.

Katie.

Um yeah, I I was telling John I didn't expect that to scare him off so soon, but um seeing as I'm the only new face will um all jokes aside, John has been uh really great to work with um throughout the years.

I've been lucky in other capacities on the Sustainability Commission and the Planning Commission um to experience his leadership there as well.

And uh yeah, just the overlap between when the sustainability commission was created, when the city started doing a lot of um climate work and John's hiring was um pretty significant.

And one of the per perspectives that I've appreciated that he's brought the most is really the longevity of our infrastructure and how to you know care for the things that we have in a way that's going to make them um sustainable throughout their uh useful life, and I think that that was uh a really important aspect of um city management that he added, and I'm glad that SICA has been able to receive the the recognition of the work that he's done there.

So um going to uh miss him for sure, but um excited to uh get a chance to do this new opportunity as well.

Um I have been doing uh a bit of outreach to learn about this um because yeah, we'll say that was not something I was entirely expecting or knew much about um as some of the folks on this uh this body already do.

So I I did put together some um comparable uh salaries of other places throughout Southeast Alaska and the state, and I am inclined to agree um with Kevin that if we want to attract a good candidate that we do need to increase our pay.

Um, I think the market is showing that.

I also think that the conditions that make Sitka unique in that we have uh uh utility that our manager oversees as well is an important consideration and the responsibility that comes along with that.

Um, and then as well, uh JJ mentioned the fact that we are a um home rule um city uh unified city and borough, and so both of these things add some complexity that um some other municipalities in Alaska do not have um and that I think uh you know require a um more some more care to go into that salary analysis.

I will just say that the kind of community that I think is the closest to us in terms of population um city manager responsibilities uh and budget size and um department wise is the city of Ketchukan, not the borough of Ketchukan.

Um and they were hiring at the end of the at the end of 2024 for a starting of um 223,000, and that is uh their city also manages their utility.

Um and so that's not where I'm suggesting we should start, but um, in terms of how we're thinking about things, uh, I'm inclined to think that um yeah, the the number that Kevin threw out there or perhaps you know a starting of 190, but I don't want to start to I I want to be able to negotiate, but don't want to start too low is so that uh good candidates don't even bother applying um because they don't know what our our spread is.

So that's all I'll say.

But um big big shoes to fill.

But I think John has left the city in a really good place.

Um, and so I'm excited to see how we can continue forward.

Um on uh Kenny's note of doing a salary survey.

Um so we will include uh the comp study that we recently did um uh for the administrators position as well.

Uh Alaska Municipal League has a salary survey, and we'll we'll put that out as well, which will show comparable, which will show um comparable jobs and wages.

So we'll have that um in addition to your research that you've already done.

Scotty.

I'm kind of Thor's words are ringing in my ear as far as the hate and discontent that John's felt and expressed should have been really on the assembly, and like that Gary Paxson Industrial Park at the last meeting that I went to with the guys on that board expressing that we didn't make the decision to bring high mark marine in, and now the decision to not allow Jeremy to go across city property may or may not be on the Gary Paxton board's decision.

That that gray area of having the administrator call the shots or Gary Paxton, and everything only happens once.

We only sold one hospital, now we're only building one.

So we were always like looking in the rearview mirror, like how the feds like to say halibut managing is is driving in reverse, looking in the rear view mirror.

But we're setting the next guy up to take this job and have these gray areas that last forever in the community that uh, you know, the definitive asks who should be making those shots.

It should be the elected people that would get stink eye in the bar, not the administrator from a decision that makes them go away, you know, and gotta leave.

So I'm not on raising the pay.

I'm for getting a guy that proves his way here in the muddled mess that's been managed expertly by John and then regrouping the linemen, everything that's come back.

Now it's time for him to get a breath.

I'm not up for paying more money for somebody to come in unless they gotta, you know, I don't know, I'm babbling now, but I'm worried about the next guy has the same gray area set up for him to uh take the heat where it should be here, and then it's back to that Gary Paxton with the original Silver Bay deal and the deal that they still have wasn't decided by the assembly.

It was decided by Gary Paxson Park from the Omega fish food.

Everything that's gone out there, gone out on out there, wasn't decided on by the assembly from Omega C's lease, Baronoff selects, all of that stuff.

So uh it ain't over.

JJ.

Thank you, John.

Been doing this for about three years, and that's just been a three years where I've learned a lot from you from this group, um, from the the attorney review process as well, and what you know, two process two outcomes came from that that attorney process.

