Daily Sitka Sentinel

Assembly to Convene By Videoconference

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

The City and Borough Assembly will hold its first-ever “remote” meeting tonight, in line with the state mandate issued Monday to limit the size of group gatherings.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall, with a number of COVID-19 virus issues on the agenda. Only a few city staff members will be present in person, and the Assembly members will take part from their separate locations in the group videoconferencing program Zoom.

One of the agenda items is a resolution “ordering people in the City and Borough of Sitka to hunker down related to COVID-19.” 

The Sentinel newspaper rack in front of the Barracks Street office has its door removed. Newspapers will be free during the emergency. (Sentinel Photo)

 

The resolution takes note of the six confirmed COVID cases so far in Ketchikan, and one in Juneau, and Sitka’s direct air travel connections to those communities.

In the Be It Resolved section, is a “stay home order,” a “noncritical business closure order,”  and a “social distancing order for critical businesses or entities.”

The resolution and meeting agenda are available on cityofsitka.org.

Because of the state-mandated limit of 10 individuals in a group, City Clerk Sara Peterson said that she, City Attorney Brian Hanson and City Administrator John Leach, along with KSCT-TV’s Dan Etulain, will be the only ones in the Centennial Hall meeting room.

The session is technically open to the public, as required by law, but Peterson today emphasized the governor’s mandated limit on gatherings to 10 people. (Health Mandate 9.1, stopping operations of personal care services and limiting gatherings to up to 10 people.)

“We’re also trying to follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines on social distancing, and limits on group gatherings,” she said. She said she is also trying to comply with Sunday’s joint recommendation from the local Emergency Operations Center to “shelter in place.”

But public testimony is welcome.

“We’re highly encouraging folks to email me by 4 p.m.,” Peterson said. The emailed testimony will be read into the record at the meeting.

Peterson said city staff will do a dry run of the system this afternoon and make adjustments as needed in time for the meeting.

The public can watch and listen to the meeting, which will be live-streamed on the city website, or listen to the broadcast as usual on KCAW-FM. (The Sentinel will livestream or provide a link to a livestream on its Facebook page, and cover the meeting remotely.)

Also on the agenda is first reading of an ordinance for employee benefits that may vary from personnel policies, “specifically authorizing and ratifying up to 14 days of paid administrative leave per the Municipal Administrator’s flowchart in response to COVID-19 essential operations.”

There is also a direction/discussion item, placed on the agenda by the administrator, “for Assembly communication with the Municipal Administrator and Municipal Attorney to discuss response powers of the Municipal Administrator during emergency declaration and clarification of items in the ‘shelter in place’ news release.”

A few routine items are on the agenda, including committee appointments and liquor and marijuana licenses; as well as:

– final reading of a budget ordinance to increase appropriations by $88,500 for legal expenses regarding the Sitka Police Department litigations. Funds will come out of the general fund. Two of the three lawsuits related to the police department have been settled.

– final reading of an ordinance adding $30,000 for the Crescent Harbor Lightering Float Repairs. These funds will come from the Harbor Fund working capital.

– final reading of an ordinance to add a definition of “bulk retail” to the zoning code. If approved, bulk retail will be a conditional use in the Industrial zone. The request was made by Sitka Bulk Goods, which is located on Price Street in an Industrial zone. The business will need to apply for a conditional use permit through the Planning Commission, planning staff said.