TRUCK FIRE – Firefighters knock down a fire in a Ford Explorer truck in Arrowhead Trailer Park in the 1200 block of Sawmill Creek Road Saturday evening. One person received fire-related injuries and was taken to the hospital, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said, and the truck was considered a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Warren said. The fire hall received the call about the fire at 5:33 p.m., and one fire engine with eight firefighters and an ambulance were dispatched, he said. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Police Body Cams On Assembly Agenda
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Tuesday’s Assembly agenda includes a discussion on police body cameras and a claim against a customer of power theft and equipment tampering.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in Harrigan Centennial Hall.
The regular meeting is preceded by an Assembly work session on “initial budget direction” by the Assembly for the 2022-2023 budget year.
“This is our first initial kickoff meeting,” said City Administrator John Leach. “We’re not looking for any decisions but what our projections are. Asking the Assembly what their thoughts are... What level of service? Just an open discussion on what they’re looking at this year.”
The Assembly during this time of year meets regularly with the administrative team to set the fiscal year budget, which starts July 1 for FY23.
The work sessions include discussions on infrastructure projects, user fees for services, and service levels.
The information packet for the meeting includes slides from the presentation, usually led by Leach and finance director Melissa Haley.
Uncertainties on the “good” side are the rebounding of sales tax revenue since the start of the pandemic. “FY2022 on track to exceed pre-pandemic revenue,” the report says.
Other uncertainties include the ongoing impact of the pandemic on revenue (sales tax revenues/increased cruise passengers vs. pandemic impacts). Other questions are related to inflation and whether the cruise ship industry will recover this summer. Prior to the nationwide surge of the Omicron variant, the city was anticipating 478,000 cruise passengers this year.
“We don’t know what the pandemic is going to do,” Leach said. “What’s inflation going to look like. If inflation is not controlled, how will it affect our infrastructure (projects)? What money is available for infrastructure and how do we get it?”
Major longterm growth is anticipated from the expanded Coast Guard presence with a new Coast Guard vessel expected to be homeported here. Also, SEARHC is building a new medical center on Japonski Island and new facilities in town at its newly acquired Sitka Community Hospital property.
But Leach said how and whether the city benefits from any of these items is up in the air.
“We’re going to want to grow in some capacity,” he said. “We need to make investments and go after them to make them successful.”
Body Cams
The item on the agenda is “direction/discussion/decision” on the use of body cams by the Sitka Police Department.
The proposed motion is to direct the administrator to complete a study on the issue, with the results to be reviewed by the Police and Fire Commission.
The item was proposed by Assembly members Rebecca Himschoot and Kevin Mosher.
A memo in the packet said 50 percent of all police departments employ the use of body cams on officers.
The background information on body cams provided by Himschoot and Mosher states: “They have been used in Wrangell, Skagway, Petersburg, Ketchikan, Haines, and Juneau, among many other Alaska communities. However, each community sets their policies for use of the cameras and the data they store.”
Other Business
The last item on the agenda is a proposed executive session on financial and legal matters regarding the city’s claim against a utility customer alleging equipment tampering and power theft.
The customer was charged in 2019 with the class B felony of theft the first degree and criminal mischief in the third degree, a class C felony, but the case has not gone to trial. City Attorney Brian Hanson said the city has not filed a civil claim for damages, but “we have rights to restitution that they could get from a plea agreement or from a conviction.”
On other items the Assembly will consider:
– liquor license renewals for Sitka Golf Association and Sitka Hotel.
– adoption of an alternative allocation method for the Shared Fisheries Business Tax program.
– second reading of a budget ordinance to spend $75,000 in grant money for three repeaters at Mud Bay. The equipment boosts VHF radio signals for fire, police and search and rescue calls, which will help with emergency responses, said the police and fire departments.
“This will reduce the dead spots that we have right now, including Katlian Bay Road, Harbor Mountain Road, Nelson Logging road, Granite Creek Road,” said Fire Chief Craig Warren.
– second readings of ordinances for industrial land leases at Granite Creek to K&E and SECON.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Businesses using the Centennial Hall parking lot testified Tuesday against a proposal to charge them rent in addition to the $200 annual permit fee. City Administrator Hugh Bevan made the proposal in response to the Assembly’s direction to Centennial Hall manager Don Kluting to try to close the $340,000 gap between building revenues and operational costs.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand President William S. Paul Sr. will be special guest and speaker at the local ANB, Alaska Native Sisterhood Founders Day program Monday at the ANB Hall.