Daily Sitka Sentinel

Transition in Order At Assembly Tonight

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The two new Assembly members and mayor will get right down to business at tonight’s Assembly meeting, with decisions to be made on an airport funding resolution and a change in city procurement policies.
    City Clerk Sara Peterson said all Assembly members – outgoing and incoming – are expected to attend, including one by teleconference.
    The current Assembly – with Bob Potrzuski, Ben Miyasato, Steven Eisenbeisz, Kevin Knox, Aaron Bean, Richard Wein and Mayor Matt Hunter – will take on “unfinished business,” concluding with the certification of the results of the Oct. 2 city election.
    After the certification, out-going Assembly members Potrzuski, Miyasato and Hunter will be recognized for their service. Hunter and Potrzuski didn’t seek re-election, and Miyasato ran for mayor instead of seeking another Assembly term.
    Gary Paxton will take office as mayor, and Kevin Mosher and Valorie Nelson will be sworn in as Assembly members. Mosher and Nelson were the highest vote getters among the five candidates for the two Assembly seats.
    Potrzuski and Miyasato said today the work has not been easy – particularly in the last year – but they have no regrets about stepping up to serve.
    “I’ve had a chance to get to know people on a different level, I’ll miss that,” Potrzuski said. “The job clearly isn’t finished yet. We have some retrenching to do. I would’ve loved to have been part of that, had our life plans been different.”
    The Potrzuskis are moving to Marquette, Michigan, where both Bob and his wife Carol plan to spend more time with family in the area. The Potrzuskis have lived in Alaska for 37 years, including 32 in Sitka.
    He said he learned a lot over his three years on the elected body.
    “What I totally missed on many issues was the pure emotion involved in them,” Potrzuski said. “Not to say I discounted it, but I didn’t realize the power of that emotion; I tend to look at things rationally and thoughtfully. That’s not always the whole issue. There are other factors you need to consider.”
    He said he was grateful for the opportunity.
    “When I was a boy my heroes were Bobby Kennedy and people like that,” he said. “If my little service to the community did any good, I feel like I’ve been able to do something I aspired to my whole life. It’s meant so much to me to be on the Assembly – I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
    Miyasato said it’s been a tough year. He was on the Assembly from 2013 to 2016, and filled a one-year position this past year.
    During the year he said he tried to be the voice of “common sense and middle ground,” instead of leaning to the “left or right.”
    “Without a doubt, it’s been the most contentious year on the Assembly – after five straight years of budget cuts, after all the difficult decisions people were not happy with the Assembly,” he said. “I like that we were able to get things done that needed to get done ... it was just a very difficult year. There was a lot of dissatisfaction, and there were hard decisions to be made.”
    At the same time, he said, “It’s always an honor and privilege to serve, but like with anything, there were times when it was ‘what am I doing back on this Assembly?’ It was so divided. There were times when it felt like it was us (the Assembly) versus them (the public), and it doesn’t need to be that way.”
    He said he hopes the future Assembly members will make decisions that are good for Sitka in the long-term, including decisions about infrastructure, and steers away from the idea brought up in recent months about “self financing” projects by borrowing from the Sitka Permanent Fund.
    “It needs to grow, it needs to continue to be there,” Miyasato said of the permanent fund.
    Hunter said he’s thankful for the experience serving as mayor and on the Assembly.
    “It’s been quite a journey; I’ve learned an awful lot,” he said. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed talking to people, asking questions, answering questions – being part of the process. It’s been a privilege and an honor.”
    In the second half of the meeting tonight the newly constituted Assembly will consider resolutions applying for funds for the airport improvement project, and land acquisition for the seaplane base.
    They will also act on ordinances being introduced for a supplemental appropriation for the seaplane base, and changing the procurement policy related to “exceptions to competitive requirements.”
    Other items for action are setting the schedule for November, and a possible visioning session.
    An update on the Sitka Community Hospital request for proposals process is listed under the “executive session” section of the meeting, although some of that discussion may be in open session.