We got you know, Rachel said at our table, and I gained a deeper understanding of what you do because we had to go several rounds to find it, and to see your guidance and your clarity and leadership and vision through all of that uh helped me craft my understanding and what I wanted to see from the attorney higher process.

And it wasn't until I had that kind of reflection time um that I really understood um because you just do it so well and naturally um what we got um with you as administrator.

Um there's you know times of you know curiosity that I have where I ask a lot of questions and do a great job um fielding those and and doing it through you know just consistency and and your comb comb demeter.

So we appreciate what all you've brought um to this table to the city um at the people and and the region, you know, you're a award-winning uh municipal leadership um has been noted, and um I think that I don't want to see that be, you know, the height of your career.

You go on to many more kind of chapters.

Um but I'm I've been very pleased to be a part of this chapter for you.

Tim, thank you.

Yeah, thanks, John.

And I uh you know it's with regret that we'll accept your um resignation.

But um it's certainly understandable, and I think uh Tor laid it out pretty well as did Kevin and everyone else that you know this is a full-on job, and uh this has been full on for six years and through some major events and even you know Sitka's complete history.

But I think what's characterized your time here for me, um having watched other city administrators for years is your leadership, and that you know, I know that's something that that you have spent a lifetime gathering that skill and that and you it it shows and you know the the fact that the admin that the municipality is in the place it is is because due to your um vision and your set your sense of purpose and your ape your ability as a leader to instill that in everyone around you, uh including us.

Like, you know, you've organized us in a sense too in terms of making those hard decisions, but making it so that we understand what we're talking about.

Um and I think that's uh that's a skill that's that's probably we're gonna discover quite rare, and uh we've been blessed as a community to do that.

And I think you know, through time, you know, your your impact in this community will be significant and long lasting, and I think that's something for you that you should be um very aware of and and take take on as something as one of your legacies um and your team builder, and that's been the thing the theme to this as well as as what Tor talks about looking strategically into the future, and you know, that is uh that is unfortunately less common in organizations than people would like, and I think your steadfastness in and looking towards a strategic outlook is you know will stand us in good stead.

We're talking about future projects, not day-to-day problems, and that's that's not a common situation.

So um, but yes, I I agree with everyone else too.

You know, and I mean if people have problems with the what this happening, um it was the elected officials who told you to do it, and therefore we're the ones that should be responsible for that.

So um so thank you very much, and I'm sure we'll have more words as as time goes by.

And I do know I spoke to you at the last election and said, you know, this this relic elections do reflect you as well.

So, you know, you're if people are happy with what the city's doing, um, they're willing to return your team.

So and I think that's a big big part of it.

So in terms of process, you know, I think I think pretty much been covered a little bit.

I've always been one of those people that says you got to pay people for the job they do, and you gotta pay the going right if you want to get someone who's gonna do what you want done.

And so um, and and yes, you know, wherever you set that bar, you will get that level of candidate, right?

So um, and I and so as we go through this process, I will be looking to make sure that we are competitive because we are competitive, we're a competitive community, right?

Like we are a desirable place.

We are on the up thanks to John and the team that he's assembled, and I don't think we want to shortchange that legacy.

Um, and that's not what we're all up here for.

So you know, I think it's on us on us to make sure that going forward we do a good job of selecting that person terms of uh utilizing John.

I think Kevin is very accurate again.

You know, I think we want to use John's knowledge and resource um going forward, um, but putting him in a position of of you know, putting him in the position of helping to select his successor is not necessarily what we want to be doing.

This is this is what we need to do, and this is our responsibility.

Um, but no, I don't I think we need to make sure we access the information and expertise that he brings to it.

So um I like what I've heard seen of your process so far.

I look forward to seeing more of that.

You know, we'll talk numbers as we go forward.

Um yeah, I think we're yeah, I think we need to view this less in terms of like dollar value and more in terms of investment value, right?

Like we're investing in our future as a community, um, and what does that take to do this?

And and I think if we um you know someone said cheap out, then I think we're we're not doing what we've been asked to do by our community, which is make sure that we keep this place going forward, and we continue on with uh what John has built for us.

Um because unfortunately, I think the history of most communities is littered with false starts, right?

They get moving, things get laid out, and then they something trips it up and it falls over on itself.

And uh, you know, we've seen that happen here.

So and John has put us in a very good spot.

Let's not waste this opportunity.

All right, it's now my turn to get all teary-eyed and John has to laugh at that because I know we we've spent a lot of time together um doing city trips, and honestly, those trips have been improved by him being there.

