By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The agenda for Tuesday’s regular Assembly meeting includes items related to filling key staff positions in the city government that are currently open or soon will be.
The Assembly is in the final stages of hiring an administrator, with the current choice down to two finalists.
Other positions that are open are human resources director, planner, electric utility director, and library director. The city assessor, who is married to the electric utility director, also will be leaving.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
The bulk of the agenda is under “new business.”
The first item, following reports by staff and Assembly, is related to interim administrator Michael Harmon’s recommendation against transferring any funds into the city’s sinking fund for infrastructure.
Harmon was joined by Chief Finance and Administrative Officer Jay Sweeney in a memo to the Assembly:
“The primary reasons behind the Administrator’s recommendation of no funds to transfer include increases in other committed fund balances (primarily the liquidity reserve), and, an increase in unspent appropriations being re-appropriated in FY2020.”
The officials attached an analysis of the amount of the general fund balance indicating “no funds are available for potential transfer to the Public Infrastructure Sinking Fund.”
In other business Tuesday, the Assembly will take up the recommendations of the Assembly Position Subcommittee.
The two-member quorum of the subcommittee attending the September 16 meeting recommended seeking replacements for the vacant, or soon to be vacant, positions of library director, electric utility director, fire chief, fire engineer and grounds maintenance specialist.
Steven Eisenbeisz, chairman of the three-member subcommittee, and fellow member Richard Wein disagreed on whether to recommend filling the assistant fire chief position. Eisenbeisz voted in favor, and Wein against, according to the draft minutes in the Assembly packet. The Assembly will have the final say on the issue.
Library Director Kathryn Hurtley‘s last day in the position was Sept. 13, and Utility Director Bryan Bertacchi’s last day was Sept. 18. Both left to take jobs elsewhere.
Fire Chief Dave Miller has announced that he plans to retire in the next six or seven months. Miller was interim administrator this summer until stepping down Sept. 11, citing health reasons.
Also on the agenda is an item to appoint a “transition team” in connection with the hiring of a new administrator. The Assembly interviewed John Leach Sept. 12, and is slated to interview the other finalist, Craig Cugini, at 6 p.m. on Friday at Centennial Hall. The interview, as well as the 4-6 p.m. open house to meet Cugini, will be open to the public.
Leach, a U.S. Coast Guard officer, was assigned to Air Station Sitka from 2015 to 2018, and currently works in Washington, D.C. Cugini is a civilian administrator at the Fort Greely military installation.
A “discussion/direction” item on the Tuesday Assembly agenda is about the administrator recruitment process.
This has been a standing item on recent agendas, in order to allow Assembly members to take up recruitment matters that arise on short notice.
