2022 Mayoral Candidate: Kevin Mosher

Kevin Mosher

Community involvement, past and present:
My community involvement has been primarily working on the Assembly, since I was elected in October 2018.

Have you previously run for public office? When and what office?
I ran and was elected to the Assembly in 2018 & 2021

Previous government or other relevant experience:
I served in the US Coast Guard from July 1992-July 1996

Why are you running for a seat on the Sitka Assembly this year?
During the last four years on the Assembly there have been many challenges, and I believe much good has been accomplished. Covid is something no one saw coming. Many communities experienced great upheaval and violence.

Here in Sitka, we were able to come together and make difficult decisions for the whole of the community. We were able to find a middle ground to keep citizens safe, and to allow as much local commerce as possible during an unprecedented and chaotic time. This is a good outcome. Sitka’s economy is now rebounding; this is also a good outcome.

Another worthy outcome, is the support we have been able to award the local schools. Over the last four years, the Assembly has worked to find cost savings in City Government, allowing us to better support our schools. One of the ways cost savings at the city government level was achieved, was through the rebuilding of a cohesive leadership team. A team committed to serving Sitka in a fiscally responsible manner. Part of this team has prioritized grant writing. This work has recently resulted in being awarded $7.8 million dollar grant to help rebuild the seawall. I believe this is only the beginning of the fruits of their labors; labors which I hope will assist in paying for desperately needed infrastructure needs.

The last four years serving as a member of the Assembly has provided many opportunities for growth. A natural progression of that growth, for me, is to run for Mayor. It is my hope to assist in guiding our community with known and unknown challenges ahead, as well as, responsibly manage the current and future fiscal growth.

Searhc is building a new hospital, a new Coast Guard Cutter is coming in 2025 or 2026, and tourism is growing very rapidly. All these things are good in and of themselves. However, I want to make sure we do not get overwhelmed by this growth, and manage it responsibly for our citizens. I want to make sure we are benefiting from this growth, and that our quality of life does not diminish at the same time. This will not be an easy task to manage. As Mayor, I would like to help guide the discussions that occur within Sitka, so that we can accomplish this task successfully.

What are your top two priorities if elected?
I would say #1 is housing, and #2 is childcare. We as a city should be doing everything we can to address both. We need to open up as much city land as possible to housing development. In addition, I believe we should be partnering with other agencies. I recently met with Cliff Richter, the executive director of BIHA and we discussed their plans for future development. If we can partner with organizations like BIHA to help get more housing stock on the market, that should be considered. We also need to consider a wide variety of housing types, such as single family and multi-family units. Other ideas could be to allow granting of some lands for use as land trust developments. All types of creative solutions like these must be considered. It’s going to be a combination of all types of ideas that get us there.

For childcare, the city has limits on its ability to support through funding, although nothing should be left off the table-at least for discussion. I would like to begin a working group to explore ways in which we as a city can support working families who need childcare. This is a nationwide problem, so we are not in this alone. We should invite people from all points of view & experience, so we can try to come up with creative solutions to this problem.

Ballot Prop 1:

Do you support Ballot Prop 1, which would establish a consumer sales tax on cannabis and cannabis products, and would direct that money to the Sitka School District’s Student Activities Fund? Why or why not?

I support Ballot Prop 1. I am one of the sponsors, and have been intimately involved with making this happen, along with Assembly members Knox & Himshoot. When we allowed marijuana sales into Sitka, it was a stated desire by many members of this community that we would use the tax proceeds to benefit its citizens. I believe supporting school activities will be a wonderful way we can help struggling families who otherwise would not be able to afford it, to allow their children to participate in extracurricular activities. It is proven that the more kids take part in such activities, the better the chance they will be successful in their academic, and future life as an adult. In addition, participation in these activities can help prevent substance abuse.

If the cannabis measure does not pass, are there next steps the assembly should take to bolster funding for student activities?

I am unsure of that at this time. I’m not saying no, just that I’m not sure if I would like to pursue something should it fail.

Ballot Prop 2:

Do you support Ballot Prop 2, which would withdraw up to $8.1 million in proceeds from the sale of the Sitka Community Hospital building from Sitka’s Permanent Fund, to pay for a marine haulout? Why or why not?

I support Ballot Prop 2. I am a cosponsor of this ballot initiative, along with Assembly member Thor Christianson. We no longer have the ability to haul out boats for our fleet. This being the case, most boats are either not being maintained, or they are leaving Sitka and getting them maintained in other communities that do have a haul out. This results in a huge expense for the boat owners, as well as a loss in revenue from the purchase of contract services & supplies. We need to keep these monies in town. It benefits the boat owners by allowing them to remain in Sitka while upkeeping their vessels. It also circulates revenue to stores and shops in town. Finally, it keeps sales tax dollars here as well. We need to support a diversified economy, and this accomplishes that. A boat haul out in and of itself is not a money maker. But it helps preserve and protect our fleet. I am concerned that in time, if we do not have a haul out here in Sitka, that eventually we will lose our fleet. This would have a devastating effect on our economy.

If the measure to fund the haulout is not approved by the voters, what steps– if any– should the assembly take to get a haulout built in Sitka?

There has been an idea floated by a member of the community which I would consider, should this measure fail. There is the possibility of using a portion of the money coming in from the cruise ship industry to finance a revenue bond to fund the haul out. This way, money from tourism could directly benefit the community. The downside I see with this is that tourism is not guaranteed. If we had another Covid, or other national disaster we could see tourism dry up overnight, but we would still be on the hook for the bond. So that should be considered.

