City Election Retains Assembly Status Quo

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Category: News

Created on Wednesday, 02 October 2024 15:24

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By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    In Sitka’s municipal election Tuesday, Steven Eisenbeisz won election to a third term as mayor, and incumbents Kevin Mosher and Scott Saline were re-elected to the Assembly.
    Amanda Williams, the only candidate for School Board, received 1,441 votes, and the two ballot questions on minor changes to the Home Rule Charter passed by hefty margins.

Assembly candidates Robert Hattle, left, and Scott Saline shake hands after city election workers posted results on a screen in Harrigan Centennial Hall Tuesday night. Incumbents Saline and Kevin Mosher were the winners in the contest for two open seats on the Assembly. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson

    Speaking to reporters after the ballot count Tuesday night, Eisenbeisz said he was “excited to see the community support of the current direction that the Assembly is taking the town by electing myself and Kevin Mosher and Scotty Saline. It gives us the confidence to continue moving forward in the direction we’re in.”
    Eisenbeisz, who has served two terms as an Assembly member and two as mayor, received 1,156 votes to challenger Leah Mason’s 551.
    In the race for Assembly, Mosher received 1,082 votes and Saline 1,055. This will be Mosher’s third three-year term on the Assembly and the first three-year term for Saline, who was elected last year to fill out the one year created by a resignation.
    Mosher said he’s eager to continue work on such pressing problems as housing and child care, and on major capital projects and repairing city infrastructure.
    “My goal has always been to try to keep the cost of living as low as possible which is a challenge, because you move one step forward and two steps back sometimes,” Mosher said. “My goal is to continue to get federal funding, be responsible with our city funds, and allow for responsible economic activity, which will (result in) more tax revenue. With tax revenue we can help with things like supporting schools, taking over the pool, the school maintenance ... then fixing the long list of infrastructure projects.”
    Saline is looking forward to the next three years, and said voters may have chosen him “because I’m not afraid of making mistakes.”
    “I just appreciate being told to be quiet by the mayor and attorney when I thought I was presenting my case,” he said. “And I’m just excited to come back and being like that (Energizer) bunny, that keeps on with the broken record until we can get somewhere for our neighborhood.”
    Saline lives and works on Katlian Street, where part of the sidewalk has been closed for years. “I’m really excited because people, they’ve been watching me try to do the same thing for decades, and I’m in it, sharpening up my teeth ...” he said.
    Robert Hattle received 779 votes in the Assembly race, and Austin Cranford received 373. Cranford ran last year, and Hattle was making his first run for city office.
    Williams, who was unopposed for the School Board, will take her seat on the board at its meeting on October 8. At that time the board also will start the process of making a one-year appointment to fill the vacant seat.
    The up to 78 outstanding absentee ballots will be counted at 2 p.m. Friday at Harrigan Centennial Hall, but the number isn’t sufficient to change the election outcome as indicated in the Tuesday night count.
    A handful of candidates and other residents went to Harrigan Centennial Hall after polls closed at 8 p.m. to watch the ballot count. Ballots cast in the Sept. 16-30 early voting period were included in the count.
    The two ballot questions were put on the ballot by the Assembly, to bring the Home Rule Charter up to date. Proposition No. 1, which passed 1,498 to 165, will remove the reference to Sitka Community Hospital in the charter because the hospital closed on August 1, 2019.
    Proposition No. 2, which passed 1,411 to 244, amends the procedure for recall of elected municipal officials to meet the requirement that municipal recall procedures “may not be contrary” to those in state statutes on recall of state officials.
    Results are unofficial until the Assembly certifies them at the regular meeting October 8. Assembly and mayoral candidates who won election will be sworn in at the start of the New Business section of the Agenda.
    Eisenbeisz said he was pleased to see the strong voter turnout. Looking ahead to the next few years, the mayor said the increased revenue from the last few years of visitor industry-related sales tax makes some decisions easier, but others harder.
    “As we spend money we tend to become reliant on those programs, and should the money disappear later it’s not going to be easy to remove those programs and services,” he said.
    Asked about the federal Infrastructure Act funds coming to the city for several projects, he added, “We have a lot of federal funds coming in that we need to continue to manage. It’s placing a burden on all those involved – I thank them for their hustle as we move through this, knowing this is a very short lived project that will soon be coming to an end.”
    Austin Cranford said he will continue attending Assembly meetings, and the results showed him voters decided the city is going the way they want it to go. “We’ll see what happens next year. ... I already have questions for the next Assembly meeting.”
    Leah Mason said, “I think it was important to give those who wanted a vote a chance to choose a different direction, and we saw a third of those people did want to see something; there’s something in there for everyone to chew on.”