Sitka Assembly Special Meeting: Municipal Administrator Candidate Interview - September 10, 2026
Sitka Assembly Special Meeting: Municipal Administrator Candidate Interview - September 10, 2026
The Sitka City and Borough Assembly held a special meeting on Thursday, September 10, 2026, at 5:00 PM to interview the second candidate for Municipal Administrator, Gerrie Cotter, via Zoom. The meeting lasted approximately two hours, including two executive sessions. No public comments were offered. The assembly discussed the interview and next steps in the recruitment process, culminating in plans for an in-person meet-and-greet before a final decision.
Discussion Items
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Municipal Administrator Candidate Interview – Gerrie Cotter: The assembly conducted a structured interview with Ms. Cotter, who participated remotely from Ohio. Questions covered her professional background, management style, experience with fiscal management, collective bargaining, policy development, asset management, emergency response, and community relations. Ms. Cotter expressed support for creative revenue generation (e.g., marijuana dispensaries), acknowledged the need to build relationships with the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and described her approach to problem-solving—emphasizing consultation with stakeholders before acting. She stated she would spend her first 90 days meeting with assembly, staff, and community partners before developing an action plan. She noted the biggest challenges facing Sitka as tourism impacts, rising costs/inflation, and school funding constraints. She estimated she could relocate to Sitka in 4–6 weeks if offered the position.
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Discussion of Interview and Recruitment Process: After the interview, the assembly moved into executive session twice—first to discuss the merits of the candidate (under statutory exemption for subjects tending to prejudice reputation and character), and second to discuss further steps in the administrator recruitment process. Both motions passed unanimously, except one dissenting vote on the second motion. The assembly then reconvened in regular session and announced that the HR and Clerk’s Office would coordinate an in-person meet-and-greet for the community to provide feedback.
Key Outcomes
- No immediate decision on hiring: The assembly did not vote to offer the position during the meeting. Instead, they directed staff to arrange an in-person meet-and-greet with Gerrie Cotter, allowing community members to observe and provide input.
- Two executive sessions held: First (7–0 vote) to discuss the candidate’s interview, and second (6–1 vote) to discuss overall recruitment strategy. Both sessions excluded the current municipal administrator and municipal attorney.
- Logistics and timeline: The assembly discussed a potential timeline of an end-of-October/beginning-of-November start date, which would allow a month-long transition with the current administrator. HR will contact the candidate with next steps.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, great. Um all right. Well, welcome everybody. We will call to order the special meeting of Thursday, September tenth, twenty twenty-six. Please join me for a flag salute. I pled 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. With gratitude, we proceed on Clink Itani. As was with last time, we have the list of prohibited questions. Please don't ask any of those. If you need some uh brain teasers there. And then yeah, deeper dive, uh, but also um, you know, nothing personal, marriage, uh, age, things like that. Uh, so get to know them more on a professional level um without crossing over to those prohibited categories. So great. Uh and we have we we told her that we may go over an hour tonight, right? We have about two hours if need be. That is correct. Okay, great. So assembly, if we need two hours, um, the first hour went by fast last time. I'll kind of pay attention, and if it feels like we're getting to a point where we're wrapping up, I'll check in with everybody and make sure we're not wasting each other's times as well. So um thoughts, questions before we begin. Great. Josh, if we can get her online, Okay. I swear we have an IT person, and I swear he's really, really good at his job. I think it was probably my issue. I think I probably clicked on a prior link. I couldn't find the one tip for tonight, I don't think. So not sure. I apologize. When we told you we would need you anyway. I'm sure we said five fifteen in case we needed some minutes before. So uh as far as I see, everything is right on time. Love it. Well, welcome this evening. Um it's a rare sunny day in Sitka, if you can see behind us. Uh, we're really enjoying what today was, especially this late in the season. Who knows how many more of these we're gonna get. Um but thank you again, thank you for joining us. Uh, we do have a couple hours scheduled this evening just in case um, you know, the last hour went really fast, it seemed like. Um, so we just want to take this opportunity to to get to know you a little bit more. Um, I think the assembly members have prepared some questions that are going to be a little bit uh deeper dive as opposed to hi, how are you? We're trying to figure out, you know, if you're a fit for the community and if the community is a fit for you. So um with that, unless the assembly has anything to get started with, uh, do you have anything uh this evening before we get started? Uh no, I don't think so. I can see the sun, so that's great. I can't because all the windows are closed in front of me. So I'll have to if I'm looking behind me, it's not because I'm ignoring you. It's all right. Well, thank you.
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