The City of Sitka is trying to figure out a way to manage itself with no manager at the helm, and at least five other senior staff jobs vacant. The Sitka Assembly heard a request from the interim city administration to form a “transition team” to keep the government moving.

Interim Administrator Michael Harmon requested the assembly approve a “transition team” to help keep things afloat at city hall with four department head positions vacant and no permanent city administrator at the helm.

His team included staff from the library, public works, planning department and human resources. The most critical post, he said, was the electric utility director job. Bryan Bertacchi resigned earlier this month, and his post is briefly being filled by deputy system manager Erin Clay.

“Of all of those, I look at probably the most shorter term. She’s kind of committed to a two week period, so I think that’s a real important one that we find a solution there,” said Harmon.   

Several assembly members noted a former city employee, Robert Dryden, was interested in serving as an interim utility director, and had submitted a letter. Dryden is the former system engineer for the Electric Department. He spoke during persons to be heard at the end of the meeting. Dryden shared his perspectives on city government, and also noted his background.

“Charlie Walls had assembled a team of people to run the utility that was the envy of any small city. We each had decades of intense experience in engineering management of electric utilities- the top four of us had 170 years of experience,” he said.

Member Richard Wein said Dryden’s resume should be reviewed. And member Aaron Bean said they should consider making him an offer. 

“Given the fact that Ms. Clay would only rather serve for a few weeks, it might be of interest to the assembly to at least throw it out there and offer him an interim position if he’s still willing to do it.” 

But Mayor Gary Paxton thought they should wait until after the upcoming municipal election to consider any interim department heads.

“I think these are things that would be best approved, I know it’s gonna be a burden for another two weeks, but best approved by our new assembly. That’s who these people are gonna be working for,” Paxton said.

“Okay, I was just trying to streamline and be a little efficient and not let him get away I guess, in a lot of respects,” Bean responded.

Member Steven Eisenbeisz said he was uncomfortable recommending the administrator hire anyone as an interim, as it was beyond his purview as an assembly member. City attorney Brian Hanson said the charter prohibits the assembly from appointing department heads, though the assembly does approve the administrator’s appointments.

Harmon said Dryden was on his list of folks to talk to, as were others, but right now, his first priority was maintaining operations without making big changes. 

“We’re in some respects a little fragile right now and not looking to rock the boat significantly with selections,” he said. “So that’s the care I’m trying to put to that.”

The Sitka Assembly took no action on the transition team. 

Turbidity in Blue Lake

Recent rainfall in Southeast led to several landslides over the past few days, near Petersburg, Ketchikan, and Sitka.

When the Sitka Assembly met Tuesday, interim administrator Michael Harmon said the slide that happened last Friday (9/20/19) near the Green Lake Power Station was cleaned up and power restored at the plant, but last weekend’s weather provided another challenge. They saw elevated turbidity in Blue Lake. 

In other words, the water became very cloudy, and that could present a problem for the city. Sitka gets a special waiver from the EPA, and can only have five turbidity events in ten years before that waiver could be rescinded. If the weekend’s event is counted as a “recorded” event, Harmon said it would the last before the city exceeds the maximum allowed.

Harmon said the water plant automatically shut down when the short event happened, and they operated using reserves from their tanks, so service was unaffected.

Reducing assembly per diem

The assembly decided against compensating its members for public participation away from the assembly table, at least not for local events.

The group agreed that $200 per diem was not appropriate for assembly members to receive for events happening in Sitka. This was after the annual meeting of the Southeast Conference was held in Sitka in mid-September. Assembly member Valorie Nelson thought the $200 was excessive — and she also questioned the amount of per diem assembly members received for out of town trips. 

“I also don’t believe it’s appropriate out of town. You get your lodging paid for, you get your rental car paid for, you get per diem,” she said. “When we went to Municipal League and I got an extra $800 in my account, I thought the city had made a mistake.” 

Nelson said she often took annual leave when she traveled for work trips. Member Kevin Knox, however, saw potential problems with a one-size-fits-all approach to per diem, even for local events. He was concerned about setting a financial bar for government service.

“For some people, taking time off from work or not getting paid for work could be seen as hardship,” Knox said. “It does limit the interest or ability for some people to serve.” 

Ultimately, the assembly decided to eliminate the $200 per diem — again, for public participation at local events only. 

In other business, the assembly… 

— approved the recommendations from the “position” subcommittee, to open up hiring for several open posts, including the recently vacated utility director and library director jobs. 

— Voted to transfer no new money from the general fund into the public infrastructure sinking fund, on a recommendation from the Finance Department. The balance is currently around $18 million in the general fund. The assembly usually skims a little off the top for the infrastructure fund, keeping the general fund balance at at least $15 million. But this year, there were still unknowns over how much the city could owe in liabilities from the sale of Sitka Community Hospital.  The vote to transfer zero dollars over passed 5-1 with member Richard Wein opposed.