Uh there's been multiple times I've had to go by myself to events, and it's just not quite the same if you don't have a battle buddy there that you can rely on.

Uh and we got a lot of work done at those trips.

Um sometimes the after hours work was better than the during hours work, but uh we got a lot of work done in one way or another.

Um you know, John, I just want to just a couple things from me.

Um, man, you're lucky.

You had one of the best assemblies during your entire tenure that I can remember in a long, long, long time.

Maybe that's why John is now the second or will be the second longest serving administrator, is because he had a great group of people sitting here, right?

So number one, thank all of you for that.

Um, because you've all been sitting here for a long time.

Katie's been sitting here for like three days, but she's also been a part of John's world for quite some time, right?

Um so thank you to the team um that has allowed an administrator to stay um quite some time.

Um I think we did make one massive error though with John.

And it's the only thing that I can think of of why he's actually leaving now.

And that is when he came on, there was multiple people talking about oh well city administrators only last five years.

So he's had that in his head that I hit my five years and it's time to go now, right?

If we would have told him city administrators hang out for 10 years, right, then he would think he hasn't even hit the milestone.

The finish line wasn't here yet, and he keeps charging.

So for whoever's listening to this and whoever will listen, um, that's gonna apply.

City administrators hang out for 10 years, right?

Um, yeah, John, I anything else I'd have to say, someone else has already said.

So I appreciate your time here.

Um I look forward to ringing every possible minute we can out of you until May 30th.

Um we'll we'll get another good budget out of you and uh we'll we'll send you off to do a little bit more fishing this year, hopefully.

So appreciate that.

Um on the recruitment side, um, we'll continue to work with Josh uh as we start pulling information together.

I'll make sure that that comes out to the assembly so that we have it before packet time and we can start formulating um plans and ideas and thoughts on that.

Uh it's basically gonna mirror uh our attorney's process and former um uh assembly hiring processes for the administrator.

Um so we'll present that uh if we need to make changes at that point uh we most definitely can.

Um you guys will be driving all of this.

I'll just be um the guy that has to re liaise between um HR and ourselves.

And John, thank you for making HR available to this.

Uh obviously we don't have the skills and abilities and time to to hire, so thank you for making making your staff available for that.

Uh anything else from the assembly on this agenda item.

And of course I gave it to Kevin first, who knew his record was in jeopardy, so he talked the longest.

Uh Holly, on accepting the resignation.

All right, on the motion to formally accept the resignation of municipal administrator John Leach.

In fact, May 30th, 2026 and begin the recruitment process.

Ms.

Riley.

Yes.

Mayor Eisenbayez.

Yes.

Ms.

Carlson.

Yes.

Mr.

Mosier.

Yes.

Mr.

Pike.

Yes.

Mr.

Christensen.

Yeah.

No.

And Mr.

Saline.

Yes.

All right.

Motion passes.

Six.

One.

Couldn't even kick him out of here unanimously.

That'll bring us to persons to be heard.

This is public participation for any item on or off tonight's agenda, not to exceed three minutes for any individual.

Seeing none, we'll move on to reports.

So tonight for my report, I want to finish up talking about ATIA because I didn't have enough time to talk about NEMRO and ATIA all in the same meeting.

So went to ATIA because we didn't at the time, wasn't sure of visit Sitka's status if they were going to send anybody, wasn't sure about a tourism director.

So thought it to be important to go to see kind of boots on the ground how that is developing.

Visit Sitka was there.

So we did have some representation in that.

And quite a few local businesses were there as well.

ATIA is very much a trade focused conference.

So a lot more business than municipal involvement.

And we I think we were very well represented by some of our larger uh businesses in the tourism trade from cruise ship visitors all the way down to local visitors on on like their small um yacht charters.

Uh so it was it was good to go, it was good to see.

I don't know that this seat, the mayor's seat needs to attend every one of them, uh, especially if we have a tourism director in place.

I would highly recommend sending that person every time.

Um, but maybe sending this this every couple years, every three, four, I don't know, whatever the assembly might uh decide.

But I I met the same people there that I meet at other more municipal focused conferences, uh namely the Northwest Symposium, which is cruise, and then Alaska Municipal League or Southeast Conference.

So between those, um, I run into all of the same faces I saw at this conference, and we didn't deepen many of our conversations there.

Um, it was oh hey, I'm here, do we need to meet?

I don't think so at this point.

Um but I did get uh well actually let me let me backstep here.

