By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The new Tourism Task Force will kick off its work Tuesday, electing officers, reviewing the Open Meetings Act, and setting a work schedule.
The meeting will be held at Harrigan Centennial Hall starting at 6 p.m. It will be open to the public.
The Assembly set up the task force and appointed its nine members, with representatives of the general public, the tourism industry, local business, city commissions and Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
Phyllis Hackett, one of the members at large, is looking forward to the first meeting.
“I want to serve because I’m fascinated by the whole industry: the social aspects, the economic aspects, and our quality of life,” she said. “I’ve been observing the industry for 50 years here and in our neighboring communities. I’ve seen a lot of effects and am concerned about it.”
Hackett, who was on the Sitka Assembly for six years, said she has the ability to consider directives from multiple angles, and looks forward to making progress on tourism issues.
“I think it’s timely and I want to be a part of helping find the balance,” she said.
Other members are Camille Ferguson, STA; Scott Wagner, Port and Harbors Commission; Barb Bingham, Sustainability Commission; Jeremy Plank, tours; Chris McGraw, cruise dock; Cambria Holmes, business; James Michener, downtown business; and Rich McClear, at large.
McClear started conducting some of his own legwork about a year ago, with a Facebook group, “Sitka Solutions (Cruise Issues).” A number have weighed in on various issues.
“People are concerned about bus traffic, people are concerned about our hospitals being overloaded,” McClear said. “There’s the economic impact. One thing people are concerned about is, will real estate become so valuable that downtown is bought out by companies like Diamonds International and Columbia Emerald? And our downtown is only open six months.”
McClear said he likes the directives as a starting point but that there are more tourism issues not related to cruise ships, such as access to the airport by visitors who find it difficult to book a ride at busy times. He said residents also expressed concerns on the Facebook page about slow internet and cell phone service at times when thousands of tourists are in town.
Wagner, who is a member of the Gary Paxton Industrial Park board as well as Port and Harbors, said he thought it would be good to have a representative familiar with the park, which has a dock used by cruise ships as well as other commercial and pleasure boats.
“Also, no one else from Port and Harbors wanted to put their name in,” he added.
Wagner said he’s interested in the discussion about levels of tourism, which he said would be a challenging issue.
The other four directives, besides “levels of tourism” that have been assigned to the task force are annual funding for city tourism operations and funding; helping with the Tourism Management Best Practices program; land use regulations and waterfront development; and regional tourism strategies.
JJ Carlson and Chris Ystad, who proposed the tourism task force, will be Assembly liaisons.
