Lillian Feldpausch says Sitka must learn to live within its means. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)
Feldpausch is one of five candidates running for two open seats on the Sitka Assembly. And she says that if she’s elected, she’ll try to ensure that Sitka lives within its means.
Feldpausch says one big reason she’s running for Sitka Assembly is her concern over the number of capital projects the city has taken on in recent years. She’s worried that Sitka simply can’t afford to maintain everything it’s building.
“We have to be able to live within our means,” Feldpausch said during Raven Radio’s Assembly Candidate Forum. “My biggest thing is, I’m not afraid to say no. I never will be. It’s who I am.”
Feldpausch says the city needs to keep a tight rein on spending, and avoid overburdening taxpayers.
“We have to be able to take a look at how it’s going to affect our community,” Feldpausch says. “I see a lot of individuals who in the last year, many are working two, three different jobs just to be able to make ends meet. It is a unique place to live, but on the other hand, it costs quite a bit.”
Feldpausch moved to Sitka with her family ten years ago, from her hometown of Kake. She’s a graduate of Sheldon Jackson College, where she met her husband, Jeff Feldpausch. He’s now the director of resource protection for the Sitka Tribe. They have two sons, now in their twenties, and a daughter, Morgan, who is 11.
Feldpausch is a banker at Wells Fargo, and for the past two years, she’s served on the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Council. Her term is up in November, and she says she’s not sure yet whether she’ll run again. But she says there are plenty of areas where the Tribal Council and the Sitka Assembly need to work together. She says she’s concerned, for instance, that SEARHC might move its operations out of Sitka.
“That’s something on everybody’s mind,” Feldpausch says. “And I would really strongly support seeing what we could do to make sure that this facility doesn’t go anywhere, that the jobs continue to be here.”
Feldpausch says another area of concern for both the Assembly and Tribal Council is subsistence, and making sure that Sitka keeps its rural status.
“That’s just not going to affect our tribal citizens, that’s going to affect anybody who goes out there and goes gather halibut on a regular basis, or salmon,” Feldpausch says. “We want to be able to make sure we keep that.”
Feldpausch has also served as a Tribal Court judge, working mostly with the youth diversionary program, which allows young people charged with underage drinking to go through the tribal court.
“You know, in the state court, you sit there: Next! Next! It wasn’t that way,” Feldpausch says. “I took my responsibility seriously. I did my best to be able to work with the kids. Asking them questions like, what did they want to be, where did they see themselves in five years, what did they actually want to be when they, quote unquote, grew up?”
Feldpausch says that if she’s elected, one major focus would be the high price of housing in Sitka.
“They have a trailer maybe that’s around $35,000 and then there’s a home that’s going for over $300,000, but there’s nothing in between,” Feldpausch says. “We need to be able to encourage, somehow, attainable housing.”
She says the city could be more aggressive about developing or selling its property at the benchlands. And she’s against a recent proposal to raise the motor vehicle registration fee to fund the city’s roads.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” Feldpausch says. “Because you have some individuals who own quite a bit of different vehicles. They may not all be the best looking vehicles, but they own something…you know they may be Sitka beaters, but we’re looking at taxing those?”
Feldpausch says a better idea might be to increase bed taxes or tax undeveloped property at a higher rate, both to raise money and to encourage development.
In the end, she says, she just wants to see Sitka thrive.
“This community has been awesome. It’s treated my family well,” Feldpausch says. “And I want to continue to give back to it, to be able to continue to see the economy prosper, along with its citizens.”
The municipal election in Sitka is October 7. You can find profiles of all of the candidates here.