Uh two sitkins uh did win awards there.

Uh number one, Chris McGraw won a business award uh for the work that he has done at the cruise terminal, and that was recognized by ATIA.

And then uh Victoria from Visit Sitka won a um youth leadership award or an emerging leadership award um from ATIA.

They recognized her for all the amount of the work that she's put in, and she's a up and rising star.

So uh big congratulations to her on that one.

That was uh really cool to be a part of.

Um I had heard Chris was gonna win an award, so we tried to make a big sitka table.

Uh didn't realize Victoria was going to as well.

Uh but something very important that I brought back from this on one of the sidebar sessions.

Uh, visit Anchorage actually does a Wi-Fi survey for people leaving their airport.

Uh, if you're logging into their free Wi-Fi, it says, hey, will you do this survey?

It's not required to access the Wi-Fi, but it kind of looks like it is required.

So a lot of people will go through the you know, the the seven questions or whatever it is and answer those.

They they gather a lot of data out of that.

I'll have to follow up, um, but I was supposed to get um one of their their correlated data things from uh some people from Visit Anchorage so we could see if it would be worthwhile for Sitka to do.

My thoughts are if we did it at our airport um for people leaving, and then um Royal Caribbean offers free Wi-Fi out at the cruise dock.

So partnering with them to see if we can get this same survey for visitors leaving there.

The amount of information garnered uh can be massive.

And the the questions that they were asking on this was very, very helpful.

Uh what I loved is that it was kind of like a choose your own adventure book for those in my era.

Uh so if if you answered yes to this question, it doesn't mean that you automatically go to the next set question.

Um, it could lead you down a different path that was a little more correlated to you, like if you were traveling with kids, it would ask you something along those lines as opposed to um if you were traveling as a retiree.

Uh so thought it was really really interested.

Um I have contact information that we can get um for the person who does it.

Uh her name was Heather, and uh, we can start looking at that if the assembly is desirous of.

I think it would be a great use of head tax money, and I think very uh easily justifiable, especially out at the cruise dock in order to put a survey up like that.

So I think it'd be a great thing to do.

If not, we have visitor enhancement funds that I think could fund the one at the airport.

Um a lot of the information that comes back is what uh our tourism commission needs anyway.

So excited about that one.

Uh Johnson uh thank you, Mayor.

Not a whole lot.

Uh November 13.

Well, first off, happy birthday Marine Corps and uh happy Veterans Day.

Um I have on 1113.

So that's this Thursday.

There's the government to government dinner.

I think I got that right, Thursday night.

Um, so we'll have a report after that.

That said, it looks like we're going to not hold the quarterly meeting on the 12th.

We don't have a space available, and since we have the government to government dinner the next day, we'll just um regroup after that.

And uh I think you should have gotten an email about that this afternoon.

Um then on November 22nd, you know, we talked about our teamwork here just a little while ago.

Um, one of the pieces we have in place is that strategic plan that helps guide where we're headed out into the future, what the goals are.

Um Melissa already came up and talked about the um uh the surveys that are out there, but uh November 22nd, we have planned our annual workshop to do our updates for the uh for the strategic plan.

That's all I have for my report.

And the best news the assembly only has to be there for the first half.

I was pretty excited about that.

Oh, yes, and lunch.

I think I'm leaving before lunch.

Right?

No report from me.

Liaison representatives.

Katie.

I am happy to report out from a very exciting planning commission meeting uh where we discussed the um evaluation criteria for the housing land suitability and feasibility study.

Um so basically they're at I think like 90% of the study being done for phase one, and we were just going over the um uh evaluation metric that they put together, and that is to uh like provide some scientific um assessment to the extent possible um for constructability and um density potential.

And so this was a really good conversation to have our new planning commission member at given um Ms.

Foss's experience in uh soil science and landslide analysis.

Um and so that was actually one of the major changes um that the planning commission made.

There was uh I'll read off the evaluation criteria, but generally they looked at in the constructivity category, they looked at like topography, access and roadways, physical conditions of the site, proximity to utilities, and then in the density potential category, they looked at buildable area, utility capacity, and transportation capacity, and then there was a category of desirables that was not given a weight, and it was up to the board to decide whether or not they wanted to weigh those factors, and that was like environmental impact, which included impact to cultural resources and recreation, and then there was proximity to services, so you know, um, are these places places accessible to schools and grocery stores and things like that um and future development connections?

So the board discussed like how much they wanted to weigh the different things.