STRs and Housing:

Earlier this year, the Sitka Assembly rejected a measure that would have put a moratorium on new short-term rental permits for one year. Do you support that decision? Why or why not?

What should the assembly do to address housing shortages and affordability in Sitka?

Kevin Knox and I put that measure forward, and I was really hoping that it would pass, so I was very disappointed it failed. The purpose of that was to give us time to come up with a variety of solutions to help address some of the issues with short term rentals. It was only meant to be temporary. This is a nationwide problem, and communities all over are grappling with the effects of their exponential growth. I acknowledge these are a good source of revenue for some people, and should be allowed. However, I think there needs to be some government regulation. Once the measure for a moratorium failed, Mr. Knox & I held a very successful town hall meeting. People were able to come and express their views. I think we all learned in the process of that meeting what the issues are and what people’s concerns were. People agreed that they should be allowed. However, we need to take some common sense steps to protect the long term housing stock, whether rental properties or homes owned. By the time this answer is published, we will hopefully have introduced on 1st reading an ordinance we came up with that addresses some of the issues that were brought up at the town hall.

Energy and Infrastructure:

Sitka is carrying roughly $118 million in debt for the Blue Lake Dam expansion. But at the current rate of growth, including the expansion of Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center on Japonski Island, its estimated that the city could reach the limit of its hydroelectric capacity in 10 years.

What steps should the assembly take to make sure Sitka has sufficient energy infrastructure, while managing the city’s debt?

The dam debit is a big issue. It is causing residents to have extremely large utility bills once you factor in water, sewer, & garbage. I am distressed at how high they are, and the affect it is having on the cost of living. It has been my hope all along that if we increase revenue enough in the city, that one day we can help subsidize the utility fund in order to bring those costs down. I am unsure if that will be a possibility or not. One thing I would like to clarify is this. There has been a misunderstanding among some people in the community that because of a balloon payment on our debt, that we will at some point have an exponential increase in our utility bills. That is incorrect. Since some older debt has been paid off, we will no longer have extremely sharp rises in rates. That still does not change the fact that our rates are out of control. Add on top of that the fact that we may run out of electrical generation capacity in 10 years or so. That’s a troubling thing to think about. What I think we should do is use all available resources to find alternative, green, sources of generation. This will be good for the environment, and also be more affordable than building another dam, which unfortunately is near impossible with our means of income as a city. Our electric department is going a good job of exploring these opportunities. However they will cost us money. This is where I believe we need to be strenuously looking for granting opportunities. This is why I have placed such a high priority on us building a team capable of capturing money granted by the federal government. I do not believe the people of Sitka can afford any high rate increases to pay for a loan or bond. This dovetails nicely into my work into the creation of a climate action task force, soon hopefully a sustainability commission, and the hiring of a sustainability coordinator. In addition to the benefits of working toward protecting the environment, having a commission and coordinator could possibly leverage Sitka’s position in getting federal or state dollars to pay for expanded electrical generation infrastructure.

Tourism:

This year brought an unprecedented number of cruise passengers to Sitka. In anticipation of the record-breaking year, the assembly directed the planning commission to draft a short-term tourism plan months before the first ships docked this summer. Some of the most visible responses from the city include the closure of Lincoln Street on high traffic days, and installation of temporary bathrooms (View the full plan here).

What steps should the assembly take next to address the influx of tourism into the future?

The community needs to monitor this very closely and try to come to a place where we have good numbers, but not so many that it overwhelms us. From where I am sitting, it feels like too many this year. Personally, I am ready for the season to be over. That being said there are things to consider. We went many years with a downturn in tourism, and it took a lot of hard work to get it back. We need to consider the variables. For one, what was planned to accommodate some of the extra tourists by the deep water dock was not available this summer. We need to ask ourselves…would it have felt different if the Halibut Point park was running this summer? Will it be operating next summer? Will the state work on SMC road be finished by the time next year’s summer season starts in earnest? Also, the downtown light is a major problem. We need to get the State of Alaska to install a better traffic signal. The city does not have control over this, but we need to do everything we can to help correct that issue. Traffic out past the round about is not acceptable. These are fluid situations that at the least will affect the traffic and congestion downtown. It does not address the large buses or other tourism related concerns. We need to determine what the public’s appetite for tourism is. We also need to do a cost allocation study so that we can use as much money out of the CPV funds to benefit all Sitkans. This will take time to determine. Once we do this, we can look at those funds along with the increased sales tax revenue, and try to figure out what we want to be the highest priorities for Sitkans. We have a very large backlog of deferred maintenance on all of our infrastructure. The increased funding from tourism could put a dent in that. If we do that, then the pressure to try to raise taxes on residents becomes less and less. All these things form part of a much bigger picture, one that the public needs to be informed about, and then allowed to weigh in on how much of tourism do we actually want. Currently I do not support mandatory limits on the number of cruise ship passengers simply because I believe we can handle that in a better way. We do not want overcrowding, because this is our home. The cruise lines want their passengers to enjoy their experience here. It is bad for business for people to be miserable because of overcrowding. Maintaining a healthy, working relationship with cruise line executives and those who decide how many ships come here will be a very positive way we can manage numbers, once we determine how much we can handle, or want to handle.