Daily Sitka Sentinel

Brady Firing Final; Miller Doubles Up

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

The Assembly took the second step in the two-step process of firing the city administrator Tuesday night, voting 5-2 on the final resolution dismissing Keith Brady from the position.

Members also voted to keep Fire Chief Dave Miller as interim administrator.

Aaron Bean, Kevin Mosher, Valorie Nelson, Richard Wein and Mayor Gary Paxton voted in favor of the resolution. Kevin Knox and Steven Eisenbeisz voted against.

Paxton, who voted against the preliminary resolution of dismissal two weeks ago, said he found Brady to be a person of “character and integrity” who did the best he could in a difficult situation. The mayor then said he would recommend Miller be appointed to the interim position for the next few months while the city attempts to fill two other high-level positions that are now open, city planner and human resources director.

“Just lower the temperature, but more importantly increase the trust among the Assembly, between Assembly and staff, and Assembly, staff and the community,” Paxton said, after casting his vote. “We have more work to do as an Assembly. When the Assembly’s not doing well, it’s all part of our problem. These past couple of months have been very difficult. I feel as mayor that I have been part of a process that’s not been as constructive as it should be for our community. My commitment is to move forward, with respect, to be constructive and to do the will of the people as best we can.”

There were no other comments from the Assembly or public about the resolution.

The Assembly voted 7-0 to keep Miller as acting administrator, a role he was given when the preliminary resolution to dismiss Brady, and suspend him immediately, was passed on June 11. 

Prior to the vote some concern was expressed about his staying on as fire chief while handling the duties of administrator.

Miller said he likes his job as fire chief, but is also willing to pitch in and serve in the interim administrator job. He said he has good support in both positions.

“I’ve started to figure it out a little bit,” he told the Assembly. “I think the city is a great place. The reason I’ll do the interim thing is to try to make it (even) better.”

Wein and Mosher expressed support for Miller, and in the end the vote was unanimous in favor of Miller.

There was some debate over how long it will take to find a new administrator; some said a year, others less.

“I believe we will be a lot luckier than people imagine in finding a talented, good administrator,” Wein said. 

Electric Rates

The Assembly passed on final reading an ordinance changing the dates for the seasonal electric rates, in order to reduce costs to consumers.

The ordinance, which passed unanimously, will shift the dates that electric rates rise and fall to one month later in the year. Currently, rates go up April 1 and back down Oct. 1. The ordinance is expected to reduce electric department revenues an estimated $80,000 a year.

Water Line Emergency

The Assembly passed on first reading an ordinance to spend $400,000 to repair a break in the city’s 24-inch water transmission main near the Indian River Bridge.

The water main brings water from the ultraviolet treatment plant at the industrial park into town, where it goes into the distribution system delivering water to customers throughout the whole community. The public works department said the leak – discovered more than a month ago – in the section of the pipeline 20 feet below the road surface between Indian River Bridge and Indian River Road “measured at in excess of 100 gallons per minute.” 

    “The break appears to be increasing over time and it is critical for an accelerated repair to happen to avoid uncontrolled flows increasing to the point it could wash out SMC, significantly increasing the cost of the work and jeopardizing this vital state-maintained transportation corridor as well as water service to town,” the administrator’s memo to the Assembly said.

The repair plan calls for installing a parallel 500-foot high-density polyethylene pipe bypassing the leaking section. Public works senior engineer Dave Longtin said today that experts will come in with equipment to help determine the exact locations of the leak or leaks, without having to dig.

     He said city engineers don’t know the cause of the leaks in the ductile iron pipe, which was installed in 1987, but believe it may be from its exposure to corrosive muskeg groundwater. 

Assembly members had a lengthy discussion about the process for awarding a bid for the emergency project, and also about the possible cause of the corrosion, whether city crews could handle the job, and whether the city should have a better system for awarding bids in emergencies.

But in the end the vote was 5-2 to approve the ordinance, with Bean and Nelson voting against. Bean said today he felt a bidding process should have taken place, given that city staff has known about the leak for months. Nelson said Tuesday she felt the process was not legal. 

“I believe we’re violating Sitka General Code,” Nelson said.

Public Works Director Michael Harmon said a section in the code allows for exemptions from competitive bidding in cases of emergencies and when it’s in the best interest of the city. He said the project is too big for city crews to undertake without hiring additional crew and renting additional equipment. 

The item will be up for final reading on July 9.

Historic Landmark

The Assembly received a report from Mary Miller, superintendent of Sitka National Historical Park, who offered the National Park Service’s help in providing subject matter experts on historic preservation, “if that is the will of the city, the Planning Commission and the community as we move forward in addressing these challenging situations.” 

The situation she was referring to concerns the historic preservation plat notes on the Stevenson Hall property owned by the Sitka Summer Music Festival. Stevenson is one of the main buildings on the SJ campus, a National Historic Landmark. State Historic Preservation Officer Judith Bittner is objecting to the festival’s plan for replacing the original wooden windows on the century-old building with fiberglass substitutes. 

“In her letter (Bittner) cited the plat notes and the importance of window treatment as a contributing feature to the integrity of the historic character of the National Historic Landmark,” Miller said. 

She relayed that much of the testimony at the April 3 Sitka Planning Commission meeting on the issue was in support of learning more about how other communities handle historic preservation. She said the meeting ended with a recommendation for a joint work session with the Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Commission but this hasn’t happened yet.

Asked for her recommendation on what action to take next, Miller said that as a professional engineer, she sees the plat notes as “guidance and enforceable.”

“The city simply does not have a code to do that, or a mechanism to enforce them,” Miller said. She said she stands by “wanting to seek a mutual solution, and support the parties involved.”

The National Park Service is an arm of the U.S. Interior Department, which has established “the Secretary’s Standards” for treatment of public and privately owned historic properties.

(The city’s Historic Preservation Commission and music festival representatives met at noon Tuesday to discuss a possible appeal of the city administrator’s approval of this section of the festival’s renovation plan for Stevenson. With a bare quorum of four commission members present, the motion failed, with three in favor of an appeal and one against.)

Executive Session

The Assembly also met in executive session Tuesday to discuss legal and financial matters. When they returned after each agenda item they:

– voted to declare the Baranof Island Brewing Company in default of its economic development loan with the city, and to direct the city attorney to pursue collections action.

– had no update for the public on the lawsuit against the city filed by Sig Rutter dba 738-TAXI; or a complaint alleging theft of electricity from the city.

Other Business

In other business, the Assembly:

– heard a presentation on the Federal Emergency Management Agency floodplain insurance program and an update on the hospital service affiliation between Sitka Community Hospital and SEARHC.

– approved license renewals for Northern Lights Indoor Gardens marijuana retail and cultivation businesses. Eisenbeisz recused himself from the vote on the retail business, saying his company has a relationship with the retail business.

– appointed Susan Compagno to the Parks and Recreation Committee.

– approved a one-month budget for Sitka Community Hospital, in line with the delay in the closing date for the affiliation between the health care organizations. Nelson voted against. On another hospital issue, the Assembly narrowly approved spending another $422,000 to cover additional costs for legal, consulting and valuation services related to the hospital merger. Wein, Bean and Nelson voted against.

– approved on first reading appropriations ordinances for the No Name Mountain Master Plan ($165,000), a heat pump for the police department ($23,000) and harbor security cameras ($20,000). The ordinances will be up for final reading July 9.