Um there is a placeholder in the planning commission packet, but one of the big changes I think is that they separated out slide risk and prioritize that as like the most important category due to the protection on life and property they felt should rank the highest.

And so they moved general topography of the site to physical conditions to be assessed with that, and slide risk gets uh 20% um by itself.

Um the other two highest ranking ones were physical conditions of the site, um that includes topography, and then also the utility capacity, as that's a major one that will determine the density potential, and then following that were um the buildable area, proximity to utilities, um, transportation capacity.

I can't remember the exact weights, but everything below that was between um like 12.5 and 10 percent.

And then environmental impact got um 3% and proximity to services got 1%.

There might have been like 1%, 1% for um the other two.

But wanted to rec recognize that you know, recreation is a huge part of what makes it a great, and so we wanted to analyze um the the impacts that those potential developments would have on recreation because quite a few of those sites are near uh the cross trail.

So um I believe that they are going to finish this.

This is meant to really, you know, give us some science about uh you know what's feasible, what's the most developable, what is the cost look like, and then we can have a conversation.

They're gonna have a conversation at that body about what the trade-offs look like, and we're gonna have uh more data to have that conversation ourselves as well.

Um I think that's going to be presented either next meeting or the meeting after um will be that kind of analysis that they do, and then they'll be moving on to phase two.

And so what they decide here, what what is revealed in phase one will help them kind of determine which parcels to look at a little closer in phase two.

So no, this body put a lot of uh effort into to moving that land study forward, so just wanted to thank you guys and report out on how it's going.

Uh Katie, question on that.

Um am I correct that Indian River Valley was not studied in that land survey.

I don't think so.

Okay, yeah, that's what I had kind of gathered from the There's there's there's a portion of it that was studied, yeah.

No, it's not the state land, it's like um or is it the state land?

No, it's it's uh a CBS parcel.

Um there's a small portion of city land, about 56 acres, and then there's 244 acres of state land.

And so um, I think like as we're as they're doing this, that will be like oh, this you know, the secondary parcel might not be suitable because it's it's not owned by us, or it's gonna have that much more effort, but there is a parcel next to Bijas land there that is being analyzed as part of this land study.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, please.

Um, to continue that, this is on the Indian River Road side of Indian River, not the other side, Jarvis Street side of Indian River, is that correct?

Yeah, the the parcel in Indian River um is near, it's between Jarvis Street and Yaw Drive, actually.

So kind of looks like where the transfer station is now.

If you kept going beyond that, um it's more like where the Indian River subdivision ends.

It's behind that, it's directly behind that.

And this um it's in your packet.

There's a document called CBS land suitability.

If you go to the planning commission packet, um, that has maps of all of the parcel, all nine parcels and um the slope shading on them.

So you can kind of get an idea of green is like not uh 45 degree angle slope.

Thank you.

Any other liaison Scott?

Uh library still trying to figure out how to ventilate that, but then I just found out that the computers that people come to use, there are programs that haven't been added.

I don't understand exactly what it is, but something they've been waiting for for three and a half years.

So the next meeting, I'm gonna have this detail that they've been waiting for IT to finish something in there for their computers that give you more service.

Um, and then it's one one deal on the the helping you on the land acknowledgement thing that I found out last week for the veterans in 1949 when Sitka's homestead for World War II veterans, various families that are still around today.

The the brothers that were highlighted in the code talkers had their homestead application refused.

So the Jacobs is with all their exemplary service were discriminated against, and I just found that out last night that if you go all the way out, HPR, various families, big chunks starting from Marine Street were doled out, and uh no natives got anyone else liaison representatives Holly Clerk's report.

Just have a uh current vacancy list for our boards and commissions, uh Animal Hearing Board, Building Department Appeals Board, Health Needs and Human Services, Historic Preservation Commission, Investment Committee, the Library Commission, Parks and Recreation Committee, Police and Fire Commission, Sustainability Commission, Tourism Commission, and then the tree and landscape committee.

So those are our current vacancies right now.

And then a couple meeting reminders that you were already talking about earlier, government to government dinners on Thursday the 13th at 6 p.m.

is here at Harrigan Hall in room one.

And then our upcoming regular assembly meetings, next one will be November 25th, and then December, those meetings were moved to December 16th and December 30th.

And then there's also a budget special meeting, December 18th.

That's it.

Thank you.

Any other reports this evening?

Uh seeing none, that would bring us to adjournment.

Motion to adjourn.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Uh thank you all.

We are adjourned.